The Differing Missions of Men and Women

sywonsmumu · 2020-02-24T05:28:15+00:00

I think Christian women should pursue marriage because it can help a lot with our fulfillment. Who doesn’t want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. So ideally, helping your spouse, raising godly children, and glorifying God through all that help would be very fulfilling, humbling, and rewarding. Not having that fulfillment may be difficult for some I imagine because you would have to get creative with finding your fulfillment, and I personally don’t see that working.

coachdad8 · 2020-02-24T16:48:10+00:00

5 Aspects of Woman Bible Study has an entire chapter on "Woman Is The Glory Of Man" as "Man is the Glory Of God" that touches on this very subject. Man pursues God while woman pursues man (her husband) who is glorifying God.

The 5 Aspects of Woman study is 12 months long and taught at our church and unanimously is a favorite of women, some who take it several times, and it fills up immediately with a waiting list. Some of the other men who's wives are alumni of this study tell me it completely changed their marriages. Their wive's became more submissive and understood her God-given role in the marriage which transformed her mindset from self-centered to husband-centered. This is not husband worship, but rather that the husband is her leader and therefore her highest priority. Glory of Man states that by a wife glorifying her husband, submitting to him, being his helpmate (helper-completer) and supporting him in his mission, she is in fact glorifying God.

My wife has almost graduated from the 5 Aspects Of Woman study and I'm finishing the 5 Aspects of Man. We both agree it's been life-changing and trans-formative. I would encourage other men to purchase immediately even if you aren't married but especially if you are!

Link if you want to more info on the studies: https://www.fiveaspects.com/

Deep_Strength · 2020-02-25T00:00:13+00:00

A man and a woman's pursuit of God's kingdom is different in that a man should be seeking the kingdom and His righteousness first through ministry, evangelism, discipleship, etc... Where as a woman should be seeking the Kingdom and His rightesnous first through actively seeking a man who is in pursuit of this mission.

1 Corinthians 7 is pretty clear that both men and women are to be living for God as singles.

Only if necessary "burn with passion" should they get married. In this, a wife is to submit to her husband. A husband would also do well to consider the effectiveness of his wife's prior ministry area(s) and have her to keep ministering in those places and to let her know she is on board for his mission too. At the end of the day, the husband should be praying and deciding on what the best course of action is and get input from his wife.

Everything generally operates in seasons too. Maybe while a husband and wife are childless, they can still be focusing full on his ministry or he may encourage her to keep doing hers. A wife focusing most of her efforts on her children is ministry (to her children, and those around that can see it).

A lot of the dichotomous thinking is really limited in scope.

Rifleshoot · 2020-02-24T17:48:29+00:00

We had a discussion on Colossians this week in Sunday School. We discussed the verses about wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives and the discomfort was almost palpable. Listening to the wives in the group go through mental gymnastics to turn the word "submit" into "respect" was funny because I knew it would happen, but disheartening. Too often, the church tries to reconcile scripture with worldly virtue and you run into things like this. I think it's the biggest weakness of Sunday school classes. Classes like to take a chapter at a time and overanalyze the verses until they no longer resemble what they actually say.

Everyone knows what "wives must submit to their husbands" means. It's plainly obvious and the only reason to try and interpret it away like that is that the class doesn't like what is said. I think the part that needs more discussion is the part about men loving their wives and not being too harsh with them. I think that is a lot more open to interpretation. What is too harsh? Why does the passage make the assumption that the man would need to make that kind of statement? What does that say about the nature of men? Those are the kinds of discussions that should be made.

I tried to diplomatically reframe the discussion around marriage being a symbol for Christ and the Church.

Willow-girl · 2020-02-24T02:33:25+00:00

I can't speak for others, but I had my mission and was living it out before my man ever came into my life. He joined me in it and has helped me expand it and do more than I ever thought was possible, and I'm very grateful to him for his help. (It's also a lot more fun this way!)

This is really the only arrangement that would have been possible for me as my mission takes most of my time, energy and money. If I had met a man who said, "Hey, I have a mission; why don't you join me?" I would have had to pass. There just aren't enough hours in the day, lol.

ruddsix · 2020-03-01T12:38:32+00:00

I think that you’re misinterpreting 1 Corinthians 11:9...

First off, the context of prayer with an uncovered head and hair shaving is cultural-specific and can be ignored—Paul even states that.

Second of all, if you take a look at a more direct translation (yes, these are difficult to read, but it’s possible), you’ll see that this is not the intended phrasing in the slightest. Directly translating, the original Greek says “Truly for not was created man on account of the woman, but woman on account of the man.” (1 Corinthians 11:9). Paul is speaking of woman’s creation—of how God took a piece of Adam and made Eve from that part.

Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 11:12 “For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” (NIV). I’ll directly translate that for continuity: “Just as for the woman of the man, so also the man by the woman; the however all things of God.”

In essence, God doesn’t care if you are a man or a woman. One is not above the other in hierarchy, they are equals. Everything comes from God, God is above us all, and no mortal is above Him.

Title	The Differing Missions of Men and Women
Author	Continuous-Metanoia
Upvotes	22
Comments	8
Date	February 23, 2020 8:10 PM UTC (4 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RPChristians
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RPChristians/comments/f8f0q1/the_differing_missions_of_men_and_women/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RPChristians/the-differing-missions-of-men-and-women.339953 https://theredarchive.com/post/339953