Saturday, August 14, 2010

To Participate

On Gender & Authority

Man

Men were chosen as image-bearers of our ultimate authority, YHWH.  Our Lord God would not have given man a job and then not empower him to also succeed.  Women are commanded to think on how their own confidence in this is a measure of their confidence in God Himself (1 Peter 3:5-6).  And it does not take too much investigation to confirm that men are in reality dutiful in ruling by means of sacrificing themselves because of the way God made them (Ephesians 5:23 "...He is the Savior of the body.").

Theirs is an authority established in the Word thousands of years ago and stands to today.  "For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church" (Ephesians 5:23).  "...and gave [Christ] to be head over all things to the church, which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22-23).  "And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man...." (1 Timothy 2:12).  Conversation's over, women.  What can I say after these scriptures?  Many feminist-empathetic Evangelicals tweak the command so that women might steal some authority for themselves - and that is my tough but honest opinion.

God gave authority to men; in fact, the command regarding the tree of life was given to Adam before Eve was made.  Yet a man's role in representing God's authority is not a complete package.  "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18).

Woman

Here comes woman.  She has no authority of her own - nothing explicit; nothing institutionalized.  And she never will have the hope of authority over a man.  But she has a contribution to make, does she not?  She comes replete with image-bearing design, too; a "helper suitable" (NIV), a "helper comparable" (NKJV) to him. The common application of the woman's help & succour are to matters of homemaking, and that is fair, but Adam's ultimate purpose is to worship and glorify God.  Is it possible that a woman's help is just as engaged as the man's leadership in seeing God's will be done?  I wonder if Jesus came in to the flesh in a way like Eve's design.  Luke 20:1-8
One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John's baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?"

They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."

Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
He was an iconoclast, and they felt threatened.  His mission was not to subvert but to fulfill; Matthew 5:17-18
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Just prior to His death Jesus promised to send believers "the helper," the Holy Spirit.  The establishment had not accomplished the Spirit of the law; Jeremiah 31:33-34
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second" (Hebrews 8:7).  Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 1:30).  Wisdom is curiously also personified as female in the Old Testament.  She raises her voice to commend God's will toward those who already grip dominion, Proverbs 8:1-8
Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
"To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
O you simple ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things..."
The man and the woman both are image-bearers of God.  The man is so in rulership, self-sacrifice, leadership and provision.  And the woman is so in supplying wisdom without which none could sustain life.  But depravity distorts the image.  In depravity, he forsakes his own responsibility and she no longer stands for truth but instead for a lie.

Depraved Adam

Like Adam in his depravity, any human not accustomed to wisdom find her voice unsettling.  Forget that it was Adam who should have first coined the essence of the popular t-shirt slogan, "I'm with Stupid" (Proverbs 9:13) by passing the buck saying "The woman you gave me," when God questioned Adam whether Adam had obeyed.  He betrays redemption for himself or those he will influence.  He makes life toilsome and unpleasant (Genesis 3:17-18) for everyone around him.  I pity his predicament.  Put any human in the same shoes, and any one might be just as tempted to point out the negative contributions others have made before admitting one's own failure.  A responsibility to influence or protect others is a burden.

Depraved Eve

Adam was right - Eve was devoid of understanding.  A woman in depravity is just as destructive to redemption because it turns the heart of a man to passion, though toward idols in the stead of God.  Her punishment is intense suffering in trying to cast the seed of the Spirit in the world (Genesis 3:16), and the whining and moaning comes in accordance with such.  In the Book of Proverbs there is the Woman Wisdom and there is another woman also called wisdom, who calls out with the same exact enticement, but the partakers of the false lady discover she provides no righteousness... only bondage and death.  Proverbs 9:1-6 depicts the true woman Wisdom...
Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
“Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
and 9:13-18 describes the false woman called wisdom,
A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
“Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.
"Stolen water is sweet" - in the event the enticing call of "wisdom" is resounding noisily, and one cannot tell if she's real or fake, one might ask this discerning question: Does she tell them that they will find abundant life through tweaking His command so they may steal from what is off limits?  True Wisdom leads one to life without a violating sin of omission (1 Timothy 1:5, 8; Romans 14:23).


