God wants to help you.

 Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee. It was a long walk, and at noon he took a break at a well in Samaria. 

There he found a woman drawing water from the well.

 It was taboo for Jews to talk to Samaritans. Jesus was also a Bible teacher, and no rabbi was allowed to speak to a woman alone. 

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

Jesus was alone with this woman because his disciples had gone to the nearby town to buy supplies. The woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her.

So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How do you, being a Jew, ask from me water to drink, since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jn 4:9 LEB

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” Jn 4:10 LEB

Are you a little religious, virtuous and idealistic? That's a good start, but there's more. Many pastors preach humanistic philosophy, and their listeners have nothing more than vague ideas about God and eternal reality.

Are you a Christian? Do you expect an eternal future in heaven? That's good. But if you knew what Jesus wants to give you here on earth, you would pray from the heart and expect miracles.

Are you entangled in drug addiction, prostitution, pornography or the occult?
 
The woman in this story was despised in her society, but she may not have been to blame.

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband,’ 

for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” Jn 4:17–18 NRSVue

In this society, only the man had the say. Five husbands had rejected her? Why?
Was she unable to bear sons? 
Had she been sexually abused and was unable to satisfy her husband? 
Was she extremely depressed, traumatised and moody?

How could she survive as a woman who had been divorced five times? As a beggar? As a prostitute?

Jesus did not look at her sins, but at her need. He simply loved her.

Jesus died on the cross for you and your sins. He simply loves you.

No matter where you are, Jesus wants to bless you.

When you entrust your life completely to Jesus, God's Spirit comes and dwells in your spirit.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, Eph 3:20 NRSVue

Why do we expect so little from God? What is your problem?
Have you failed? Jesus can give you strength and wisdom to live a new life.

Are you caught up in a colourless, decent religious routine? Jesus freed the decent Jews of his time from their religious treadmill. Jesus gave his disciples a new life filled with joy, freedom and adventure.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jn 10:10 NRSVue

Are you addicted to pornography? You can never enter God's heaven with pornography, but Jesus can set you free.

Jesus was tortured on the cross. Through his suffering, he took the punishment for all your sins upon himself.

If only you knew how God can and wants to help you, you would cry out for God's help and have a new life.

Jesus Wants You to be Free

 Jesus died to set you free.
Jesus died to save you from eternal death, to free you from despair and endless hopelessness, without God, without friendship, without comfort.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue
 
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSVue

Jesus died to free you from your twisted, selfish human nature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17 NKJV

Jesus died to free you from loneliness.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Cor 13:14 NIV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 Jn 1:7 NIV

Jesus died to free you from sickness.

… “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Mt 8:17 NRSVue

Jesus died to free you from legalism.

Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 
Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 
Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them.

 Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.

 Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.
Those who do not eat meat do so for the glory of the Lord, and they also give thanks to God. Rom 14:1–6 NRSVue

Jesus died to free us from authoritarian leadership.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NIV

Submission is mutual.

 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 2 Cor 11:19–20 NIV

Here Paul teaches through the Holy Spirit that Christians have the right, even the duty, to resist arrogant, authoritarian, or cruel church leaders. 

God sacrificed Jesus to free women from the arrogant rule of men.

 The extreme subordination of women was not God's intention in creation. After the Fall, God sadly predicted that because of sin, women would be enslaved by men.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16 NIV

But in the new covenant, women are free.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28 NIV

It is wonderful that Jesus wants to give us freedom, but we do not receive that freedom automatically.
 
There are people everywhere who do not believe in freedom, even in the church.

 There are many people who do not want to allow you to be free.

But Paul says:

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NRSVue

The Wrong Cross

 In a dream, I saw a Christian hanging on a cross.

I don't remember any other details except that the Christian had experienced disappointing results in his efforts to serve God.

What was the reason for this lack of success? The words in my dream were as clear as the sun in the sky.
‘The wrong cross!’

The Christian was nailed to a cross, but it was not ordained by God. What could that mean?

I didn't see anything more concrete in the dream, and God didn't speak directly to me about it, but as I thought about the message, many real-life stories came to mind.

Both the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul taught that celibacy is a calling and a gift from God that is only given to some people. Paul was celibate, but most of the apostles, including Peter, were married.

