::Earth-Shattering Distinctives::

:: Thursday, March 17, 2005 ::

Women's Bible Studies and the Titus 2 Mandate

"...the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things - that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." Titus 2:3-5

Paul is very specific in his instruction to the older women here regarding what they are to teach the younger women. It's noteworthy that he mentions the younger women's husbands twice - the first time with the instruction to teach women to love their own husbands, and the second, to be obedient to them. As we learn to apply God's Word to every area of our lives, we notice how rich this passage is in the details that surround our lives as women. There is so much to teach and learn from one another about how to live in the homes that God has given us and how to relate to our husbands and children.

I've talked to several reformed women who have attended women's bible studies, and there seems to be a common thread in their concerns: While they love doctrine, what they really long for is practical application in daily living at women's studies and hands on instruction in homemaking skills. That's probably why there is so much talking and subjective sharing at these studies, and eight out of ten study questions never get answered in a two hour period. Women are naturally geared for hands-on learning and mentorship. If the elders in the church and womens' own husbands are giving family devotions at home, is it really necessary to attend a study where a woman is exegeting scripture and teaching Christ in the shadow of Moses? Wouldn't that time be better spent learning from older women how to care for their homes and families? How many young women need to learn how to sew, crochet and quilt? How many need to know how to use a kitchen? Shop and plan meals? Make a meal out of a few ingredients in the house? How many women would love to learn from an older woman how to stop children's temper tantrums at home and in the grocery store, or simply how to schedule their baby's feedings and sleeping so that Mom can get the rest she needs?

Satan is very clever. He knows that as reformed women, while we would never accept the egalitarian doctrine of women pastors and elders, it is still very easy for us to usurp in other ways. I have to be honest and say that I have fallen into this trap too. Seeing theological weakness in a church among the men, I've subconsciously and perhaps even consciously attempted to fill in the gap with heavily exegeted women's devotions and studies in order to assuage the problem of abdicating men in the church. And it's so much easier to teach about election and predestination than it is to get a bunch of women together, drag out cooking or sewing supplies and clean up the mess afterward. However, this is exactly what Paul is commanding that we do! Drag out the supplies! And whether they're eight or eighty- eight, have the women in your home with lots of food, treats and supplies, and teach and learn from each other - messes, mistakes, frustrations and all.

If preaching and teaching scripture from the pulpit is the job of elders, then bible studies are also the job of elders. I remember one women's study I attended years ago where the pastor led the Saturday women's Bible study. (How that dear man handled all the estrogen in the room every Saturday morning is a mystery I'll never solve!) I remember being inwardly indignant my first week there, thinking, "This isn't his job! It's ours!" However, I must say it was the most organized, pleasant Bible study I ever attended. Whenever we would go off on a rabbit trail, our pastor firmly, yet lovingly and often humorously got us back on track so that we finished the scheduled study for that week. While I don't believe in segregation of families in the church, if there had to be a women's Bible study, that was a good way to go about it.

I am not at all saying that women shouldn't learn doctrine. We absolutely should - from our husbands and the elders of the church. It's their job, and as fallen men, they should not be provoked to abdication because of our usurpation. Our taking over the job is not going to correct their theological weaknesses, and the most brilliant theologian has them. Just as God the Father gave His Law-Word, and the Son lived it out in perfect obedience, let us be like Christ and live out the beautiful doctrines of God's Word. If and when you are tempted to be angry about your role, seeing it as inferior to that of the man, remember Christ's position in the Godhead. Although he is co-equal to God the Father, he did not use that equality to his own advantage, and neither should we.

:: Mal du siecle 4:38 AM |