The husband's role is to make his wife holy: The Journal P/3

                                          Read Part ONe HERE

In this post I have decided to focus on Pastor Matthew St John whose statement is very much in line with the statements of the previous two posts. He is the Pastor of First Baptist Church in Anson, Texas, USA.

Pastor Matthew St John has said the following:

"If my wife does not choose to follow me as I seek to love her fully, am I no longer obligated toward her sanctification, cleansing her through the word of God and striving to present her in all her glory, without blame or spot? I must die to self in seeking the spiritual growth and vitality of  my wife. Her following me in this is what I seek to earn. We have different roles and that is good. That is designed by God. My role is to be willing to live and die for her. Her role is to respond to such great love.

My Comment

Pastor Matthew St John seems to believe that he has to fulfill the role that only Christ can fulfill  in relation to the Church as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:25-26
"Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her (the Church) to make her (the Church) holy, cleansing her (the Church) by the washing with water through the word, and to present her (the Church) to Himself (Christ) as a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish but holy and blameless."

No husband, including this pastor, is able to sanctify his wife. nor is he required to do so. Moreover, he is not able to cleanse her through the word of God nor is he required to do so. Neither is he able to present his wife in all her glory without blame or spot not is he required to do so.
Pastor Matthew St John is very confused about his role as husband believing he has to fulfill the task that only Christ can fulfill. Moreover, he does not seem to realise that he, as part of the Church, is part of the Bride of Christ, together with his wife, which means that as part of the Church, Christ will sanctify him, cleansing him through the word of God and presenting him in all his glory without blame or spot. Of course, that will only happen if Pastor Matthew St John is truly born again.

Furthermore, he is confused about his role in that he believes that he is to live and die for his wife and his wife is to respond to such great love. It seems he believes he is to take the place of saviour instead of Jesus in the life of his wife. 

 

Read Part Four HERE

 

 

The gospel for women is a gospel of works: The Journal P/2

                                           Read Part One HERE

In this post I have decided to quote from statements by Professor Bruce Ware and Assistant Professor James Hamilton and Pastor Tim Challies. Their statements are very much in line with statements of my previous post.

Professor Bruce Ware has said the following of 1 Timothy 2:15

In 1 Timothy 2:15 we read that "woman shall be saved in childbearing." We note that the word translated as "saved" always refers to eternal salvation. It means that a woman will demonstrate that she is in fact a Christian, that she has submitted to God's ways by affirming and embracing her God-designed identity - for the most part, generally this is true - as wife and mother, rather than chafing against it, rather then bucking against it, rather than wanting to be a man, wanting to be in a man's position, wanting to teach and exercise authority over men. Rather than wanting that, she accepts and embraces who she is as a woman, because she knows God and she knows His ways are right and good, so she is marked as a Christian by her submission to God and in that her acceptance of God's design for her as a woman."

And Assistant Professor James Hamilton has said the following of 1 Timothy 2:15

"All women must embrace their role as women and bear children, and if they do so in faith they will be saved. For Paul wants women to embrace what it means to be female, and he has chosen childbearing as an example of something that only women can do. This doesn't mean that single women or barren women can't be saved, but they should by faith embrace what it means for them to be women."

And Pastor Tim Challies has said the following on 1 Timothy 2:15

"There is a good warrant to expand the word childbearing here so it points not just to the act of giving birth, but to all that Paul has just discussed a couple of verses earlier - godly womanhood in the wider context of the passage Paul is referring to the whole of a woman's calling within the family, within the church, within the world. She is to embrace godly womanhood, to be who and what God has created her to and called her to be. She is to fight against that tendency to usurp authority that is not hers."

My Comment

These men have turned the gospel message for women into a gospel of works!! And it seems that even women who are either single or barren are to somehow still give birth to children by faith if not in reality in order to be saved.

They furthermore  seem to believe that  any woman, who teaches men acts like a man.

I wonder what these men would say to women like the four daughters of Philip who had the gift of prophecy, Phoebe, who represented Paul to the Church in Rome, Junia who was an apostle, Chloe who was an overseer, and Nympha who was an overseer. These women may well have been married and have had children but Paul focuses on their spiritual activities rather than their homemaking activities including giving birth to and raising their children.

