While Biden offers a breath of fresh air after the chaos of Trump, he is also seriously off-track concerning God’s moral law. After signing the Respect for Marriage Act, President Biden remarked, “Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice.” But stating“[l]ove is love” doesn’t justify same-sex marriage nor is it love if it breaks God’s law that is designed to lovingly guide and protect people. This kind of “love” cannot be called “right” and “justice” any more than an act of adultery between two people who claim to love each other.
A Morally Bankrupt Leader Is a Foolish Response
Similarly, picking a morally corrupt character like Trump to confront moral decline is an innately ludicrous idea that has proved disastrous. I wrote about this blindness inEVANGELICALS, TRUMP, AND THE BIBLE: The Bride and The…
The Bible depicts God as a plurality of three persons of equal rank, existing in mutual submission. This plurality in the Godhead first gets seen when “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26). The Bible speaks of the equality of the Son, “Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Php. 2:5-6). And, of the Spirit’s deity, the Bible says, our “body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 6:19).
Male and Female Depict God’s Image
When “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27), the male and female were both made in the image of God. This image does not reflect the physical attributes of gender (though it’s seen in both gender roles), for God is Spirit. The female was equal to the male, depicting the image of God equally. And in their marriage union, they reflected the image of God in this way too. Consequently, when “God said unto them . . . subdue . . . and have dominion” (Gen. 1:28) in calling them to rule, the male and female depicted the image of perfect unity between persons of equal rank.
Equality Lost and Restored
It was only after the Fall that the male began to rule over the female when God pronounced to the woman, “thy husband . . . he shall rule over thee.” Subsequently, any aberration from the equality seen in the male and the female reflection of the image of God depicts the consequences of the Fall (Gen. 3:16), not the original image that reflects the nature of God (Gen. 1:27-28), nor the redemption in Christ back to the design (Gal. 3:28). Male rule does not reflect the image of God, except where Jesus relinquished His equality for our salvation. But, just as all authority was given back to Him (Matt. 28:18), women in Christ have had the equality they forfeited returned in Him (Gal. 3:28). For He came to redeem us from the curse of a tarnished image of God where the joy of ruling together as equals, in mutual submission, was lost.
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My wife and I have just published our book, Let Her Fly! Freed From Patriarchy, which we had the joy of co-authoring. Below is the Preface:
Preface
“Let her fly!” is a great cry emanating from pain within the heart of God. It’s a roar that bursts from the pages of Scripture with an eternal magnitude that far exceeds the sum of all the pain that humanity has felt and the tears they have shed on behalf of women. It comes from an unfathomably deep love for women, who suffer under the various guises of patriarchy, and for men who lose so much from suppressing them.
It should not surprise us to find this in the Bible, for God is the loving creator of women. He is the originator, author, and architect of their purpose and, therefore, their rights. Not only does He understand the pain that has come upon them as a consequence of sin, but He also mourns the loss that has come upon men, for sin has blinded them, in part, to God’s intended blessing through women. For man forever suppresses what God has designed to bless.
Let Her Fly! witnesses to God’s loving view of women who, though created in His image, have had to bear denigration since the Fall and Eve’s particular sin. It reveals their release from bondage in the hope that, if you haven’t, you will allow this cry of God’s heart to be your own.
At the outset, I must be clear that I do not hope to stop patriarchy wherever it is found, for that would be near impossible given that it was a promised outcome of the Fall, resulting from the initial sin of humanity against God. Also, I must be equally adamant that those redeemed back to God’s purposes ought to begin to walk in the ways of equality initially intended by God before the Fall.
To the extent that gender equality is recognized and allowed, whether by direct submission to Biblical teaching or inadvertently, the world has been a better place. To this end, I hope to show that no one got tasked to be a better example of gender equality than God’s household, the Church. God feels the pain of her loss and, in Christ, has come to redeem it back for her.
Let Her Fly! is about you, God, and women’s rights.
Let Her Fly! Let her flourish! Let her speak! Let her love! Honor her! Respect her! Let her lead! Listen to her! Let her submit! Don’t rule her! Love her! Submit to her! Let her fly!
Christian teachers like Rob Bell have a big influence on the body of Christ, and so their public views and teachings ought to be placed under greater scrutiny. Also, teachers in the body of Christ should welcome the examination of what they teach, for all see through a glass dimly (1 Cor. 13:12). Furthermore, it is praiseworthy and commanded to test what one gets taught. Paul commended the Berean Jews when he said that they “were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11 NIV). And John says, “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NIV).