Yet there are some churches that require all ordained ministers to be celibate. We regularly read about sex scandals in the media. Obviously, celibacy is ‘the wrong cross’ for many people.

There are also churches where you are supposed to get married. You are even told who to marry and who not to marry.

Many Christian women see their husbands criminally assaulting their own children or abusing them with porn or incest. When such women protest, they are often not believed by church leaders or are told it is their own fault for not being a sexually satisfying wife.

They are often told that it is a sin to leave their husband. ‘God hates divorce’ for whatever reason. If these women submit to this torture, they are on the ‘wrong cross’.

There are women who are taught that contraception is a sin and that they must give birth to as many children as possible.

They are on ‘The Wrong Cross’.

There are women who are taught that they must always obey their husbands unconditionally. They are not free to serve God as disciples who receive their calling and guidance directly from God.

They are on the ‘wrong cross’.

There are women who are taught that they are not allowed to preach or teach. Many are called and gifted by God to do what their pastors or husbands forbid.

Many of these women are on the ‘Wrong Cross’.

Many Christians are taught that submission to the leaders of their church is their first duty. Leaving their church or joining another church is sin. They must sacrifice their dreams for their own lives and ministry in order to serve the vision of the head pastor.

This can lead to a life of passive religiosity. They are not allowed to think for themselves or express opinions other than those of their leaders.

These people are at the ‘wrong cross’.

I know a pastor whose people call him ‘Papa’.

Some say you should never hold your pastor accountable because a pastor is like Moses who was accountable to no one but God.

What did Jesus say?

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.
And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Mt 23:8–9 NIV

There are Christians who are taught that God uses sickness to purify us through suffering. Many people suffer from sickness because they believe they are glorifying God.

They are on the ‘wrong cross’.

There is only one cross that deals with sickness, the cross of Jesus Christ.

That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick.

This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Mt 8:16–17 NRSV

When I read the Gospels, I see that Jesus is the healer, not the tormentor.
There are Christians who have been abused or mistreated for years. They develop a victim mentality, paralysed by false humility, bitterness or self-hatred. Jesus lived, died and rose again to set you free.

Please don't stay on the ‘wrong cross’.

Gender Bias in Bible Translations

Different Christians read different Bible translations. Some believe that only one translation is right and condemn other translations as allegedly wrong.

Luther and the translators of the King James Bible included John 8:1-11. They also recognised and translated Mark 16:9-20 as Scripture.

Many modern translators claim that both passages are questionable because they are not found in the supposedly best manuscripts. In some modern translations, the two passages are included but a footnote warns readers that they are not found in some of the best manuscripts. Otherwise they may be omitted but added as footnotes.

I am not a Bible scholar. I studied literature at university. I am interested in the thematic structure of texts.

What are the important ideas in both of these two controversial passages?

In both passages, women are not taken seriously by the spiritual leaders. In both passages, sexist men are rebuked by Jesus himself.

In John 8, pious Jewish men brought to Jesus a woman they had caught committing a sexual sin. They wanted Jesus to order her stoned to death, because the Old Testament law required it.

Jesus was outraged that these men were so unjust. Where was the man who had sinned with this woman?

Jesus exposed this hypocritical injustice, forgave the woman, and saved her life.

Mark 16 tells us that the first witness to Jesus' resurrection was not one of the apostles but a woman, Mary Magdalene. This was certainly no accident. God himself had chosen this woman to be a witness.

Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.

And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. Mk 16:9–11 NKJV

In John 8 the unrighteous leaders were religious Jews. In Mark 16, the unrighteous men were the apostles whom Jesus himself had appointed as his leaders!

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14 NKJV

In the first centuries after the apostles, who compiled the supposedly best manuscripts of the Bible? The scribes and church fathers. 

There may have been doubts about these passages for two reasons. One is that they may have been added to the original writings of Mark and John. This does not necessarily invalidate them. Deuteronomy was written by Moses, but the last section was added after Moses died.

The other reason is that both passages show how male leaders made unjust judgements against women, and Jesus rebuked the men.

The church fathers and scribes had the task of examining the manuscripts of John and Mark. They had to judge the different copies and decide which versions were authentic.