It is clear that these men do not have any understanding of this verse for they have not taken the time to study the cultural background of this verse. If they had taken the time to do so then they would have learned that Paul is not here writing about  women being saved in childbearing for no woman is saved in childbearing. Every woman is saved through the blood of Jesus. Paul is exposing here a false teaching that had entered the church in Ephesus that marriage and motherhood prevented women from an intimate relationship with God and he is saying here that, contrary to what was being taught, marriage and motherhood are part of God's plan for women as their Creator and are not obstacles to a close walk with God as these false teachers claimed. 

Read Part Three HERE

Cleaning up the Church is a tough job: The Journal P/1

In this post I was meant to start looking at speaker and writer Nancy Campbell. However, I came across a statement made by Professsor Wayne A, Grudem and decided to share that today. I will begin to share on Nancy Campbell soon.

Professor Wayne A. Grudem has written the following in his Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Journal Spring 2009

"By force of argument, by use of facts, by careful exegesis, by the power of the clear word of God, by the truth, I expected the entire church would be persuaded, the battle for the PURITY OF THE CHURCH would be won, and EGALITARIAN ADVOCATES WOULD BE MARGINALISED and have NO SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE.
But it has NOT COMPLETELY HAPPENED AS YET! I STILL BELIEVE IT WILL HAPPEN. JESUS CHRIST IS BUILDING AND PURIFYING HIS CHURCH that He might present it to Himself without spot or wrinkle. BUT ON THIS ISSUE CHRIST'S PURIFICATION PROCESS IS TAKING MUCH LONGER THAN I EXPECTED!" - Wayne Grudem, CMBW Journal Spring 2009. 1.

 1. Raising the Hood. A Christian Look At Manhood And Womanhood by Shirley Taylor. Page 24.


My Comment
It seems that according to Professor Wayne A. Grudem Egalitarians ( those who believe in biblical equality for men and women, myself included)  make the Church IMPURE and Jesus is in the process of ELIMINATING them from His Body of believers. He laments that it has not happened as quickly as he had hoped for.
I am very grateful to know that Jesus is the One who will judge as to who is to be part of His Church and not Professor Wayne A. Grudem though it seems he believes he knows who Jesus will accept and who Jesus will eliminate, in this case all these Egalitarians.

Professor  Wayne A. Grudem does not seem to have considered either all those male and female Egalitarians from the past whose names we can find in the New Testament and who are part of the Church such as

The Apostle Paul
Phoebe                                                   Romans 16:1-2
Priscilla and Aquila                               Romans 16:3-5a
Mary                                                      Romans 16:6
Andronicus and Junia                            Romans 16:7
Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis              Romans 16:12
Chloe                                                      1 Corinthians 1:11
Euodia and Syntyche and Clement         Philippians 4:2-3
Nympha                                                   Colossians 4:15
The Apostle John
The chosen lady and her spiritual sister  2 John 1, 13

 

Read Part Two HERE

The wife is to show love to a husband who is a pedophile: The Excellent Wife P/13

                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I  will continue to share on Bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Twenty-One of her book "The Excellent Wife."

Martha Peace: "Husbands are capable of extremely gross sins such as child molestation, other criminal acts, violence, drug addiction, adultery, pornography, drunkenness, homosexuality. How is a wife to respond? Your heart may be broken over his sin. Remember, though, that you are not alone. God too is deeply grieved as well as offended. God is ready and waiting to help you. He will bear this burden with you and lighten your load. Your sorrow will lessen as you seek refuge in God, as you go against your natural feelings, and as you show love to God and your husband. You do not ever have to be sinfully overwhelmed again."

My Comment

Martha Peace seems to think that a wife is to simply show love to her husband even in the case of gross sin. Whatever she means with that statement, it does not seem to mean that the wife is to take action to protect herself and her children, which is what God would want her to do. God will indeed be ready and willing to help her but only as she does her part by either speaking to her husband about his sin if that is possible or by calling the police and/or by getting herself and her children to a place of safety etc for God does not mean for a wife to simply stay with such a husband and to allow him to continue in his sinful behaviour.

P.S. This is the last post on Martha Peace.  From the many posts we have shared on Martha Peace, I trust you will have begun to recognise that  her teaching is unbiblical and should be warned against.

The disobedient wife may suffer loss of eternal rewards: The Excellent Wife P/12

                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to look at Bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Sixteen of her book "The Excellent Wife."

Martha Peace: "A wife should look to the example of Christ's submission to the Father."

