Submitting
Read 1 Peter 3.
You know, if Peter were to tweet these words today, he'd be run off of Twitter (and maybe out of town!). These words (and words Paul wrote that are like them) have been used in many different ways throughout the centuries. Some use them as a way to oppress women, to "keep women in their place" and even (in extreme cases) to justify abuse of women. Let me say this clearly: that's wrong, that's sin, and that's not at all what Peter had in mind in writing these words. Another way these words have been used (or abused) is by folks who say, "Well, if that's what Christian faith is like, I want nothing to do with it."
When we rip some of these verses from their context, and from the context of the larger Scripture, they can indeed be troubling (at best). That's why we must understand the larger world in which they were written (a world in which women were often little more than property) and the context of all of Scripture. The Biblical text actually gives more value to women than most any other culture of its day. When we take these words by themselves and compare them to the modern world, that's not always readily apparent, but it's true. Women, even in the Old Testament, were prophets, judges, and co-workers with the Apostles.
The key word in this and other such passages is "submit." What does that mean? When we hear that word, we sometimes equate it with oppression, someone over someone else, giving up your own rights. However, here's the key: the Biblical writers call husbands and wives to submit to one another. Not one over the other. Not one in power over another. Mutual submission, both wanting the very best for the other, both putting the other's needs over their own. I often tell couples who are getting married that marriage only works when both of you are giving 100%. If each of you only gives 50%, you get a 50% marriage. But if both of you give 100%, mutually submitting to one another, that's when marriage becomes what God imagined and designed.
It's not about power. It's not about winning. It's about loving one another the way Christ loves the church, loves the world, loves each person. But the Bible is also realistic and speaks an unpopular word into our culture: men and women are different. God designed us differently. We have different gifts, different strengths, different abilities. The goal should not be to prove one is "as good as" the other, or "better than" the other. The goal is to use the gifts God has given us, to celebrate those gifts, and to rejoice in the differentness that makes us unique.
This, too, is part of what it means to be holy.
You know, if Peter were to tweet these words today, he'd be run off of Twitter (and maybe out of town!). These words (and words Paul wrote that are like them) have been used in many different ways throughout the centuries. Some use them as a way to oppress women, to "keep women in their place" and even (in extreme cases) to justify abuse of women. Let me say this clearly: that's wrong, that's sin, and that's not at all what Peter had in mind in writing these words. Another way these words have been used (or abused) is by folks who say, "Well, if that's what Christian faith is like, I want nothing to do with it."
When we rip some of these verses from their context, and from the context of the larger Scripture, they can indeed be troubling (at best). That's why we must understand the larger world in which they were written (a world in which women were often little more than property) and the context of all of Scripture. The Biblical text actually gives more value to women than most any other culture of its day. When we take these words by themselves and compare them to the modern world, that's not always readily apparent, but it's true. Women, even in the Old Testament, were prophets, judges, and co-workers with the Apostles.
The key word in this and other such passages is "submit." What does that mean? When we hear that word, we sometimes equate it with oppression, someone over someone else, giving up your own rights. However, here's the key: the Biblical writers call husbands and wives to submit to one another. Not one over the other. Not one in power over another. Mutual submission, both wanting the very best for the other, both putting the other's needs over their own. I often tell couples who are getting married that marriage only works when both of you are giving 100%. If each of you only gives 50%, you get a 50% marriage. But if both of you give 100%, mutually submitting to one another, that's when marriage becomes what God imagined and designed.
It's not about power. It's not about winning. It's about loving one another the way Christ loves the church, loves the world, loves each person. But the Bible is also realistic and speaks an unpopular word into our culture: men and women are different. God designed us differently. We have different gifts, different strengths, different abilities. The goal should not be to prove one is "as good as" the other, or "better than" the other. The goal is to use the gifts God has given us, to celebrate those gifts, and to rejoice in the differentness that makes us unique.
This, too, is part of what it means to be holy.
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