Manhood and Womanhood

 

I’d like to summarize most of a great sermon by Dr. Voddie Baucham on “Manhood and Womanhood.”  It is a frequent sermon topic for him, and I have done another blog on this subject from another sermon.  But the Scriptural proof and the approach this sermon takes on this vital topic are well worth reading; he is uncovering false doctrine. If you truly believe in following God’s heart on this subject and doing His commands, this sermon and blog will give it to you straight.  The Church has erred on this subject badly, and it has cost us. Few pastors will preach on this.

He starts with Ephesians 5:22:

 Wives, submit to your own husbands

He stops reading.  Right there, Scripture and true Christians are already at war with Western culture.  Feminism is at war with the Gospel—and with traditional marriage. In the modern neo-Marxist culture, everything involving relations is seen through the lens of power—they see everything from an “oppressor-oppressed” paradigm. They see marriage that obeys Scripture, as the oppression of women.

Through this same short Scripture, we are also at war with same-sex marriage.  It says marriage is made up of husband and wife; a wife has a husband, not another wife.  Yet, this simple fact amounts to fighting words today. Also, the verse strongly suggests that there is something unique about manhood, and something unique about womanhood.  God made them male and female in His image, in the very first chapter of Genesis. His instruction to them is God’s earliest establishment of relationship, so it must be important. As Genesis 1:26 says:

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

That’s yet another battleground, as certain people attempt to mess with male and female by transgendering them.   But God does not make mistakes when He creates them male or female.  Playing God like this is corruption.

As you read on in Ephesians 5, it brings up another battleground between Scripture and culture:

 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything… ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

It is an offense to most folks when you bring up any idea that people should be made holy. Sinfulness? A need for salvation, or rescue from hell? A need for sanctification?  They are offended that you suggest that they need them.  It’s a third rail in regular conversation. They see the evening news, and the lowlifes.  “We’re better than that.” They are clueless about what Jesus was trying to say in Luke 18:9-14, blessing the repentant tax collector, not the self-righteous Pharisee.

To continue in Ephesians 5:

²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself…. ³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (wow, there are those binary terms again)….and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Another reason why this manhood/womanhood matters:  It refers to Christ and the Church, to the redemption that we find in God’s Gospel.  So we cannot abandon this ground.

Now he studies details.  Looking at the beginning of verse 22, “Wives, submit,” the Bible teaches us that there is order within the context of marriage.  Headship and submission. This is patriarchy.  That concept puts us at war with the culture that hates the patriarchy.  A definition here: Oxford defines it as a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. But neo-Marxism, and even evangelical feminists, find subterfuge in this:  it is evil, they say.  Men having this power are oppressors. Patriarchy also unfortunately puts us at war with ourselves as a Church (PS:  We’re talking about Christ’s Body on earth, not just the Catholics).  Because the Church is divided.  Many in the Church hate to seem different, or disliked by the culture. So when they see the culture is moving opposite of literal Scripture, they become fearful, and back off Scripture, or twist Scripture, saying, “No, that conclusion you accuse us of is a misreading of Scripture. We are willing to change orthodoxy and be adaptable when it is needed. Only fundamentalists try to stick with the old ways; only they agree with patriarchy.”

Yes, they do twist Scripture.  One twist is based on Genesis 3:14ff, where God curses all the parties to the Fall.  He curses both Adam and Eve, and through them the entire race of humans.  Here is God’s curse on women, through Eve:

To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.

Woke “Christians” say that women allowing the male to rule, his headship, is a product of the Fall.  With her sin, she was ashamed and gave up any leadership to him. But, they say, when we find ourselves in Christ, women no longer need headship. Christ reverses the curse of Genesis 3:16—so they say.

Dr. Baucham’s response to ”the curse is reversed” position that twists Scripture so as to deliver women from the clutches of patriarchy, is, first, take another look at Genesis 3:16 (see above):  The first part of the curse is pain in childbearing, then it gets to patriarchy. Thinking of maternity wards everywhere, he asks, “Why do I feel like it still hurts, ladies?” With the cries of pain still ringing in our ears, it seems clear that the curse has not been reversed for the ladies, even with the first coming of Christ.

 Secondly, Adam had headship BEFORE the Fall, not as a result of the Fall, as they insist.  Plenty of Scriptural proof in Genesis 1 and 2: (a) the man was made before the woman; (b) the woman was made for the man; (c) the woman was brought to the man; (d) the woman was named by the man.