Martha Peace: "A wife's true beauty and adornment comes from being submissive to her husband."

Martha Peace: "Biblical submission shows love to God."

Martha Peace: "Biblical submission is a way to show love to her husband."

Martha Peace: "Biblical submission should be viewed through God's sovereignty and goodness."

Martha Peace: "God uses others to put pressure on a wife to be submissive."

Martha Peace: "A wife should train herself to be biblical submissive."

Martha Peace: "A wife will honour God's Word by being submissive to her husband."

Martha Peace: "Biblical submission is one way for a wife to be a "living sacrifice" for the Lord Jesus realising that sometimes she may be suffering for righteousness' sake."

Martha Peace: "A wife should realise that being submissive is a fruit of her salvation."

Martha Peace: "God has made a wife's submission to her husband a manifestation of walking with the Lord, of being in the will of God and being filled with the Holy Spirit."

Martha Peace: "A wife should remind herself of the potential grievous consequences of not being submissive. Some of these consequences may be personal embarrassment, loss of reward at the judgement seat of Christ, Divine discipline, church discipline, disqualification of her husband from the office of elder or deacon."

My Comment

Martha Peace has many things to say with regard submission in this chapter. I will focus on some statements as follows:

She seems to have turned her teaching about a wife's submission into a gospel of works since she teaches the following:

1. Biblical submission is one way for a wife to be a "living sacrifice" for the Lord Jesus realising that sometimes she may be suffering for righteousness' sake.

2. A wife should realise that being submissive is a fruit of her salvation.

3. God has made a wife's submission to her husband a manifestation of walking with the Lord, of being in the will of God and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

4.A wife should remind herself of the potential grievous consequences of not being submissive. Some of these consequences may be...... loss of reward at the judgement seat of Christ, Divine discipline......

 However, according to the Scriptures we are saved through the blood of Jesus and not by our works as we know from Ephesians 2:8

For it is by grace that you are saved through faith, not by works.

Moreover, Martha Peace seems to know that for a wife who does not adhere to her (unbiblical) view of submission (read: unquestioning obedience, no matter what the husband may require) there will be severe consequences not just in this life but for eternity affecting her as well as her husband, such as loss of reward at the judgement seat of Christ, Divine discipline, church discipline end even disqualification of her husband from the office of elder or deacon. However, she has not given any biblical proof for these statements. That is, no doubt, because she is not able to do so.

Sadly, Martha Peace does not have a biblical understanding of the word "submission" which makes her teaching very dangerous because it opens the door for abusive husbands to continue their abusive behaviour since their wives have to be submissive/obedient to them even to the point of being "living sacrifices."

However, according to Scripture, the word "submission" is the Greek word "hupotasso" and means "to voluntarily align" oneself with another as we know from Ephesians 5:21-22

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives (submit) to your husbands as to the Lord.

Paul teacher here that as believers are to voluntarily submit to or align themselves with one another, likewise, wives are to voluntarily submit to or align themselves with their husbands who are to sacrificially love their wives. The reason Paul wrote this is because at that time Gentile women, even when married, were still under the authority of their parental households and were still required to worship the idols of their parental households. Paul encouraged these women to separate themselves from their parental households and to voluntarily submit to or align themselves with their husbands, who in turn are to submit to or align themselves with their wives, and so to form a new household under the Lordship of Christ.

 

Read Part Thirteen HERE

The wife must lovingly obey a lying husband: The Excellent Wife P/11

                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Thirteen of her book "The Excellent Wife." ( I have skipped a few chapters).

Martha Peace: "A husband who does not think his wife is being submissive has God on his side. A wife must re-evaluate her perspective. A wife's responsibility is to change her perspective and view submission through God's and her husband's eyes."

Martha Peace: "The husband is the head of the home, and the wife is to submit to every small and seemingly unimportant requests or directives from him because they are important to him. Unless she is providentially hindered, her failure to comply is not only subordination to her husband but also disobedience to God."

Martha Peace: "A Husband may be physically, or verbally abusive, immoral, threaten leaving, use alcohol or drugs, and lie or deceive his wife. A wife must choose to answer with love. She entrusts herself to God, knowing that in difficulty God will give her the grace she needs to get through it at the very time she needs it. Not always, but most of the time, when a wife responds by standing up to her husband in the right way, it turns out better than she had anticipated. If in the end it does not turn out well, the wife can have the comfort of knowing that she was pleasing to her Lord and whatever suffering she undergoes will be "for doing what is right" (1 Peter 3:7).

