Grace abounds
So all this talk about Ephesians, and I keep saying that God is calling us to something else, something more. What do I propose that is?
Husband and wife, living with the most important commandment -- love God and love one another -- as the center of their marriage, walking together as they did in the Garden, before sin was an issue.
The better way, the way to which we are called by God, is for both to live in submission to God and to each other, placing the other first, loving and caring for each other. Grace abounds.
Ephesians tries to move people closer to that ideal. We shouldn't see it as a command of how to live, but as a path from God to show us a better way. Don't go so far and then stop. Keep moving onto perfection.
Labels: Epistles
posted by Kim at 8:42 PM
6 Comments:
Standing still is not an option.
AMEN!
A rich resource on Biblical equality (compared to complementarianism, which I believe is the opinion Bob has articulated) is Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE). Their website is here:
http://www.cbeinternational.org/
and I highly commend it to you.
Click on "Resources"-->"Free Articles," and also check out the CBE Blog.
Note: I am not affiliated with CBE, but have found it very helpful! They take Scripture very seriously.
Diane, you are right I was espousing complementaianism. I think this is acurate because men and women are not the same or interchangable. Most people would agree that in general men and women approach life and problems differently. This is not to say that either group has the right approach all the time. Paul tells us in Corinthians that the church is made up of many parts.
If we are to have healthy Christian churches we need to acknowledge our differences and utilize all our gifts and attributes. We can't pretend that we are all identical in what we bring to the table.
Bob,
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you that the Church needs (in the spirit of 1 Cor 12) to a) acknowledge individual differences and b) utilize all the diverse gifts that God has given us.
However, I do not think that the differences among individuals are primarily those of gender. Nature and nurture are both factors in constructing gender, and it would be almost impossible to parse out the two to determine an essential Man or essential Woman as evidence of how God originally created/intended a gender differentiation. There is as great of a difference within each gender as there is between the genders, and there is considerable overlap between [dare I say "womanly"] men and ["manly"] women. (Not to mention intersex persons, who remind us that gender is not a binary system)
Second, to deny the gifts that God has given equally to men and women is a sin. Spiritual gifts are meant to edify the entire Body, and yet the Church historically has allowed itself to limp around without an arm or a leg because women were denied the opportunity to contribute to the building up of the Body.
You did not say this in your post, so I want to be careful not to put words in your mouth. Rather, I would be interested in your response to this question:
Complementarianism has historically been used to justify limiting women's ability to use their gifts (especially preaching, teaching, and administration) in both marriage and professional ministry. How does this limitation enable members of the Body of Christ to use all of their gifts?
Diane,I don't think any one man or woman should be limited in how they serve God. As long as they adhere to scripture in their preaching, teaching or administration.
Given there are more differences than gender but male and female are definitely different. Otherwise you wouldn't have used the terms womanly man, and manly woman. Terms like these are used because there are traits that we see as prmarily belonging to one sex or the other.
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