Conflict

Conflict may be characteristically female and male.  It's bigger than just our relationship.  It's really about those who hold righteousness ipso facto and those who must carve it out and establish their own provision of righteousness and life through reform and revolution.  God creates position to enforce peace and order in society.  "For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God" (romans 13:1).  But He also chooses people outside of establishment, too.  "...God has chosen... the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Corinthians 1:28-29).

God has designed many facets of our world where wisdom is, for example, cyclical or generational in nature.  What constituted a redeeming policy yesterday may not tomorrow.  Therefore, asking the question "what needs to be restored about this fallen world today?" and investigating its answer is a never-ending process that one either abides in or does not.  Consider the following (below) aspects of the world where the male-female tension is exhibited.  There is the one who has been given the position to accomplish God's purposes - and is doing it more or less successfully as God has equipped (caveat--God executes it perfectly).  And, there are those who are being served by the one of position; hopefully, the one in position becomes conscious of repeated requests of permissions to participate.  Like the Man toward the Woman, consider...
  • The Mentor toward the Mentee
  • The Parent toward the Child
  • The Pharisees toward Jesus
  • The Church toward the Lost
  • The Believer feeling the conviction of the Spirit
  • Jesus toward His Church
  • The Entertainer toward his Audience
  • The Business owner toward the Customer
  • The Government toward its Citizens
  • Father God toward the World
Agnostic, religious, or whatever: are God's image-bearers inviting a relationship with Wisdom?  Do they have a rapport with her; are they dependent upon her?  This son of Adam (Adam Lambert) sings, "What do you Want from Me" and intuitively agrees that this woman isn't operating out of depravity; he knows she holds truth.  Adam feels his own depravity.  One solution is to pass the buck.  The other solution has been calling out his name, assuring him that those who love wisdom love their own life.



If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.

14 comments:

agent4him said...

Another tantalizing feast from the mistress of crock-pot theology. So much here!

May I...?

Mmmmmm.

******

Our Lord God would not have given man a job and then not empower him to also succeed

and

Just prior to His death Jesus promised to send believers "the helper," the Holy Spirit.

You...you mean...could it be...that there's an analogy between the Holy Spirit and woman-by-design!?? Dare we view woman---the helper suitable "under" male authority---as a God-given power-pack placed "beside" man as image-bearer? It's almost like, "Take your pick, ladies; you can't have both: If you want your intended power-beside, you need H/his authority-over." Why would anyone knowingly sacrifice such power-by-design for mere authority (...and her desire shall be "for" her husband)?

******

Depraved Adam: "I'm with Stupid"
LOLOLOLOL Absolutely brilliant. Almost makes me wish I were a woman.

******

Does she tell them that they will find abundant life through tweaking His command so they may steal from what is off limits? True Wisdom leads one to life without a violating sin of omission...

and

It's really about those who hold righteousness ipso facto and those who must carve it out and establish their own provision of righteousness and life through reform and revolution.

and

"Whataya Want from Me"

Pure gold. True Wisdom is, by design, to bring life and righteousness---the intended "commodities" of our image-bearing. So whataya want from me? Just this: "My Righteousness and life in you and, through you, to the rest of the world. And I give you wisdom in the shape of woman to help make that happen."

******

Adam Lambert: Ironically androgynous in appearance, openly struggling to release his true image in submission to a God who has seemed silent, he is a reflective "Jacob" wrestling with the Man for his new name: "Bearer of my righteousness and life." After having tried out his self-name and descended into utter frustration and disillusionment, he wrestles the Man in impatience and uncertainty---but with a determination to receive his given-name--until at the end of the video we finally see the visage of a new Adam with the calm confidence he needs to bear God's righteousness and life to a fallen world.

Sanctification said...

Wow... I think you got all the tie-ins that I put into it. This post fell straight out of the air and hit me in the noggin. I didn't even know what I was writing until the fingertips flew... I love Jesus :)

I really, really appreciate the "beside and also over" comment. That just is so helpful. I was studying the word "greater" that Jesus denoted about the Father; I think there's only like 13 times the word is ever used in the whole NT. This is one major missing piece for me understanding redemption. Perhaps you know something about it.

The Oneness of God is written right into the Ten Commandments when He commanded that we should have no other gods before Him or alongside Him. And yet Jesus is God - He must be SO the YHWH God or not a god of any kind at all.

