SSB Sunday Gathering – November 26, 2017

Spiritual Sounding Board – This is your place to gather and share in an open format.

 

-by Kathi

Discussion: The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight

From Chapter 12 – What Did Women Do in the Old Testament?: Women in Church Ministries 2

What we learn from Genesis 1-2, then, is that God originally made Adam and Eve as mutuals, that the fall distorted that relationship, and that the story of the Bible’s plot leads us to see redemption in Christ as new creation. Both Jesus and Paul see in Genesis 1-2 the original design for what Christ’s redemption brings to men and women in this world. If there is any place in the world where this mutuality should be restored, it should be in the church. Ironically, it can be the least redemptive place of the week!

Reading the Bible as a story means we must start at the beginning. Genesis 1-3 accounts for the creation of mankind and the fall of mankind. Complementarians tend to use this account to confirm that women must be in submission to men due to the curse placed upon woman. Submission became a permanent model for relationships in home and church.

From an egalitarian perspective, mutuality was destroyed, however, it has been restored through Christ. The brokenness between men and women and the beginning of the story has been restored toward the end of the story.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

The curse on woman in Genesis 3:16 – “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” – has been explained that woman will desire control over her husband. I agree that this could be one interpretation of this verse. I have come to think that this verse means that woman’s desire is for the lost relationship of mutuality between the two. Either way, Christ came to restore brokenness.

If you are interested in more scholarly articles about mutuality and Genesis, CBE International has excellent resources.

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Exodus 2: 1 – 10 (all of the women who saved Moses)

Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

“Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

2 Kings 11: 1 – 3 (a woman saves a future king)

When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Proverbs 12: 14 – 16

From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him. The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice. A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

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May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you from the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

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Feel free to join the discussion.

You can share your church struggles and concerns.

Let’s also use it as a time to encourage one another spiritually.

What have you found spiritually encouraging lately?

Do you have any special Bible verses to share, any YouTube songs that you have found uplifting?

 

Photo credit: Brian – Little beggar!