Martha Peace: "A wife who does not submit to her husband does not honour God. When a wife is not submissive to her husband, she brings shame to God's Word because she is not living up to the standard God has clearly laid out for the godly wife. If she is outwardly expressing faith in Christ, but inwardly has not changed her heart regarding submission to her husband, she is not submitting to the Lord in that area of her life."

Martha Peace: "A husband can act selfishly toward his wife. It is the wife's responsibility to change her attitude to be submissive. If the husband is being selfish or unreasonable and his wife dwells on how he has hurt her, it will very likely be very difficult for her to feel being graciously submissive. She may outwardly do the right thing, but she will struggle with bitterness and will not feel like being submissive."


My Comment

Martha Peace's teaching is unbiblical and proves that she does not know the God of the Bible, who is loving, kind and merciful. She, therefore, does not understand that God created the man and the woman as equal partners to rule over creation together, but not over each other (Genesis 1:26-28). Neither does she understand that God has never given the man authority over the woman, not at the time of Creation nor at the time of the Fall. However, at that time the man began to be in authority over the woman because of his then sinful nature (Genesis 3:16d). This sinful pattern has continued throughout the centuries no matter the culture and religion for in every religion of the world be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, women are considered inferior to men. But Jesus showed us a different way for He treated women with respect (Luke 7:36-50), taught them (Luke 10:38-42), had women disciples (Matthew 27:56; Luke 8:1-3) and women evangelists (John 4:28-39). Likewise, Paul followed in Jesus' footsteps by recognising the spiritual gifts in many women as apostles (Romans 16:7), prophets (1 Corinthians 11:5), teachers (Acts 18:24-26), overseers (Romans 16:3-5; 1 Corinthians 1:11; Colossians 4:15), evangelists (Romans 16:6; Romans 16:12; Philippians 4:2-3), deacons (Romans 16:1-2). His view on submission is completely misunderstood for it simply means to be aligned with someone be it with other believers or with a husband as we know from Ephesians 5:21-22

"Submit to one another out of reverence for God. Wives (submit) to husbands as to the Lord."

In the Greek text the word "submit" is not in Ephesians 5:22 so the only way we know what wives should do is by studying Ephesians 5:21. This means that the same way believers are to submit to or align themselves with one another is the way wives are to submit to or align themselves with their husbands who are to sacrificially love their wives as Christ sacrificially loves the Church. And we know from the Greek term that Paul has used that this submission  cannot be forced upon anyone by someone but is to be done voluntarily. Moreover, since in Ephesians 5:21 Paul tells believers to voluntarily submit to other believers Christian husbands are to voluntarily submit to their believing wives. Most importantly, Christ is to be everyone's example and He came to serve and not to be served. Therefore, we are called to serve each other. That is true partnership, the partnership God designed for us at the time of Creation, which was lost at the time of the Fall, but has been restored in Christ. Let's begin to live out of the reality that we are New Creations in Christ rather than still living under the Curse of the Fall as Martha Peace seems to want us to do.

 

Read Part Twelve HERE

The wife is to respectfully obey the husband: The Excellent Wife P/10

 
                                     Read part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Ten of her book "The Excellent Wife."

Martha Peace: "Respecting your husband is not an option for you if you are going to be in God's will."

Martha Peace: "Husband have been given authority over their families by God. The wife is to respond respectfully to her husband because of his God-given position. The Scripture makes it clear that "Christ is the Head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3)."

Martha Peace: "The wife's position to her husband is that as a soldier to his superior officer."

My Comment

Wives are to respect their husbands (Ephesians 5:33). Likewise, husbands are to respect their wives (1 Peter 3:7).

As for husbands having been given authority over their families, children are to obey both parents, not just their fathers (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-3, Colossians 3:20).

As for wives, 1 Corinthians 11:3 refers to women in general and not to wives specifically. In this verse Paul used the Greek term "kephale" which means "source," "source of life." However, it does not not mean "authority." We can see this from the order in which Paul listed the three pairs: Christ/every man, man/woman, and God/Christ.
 If Paul had given us an hierarchical order to establish authority he would have written
God/Christ, Christ/every man, man/woman but he has not done so.
Paul, who was a very orderly writer, had something entirely different in mind, namely a chronological order to establish that "head" meant "source." As such, the chronological order makes perfect sense for Christ was the source of life for the first man from whom every human being has descended, the first man was the source of life for the first woman and God was the source of life for Christ in His Incarnation.