More comments in a bit if that's alright.

agent4him said...

Re: "power-beside"

After I left my first comment, it occurred to me that John's word for the Holy Spirit ("Helper" NASB) is parakletos, which literally means "called beside." This is strangely reminiscent of the rib removed from Adam's side to be his "helper suitable."

This leads in turn to another observation on the Holy Spirit's pre-intended function for his disciples in the same verse, He will . . . bring to your remembrance all that I said to you (John 14:26). If there is anything here that may illumine a woman's intended Wisdom-help for her man, it is this: Sin causes us to forget what God really "said to you." And (at least in my life), my wife serves me well when she brings those things "to my remembrance" in spite of myself. And although it really, really annoys me when she does that, I know that she is "good" for me.

At the same time, she is also capable of sin (do ya think?), and like Adam in the garden (Gen 3:1-5) I have "the right of first refusal" of the "wisdom" she brings when it doesn't match "all that I said to you." That's what "authority-over" means, at least in one very basic sense. The woman in Gen 3 had supposedly been taught by her husband what God had said, but Adam didn't exercise his right of first refusal authority-over to set the Lie straight. Similarly, Abram didn't exercise his, when Sarai tempted him with the alternative-wisdom of making his own heir (Gen 16:1ff). But, redemptively, God brought her back again with true Wisdom "in the childbearing," reminding him of "all that I said to you" (21:12): Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. And God bless 'im, he listened. But I'll bet he was really, really annoyed at her.

So, there's probably more behind the notorious, hated 1 Tim 2:11-15 than first meets the eye: 1) It is Sin that occasions Paul's injunction here; 2) woman subverts her intended role (wisdom, power-beside) when she bucks God's intended authority-over, "right of first refusal," by sinfully tempting man with false-alternative wisdom; 3) the allusions back to Genesis should illumine what it means to be redeemed as a helper-suitable ("saved in the childbearing"); and 4) (I would hence surmise, here) the Holy Spirit, just like man's helper-suitable, will more often be perceived as really, really annoying---pricking his conscience with "remembrance"---than someone nice and welcome.

Tim Nichols said...

Greetings Michele,

"The common application of the woman's help & succor are to matters of homemaking, and that is fair, but Adam's ultimate purpose is to worship and glorify God. Is it possible that a woman's help is just as engaged as the man's leadership in seeing God's will be done?"

Amen.

God gave to the first couple the command to have dominion over the whole earth. The command is to them both, and you can see a well-developed outworking of the woman's role in it in Proverbs -- not least in ch. 31, but not only there, either.

Dominion is a demanding task; a man who thinks he's going to do it alone is a fool.

Missy said...

Michele, in applying what you've said here, you might have helped me see the story of Mary vs. Martha in a new light. I was never really satisfied with traditional explanations that seem self-congratualtory and permissivly idle to a mediocre homemaker like myself. Thanks for a little something to focus my quiet times around. :)

Sanctification said...

Hi Jim,

When you and your bones are quite settled, I'd like to hear from you some more on this topic. :) Again, thanks for the parakletos and that is exactly what I was thinking when I wrote the post, while you said the point,

and 4) (I would hence surmise, here) the Holy Spirit, just like man's helper-suitable, will more often be perceived as really, really annoying---pricking his conscience with "remembrance"---than someone nice and welcome.

But about points 1, 2,

1) It is Sin that occasions Paul's injunction here; 2) woman subverts her intended role (wisdom, power-beside) when she bucks God's intended authority-over, "right of first refusal," by sinfully tempting man with false-alternative wisdom;

That's the woman's propensity... man's is that it is not good to be alone. But... as soon as God made woman, God was revealing that there was a plan, and a need, for redemption. This is before their fall. He was revealing the Godhead - was Jesus always in submission to the Father, or only when He took the form of man in service for redemption?

Sanctification said...

Hi Missy,

Mary vs. Martha in a new light. I was never really satisfied with traditional explanations that seem self-congratualtory and permissivly idle to a mediocre homemaker like myself. Thanks for a little something to focus my quiet times around. :)

Well hey that's cool. Interesting application. Mary was also a woman under authority because she sat silently at His feet as He was teaching. She later spoke back theology to Him, "You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world." Kinda nice to see that isn't it.

