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Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. |
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WOMEN IN THE
APOSTOLIC AGE |
Jesus demolished the cultural
view of women before the Biblical scholars of His
day. In many ways He liberated women from the stronghold
of male domination
simply by making clear the positional equality of those
who were otherwise
viewed as possessions. But, He never encouraged or
allowed a woman to step out
of her created role (cf. John 2:4). He had no women
leaders or teachers among
his group of twelve. He placed none of the women, who
faithfully followed Him,
into positions over any of the men. While truly
liberating women, he retained
the bounds of God's designed roles. Grace Church holds
to what the Bible
teaches about the equality of women: that women stand
before God as equal to
men, being made in His image. Women are fellow heirs of
the grace of life (1
Peter 3:7), not second class citizens of God's kingdom.
Women are gifted by the
Holy Spirit (Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12) and empowered
by Him to do God's will
(Ephesians 5:15-21) in exactly the same way as men are.
Women shared in the
early church's struggle for the progress of the Gospel
(Philippians 4:1-3; cf.
Romans 16), and will continue in that same struggle in
the church today. As
such, we believe that women fulfill a vital part of the
ministry in the work of
building God's church. Grace Church holds every woman
who serves her Lord Jesus
Christ and His Church in the highest regard. And many
are serving here in
strategic ministries. Grace Church also holds to what
the Bible teaches about
the responsibility of everyone, whether man or woman, to
serve God according to
the roles which He has established. As such, we will not
elevate women to
positions of leadership which are not Biblical. We Page
5 5 will not place
women in ministries where they are called upon to teach
the Bible to, or
exercise authority over, men (1 Timothy 2:12). We will
not appoint women as
pastors or elders, because that is not God's design (1
Timothy 3:1-7; Titus
1:5-9). We continue to hold that wives are to be in a
role of submission to
their own husbands, because that is commanded in
Scripture, and is the
appropriate response for a woman in Christ (Ephesians
5:22; Colossians 3:18; 1
Peter 3:1). We believe that it is the mandate of the
Church to hold the
Biblical standard high. We do so as a matter of
obedience to Him, as a matter
of blessing to women and as a matter of testimony to the
world. Our view of
women in Christ is based on God's design, not on
cultural demands. It is the
design which God created for women to fulfill, and
therefore is the one which
God blesses. It is the design which promotes unity in
every relationship. And,
it is the design that Christ Himself demonstrated, being
equal with, yet
submissive to the Father. Only in following Christ's
example will women truly
glorify God in all that they do (1 Corinthians 10:31),
and know the liberating
fulfillment of all God has created them to be. In
Genesis 1, it is clear that
women are created equal to men. Verse 27 is God's own
commentary on this
equality, “And God created man in His own image, in the
image of God He created
him; male and female he created them.” All of mankind is
created in the image
of God. Neither man nor woman is given more or less of
God's image. That is the
big picture. As fellow human beings in their standing
before God, men and women
are equal. Genesis 2 moves from the big picture of
creation, to the details. In
this chapter we find Adam alone in the Garden. In this
chapter we also find God
forming Eve from Adam's side. And, in verses 18-25, the
roles of the
relationship between Adam and Eve are defined. Eve was
created to be his helper
(v18, 20). While positionally equal with Adam, Eve is
given a role of service
as his wife. The role of service is not second class. It
is not a put down. The
same word is used to describe how God helps us at times
(Exodus 18:4;
Deuteronomy 33:7). And in Genesis 2, it is used to
describe the purpose for
which Eve was created, to be a helper to Adam. That is
her God-given role.
Genesis 3 is the first time Eve stepped out of her role
as helper to Adam. When
deceived in the Garden about the forbidden fruit, she
took the lead and ate it.
In addition, she thought that by eating, she could step
beyond her role of a
created being, and Page 3 3 become like God (v5, 6).
When God rebuked Eve
(v16), he told her of the consequences of this sin: that
her desire would be
for her husband. In 4:7, this same verb is used to
describe the desire of
control. In other words, the natural consequence of her
sin would be a
continual desire to control her husband, rather than
fulfill her created role
of helper. “But,” God adds, “He shall rule over you.” By
this one sin, the
natural harmony which God had created for their
relationship was destroyed.
History has attested to the ongoing power struggle
between husband and wives.
The obvious message to Eve, and to women of all ages, is
to never violate the
role for which God created them. That will be their
desire, but that desire is
sin. So then, from the beginning the Bible shows that
women are created as
equals to men, while being given a supportive role in
their relationships.
Because of sin they will continually try to usurp that
role, leading to further
sin and the destruction of the harmony God intended. A
godly woman understands
that while she is created equal to her husband, she must
still function in the
role of submission to him. Notice also Adam lied to God
but Eve was truthful.
The apostle Peter says that the woman is the weaker
vessel (1 Pe. 3:7).
women are not inferior to men either morally or
spiritually. That women are
weaker than men physically is readily admitted by all
except the most radical
of feminists. It is indeed probable that Peter has more
in mind than simply
physical strength. In the post-fall world women are seen
as more easily
manipulated by emotional appeals. This fact has been
successfully taken
advantage of by politicians, advertisers, cults and
womanizers.
What this all indicates is a careful strategy on Satan’s
part. First, as noted
above, he directs his attack upon the weaker vessel.
Eve’s constitution which,
although not inferior to Adam’s, was created for a
submissive, nurturing role,
made her a more suitable target.
Fairbairn writes: “Her very excellences in other
respects—excellences connected
with the finer sensibilities and stronger impulses of
her emotional and loving
nature
Christians should never place themselves in a situation
in which they know that
they will be tempted. A person who is a glutton should
not go to a buffet for
dinner. Likewise, a person who is tempted to get drunk
should not stop at the
bar after work to shoot a game of pool. Men who have
problem with lust should
stay far away from magazine racks in bookstores and so
on. Paul says “Do not
give the devil an opportunity” (Eph. 4:27). How are
Christians to avoid giving
the devil an opportunity? Paul says, “Be angry, and do
not sin: do not let the
sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26). Believers are to
deal with anger
immediately, on the very day it happens so that Satan
cannot exploit the
situation and tempt the Christian to sin.
When the infallibility of God’s word is denied what is
usually the first
doctrine to be jettisoned?Instead he takes a more subtle
approach. “Hell is a
really bad place. You don’t want to go there. Accept
Christ as your personal
savior and everything will be fine. Oh, by the way don’t
worry about repentance
you can accept Him as your savior now and continue to
sin and have fun; then,
if you feel like it you can accept Him as Lord down the
road. Go ahead and sin.
God will forgive you. Relax, have a good time.” Has this
tactic been
successful. Yes, evangelical churches are full of
unregenerate (Christ is a
fire escape) hypocrites.
Whenever Christians are confronted by a situation that
is even questionable the
best thing to do is step back and seek the counsel of
the Scriptures and other
believers.
Note, that in autonomously determining whether or not it
was ethical to eat the
forbidden fruit, Eve acted as both an empiricist and a
rationalist. How did Eve
act as an empiricist? Instead of trusting in God’s
authoritative word she
decided to study the tree. She looked at the tree, she
noted that it was good
for food, and pleasant to look at. Eve interpreted the
information she gathered
with her senses. She decided based on this information
that the tree was
desirable to make one wise. She had already rejected
God’s word and had assumed
that she existed in an impersonal, non-determined
environment. Eve believed
that the only method for obtaining truth was to go on a
fact gathering mission.
Eve was a rationalist because she believed that reason
could discover truth and
accurately determine reality apart from God’s word. Adam
and Eve were created
in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and thus were different
from the brute beasts.
Sin however is never rational. | |
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