Faulty Equivalences
So, despite Rob Bell’s frustration during the discussion at focus being put on homosexuality and not on other issues, it’s appropriate what he advocates gets scrutinized. Furthermore, his claim that undue focus gets given to this topic is unreasonable, as is the red herring of making a topic like “worry” of equivalent relevance. For, though “worry,” like many other issues, is a problem, no one in the body of Christ embraces it as a way of life, and all agree on its remedy. No one argues that “worry” is natural and that we should allow people to happily live in “worry” if that is what they are comfortable doing. However, when it comes to homosexuality, that is what people like Rob Bell are arguing, and a schism in opinion has come about that needs attention. And, yes, all sin is evil, but it is evident from the entire scope of Scripture that certain sins are more heinous than others.
Faulty Leverage
Not only does Rob Bell try to bolster his right to being frustrated by using false equivalences, but he also undermines the issue of homosexuality and the word of God by suggesting that they talk on topics that Jesus spoke about, like “worry.” He implies issues addressed by Jesus are weightier than those like homosexuality which, according to him, Jesus never addressed. Yet, are we to assume, because Jesus didn’t specifically address the issues of incest and bestiality, that he diminished the need to discuss these evil practices? And what if these get embraced by some in the body of Christ? So why not homosexuality which is growing in prevalence and acceptance despite being, up until recently, unanimously understood by the entire Church as sinful?
Using Jesus’ silence on any topic is faulty leverage, for Jesus said, “Man shall . . . live . . . on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4 NIV). He did not place His words above the moral law in the Old Testament. And, it would have been illogical and absurd had He said anything to nullify what His apostles would be inspired to write.
Yet, this is a common defense used by those who advocate for homosexuality, like Tony Campolo in “Christianity and Homosexuality – Tony Campolo” (14:20), who distinguishes between the authority of Jesus’ words or, in this case, His apparent silence on the topic, from God’s word through Paul in Romans. Ironically, Tony Campolo began his talk by saying that “the Spirit of God infused the authors so that what they wrote became an infallible guide to faith and practice” (00:52). Consequently, he should know that Paul’s teaching on homosexuality in Romans Chapter 1 is equally God’s word and New Testament revelation. While I found his stories heart-wrenching and wholeheartedly agree that love is the only approach, we must be careful for, just as he did with Peter, Satan will target our feelings to have us “seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Matt. 16:23 NLT).
Faulty Foundation
Rob Bell’s frustration appears to be a deflection by someone who has already decided to make light of what he does not consider a grave topic. In addition, it helps him hide from his lack of a helpful and robust hermeneutic that can thoroughly justify his position, which is a reasonable expectation of a teacher in the body of Christ who holds to such an opinion. Instead, he had not yet worked out what in Leviticus is timeless and what is not, limiting his ability to understand Jesus’ reference to “sexual immorality.”
In the end, Rob Bell did not offer a clear breakdown of his hermeneutics or of the scholars he mentioned. What he said seemed flakey and unable to withstand what Andrew Wilson was asking. His view on homosexuality, built upon little more than smatterings of scholarship and put together piece-meal, crumbles under the first bit of rigorous testing. And, rather than the word of God, his view is undergirded by experience, which is never a sure foundation.
Are Christians supposed to be appeased by this sort of defense? Are we supposed to acquiesce to his retorts that patronize and don’t offer substance, and simply change the topic? No, for we are to get to the bottom of teachings. Also, as a reminder, “you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1 NIV). Therefore, everyone should welcome a loving discussion like this so that our teaching can be pruned and changed if necessary.
Was Jesus Silent on Homosexuality?
In Matthew 15:19, Jesus lists “adultery” apart from “sexual immorality” by saying, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (ESV). However, in Matt. 5:32, He most assuredly included it when He said, “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (ESV).
Should only “adultery” be considered “sexual immorality” because that’s the only one Jesus specifically addressed? No! Jesus and His Jewish audience understood “sexual immorality” as defined in Leviticus, namely, homosexuality (Lev. 18:22), bestiality (Lev. 18:23), incest (Lev. 20:17), or other forbidden familial relations (Lev. 20:11,12). Jesus, however, listed “adultery” separately from “sexual immorality” in Matthew 15:19. That leaves incest, other forbidden familial relations, bestiality, and homosexuality that fall under his reference to “sexual immorality.” Therefore, one cannot say that He didn’t deal with sins like homosexuality simply because he didn’t specifically name them. On that basis, one could argue for any sexual sins other than “adultery” to be excluded.
Jesus lived by “every word” and would have understood that homosexuality (Lev. 18:21) was one of the sins of “sexual immorality.” He also understood the ramifications of failing to live by every word, hence His warning.