Sanctification said...

Jim, let me help curb your admiration of what it is like to be a woman by first saying that I'm glad you're simply alive to begin with (you know you'll never live this down, right?).

Second, I'd like to point out something about Luke 20:1-2.

Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?”

3 categories of authority at once, and Jesus. Chief priests. Scribes. Elders. Why did they come altogether? Perhaps it was to prevent Jesus from saying, "Well, go ask those other guys, because they and I have talked, they have a sense of understanding about My authority," they could head that sort of business straight off. Jesus couldn't claim anything if they all at once testified that they never knew Jesus nor approved of Him. They would all be present to deny it.

As three groups presented themselves before Him, they said without words, "We represent all the authority God has given to men. Therefore you could not have any."

Jesus didn't need to talk about it because He knew what God was doing in His life and that's all He needed to worry about. See, those three authorities had little awareness of 'an other' in their thinking about their position and their ministry. I mean, is there any other authority beside those three positions? Or, are they it? Why yes, there is God - He also has authority and in fact, He is the one who shared (administered) the authority to men in the first place. But, they didn't seem to remember that, just as they did not recognize the God (Jesus) before them either.

It is because Jesus suffered as one never deserving authority and they shared none of it, that He was crucified. Hebrews 13:12-13

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Through suffering and treated without authority, God was transforming Jesus as becoming one established in a new authority. Once He died, the Father made Jesus an authority that replaced the Old system. Hebrews 2:9-10

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

More...

Sanctification said...

A woman is subject to those in authority and has "no say" - indeed she wasn't even created when the Command was spoken to Adam. Lady Wisdom also has no authority, but she is building her house anyway. Proverbs 9:1-3

She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
She has sent out her maidens,


A house fully stocked cannot be ignored in time of a famine. That's just the way it is. It is the same thing with Jesus Christ today. Hebrews 2:18

For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

The interesting thing is this: Like Eve, Jesus by experience had "no say." John 1:11

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

But later He became the authority. If we could relate this to business or politics, we could see how revolutions replace one regime for a new one, but the same corruptions that took place in the old eventually settle into the new. And the same is true of a woman who becomes, through long-suffering, an authority of some kind, even to her husband. If a man submits himself to his wife because of her wisdom, she can abuse her authority too - she's made of the same human stuff. Imagine a woman who will not recognize any way, or any voice, but hers - this happens of course.

If there is a righteous establishment of authority, it will last by not shutting out those who are without authority though oppressing them and dismissing them. Receiving those image-bearing people, people who have been given a purpose from the LORD, and yet are without position - this is where Paul can write a verse such as this:

submitting to one another in the fear of God eph 5:21

...where there is an acute awareness of "God" and His authority and purposes in thinking of the will of "an other" when it comes to wisdom. This approaches the goal of the covenant, Hebrews 2:11

For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren

Or another way to say it is Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Or another way to say it is in the words of Joseph in Genesis 50:20-21

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

agent4him said...

I made it through my first lecture this morning for this Fall's hermeneutics course. Went pretty well, in fact. Thank you all for your intercession!

Michele, you said
That's the woman's propensity... man's is that it is not good to be alone. But... as soon as God made woman, God was revealing that there was a plan, and a need, for redemption. This is before their fall. He was revealing the Godhead - was Jesus always in submission to the Father, or only when He took the form of man in service for redemption?

I'm assuming you mean that Sin is the woman's propensity? If so, I would say, No, it was the man whose actions were the proximate cause of the fall. One plausible way of working through the hypotheticals is to posit that if Adam had "corrected" Eve's deception by the serpent, neither would have yet sinned: First Timothy 2 verifies that the woman was deceived, but "sin entered" (Rom 5:12) when Adam accepted the false offer, instead of "covering" her "fall into transgression."

But, yes, God was revealing the Godhead before the fall in highlighting the "order" of Jesus' functional subordination to the Father pictured by man as the "head" or "cover" of woman---which is the main point of 1 Cor 11. Yes, Jesus as the "firstborn," the pre-incarnate agent of all Creation (Col 1:15-18), was in submission to the Father.

