Église du Christ de MontréalMontreal Church of Christ

Special Thanks to Nicolas Racicot

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1Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

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1Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

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23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 

Does everyone that calls themselves a Christian think we should try to be like Jesus?

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

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1Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.• We can have a couple of reactions to this passage:

• Accept it.• Ignore it. • Intellectualize it.• Find it offensive or challenging

• Your response demonstrates your level of engagement with the text.

• Wrestling with the text demonstrates your faith in God.• Submission is directly related to submission to authority

which in this case is God.

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1. Office of National Statistics (UK)2. National Center for Health Statistics (USA)

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Matt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.Matt 5:5, 21:5, 26:53

• When I wrestle with them I could beat them every time. But I don’t because I am Gentle with them.

• Being called gentle today seems like an insult.• We have misunderstood the definition. • Gentle does not mean weak (i.e. inability to act).

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• The Greek word Praus is translated as “gentle” or “meek”.• Defintion: Praus (prah-ooce’) power under control, or power that

is submitted or surrendered.• It requires great inner strength to be Praus.• Refers more to a condition of the mind or heart.• The Greek word Hesuchios is translated as “quiet”.• Defintion: Hesuchios (hay-soo’-khee-os) tranquility arising from

within, peaceable and quiet.

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3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.• If something is of great worth in God’s sight we should

pay attention.

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• The Greeks found beauty to be holy.• This was never a Jewish idea.• To the Jews Holiness was beautiful. (1 Sam 16:7)• It is not that the Jews were blind; Joseph, Moses, David,

Ester and many others were described for their attractive physical appearance (Job 42:15).

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• Standards of beauty vary dramatically from culture to culture and at different times.

• Lillian Russell, the 200-pound actress, singer, and sex symbol from the 1890s.

• At the peak of her fame and was described as, "A superior beauty", and "a particularly robust and healthy creature."

• Worldly “Beauty” changes like fashion, emotions, and the weather.

• God informs us how to think on this (i.e. character).

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5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

• Abraham made more than just a couple of mistakes (i.e. Pretended that he was not married to Sarah).

• Even though Abraham gave into fear Sarah did not.• Submitting to a perfect God is easy in contrast to

submitting to an imperfect husband. • Sarah put her hope in God, not her husband.• The only thing that impressed Jesus was faith (Mt 8, Lk 7). • God was certainly impressed with Sarah.

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• “Obeyed” and “lord”. These are strong words! • We are all equal before God (Gal 3:28).• There are different roles in a marriage. Gen 3:16 - 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.”

• The Hebrew has no subtly that I can expose.• How are men to lead: Like Christ who sacrificed himself

for his bride the church. (Eph 5: 21-33, Matt 14:13-14)• Side Note:

The curse of Adam takes 3 verses vs Eve takes just 1.

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• The bible does not say is that women are to be treated like slaves.

• This woman is obviously trusted with major decisions.Prov 31 - Wife of noble character:

• Has a degree of autonomy.• Has more than one business.• Purchases land by herself.

• Better be unified than being right - unless this unity brings disobedience obviously. (1 Cor 6:7, Eph 4:2-4)

• Sometimes, it is hard to know who is right, and because of this, woman needs to submit.

• God will bless humility and unity.

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7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.• “Same way” - There is one standard. We are all called

to be like Jesus.• “Weaker partner”

– Women are, in general, physically weaker than men. – From the context I think this is referring to sensitivity. – Women’s feelings can get hurt a lot easier than men’s.– I don’t need to be considerate of my wife’s physical strength.

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• “Hinder your prayers” – This is the main point of the whole paragraph.

• Hinder Greek: ekkopto {ek-kop'-to}: - to cut out, cut off of a tree. - metaph. to cut off occasion.

• Nothing will kill my connection to God faster than a fight with my wife. (Matt 5:24-26)

• The passage is silent on how our prayers will be hindered. • Sometimes my sons aren’t submissive to my authority

over them. • They need to follow his role for us to have harmony.

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• God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7).• Both men and women are called to be like Jesus

“in the same way”.• Equal does not mean same; gender roles exist.• Ignoring them is ignoring what God has to say on

the subject.• Ignoring them will hinder your prayers.

• Any QUESTIONS: please come see us.