WOMAN AND VIRTUES
Man and woman are equal in Christ.
Through faith we are all children of God in union with Christ Jesus. Baptized
into union with him we have all put on Christ as a garment. There is no such
thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female for we are all one
person in Christ Jesus. This solemn declaration was made since the founding of
the church. It is found in Galatians 3:28.
Man is not superior to woman. Man
is not favoured over woman. Before God we are
worthless creatures made precious by the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, in I
Peter 3:7 it is stated that a man arid a woman share together in the grace of
God.
Not only is woman equal to man,
woman is complementary to man. A woman fills up what a man cannot. In Genesis
3:20, woman has been described as a helper fit for man.
This equality and complementarily
are even more strongly suggested in the creation story where God made woman
from the side hone of a man. Woman is not to be subjugated or elevated. She is,
like the side bone, to be by the side of man.
AS WIFE
Proverbs 31:10-31, describes a
good wife as such
“A good wife who can find?
She is far more precious than
jewels.
The heart of her husband [rust in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her maidens.
She considers a field and buy it:
with the fruit of her hands she
plants a vineyard.
She girds her loins with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise
is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes herself coverings;
her clothing is line linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers girdles to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.”
While the Old Testament emphasises duty, the New Testament exhorts submission as
being an important characteristic of virtue for woman. Ephesians 5:22-24 says:
“Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself
its Saviour. As the church is subject to Christ, so
let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.”
And I Peter 3:1-6 says
“Likewise you wives, be submissive to your
husbands, so that some, though they (10 not obey the word, may be won without a
word by the behaviour of their wives, when they see
your reverent and chaste behaviour. Let not yours he
the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of
line clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the
imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very
precious. So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and
were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.
And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you.”
AS MOTHER
A good Christian mother must
ensure that her children marry in the Lord. It is a sin for Christians to marry
non-Christians.
Genesis 27-28 tells the story of
Rebecca and her two children Esau and Jacob. Esau married Hittite girls, Judith
and Basemath. They caused much grief to Rebecca.
Having learnt this lesson, in 27:46, Rebecca said:
“I am weary of my life because of
the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one
of the women of the land, what good will my life be to
me!”
And 28:1-3 records:
“Then Isaac called Jacob and
blessed him, and charged him, ‘You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. Arise,
go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel
your mother’s father: and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you
may become a company of peoples.’”
AS CHURCH WORKER
Titus 2:3-5 says
“Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behaviour, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink: they
are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands
and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their
husbands, that the word God may not be discredited.”
There are many roles for women in
the church. If spiritually gifted, she can prophecy (Lk
-38). She can serve the
ministers (Nit 8:14-15; Rom 16: 1-2), teach the young (2 Tim ), receive itinerant preachers (Ac ; Rom ),
or give alms to the needy (Ac )
