Fundamental stuff
The term "egalitarianism" is thrown around so lightly today in modern Christendom. It's as if it doesn't really matter what you believe about the roles of men and women. But it does matter. Marriage was designed by God to be an earthly picture of Christ and the Church. Try as you might, you can't squeeze egalitarianism out of that, unless, of course, you are reading some gender-neutral, politically-correct, altered version of "the Bible" which was contrived and concocted by man's wisdom, not God-breathed.
As Carmon so well states:
When we redefine the roles of men and women, what's at stake is the definition of Who God is. Think of the doctrines of the Fatherhood of God, the humility of Christ, and the relationships within the Trinity, where the persons of the Godhead are of one substance, power, and eternity, yet the Son does the will of His Father and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.That's why this is so important. It's not just some soapbox I decided to wake up one day and start standing on. Earthly relationships were given to us to typify Heavenly relationships. Without a proper understanding of the God-given roles of men and women, we can't understand our relationship with God.
This is fundamental stuff. It's non-negotiable.
If anyone is preaching a gospel that says being a doormat for Jesus and breeding babies will get you to heaven, then I will get in line with the egalitarians at the shooting gallery. But encouraging already-saved Christians to line up their lives with the patterns God has given from creation is loving, not legalistic; joyful, not burdensome. The patterns of the world (equal rights, careerism for women, husbands abdicating headship, children as a burden) are a path to heartache as they always focus on false feelings and changing cultural trends. God's written Word is dependable and perpsicuous (unlike that word, which I hope you will look up if you don't know what it means). Like a rock upon which you can build your life.
The foolish woman built her house on the shifting sands of egalitarianism...
posted by Crystal Paine at 3:31 PM
3 Comments:
AMEN! AMEN! AAAMMMEEENNNN!
its when we start subscribing to a belief system that isn't in the bible (you're a great Christian woman if you ONLY wear jumpers or skirts, you're a great Christian woman if you ONLY stay home, you're a great Christian if you have quiet time every day twice a day for an hour each time...etc etc) that we as Christians getting into trouble.
Following the Lord's divine plan for us as women (or as men!) is not legalism....its when we become Pharisaical (is that a word?) that it is...
Great post Crystal!
Great post. I'll be linking back to this when I have some time.
Crystal, you are getting VERY theological here...;)
I am a joyful gender essentialist with you, as you know. With that having been said, however, two things:
1) There is no hierarchy of status in the Trinity. That's an old heresy (monarchianism), and we need to be careful about that. Orthodoxy has always declared that the "relationship" of the divine persons is one of self-giving mutuality, or as the Fathers called it, "perichoresis."
2) The definitive passage that established marriage as an image of Christ and His Church is found in Ephesians 5. In that passage, Paul is clear that it is the husband who lays down His life for his bride, as Christ did for the Church. In this way, "He" makes His life expendable for hers- it is not the other way around.
I am not trying to sound like a femminist here, nor do I think that these principles properly tend to "femminism" in the modern context. But these principles must not be overlooked when we discuss gender theologically.
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