I think it was inconceivable to some of these men that Jesus would have respected women more than male spiritual leader. That could be precisely why these two passages were omitted from some highly respected manuscripts.

On the other hand, most of the scribes were probably men, and the passages were therefore probably included by men. Sexist distortion of Bible translations can be a problem, but not all male editors or translators twist the text.

The sexism of the early church fathers is not hard to find. In some of the writings of the church fathers, women were openly vilified because of Eve's first sin.

However, there is another reason to confirm the authenticity of these disputed passages, namely the thematic and literary structure of the Gospels of Mark and John. I will explain this in my next blog post.

Luther and the King James translators accepted this passage as authentic. I am not saying that these older translations are better than modern translations in every way. There are other places in the Bible where these old translations are gender biased, but that is not the subject of this post.

Cancel Culture

 Traditional conservatives in Western Countries want us to believe that Cancel Culture is an evil revolutionary movement invented by angry black people and left wing activists.

Sometimes cancel culture can go too far. Some very significant men in history did very bad things. If we no longer celebrate their positive achievements, our understanding of history will suffer.

• King David had too many wives, and he was not always a good father.

• George Washington was the first president of the USA, but he owned a lot of slaves.

• Martin Luther persecuted Jews and Anabaptists.

• Johannes Brahms was a misogynist.

But wait a minute. Is Cancel Culture really a new thing? 

I am a lover of classical music. Over 100 years ago there were no women playing in some elite symphony orchestras. Now there are numerous wonderful composers and conductors who are women.

I am 74, and I have loved classical music all my life, but only in recent years I have heard a lot of music by female composers, which was previously ignored.

Very recently I heard of a woman who worked closely with Einstein. She was a genius and her ideas had a big influence on Einstein, but he got all the credit while she was forgotten.

When Spanish conquistadors took over Mexico and South America, they systematically set out to suppress indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture.

When European colonists invaded North America and Australia, they committed genocide and suppressed indigenous languages and culture. Cancel Culture.

I once met an African preacher who migrated to Australia. He told me that dancing was not permitted for Christians. For Africans, dancing is like breathing. Cancel Culture.

When I was a child in Australia, I went to a Church of England Grammar school. We learned about British heroes and colonial pioneers. 

We learned that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but we were not told that an Australian professor and a German Jewish refugee shared the Nobel Prize for penicillin, when they took Fleming’s discovery and turned it into a life-saving medicine. Cancel Culture.

As a Christian, I had heard a lot about the Welsh Revival in 1904.

Some years ago some Welsh preachers visited our church in Australia.

 We learned that one of the most powerful ministries in the Welsh revival was the preaching of a 15-year-old girl. When she preached in city streets, crowds came to be blessed: politicians, business leaders, prostitutes, and everyone in between. 

She is ignored in most Christian history books. Cancel Culture.

Cancel Culture has been practised for centuries by conservative white Christians.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Ga 3:28 NIVUK84

God Hears when Women Cry

A young woman employed in the Australian parliament was raped by a male colleague, but it was treated as a political problem by the ruling party and hushed up.

A few weeks ago, this courageous woman protested publicly. This unleashed a "Me Too" movement in the Australian political world.

This week we have seen a new scandal. I was so outraged that I had great difficulty praying about it without anger and resentment.

At last I made an effort to pray for justice without anger. Then I had the clear impression that God was answering me.

"I have heard the cry of the women."

Then I said to the Lord. "But many of these protesting women are not Christians. They are not praying in Jesus' name."

Then the Lord spoke clearly in my mind.

"When the Hebrew slaves cried out in Egypt, you think they were all holy and righteous."

Then the LORD told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. Exodus 3:7 NLT

And do you think all these angry women are unbelieving feminists? Not at all.

I know Christian women who have been victims of brutal bullying in supposedly pious churches.

One of the most prominent preachers in Germany is Gaby Wentland. She rescues women from human trafficking and prostitution. She is also a political activist against human trafficking.

I heard her say, "There is more prayer in brothels than in the churches in Germany."

"I have heard the cry of the women."

God speaks clearly in our hearts when we ask for justice with all our hearts.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 NLT

Most English translations do not speak of “Justice” but “Righteousness”.

