I received this email from a friend this morning and am very thankful to her for taking the time to write and point out a prevailing false teaching that is soooo commonly pushed in churches. This stuff will guilt and demean and it can sound so “biblical.” The screenshots she mentions follow below and then my reply to her after that. Dear Pastor Crippen,
Every morning we get an email devotional from the Institute for Creation Research. I am sending two screen shots of the devotional this morning. I was quite shocked to read the commentary. I thought it would be of interest to you. The passage that is mentioned has always been confusing to me but the interpretation given here makes it sound like women remain under “a sentence.” That doesn’t make sense since I know Jesus redeemed me and freed me from the curse of the law. He paid for it all. I would love to hear your commentary on this passage.
Thank you for fulfilling your calling. I have written before but will say it again- your ministry is literally saving lives.
A concerned friend in Christ,
Here is the devotional that she sent. As she mentioned it is put out by the Institute for Creation Research.
Family Structure: Wives
by Henry M. Morris III, D.Min. | Nov. 10, 2020
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” (Colossians 3:18)
This instruction has created an undue amount of “interpretation” over the past century. The terminology is not unclear, but the culture (particularly in the Western world) has resisted the idea that God has specifically designed the structure of the family—beginning with the role of the wife and mother in the home.
She is to “submit” to her husband. The Greek word is hupotasso, a compound term that simply describes an “orderly arrangement.” Obviously, the instructions assume obedience to the design for human procreation “from the beginning of the creation” (Mark 10:6-7) and an understanding of the judgment handed down to humanity in Genesis 3.
That sentence on women (through Eve) is placed on all women, since “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). Also included in the description in Genesis 3:16 is that the woman will “long” (Hebrew teshuqateh) for her husband, and her husband will “have power” (Hebrew mashal) over her.
The arrangement, therefore, is designed to prevent further debility and to protect the woman through the man’s willing obedience to love her sacrificially and unconditionally, as “Christ loved the church.”
Ultimately, of course, all obedience is voluntary. Wives are to “arrange” themselves under their husband’s authority, knowing that the instructions are given by an omnipotent and omniscient heavenly Father whose care for each of us is greater than we can imagine.
This basic family structure is “fit in the Lord,” promising us that our obedience will ensure His care and blessing within the most intimate of all human relationships. HMM III
Days of Praise Podcastis a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, and Dr. John Morris to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
This is my reply that I sent back to her [with a few more thoughts added]-
Thank you very much for this.
Yes, this is indeed seed for abuse. And it is particularly deceptive because it is so mixed up with some things that are true. The fall. The serpent’s deceiving lies. Adam and Eve’s sin. Etc.
But if you step back and look at what this devotional is saying – it is that the woman and thus all women are still under a curse and that it was Eve who was primarily to blame. And the idea that Adam went ahead and ate out of love for his wife to share in her punishment is ridiculous and nowhere taught here. [Note: That last suggestion was in the second screen shot she sent from the “New Defender’s Bible Study Notes. I have transcribed that commentary and appended it to the end of this post].
In fact, the Bible lays more blame on Adam because he knowingly sinned.
We are all in Christ redeemed. He became a curse for us. Men and women are fellow heirs in Him.
I don’t have all the verses sorted out that teach us about wives submitting to their husbands. First Peter 3 remains a puzzle to me in some ways. I know that husbands and wives are to love one another and that husbands are to protect their wives and shoulder heavy loads rather than lay them on her. Wives should be able to permit this and trust their husbands protection. But you know as well as I that in so many cases the husband is a fake Christian who treats his wife cruelly and that sometimes the wife is the abuser too.
All of these things have been reversed in Christ. The verses here do not apply to the Christian anymore in the fullness which they once did. Whatever situation Paul was addressing in 1 Tim 2, he cannot mean that women in Christ remain under the curse. Yes, there are lingering results of the Fall which we, in our flesh, still experience as long as we live in this present world. Childbirth is still painful. We still need to weed our gardens and we sweat to make a living. But these things are not part of who we are as new creations in Christ, nor are they a part of
Genesis 3:16-19 ESV To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” (17) And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; (18) thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. (19) By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Galatians 3:13-14 ESV Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (14) so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Romans 8:1 ESV There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Fundamentlally, this article by Morris shows a blatant ignorance and denial of who we are in Christ and of what Christ has done for us on the cross by becoming a curse for us. It is very damaging and shaming. We reject it.
Here is the commentary she sent that I believe was included with that daily devotional as support for this enslaving teaching:
New Defender’s Study Bible Notes
1 Timothy 2:14 not deceived. In addition to the nature and purpose of her creation, there is a secondary reason why women should not be taking the leadership role in the home or church.
[NOTE: I don’t want us to get into a discussion in the comments about whether or not women should be pastors or elders. I have my views on this, but let me just say this and leave it at that: I know a lot of godly women who I would rather see teaching in the church than so many of the men who are doing so now!]
When the first woman took such a role, yielding to the temptaiton to reject God’s Word without first consulting her husband, she then induced Adam also to sin, thereby bringing sin into God’s perfect world (Genesis 3:6, Romans 5:12).
[NOTE: Romans 5:12 says nothing about…well, readi it yourself: Romans 5:12 ESV Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—]
Adam was not deceived by Satan’s lie, but deliberately associated himself also with Even in her sin because of her wanting him to join her in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen 3:12) and presumably also because of his love for her and his willingness to share her punishment. [Italics mine. This is a bizarre and unwarranted presumption].
The many daughters of Even share the trusting nature of their first mother and so (in general, at least) are more easily deceived by those evil spirits who can masquerade as angels of light (2 Cor 11:13-15). Although there may be exceptions when – for want of masculine leadership – a Christian woman may be forced to assume the spiritual leadership in the home (for example, Timothy’s own mother and grandmother) or even in the family of God (e.g. Deborah – Judges 4:4-8), this is not the divinely ordained way.
There is no New Testament example of a woman serving as an elder or bishop or pastor of a local church, with the possible exception of the false prophetess Jezebel in the church at Thytira (Rev 2:20), who was evidenlty herself deceived by Satan.
Do you see all of the presumption words in this commentary? “Presumably. Evidently. There may be exceptions.” This is the kind of conjecture and assumption handling of God’s Word that creates man’s traditions and then slaps the label of “Thus saith the Lord” onto them. Think about how Mormon theology and Roman Catholic dogma push very similar teachings that have enslaved so many people. And you can count on it – domestic abusers just love this stuff.
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