Another related twisting was actually done by the Council on Biblical Equality (CBE), supposedly a Christian theologian get-together. They begin their summary by saying, “Scripture is our authoritative guide for faith or practice.” Yay. But then they say, “Patriarchy is male dominance.”  (Note the bias in the word “dominance,” vs the Oxford definition above. Baucham disagrees, saying patriarchy is male leadership, headship—as Oxford says.)  The CBE continues, “patriarchy is not a Biblical ideal, but the result of sin.” They are speaking of Eve’s sin.  But that gave him power, which he almost always abuses. What results is, to quote the CBE, “men taking from females what God has given them.” The CBE assumes that Christian men cannot restrain their abuse, and will essentially always take from females.  Hard to believe that Christian theologians, as this CBE statement shows, can conclude the Holy Spirit is incapable of sanctifying men—they have a total lack of appreciation of God’s power of sanctification.

And, oh yes, their feeling that this was Eve’s sin causing God to react is disputed by Romans 5:12:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

If you thought of the unbiased question, “Why was all the blame laid on him?  She sinned first.”  The answer is, as anyone in a hierarchy knows, those in headship bear the responsibility for anything that happens under their watch.  Thus, the sin is blamed on Adam; he was the head of the family, and the sin occurred under his watch—so it was his responsibility.  Baucham, having put holes in these twists of Scripture, now asks us, “Please don’t shy away from the word patriarchy; embrace it…if for no other reason, it just messes with them so much.”

Another twist-of-Scripture argument evangelical feminists use is based on the fact that the verb “submit” in Ephesians 5:22 is not there—it is done as a shorthand, and repeated elsewhere in Scripture.  But the opposition makes an assumption:  presumably, they argue, it was borrowed from v. 21.  So tying them together, they think, it goes like this:

²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of God. ²² Wives,…to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 

So, based on that v.21, their argument is, what you have is mutual submission in the missing space in v.22, not headship of one.  He submits to her, and, at other times, she submits to him.  Baucham’s response?  1) the verb in v. 21 is a military term.  But in the military, submission works in only one direction—so we’re still talking wives submitting to husbands only. (2) Verse 21 is the end of a paragraph; v. 22 is a new paragraph.  You cannot explain something in v. 22 looking backwards to a previous paragraph, since that could be a totally different context, for an explanation of what to assume about “submit.” In fact, starting with v. 22 as the lead in the new paragraph, we have the same theme of headship of the husband.  Look at v. 23:

²³ Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church

So we can properly assume the missing word in v22, in this paragraph, is “submit,” as in submit to the husband, not “mutually submit.” To prove that further, Dr. Baucham says that in the earlier paragraph that ends in vv 19-21, it is speaking about another topic; the evidences of a Spirit-filled life. Particularly operating in a church atmosphere. 

…be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of God.

This paragraph has one theme: evidences of a Spirit-filled life, in opposition to how culture acts.  It includes: (1) singing and speaking psalms, hymns, creating spiritual songs—because you have “melody in your heart to the Lord;” (2) continuously thanking God for all things, especially Jesus; and (3) we are willing to submit to authorities in the church (elder reproaches, words of knowledge or prophecy, all discussed further elsewhere in Scripture)—this is in contrast to the world’s hierarchy in groups, which are  full of disloyalties, betrayal, directed gossip, and stepping on people trying to get to the top. 

Rev. Baucham summarizes that the reason for Scripture-twisting is, the culture hates male headship because they hate God’s headship overall. They are also in rebellion against Christ, who is also God.  So their desire is to blaspheme God—and, since the Family is structured to copy His image of Christ and the Church, they want to blaspheme that too. Scripture points out that Christ is head over us, His bride, the Church.  We submit to Him, knowing He loves us enough to even die for us.  God designed that the family copies that same image.  The husband is head over the wife, and the wife is willing to submit, knowing that the husband is to love her and will, if necessary, give his life to protect her.

 In reality, Ephesians 5 could not be clearer—we just do not want to accept God’s plan, because we would rather believe lies. (Exactly what Eve did in her sin.) 

Now He stresses that submission does not depreciate the wife’s value.  This is about order, which a family must have.  Trying to have both husband and wife giving orders is trouble:  anything with two heads is a monster. It leads to fights between them, and confusion among the kids.  Dr. Baucham uses a military illustration to explain value vs order:  Say a unit has a sergeant who has been on several tours of the area where the regiment will be working in.  And it has an officer, a lieutenant, wet behind the ears.  Who is more valuable?  The sergeant, since he has experience; let’s hope the lieutenant seeks his advice in critical times.  But according to order, who is the head?  The lieutenant.  The sergeant leaves the final decision to him, and when the order comes down, even if it’s wrong, he salutes and executes.  If he doesn’t obey, everything breaks down. The enemy has won already.  Like the sergeant, women are not less valuable than men. Dr. Baucham has traveled much, and insists that cultures impacted to obedience by the Gospel are the places with the freest, safest, most protected and cherished women on earth. 