In Hebrew, NT Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and German, the word in Matthew 5:6 means Both Righteousness AND Justice.

New Mission. New Mindset.

When God intervenes, he looks for people to use as instruments or agents.  God's approach is to do His work on earth through human agents.

When God founded the Hebrew nation, He gave Moses not only the Ten Commandments, but more than 600 laws. Those who did not obey all the laws were cursed.

When the Holy Spirit established the church in Jerusalem after Jesus returned to Heaven, all the believers were Jews and all held fast to all the laws of Moses. This was never questioned.

In the New Testament, many non-Jews converted to the God of the Bible, but this was not totally new.  

In the Old Testament, sometimes non Jews converted, but then they had to become practically Jewish. They had to obey all the commandments of Moses. The men and boys had to be circumcised. Ouch!

The new Christian community in Jerusalem was one hundred percent Jewish, but Jesus had said that this was only the beginning of something new.

So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6–8 NIV84

The Jewish disciples had to have their traditional Jewish way of thinking transformed in order to fulfil this task.

The persecuted Christian movement in China cannot function as it does in Europe or North America. 

Christian meetings must take place in private houses or apartments. Three quarters of the church leaders are women.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18–19 NIV84

When God wants to step in, he looks for people to use as instruments or agents. God's approach is to do His work on earth through human agents.

But God sometimes has problems with us humans. 

We pray that God will do a great work. Then we look so often, at the miracles or revivals of the past, and we expect God to act in exactly the same way.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12 NASB
 

Jesus restored Equality of Women

 When Jesus died on the cross, the innocent Son of God suffered the ultimate injustice. Through his unjust death, Jesus took upon Himself the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

The only completely innocent man of all time died an agonising death so that all guilty men and women could be delivered from God's judgement.

With his voluntary death, Jesus began to deliver people from all curses and injustices that started with original sin.  

The first injustice was prophesied by God Himself.

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.” Genesis 3:16

This was not God's command that men should rule over women. 

After the original sin the character of men was corrupted. The greater physical power of men was used to dominate women, which was never God's intention.

But millions of men ruled over their women. For thousands of years women have been treated as second-class human beings.

In the Bible, Jewish women were also victims of harsh discrimination, but in Christian history, and also in our own time, we see that many Christians do not yet understand that God created us for partnership and not for the subjugation of women.

In the Bible, new beginnings are of particular importance. As his first act after his resurrection, Jesus restored the equality of women.

Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus as the first person to proclaim his resurrection, not Peter or John, and not even Mary, his mother.

Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener. The first gardener was Adam, and Paul teaches us that Jesus is the last Adam. This means that Jesus is the beginning of the new humanity.

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1. Cor 15:45

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1. Cor 15:22

Adam was the first man and the father of all human beings. He was without sin until he succumbed to temptation.

Jesus came as the second man without sin, and he resisted every temptation.

Jesus came to give us all men, women and children the innocence and glory of the original creation. 

He came to create a wonderful new humanity, a humanity where men and women can fulfil their potential in equality, freedom and partnership.

When Mary Magdalene announced to the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead, they did not believe.

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14

But many who are first now will be last, and the last will be first.

What did Jesus want to teach us? From now on pastors and apostles must also take women seriously. The culture of domination must go.

Let God be the Judge.

Moses was a good man. He was loyal to his oppressed Hebrew compatriots, although he could have enjoyed his privileges as an Egyptian prince.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 

choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, Heb 11:24-25

He loved truth and justice. He hated cruelty and oppression.

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:11-12

Preachers of New Testament doctrine like to oversimplify this story. They say Moses was a murderer but God forgave him because He saves sinners.

Moses was a freedom fighter, a liberator. For him, killing the oppressor was an act of justice and mercy for the oppressed.

Nevertheless, it was not God’s way. Moses’ greatest strength was his weakness. His human reaction was completely counterproductive. He had to flee the country and live as a fugitive in exile for 40 years.

Before God could use Moses to liberate his people, Moses had to become a mature character conscious of his human weaknesses.

After 40 years shepherding sheep in the wilderness, Moses was called to liberate his entire nation. By this time Moses knew his limitations. He was actually reluctant.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11

You may have a passion for truth and justice, but as long as you pursue your cause in your own way or relying on your own gifts and talents, you will not realise your dreams, even if those dreams came from God.

