1: But
you speak things which are fitting for sound doctrine 2: Men [who are]
elders be sober grave temperate sound in faith in love in patience 3: Women
[who are] elders likewise in deportment reverent not false accusers not given
to much wine teachers of good things 4: To nurture [Tyndale]
the young be sober affectionate [1]maternal
5: self-controlled pure [2]guards
[of the] home good yielding to their men [3]
that the word of God be not evil spoken of 6: Young [men] likewise
exhort to exercise self-control 7: In all things showing yourselves a
pattern of good works in doctrine showing uncorruptness gravity sincerity 8:
Sound speech that cannot be condemned that [they] from [the adversary who are]
against [us] may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you 9: Slaves
to be obedient unto your masters and be well pleasing in all things not talking
back 10: Not embezzling but showing all good fidelity that they may
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior[4] in
all things 11: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared
to every person 12: Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly
lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present age 13:
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ Jesus is God 14: Who gave himself for
us that he might redeem us from all sin and purify unto himself a unique people
zealous of good works 15: These things speak and exhort and rebuke with
all authority Let no one despise you
[1] There is nothing weak or subordinate
about being maternal. The Holy Spirit (Greek Pneuma neuter / Hebrew Ruwach feminine) is maternal. We see
that in Genesis 1:2 where Ruwach Elohiym
broods and flutters over the face of the waters (like a mother hen or bird).
Deborah, as supreme leader of the nation, was called a Mother in Israel.
[2] How is it that “guards of the home”
gets translated into house-keepers or housewives? Only by misogyny in Bible
translation and commentary.
[3] In the social hierarchy of ancient
times, the status of women was only just above that of slaves. The equal status
of Christian women under Paul’s leadership was scandalous. The Greek word, hypotasso, mistranslated here [concerning
wives] as “be obedient to,” is grammatically in the “middle voice” which
softens it from a military term to a voluntary, Christlike, yielding, as in “preferring
one another before ourselves.” We see a New Testament example of the word being
used in just such a manner in 1 Peter 5:5 (KJV).
The word hypotasso,
most often translated as submit,be subject to, and be in subjection to, does not always mean
to be arrayed “under.” So, the accepted definition is
erroneous. If Paul intended hypotasso
to mean “obey” or “be subject to” in this verse [and we maintain that he did
not], it should be taken entirely within the cultural constructs of the time
where just a few verses down, he also instructs slaves to be obedient to
masters.
The entire civilized world, now rightly condemns the
enslavement of human beings and recognizes it for the primitive sin that it is.
So why is it that using religion to enslave women [female submission doctrine] continues
to be accepted and touted as God’s *glorious
design?
The fact that some women claim to cheerfully accept the
yoke of gender-based bondage, does not change the nature of it. The fact that
some women have “good masters” does not negate the fact that their autonomy as
adults is abridged by complementarian doctrine.
Using religion to coerce women into subjection to men is a
form of slavery. Calling the design
“glorious” is pure propaganda.
*Since the 2010 release of, Woman this is War! Gender, Slavery and theEvangelical Caste System,” where the “glorious design” motto of CBMW (and
the rhetoric of ***prominent complementarians) was compared to that of the Civil
War Confederacy,” in touting their “glorious” cause [of preserving a way of
life built entirely on slavery], CBMW has since deleted from their website any
mention of, **“Proclaiming God’s Glorious Design
for Men and Women.” However, leading complementarians in concert with one
another, continue use a slightly modified form of their former motto. They are
now “Proclaiming God’s Good
Design.”
** The
former motto can be viewed via internet archive screen shots. By 2014, CBMW had
completely scrubbed it from its website:
*** “Discipline doesn’t stifle; it gives
power…Why shouldn’t it be so when we consider the glorious hierarchal order
too?” (emphasis added) Elizabeth Elliott, Let
Me be a Woman: Notes to My Daughter on the Meaning of Womanhood, Living
Books, Wheaton, Ill, 1982
[4]
Jesus is YHWH. Jesus is God…not a subordinate member of the Godhead. ALL the
fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus in Physical form (Colossians 2:9). The
hierarchical theory of the Godhead is the old Aryan Heresy that, historically,
was soundly rejected by all respected biblical scholars but revived in the 1980’s
by complementarian leaders who found that it worked nicely to shore up female
subjection doctrine that is so flimsy, Charles Stanley wrote in his 1988 book, A Man’s Touch (published one year after
the Danvers Statement), that if there was no hierarchy within the Godhead, then
complementarians had no basis for teaching gender-based subordination.
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