{"id":4724,"date":"2024-11-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/november-15\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T10:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:31:32","slug":"november-15","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/reading-plan\/november-15\/","title":{"rendered":"November 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from 1 Peter 3:<\/span><\/p>\n

Verses about wives being subject to husbands didn\u2019t just apply in the first century and in ancient cultures. These verses about how husbands and wives are to relate to one another are true in all times and in all cultures. They are gifts to men and women from the God of heaven: \u201cAll Scripture is breathed out by God\u201d (see 2 Timothy 3:14\u201316).<\/span><\/p>\n

The ordering of a marriage (i.e., \u201cthe husband is the head of the wife\u201d\u2014see Ephesians 5:23) is not a result of the curse. It took place before Adam and Eve sinned. Beyond this, the ordering of a marriage says nothing about the relative worth of the participants in the marriage. The Bible doesn\u2019t teach that men are more valuable than women or that women are more valuable than men. It does teach, however, that husbands and wives are different and that they fill different roles. It should not surprise us that the world doesn\u2019t understand this. After all, if they do not believe there is a Creator, why would they believe that the creation has order to it? But if we believe in a Creator, we should, also, believe that the Creator was intentional in his creation. He ordered things as he saw fit. Marriage is the first human institution seen in the word of God. It was created by God so that Adam might have strong help in fulfilling the mandate to fill the earth with God\u2019s glory.<\/span><\/p>\n

God demonstrates Adam\u2019s place in the marriage by virtue of the fact that Adam was created first\u2014see Paul\u2019s words in 1 Timothy 2:12\u201313. (The fact that Adam was considered by God to be the head of the first family may be seen in the fact that God spoke to Adam first after Adam and Eve ate the fruit. Adam, as the \u201chead\u201d of the marriage, was accountable for the marriage itself.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Marriage is far more significant than most understand. It is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. When we see a healthy marriage we see a picture of how the church functions with Christ. That\u2019s why Paul, when he talks about how wives are to relate to their husbands, can\u2019t help but speak of how the church relates to Christ (see Ephesians 5:22\u201324).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is essential that pastors and elders speak about the marriage relationship in a biblical way. Parents must teach their children these things. We must not avoid this topic. Future generations of believers will face catastrophic results if they do not hear how the holy men and women of God are to behave toward one another. The marriage relationship was created by God (see Genesis 1\u20132). In his word he has outlined how it is to be ordered. In the same way that we cannot function in the church in a way that is inconsistent with God\u2019s desires, we must not attempt to pattern our marriages in ways that are inconsistent with God\u2019s desires.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that people sometimes equate submission with weakness in character. We must not think that this is the case. Peter uses the term in an entirely positive manner. And Christ was not weak when he submitted to the authorities. In fact, his submission was one of the ways he demonstrated his strength.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is counterproductive when Christians (particularly pastors and leaders) constantly make jokes about these topics. This subject isn\u2019t a joke. What if we made jokes about other commands every time they were brought up\u2014wouldn\u2019t this have the tendency of eroding those commands? If we believe that God\u2019s word is \u201cbreathed out\u201d by him (see 2 Timothy 3:16), we will not make jokes about obeying any of his commands.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4724","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}