I know a preacher who had wonderful gifts. He was an amazing missionary and personal evangelist.  He wanted to rescue the worst sinners. He desperately longed to help rebuild broken lives.

He was sincerely ministering to dangerous sex offenders, but in his zeal he made terrible mistakes.
He failed to protect vulnerable young women in his church from extreme peril through contact with known sexual predators.

If we resolutely fight against evil, but rush into battle according to our own ideas, we will battle against one evil but in the process allow another evil to flourish.

There are preachers who are zealous to preserve Christian marriages. They will do anything to keep a family together and prevent divorce.

But this single-minded crusade for marriage can have catastrophic consequences.

There are husbands who coldbloodedly plan to entrap a woman in marriage and then systematically manipulate her to become his abject tormented slave. 

This also happens in Christian churches.
When wives protest, they may be beaten, raped or deprived of contact with friends.

When tortured wives try to assert themselves, zealous preachers blame the woman for being rebellious. If the woman leaves her husband, she may listen to sermons accusing her of breaking her marriage vows.

The wife who argues with her husband is judged as rebellious.
The woman who leaves her husband is condemned for breaking her vows.

But the man who rapes, beats and tortures his wife or criminally assaults even his own children is respected.

Tragically, all this actually happens. These abuses are widespread in Christian circles.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. Isa 55:8

 

The Women also Spoke

On the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the cross, 120 disciples of Jesus were dramatically filled with the Holy Spirit.

Peter was no longer the coward who denied Jesus. He stood up fearlessly and spoke words of power to the crowd. 

These words of power and life were the Keys to the Kingdom. They opened the door of salvation to 2000 hearers that day.

The prophetic words of Jesus were fulfilled.

"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth when ill be loosed in heaven." Mt 16:19 NKJ
 
When God gives words of grace and truth, they are words of life to any and all who will receive them.
 
But was it only Peter who spoke God’s life giving words that day?

There were 120 disciples who spoke words from God to the crowd that day. They spoke in languages they had never learned and the hearers from many nations understood God’s message in their own languages.

Who were these 120 disciples? Where they only men who were ordained to preach?
Peter clearly dismisses this idea.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,  Acts 2:17 NKJ

So did the women also declare the Gospel in a public meeting?

In Acts chapter one, we have clear confirmation of Peter’s revolutionary words, although they were not Peter’s words, but the words of the Holy Spirit quoted from the prophet Joel.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.  Acts 1:14 NKJ
 
Yes. The women were also there. The 120 disciples included women. The women also spoke to the crowd with the authority of the Holy Spirit.

What do keys do? They lock and unlock doors.

The words of Peter and the other 119 male and female disciples unlocked the door of salvation and locked the door of condemnation for all who believed and received their message.

"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth when ill be loosed in heaven." Mt 16:19 NKJ

Locking and unlocking is another way of saying binding and loosing.
 
Jesus gave his disciples the Keys of the Kingdom, Keys, not just one key.

Keys represent God given authority. 

Words of inspired preaching, teaching, prophesying and testimony are all keys that open the doors for God to reach people with his goodness and power.

So who has the authority to bind and loose, or to lock and unlock?

• Only Peter? Clearly no.
• Only the apostles? No.
• Only ordained preachers? No.
• Only men? No.

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them." Mt 18:18-20 CSB17

Where two or three male or female disciples are together in unity and agreement, their words of faith and believing prayer can bind or loose, can lock or unlock spiritual doors.

Don't Submit to Religious Bullies

Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." 2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV)

If a woman is subjected to relentless bullying by her husband.

If a woman’s children are tormented, abused or corrupted by her husband, 

...then the only way for that woman to turn away from wickedness may be for her to leave her husband and take her children with her.

This principle should take priority over her wedding vows.

The same principle applies if you are a member of a church where bullying and abuse is rampant and being covered up. If there is no other way to stop the evil, you must leave, regardless of your position. 

If you are a pastor, an elder, a priest or a nun, it makes no difference. You must depart from evil.

If your father or husband is a predator or accomplice, that does not oblige you to be silent or to stay.

"Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
Of course, if you are a mother and you cannot leave without losing your children, it may be necessary to stay for that reason, but don’t let yourself be deceived by guilt sermons about the sin of divorce.

"Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."

Your Assignment from God

Your life is a gift and also an assignment.

Imagine that God gives you a loving husband or wife. You must then learn to love. That's much more than being in love.

You're a woman, and you're praying for a baby. Your longing is fulfilled. Then you must learn to be a mother. It's not just biological reproduction. Fatherhood also needs to be learned.

Adam and Eve were given a great gift, life, with the nature of God himself.

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.  Gen 1:27

With this amazing gift came a great assignment.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” Gen 1:28

The gift was a blessing and the assignment was also a blessing.

You can read this because have received the great gift of life. You are alive.

God appointed the man and the woman to rule the world together. They should do this as a partnership. 

Some people do not want to understand this because their thinking is dominated by hierarchy, men ruling over women, leaders ruling over church members.

But there is an even sadder error in thinking that has ruined humanity. Men want to rule the world without recognising God, without understanding this responsibility as a gift of God.

In the beginning God did not say that men should dominate women. He also did not say that men should rule over other people.

On the contrary. Men and women together were appointed to govern the earth. 

In the New Testament Jesus trained his apostles as a team. He sent out his disciples two by two. 

Jesus also recognised women his disciples.

But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Mt 12:48-49 (HCSB)

Men and women were called to rule the world, but they needed a small beginning.

And the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and preserve it. Gen 2:15

When God gave you your life, you were very small. You were supposed to receive love and care, to learn and grow. It is a tragedy that many small children do not receive healthy love.

Adam and Eve had the great blessing of being loved and taught by God Himself. Tragically, they rejected this blessing, because they wanted to go their own way, instead of developing their life and mission with God's fatherly love.

God gave Adam and Eve the gift of life, but not a life as orphans, but a life as his beloved children, a life with his care and friendship.

Life with God included the assignment to rule the world with God, as God's children and co-workers, all within the framework of love and partnership.

After Adam’s fall, people were like orphans in the world. Most no longer knew God's friendship and fatherly love.

Do you know God's friendship and fatherly love?

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (HCSB)

 

Adam and Eve had life from God and with God. God is eternal. Life with God is eternal.

God wants to give you the same gift that Adam and Eve had in the beginning, not only never ending life, but life with God, eternal love and fulfilment.

What should this life look like? Just a respectable moral life in a church?  This is the holy highway of the Gospel, but rather a parking lot.

Jesus calls us to an adventure to live as He lived on earth.

Jesus had a mission to save the world.
Jesus calls you and me to participate in His mission.

Are women to be only personal assistants? The first witness to declare the resurrection was Mary Magdalene.

What is your personal assignment from God?

Should Women Preach and Teach Men?

Timothy was the leader who oversaw the churches in Ephesus. He had problems with certain women who were arrogant and domineering. In his letter Paul discussed how Timothy should deal with this problem.

I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet. 1 Tim 2:12 CSB17

There is no other verse in the whole Bible that forbids women to teach or reprove a man.

The word ''allow'' here is a translation from EPITREPEO. This word is found several times in the New Testament, but it does not indicate a law or commandment of God.

Here are some examples.

Another follower said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."  Mt 8:21 NIRV

Another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house." Lk 9:61 CSB17

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. Jn 19:38 NKJ

But Paul said, "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people." Acts 21:39 NKJ

If PERMITTED or FORBIDDEN is referring to a law or commandment of God, we find another word in the original Greek text.
EXESTI:

There he saw a man who had a shriveled hand, and in order to accuse him they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Mt 12:10 CSB17

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" Mt 12:2 NKJ

Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," Jn 18:31 NKJ

The difference between EPITREPEO and EXESTI is dramatic and very important.

When a teacher allows a student to go to the toilet during a lesson, that is EPITREPEO: (I do not allow the woman to teach or to rule over the man...)

If a man is not allowed to marry his sister because it is against the law, then the Greek word EXESTI would be used.

Smith Wigglesworth was an English evangelist. Through his ministry countless people came to faith in Jesus and many were healed.

He was a boy from a poor family, and he had to work from an early age. He never went to school and his wife taught him to read. It was only through his wife’s teaching that he was able to read the bible.