But what is the usual story of women who truly free themselves (i.e., divorce) from their husbands and raise the kids without his headship?  Here’s the sobering fact: 

…median family income of married-couple families with children was about $101,560 in 2021, whereas single-mother counterparts (i.e., with children) had just $32,586 (U.S. Census Bureau 2021).

Then Dr. Baugham deals with another touchy subject.  Look at Ephesians 5:22 again:

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

She is to submit, not because he is smarter, or even deserves it (think of our sergeant again); or even that the louse almost always  acts in his best interest (another Scripture for her on that; another blog).  She is to trust God to work on straightening, or punishing, him out.  God will honor her submission by giving her the break she needs; that’s what God does for obedience.  Nor can she use the statement that sounds spiritual, “The Lord told me I am to do this, and not what you want.”  The Lord will never tell her that; He cannot direct her to violate His Scriptural commands.

We are seeing in our culture the results of ignoring God, who wants the women to be protected as the weaker vessel (I Peter 3:7). Such as, the foolishness of a trans athlete who goes from middle of the pack as a man, then declares himself a woman, and “earns” a women’s national championship.  He actually stole the crown away from a woman.  Or a trans-MMA fighter who got into the ring with a woman and fractured her skull.  Or, a big one:  Women who actually go into combat as soldiers. Or, here’s one that we are likely unaware of:  consider that men have a distinctly shorter life, on average, than women, and suffer much more of mortal ailments that have been related to anxiety.  Quite possibly from the pressures at work? Trying to uphold the family as breadwinner?  So, what happens when women are persuaded to shoulder a workload (assumedly a big cultural “blessing” nowadays--More money to spend!) They also experience the same ailments, the same shorter lives. My theory is likely proven by how the mortality gap between the two genders is shrinking, a known fact, as more women went to work.  Plus, since women actually still have maternal instincts, when they make the mistake of going to work while some kids are smaller, or as adolescents, and need good parental guidance—but she cannot reliably do it.  And the moms feel guilty. (But that is another blog).  

You ought to read Ephesians 5:25-29 when you hear people say that our patriarchy, doing what God prescribes, is “detrimental to women,” as they accuse God’s system. Many respond by fear, or by burying or twisting the Scripture. Many of us  hang our heads and have no response, and are ashamed; we should not do this; it is God’s command, so have confidence that it will work out best. Never be ashamed of following God. Ask yourself:  Do these verses below look like husbands abuse women? As you can read, God wants him to  love her.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her… ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For we are members of His body…

If we trust our loving God, His commands and structures will not steer us wrong.  Simply be obedient to His Word. We men do not suddenly convert into an abuser. With that kind of accusation, they are actually saying that Jesus is an abuser of His bride, the Church—would He do that to the Church that He loves and gave His life for?  This blasphemes Christ’s love for His bride. That’s why we can’t give them this ground. This is sinister and comes from the mind of Satan. 

Many of you are like Mr. Spock, taking actions based primarily on logic, and lean away from Scripture when it seems illogical comparing to what the culture does. Did you know that you are judging God?  Well, when it comes to Scripture, you gotta stop doing that. I was that type, and with my pubescent mind, there was good logic in frequently lying to my parents.  I was very rational, honest, yet I almost wiped out our savings and would have made my family penniless.  Our minds, compared with God’s mind, are nothing and perverted by sin. His mind is often not understandable:  it is immense, cosmic, and eternal. If we believe Him, we can just relax and do His will when decisions involve moral choices. And His commands for male and female are that sort. I’m not saying husbands will be perfect (based on my experience).  I’m not saying that if the husband is not moral we should divorce him.  (Divorce is for another blog).  Think of Abraham, when after so many years he had a child under a freewoman (Sarah), finally seeing God’s promise come true. Then God asked him to offer that son as a blood sacrifice. What?! There are a million logical reasons why he “should have” ignored that voice that told him to do that. It seemed crazy.  And think of Job, who clearly lived for following God and living a righteous life.  But he lost his kids and all his earthly fortune, and his health. Why not curse this illogical God? In all this, there is sometimes no explanation—but we cannot mistrust God out of our lives—that would mean hell for us, to be blunt but truthful.  God may do this to test us, to let us find out if we will follow Him no matter what.  Or God may do it to prove that His children are not guaranteed a life of roses when we become born again.  If He had that pleasant idea, some people would do a con job to become Christians, just to grab those benefits. But they never wanted a relationship with God. Then you have  churches full of unsaved people, so His bride’s reputation becomes filthy, not spotless and sanctified.

Well, given that school systems, laws, and certain government employees are going crazy, not logical at all, we need some harsh words to wake up and not fearful of becoming different; we do.  May God bless you receive these words, and to spread Truth around when you see it in Scripture.