Rob Morley
Sources:
Premier On Demand. (n.d.). Rob Bell and Andrew Wilson // Homosexuality & The Bible // Unbelievable? [YouTube Channel]. YouTube.
Suncrest United Methodist Church. (n.d.). Christianity and Homosexuality – Tony Campolo. [YouTube Channel]. YouTube.
The sad reality that many of my good Christian brothers and sisters don’t realize is that, in the end, their supposed scripture-tight homey Complementarian view toward women plays out in the suppression of women in society at large. Many may scoff and think that I am exaggerating the reach of this doctrine. However, consider the words of John Piper, a foremost champion of Complementarianism and one of the most influential and well-respected Christian leaders and teachers of our time. He says, “To the degree that a woman’s influence over a man, guidance of a man, leadership of a man, is personal and a directive, it will generally offend a man’s good, God-given sense of responsibility and leadership, and thus controvert God’s created order.” He goes on to say, “For example, a drill sergeant might epitomize directive influence over the privates in the platoon. And it would be hard for me to see how a woman could be a drill sergeant — hut two, right face, left face, keep your mouth shut, private — over men without violating their sense of manhood and her sense of womanhood.”
Though many Complementarians wouldn’t take it that far, Piper’s view is the sum logical outcome from their interpretations of certain key texts in the Scriptures. And, to the degree that this view is held by men who hold sway (and also by women), and to the extent that they have influence, false notions are imposed upon women, families, churches, and even onto society. The end result is a distortion of God’s creative and redemptive purposes for women, which is a loss to everyone, even to men.
Creation Testifies That Women Can Lead Men
The loss to men is especially ironic considering that Eve was meant to be a gift to Adam and, by extension, women to all of humanity. While this loss is to be expected in humanity’s fallen state, it is sad when it gets perpetuated by those who are in Christ. This leads to the other sad irony of Complementarianism, which is that the world, rather than those who hold Christ’s redemptive message, often benefits by not impeding the potential of women. For example, women are in the Senate, Congress, and Parliaments around the world, and others successfully lead very significant countries and corporations, not to mention past queens and prime ministers. Creation doesn’t lie, because, like Deborah in the Bible, women have proven to be very good and capable leaders over men.
Scripture Testifies That Women Can Lead Men
Now, to be fair, our faith is based on Scripture alone. And, in this regard, we thankfully have many churches that interpret and teach a better message concerning women by using the very methods of interpretation that Complementarians use, yet with outcomes that are more consistent with Scripture as a whole and with God’s intentions for women specifically. In this regard, Women as Leaders is a link to several posts where I give alternative historical-grammatical interpretations to those of Complementarianism. I believe that you will see them ring true to the rest of Scripture and unintentionally, yet unsurprisingly, to what we see evidenced in life around us.
Just as we have evidence that the earth is a sphere and are, therefore, not surprised to find that the Bible says the same thing, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Bible teaches that women can be leaders of men. Perhaps culturally and religiously indoctrinated men, and insecure men in particular, will battle with this outcome, but that is God’s word. I, for one, would be grateful to be like Barak. He submitted himself to Deborah who commanded him in accomplishing God’s will. Nevertheless, even in the face of excellent alternative biblical interpretations that don’t compromise the Scriptures in any way (as some suppose), we still have Christians who doggedly hold to their interpretations and who teach that the Bible instructs otherwise. And, this is despite both biblical and natural evidence of women unshackled.
Finally, I would like to end by recommending this TED Talk that highlights the sad reality of male leadership and women suppression found in varying degrees in many homes and churches and, as a result, in society too: Why I Left an Evangelical Cult | Dawn Smith | TEDxNatick
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Did you like the article? Real Church Life is a ministry of Light and Life Bible Ministries. Our goal is to help people effectively apply God’s word to all of life. By donating even the smallest amount, you can assist us in spreading good biblical teaching around the world.
Though not about him, this movie reflects the heart of Israel Folau, a professional rugby player who lost his contract with Australian Rugby for daring to warn the homosexuals that God so dearly loves.
After reading the historical accounts throughout the Bible, one can easily be misled into believing that male leadership is God’s intended design for marriages, families, and for mankind in general. But, a closer look at God’s word clearly reveals that God never desired patriarchy.
In fact, it is instead a testimony to God’s mercy and grace that throughout history, and even in Jesus, God met and worked with us in our fallen state of patriarchy.