His wife was also a preacher who brought many souls into God's Kingdom.

The mighty house church movement in China is terribly persecuted, but the Christians are not going under. Many pastors are arrested and tortured, but when a male leader is taken away, often a woman takes over the leadership.

More than 75% of the pastors in this movement are now women, and God is multiplying His people.

The first man with God in the garden was Adam the man. The first man with Jesus in the garden after the resurrection was Mary Magdalene, a woman with a past but chosen to proclaim a new beginning for the human race.

When Mary Magdalene announced to the apostles that Jesus had risen, they did not believe.

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14 NKJ

Saved though Bearinng Children??

But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. 1 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

Does this mean that women can only be saved if they bear children?

God forbid! Then all virgins would be damned!

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 

not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

Or should we believe, as some people apparently think, that women have no ministry other bringing up children?

That is easy to prove wrong.

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Luke 2:36-37 (NIV)

So what has salvation to do with having babies?

Nevertheless, she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control. 1 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)

In our time in western countries, childbirth is not as dangerous as in poor countries or in former times. In bible days, many women died giving birth.

In the original Greek text we see the word SOZO.

In the New Testament this word refers to salvation from God's judgement, but also being saved from death or being delivered from sickness.

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 (NKJV)

The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" Matthew 8:25 (NIV)

Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. Matthew 9:22 (NIV)

Paul wants to encourage women to expect deliverance from trauma and death in childbirth.

Should Women be Teachers or Lead Churches?

There are Christians who are happy to allow women to speak in church, to pray or even to prophesy and preach. Why not?

'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:17 (NRSV) 

On the other hand, there are many who will not go so far as to allow women to become pastors, elders or to have a teaching office. Why is this? 

Of course tradition is a big factor but there is also confusion over a very strong instruction by Paul in his first letter to Timothy.

Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 (NRSV) 

Most women were not educated and if they were Gentiles, they had little or no knowledge of Scripture, so they must learn in silence and submission before they could be qualified to participate in the use of spiritual gifts. 

The key point to note here is that this is the only verse in the New Testament which forbids women from teaching or leading. 

When a directive occurs only once in the whole Bible, we must ask why it was considered relevant in that particular situation. Any universal commandment of God is always repeated in different contexts.

Many times in the Bible God gave a command to someone only once but few of us would think that this command would apply to everyone for all time.

• Jesus told a rich young ruler to give away all his possessions. Many other people have done this and many have been blessed for it but it is not a universal law.
• When God told a prophet to marry a prostitute, should we think this would apply to others? Of course not.
• When Moses told the Hebrews to give him their gold and jewellery to build the tabernacle, many Christians think this is a universal law against women wearing gold or diamonds. What nonsense!
• God told Moses to strike a rock to get water but no one today hits rocks to get water.

Why did Paul tell Timothy to restrict the teaching activities of at least some women?

Timothy was the Apostolic overseer in the important city of Ephesus. Ephesus was an unusual city dominated by a matriarchal cult centred around the worship a fertility goddess, known in Greek as Artemis and in Latin as Diana.
I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 (NRSV) 

The Greek expression translated here is AUTHENTEIN ANDROS.
 
The English translation is “have authority over a man”. 
However, the translation “have authority” is doubtful. The same word is used in many Greek texts to mean “usurp authority”.

The goddess of Ephesus dominated the culture and no doubt encouraged a spirit of domineering matriarchy. 

Before his conversion Paul had been a domineering control freak. It is not hard to find texts in Paul’s writings indicating his abhorrence of bossy control and bullying by anyone in the church.

The culture in most of the Roman Empire at that time and in later centuries was the opposite of matriarchal domination. Males were assumed to be superior and were expected to rule over women. 

The church fathers in the second and following centuries wrongly interpreted this verse in the light of their own cultural bias and this bias persists in church tradition to this day.

What Paul really meant to say was that he would not allow dominant matriarchal women to control or dominate males because of the influence of their pagan past.

From this one verse in one of Paul’s letters, it would be quite unreasonable to conclude that women should never teach men or be promoted to Christian leadership.

If there are any other texts which seem to prevent women from exercising leadership or occupying a teaching office, please feel free to respectfully point these out, so we can discuss this matter in a civilised way.