I will respond to your subsequent two reflections below.

agent4him said...

One big key to being perfected, as an authority, through suffering: you said,
awareness of 'an other'

This goes both ways---"up" and "down":
Jesus was always aware of the One Authority who sent Him, the Father, the Ultimate Other. But he also maintained consummate awareness of those for whom he was sent.

The "perfection" of a woman's authority through suffering, it seems to me, closely mirrors this "up" and "down" awareness that Jesus had.

I guess that, in the final analysis, is what is behind my "admiration of what it is like to be a woman."

Sanctification said...

Hi Tim,

You're right. The woman has dominion as well. I just read Proverbs 31 and I see it. She is a very contributory person to her community and she uses what she has to redeem and lift up others.

Sanctification said...

Hi Jim,

I expect that you were enabled to finish your powerpoint. :)

You said,
But, yes, God was revealing the Godhead before the fall in highlighting the "order" of Jesus' functional subordination to the Father pictured by man as the "head" or "cover" of woman---which is the main point of 1 Cor 11.

A good passage. Also 1 Peter 3:7

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

This is a good reason a woman should not covet a man's position. Women become sensitive to the fact that they do oftentimes the same work, and work just as hard as men in Christ for His redemption. But we never see the title, we never hold the position, we aren't considered authorities. It feels crappy.

But God sees a man's authority with gravity. God hinders prayer for one party, not both, when something goes awry in the marriage-unit. He hinders His ability to abide with a husband. Even if both parties are to blame for discord, it is the man who suffers and dies in his relationship with the LORD, till it gets sorted out. Men, like Christ, are called to die and suffer and they are built to do so. This helps me to overcome Eve's curse in desiring her husband.... I'm much more interested in soaring on the heights, uninterrupted in flight, with the LORD thank you very much!!

That's where the androgynous factor comes in. We women are authorities over our children and how often I've thrown my hands up and sit down saying, "What do you want from me?!?" It's only because I perpetually hold the position of authority over them that I grow tired and disinterested and sometimes disengage. Being 'caught in the middle' as both one in position of authority (with children) and without position of authority (with a husband/the church) teaches me in just a few years' effort how to bring righteousness to the position.

But men too are 'caught in the middle'. They are in the position with women and children, but the Church is called Christ's bride, and men can understand how they are one without position, needing help every day, every hour, to receive the righteousness and life so to continue in blamelessness.

Androgynous defined: Being neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine, as in dress, appearance, or behavior.

While homosexuality is a sin, there is a universality within the Christian experience in the roles of men and women. Women are not without authority, they are without authority in specific roles. Men are not in authority, they are in authority in specific roles. God is a God of order who gave us the roles of gender and these interrelationships guided by stringent capacities, not for our harm but for our education and character. To open the eyes of compassion in us toward a lost world, from a God that just didn't have to listen to us but who we know plainly through His order in humanity, always does.

Sanctification said...

It's interesting how, when conflict arises, both genders hunker down deeper into the orientation of their gender. Their own truths, their own God-given purposes, their own good-willed motivations. These two orientations (ones in authority and ones without, or, male/female) are naturally at odds over one home turf. The same thing happens when we turn on the news report and as Democrats and Republicans debate the two sides of an issue, their ability to receive one another gets worse. The question is, will there be enough learning from our other roles in life to bring perspective (wisdom) to imagine the goodness and good purposes of the one opposing?

Women can get together with other women and feel that they have more in common with them than they do with their husband, and why? Because the orientation and purposes are identical. I am sure the same is with men. But to revel in your own gender is to not bear fruit.

I am learning to recognize this of late: if behavior "worsens" during conflict, it might be because their orientation is made by God to be different than mine, to illustrate God's grace.

Indeed I have been touched this week, seeing that Jesus thought important to include me and listen to me, but even when I didn't have any good thing to contribute. I thought I was the authority over my life before my eyes were opened and I made no space for His contribution. I was His enemy, and I wasn't interested in relationship at all, when Jesus carved His pillars and mixed His wine and slaughtered His meat. He has given up His life and He is so owed my thankfulness and admiration!

blog archive

Phrase Search / Concordance
Words/Phrase To Search For
(e.g. Jesus faith love, or God of my salvation, or believ* ever*)