As for the wife's position to her husband being that of a soldier to his superior officer, there is no Scriptural support for such a view for all believers are called to be soldiers for Christ (2 Timothy 2:3-4) and are to told to put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

 

Read Part Eleven HERE

The wife must not allow herself to get upset: The Excellent Wife P/9

                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Nine of her book "The Excellent Wife."


Martha Peace: "It is common for a wife to get aggravated when things do not go her way, when something interferes with her plan, or when she does not feel well."

Martha Peace: "Instead of arrogance, a wife should be a humble servant to her husband and others, listen carefully to his opinion and consider the possibility that she may be wrong or misinformed."

Martha Peace: "Biblical love paints the other person in the best possible light. In other words, the wife shows love to her husband by assuming the worst about what he says or does and his motives. When, at times, the "worst" is a fact then a wife is to order her life and her goals by faith and not by sight. In other words, no matter what her husband has done, a godly loving wife trusts in God's sovereign care over her marriage. She knows that God has a purpose in the circumstances for her. An outgrowth of her hope in God is that her husband will become more and more godly if he is a Christian and perhaps be saved if he is not. She should tell herself things like, "My husband has disappointed me, but God never will. God can use what has happened to put pressure on my husband to repent."

Martha Peace: "The wife sees trials and pressures coming into her life as a special opportunity to become more like the Lord Jesus. She does not usually enjoy those difficult times, but she does endure them with God's help. A wife can choose to show love to God and to her husband as she righteously endures trials and pressures in her marriage."


My Comment

According to Martha Peace, no matter what her husband has done, a godly loving wife trusts in God's sovereign care over her marriage. That is a very dangerous and unbiblical position to take in the case of an abusive husband. God has placed a wife alongside her husband to speak into his life as his equal partner if he does not act right. It is the wife's responsibility to do so, not God's responsibility. However, if speaking is not the right action to take in case it causes the husband to turn on her then the wife must take other appropriate action such as asking for help/advice from other sources, including the police.

Let's take once again Abigail's example. What would have happened if Abigail had not stepped in? We can be certain that there would have been bloodshed (1 Samuel 25:2-38). Perhaps Martha Peace needs to study the number of women that get assaulted/killed by their partners/husbands unless she believes that it must have been God's sovereign will for these women to have been assaulted/killed.

 

Read Part Ten HERE

The wife has been created to keep the house clean: The Excellent Wife P/8

                                     Read Part One HERE

In this post I will continue to focus on bible teacher and author Martha Peace. This time we will look at statements from Chapter Eight of her book "The Excellent Wife."

Martha Peace: "Staying at home and organising a clean, well-run household is a major biblical emphasis in the God-given ministry of the wife."

Martha Peace: "A wife at home is to be joyful, not brood over problems, put others in her household first, express interest in everyone, not to be selfish, be biblically optimistic (trusting in God), and gentle and meek in spirit."

My Comment

In Genesis 1:26-28 God that that the male and the female were to rule over creation together as equal partners. Throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament women, at times together with their husbands, are mentioned in relation to their God-given functions such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20); Deborah (Judges 4:1-16); Hulda (2 Kings 22:11-20); the four daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9); Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2); Priscilla (Romans 16:3-5); Mary (Romans 16:6); Junia (Romans 16:7); Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis (Romans 16:12); Chloe (1 Corinthians 1:11); Nympha (Colossians 4:15); Euodia, Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3). Very likely, they all took care of their households but that is not the emphasis when they are mentioned.


It will be helpful to remember as well that in the days of the Old Testament and the New Testament many couples worked together from home such as Priscilla and Aquila who were tent makers by profession (Acts 18:1-3).

Finally, Jesus had a group of women disciples who left home to travel with Him such as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna (Luke 8:1-3), Mary the mother of James and Joses and the mother of Zebedee's sons (Matthew 27:56). Jesus never told them off for doing so and He did not send them home to organise their homes.
Neither did Jesus tell Mary off when she sat at His feet rather than joining her sister Martha in the kitchen to help witch cooking the dinner. Instead he commended her for having chosen that what is better (Luke 10:38-42).

 

Read Part Nine HERE