Scripture: Proverbs 12:4;
Ephesians 5:22-33
Now before we begin today, I
want to say that I could have given this message a totally different title, but
I chose this one simply to get your attention!
Was I successful? The truth is
that “women” isn’t the actual problem that we will discuss today, but rather
the attitude toward women that seems so apparent in God’s word, and what
scripture is really trying to tell us through our very human lives.
First, we need to understand
the culture of that day, as well as the societal position that women have been held
to throughout history. They had, in
general, been less educated, less wealthy, had less authority, a lower
position, and their influence was, for the most part, confined to the home. This was the general situation of women throughout
the days of scripture and beyond, with only a few notable exceptions, such as:
The prophet Deborah – God had
chosen her to be a Judge for Israel (Judges 4), and she guided the men
of the nation in matters pertaining to faith, commerce, the law, relationships,
and even the military.
Lydia, as we read in Acts16:13-15, 40 was a dealer in purple cloth.
She had her own home, and may very well have became a home church
leader. She would have been wealthy in
her own regard, and certainly an influential person in her town.
We read a number of times in
Acts 18 about Priscilla and Aquila, a husband and wife ministry team who
co-hosted a house church in Corinth. And
even though scripture doesn’t actually tell us this, there are a number of
times that they are mentioned together, and half the time, Priscilla is named
first, indicating that she had as much authority in the church as her husband
did. And when Paul moved on from Corinth
to Ephesus, the two went with him and then remained there to continue the
ministry.
But there are also a number
of passages that either implicitly or explicitly tell us that these women were
the exceptions, and not the rule. Even
in our own country, women were denied the right to vote until early in the 20th
century, as well as being barred from admission to colleges and universities! But we’re not going to debate the reasons for
these obstructions to “rights for all”, except for what the Bible says about
these issues, and in particular, for women in the early Church.
We’re going to begin with a
passage that I haven’t included in our PowerPoint slides, but one that seems to
go against the conventional thought of that day regarding the position of women.
Galatians 3:26-29 - “26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of
God through faith, 27 for
all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ. 28 There is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and
female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If
you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise.”
Jesus was always taking the
most controversial stand when it came to the Law of Israel. And even though Paul had, at one time, leaned
totally upon the Law’s take on what was right and what wasn’t, in this
instance, he jumped right into what Jesus had always taught – that he had come
for everyone, and that God had always seen all people as equal. We might very well read this passage in a straight
up and obvious way, but in truth, it was just about as radical as any statement
could possibly be.
Our Lord, in his example to
each of us, reached out to everyone, regardless of what the Law said. He was always touching the lives of both Jews
and Gentiles, to the consternation of both the Pharisees and his own disciples. He ministered to the wealthy and the
poor, the strong and the infirm, the healthy and the sick, the
enslaved and their owners, the demon possessed and the “righteous”,
and to men and women. He never
treated anyone different than anyone else, regardless of what the culture, and
the Law of Moses, demanded.
And if he walked among us
today, he would include people of every nationality, every race, every position
in society, every culture, every gender (including the new “non-binary” ones),
every faith background, and yes, still every man and every woman. And Paul concludes his thought with the affirmation
that if we are in Christ Jesus, we are also heirs of God’s promise that was
made to all of the faithful – that by faith - not by some worldly privilege –
we will know the glory of being his children.
So what about all of those
other thoughts in scripture?
Read Proverbs 12:4
The book of Proverbs is, of
course, attributed to Solomon, supposedly the greatest and wisest man of his
day. And the thought that he expresses
in this verse of “wisdom” reflects, not his Jehovah God’s glory, but his
own lack of Godly understanding.
He was writing what his male audience believed and practiced – that a
wife was little better than a husband’s property, and held a position only
slightly above that of their children. A
wife’s purpose was to be a gift to her husband, and when she did well, it
reflected on the man’s choice of a wife.
And when she failed him in every and any way possible, that, too, was a
reflection on him.
Even in the last verses of
this book, the passage that we know as “The Wife of Noble Character” (Proverbs
31:10-31), is as much about her husband as it is about the wife. The only way these verses can have any
goodness within them is if we take the word “husband” to mean Lord and Savior. And this isn’t too far a stretch, when we
realize that the Church is sometimes referred to as the bride of Christ. And a faithful life would, indeed, make us
noble in the eyes of our Almighty God.