Overview
The pre-Fall account (Gen 1:27-28), the historical glimpses into God’s heart in the midst of patriarchy seen in women like Deborah (Jdg 4:4-5), the uplifting ways in which Jesus treated women in the highly patriarchal society in which He came, and most especially the New Covenant in Christ (Gal 3:28), all point to the fact that God did not plan to leave us in our fallen state of patriarchy, but intended on restoring the gender equality once enjoyed in the Garden.
Men
Men ought to treat their wives and all women with the gender equality that God wants them to enjoy, because in Christ Patriarchy has Fallen.
Women
Women, don’t wait for men to grant you equal status when Christ already has. However, if your environment is highly patriarchal, be wise in how you walk in your status, even being prepared to forgo your status for Christ’s sake, being winsome for Him in your context.
FAQ
The misunderstanding of the Scriptures keeps us captive in our patriarchy. Here are links to common questions that some might have:
In a recent post, I mentioned I read through a commentary of Genesis by Derek Kidner in the Tyndale OT series. It is copyright from 1967. The point in noting its older date, is that I was surprised (pleasantly) by some egalitarian or progressive thoughts on the opening chapters of Genesis.
In the introduction Kidner states, in regards to the Fall:
“The shattering of the harmony of man and wife, not by any mutual disagreement but by their agreeing together against God, proved at once how dependent it had been on His [God’s] unseen participation. Without Him, love would henceforth be imperfect, and marriage would gravitate towards the sub-personal relationship foreshadowed in the terms ‘desire’ and ‘rule.'”
Kidner goes on to say that the rest of Genesis confirms this tendency. “Polygamy is partly to blame for this, but polygamy is itself the symptom of an unbalanced view of marriage, which…
Isn’t it strange that people gaily, or is it ‘gayly’, go about redefining marriage to include persons of the LGBT persuasion when God clearly gave a woman to Adam as his helper and suitable counterpart (‘help meet’) for marriage.
GOD’S DESIGN
God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him”…So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man (Gen 2:18-22)
ADAM’S RESPONSE AND GOD’S WORD ON MARRIAGE
Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:23 -24).
GOD’S LAW
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them (Lev 20:13).
JESUS – MARRIAGE IS HETEROSEXUAL
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife’ (Mar 10:6-7).
NEW TESTAMENT – HOMOSEXUALITY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due (Romans 1:26-27).
HOMOSEXUALITY, LIKE PEDOPHILIA
Because it was never in God’s design, homosexuality, like pedophilia, bestiality, adultery and fornication is destructive to the individuals involved as well as to a society that accepts it. It was for mankind’s benefit that these were spoken against in God’s word.
Although it is clear that God gave Eve to be a ‘help meet’ (helper who is suitable) for Adam, there are at least three Biblical reasons why a husband ought to be a ‘help meet’ for his wife too.
(Understand ‘meet’ to mean ‘fit’, ‘suitable’, ‘right’ or ‘counterpart’).
CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
Adam and Eve were BOTH made in the IMAGE of God (Gen 1:26-27) who is our HELPER (Gk. Ezer – Psalm 33:20) and so it is clear that they were both meant to be helpers of God and of one another if they were to reflect His image.
CORRESPONDING COUNTERPARTS
In Genesis 2:18, it is clear that Eve was created as a ‘help meet’ (help and corresponding counterpart) for Adam . However, by creating Eve as a counterpart for Adam, this automatically made Adam her corresponding counterpart.
By receiving a helper as his corresponding counterpart, Adam automatically had the responsibility to reciprocate for the design to work by being her helper too. So, while she was given to be a strength to Adam where he was weak, he would be a strength to her where she was weak.
CHRIST IS OUR HELPER
If God is our Helper and Christ is the perfect image of the Father, then it is clear that Christ must be our Helper too.
This is also evidenced by Jesus saying that He would ask the Father to send another Helper, implying that Jesus had been their Helper up till then.
So, clearly, Christ is the Church’s Helper because He is the express image of God Who is our Helper and because He referred to the Helper (The Holy Spirit) as being like Him.
HUSBANDS, LOVE YOUR WIVES AS CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH
So, if the husband ought to love his wife as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25) then it is obvious that this would include the husband being the wife’s helper.
In fact, Eve was given to Adam as a suitable helper for him, but, just like being his lover, the help was supposed to be reciprocal.
IN SHORT – 3 REASONS WHY HUSBANDS ARE TO BE A ‘HELP MEET’:
Both husbands and wives are made in the image of God and are therefore both meant to be, by nature, helpers.
By receiving a helper as a corresponding counterpart, a husband automatically has the responsibility to reciprocate as a helper for the design to work.
To love one’s wife as Christ loves the Church means being a helper as He is.
Real Church Life 