But the New Testament seems
to go even further is propagating the myth of a woman’s low worth. So here is another passage that isn’t
included in our slides.
1 Corinthians 14:33-35 - “33 For
God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the
congregations of the Lord’s people.
34 Women should remain silent in the
churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in
submission, as the law says. 35 If they
want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home;
for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”
Throughout the first 30
verses of this chapter, Paul speaks a warning about the misuse of speaking in
tongues - he expounds on the difference between orderly worship and selfish
worship. And as the chapter continues, the
question of women’s position in worship is raised. Some scholars believe that someone edited
Paul’s letter, believing that he must have forgotten to include a caution on
women in regard to orderly worship!
But Paul had a totally different
view of how women fit into ministry in the name of Christ, as we noted at the
beginning of this message. In Galatians1:13-24, he writes that following his experience with Jesus on the Road to
Damascus, he went off for three years, presumably for reflection, prayer and
Christian growth before he ventured into ministry. The words in those few verses from 1
Corinthians 14 were unlike Paul’s writing, and were certainly not in the spirit
of Jesus’ teaching.
However, the situation may
have had some relevance to the church in those days. Can you imagine the feeling that women might
have had when they suddenly could begin going to worship with their
husbands? Imagine how they might have
reacted when they began hearing the scriptures, as well as apostolic letters,
read in worship, which they had never heard before! They would have had questions galore, and
this new sense of independence, inclusion, and acceptance would have sparked a
desire to know even more, and they just might have asked their questions right
in the middle of worship – a disruption for some! But it wouldn’t have been Paul’s
understanding of what the Lord would have wanted.
But what about Ephesians 5?
Read Ephesians 5:22-24
This passage may also be an
example of writings that came from one of Paul’s disciples, and not from his
own pen, or it may have been a lesson on the Church’s relationship with
Almighty God!
The lesson is a comparison
between what the law said about the husband-wife relationship, and what our relationship
with Christ is all about. In the law,
all members of the family, including the wife, were obligated to submit to all
decisions that the “man of the house” made. He decided all matters pertaining to the
business of the family, of who his children, especially the girls, would marry,
of whether they came to Christ or remained in the old ways of the Law, and on
and on.
The family submitted
themselves to the husband, the father, the master of the house, and for those
who come to Christ, they, too, as the Church, are to submit their lives to the Lord and his ways. Submission and obedience
to the ways of Almighty God are to be absolute, complete, and followed to the
max.
But the passage continues.
Read Ephesians 5:25-33
If you were counting, it
seems that the words in our previous passage, if they were meant indeed for wives, involved 3 verses,
while the verses in this one, the ones that appear to be given for husbands, number 9! Does this mean that men need 3 times as much
instruction as the women need?
Maybe! Or does it mean that we, as
the Church, as the bride of Christ, have a totally different responsibility in
the relationship that we have with God, than the Lord does for us? Paul is very intentional in separating the
approach in “marriage”, whether as husband and wife, or as disciple and Lord, so
that each doesn’t infringe on the responsibilities of the other!
Let me read this passage
again, and this time, as we hear the words, we will substitute the thought of “Church”
in place of “wife”, and Almighty God in place of “Husband”. Listen.
Church, submit yourself to
your Almighty God. Christ is the head of the church, his body, of
which he alone is the Savior. Now submit yourselves to the way of Christ in
everything.
The Father loves his people, just
as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her
holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and
to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
The One who loves his faithful
is the same One who loves within his Triune Presence. After all, Christ did
this for the church - for we are members of his body. For even
as a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the
two will become one flesh, so this is the mystery of the Church – Christ’s
church. So just as we are loved by God, husbands, you also must love
your wife as you love yourself, and just as the Church must respect the
ways of God, so the wife should also respect her husband.
Could this be what Jesus
wants us to know? Could God be using a
blend of his word and the human way of relationships, to teach us about our
life in him? It seems that the problem
isn’t so much with women as it is a
problem with you and me - as the Church!
Think about that!
