Transformation - Day 18

"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.  

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven." - Colossians 3:18-4:1

Now Paul, who has been painting in broad strokes gets down to specifics - this is practically how you love others.

And right out of the box - controversy - for our our 2st century ears:  "Wives submit to your husbands . . ."  Tammy Wynette syndrome?.  So how do I unpack this in four paragraphs - whole books have been written on the subject of the role of women in church.  Okay I'm plunging in - on a very limited basis - because there are some great teaching moments on how to approach Scripture in this text.

First, note that immediately after the "submit line" Paul charges husbands to love their wives and never treat them harshly. I would suggest that this hearkens to a more mutually supportive role of marriage that had been found in his culture. (Paul in my mind really was a feminist for his day.) And it also has a longer parallel to the words Paul wrote to the Ephesians 5. In that practical application of "love lived out," Paul starts the conversation in 5:21 by encouraging everyone to submit. "And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" before calling for wives to submit in  5:22.  (And even more critical, the word for "submit" is not found in this verse - it reads in the Greek "wives, to your husbands"  - the word  "submit" in verse 22 is implied.)  Now I want to show you something that is kind of subversive.  Notice how the paragraph headings are broken out in this New Living Translation?  Now notice how verse 5:21 is separated from the verse 5:22 in the New International Version.  In the Greek, there are no paragraphs let alone chapter headings.  It's a conspiracy! (or at least poor translation)

Okay -sorry.  I took you on a rabbit trail through Ephesians 5 but you can see how it informs this Colossians text.  This is one critical way to study Scripture.  Study the Word broadly - let one part of an author's writing help you understand what you are studying.  Proof-texting (looking at a text with blinders on) is illegal!

Which brings us to a second issue -again a complicated and some would say dangerous one.  The issue of universal versus local (cultural) truth in Scripture.  Now I am almost dreading opening up this can of worms, because I know they won't go back in the can.  But the gist is that we must also read Scripture with discernment to determine if a law or imperative is meant for everyone or was meant to be applied in the local situation/culture.

Case in point 1 - Paul says we should not eat food sacrificed to idols.  Okay. Check.  Easy.  But is there a deeper, universal truth behind those words? (answered another day)

Case in point 2 - Pork.  Kosher law for the Jews requires them to abstain from pork.  In Acts 10, Peter is given a vision by God of unclean animals and God says' "kill and eat . . . it's not unclean" and Peter just about gags.  But it wasn't about the pork.  It was God saying, "Peter, don't let your food laws get in the way of relating with Gentiles who need the Gospel."  Local truth to universal truth.

Case in point 3 - This very text in Colossians implicitly endorses slavery.  And there were Christians in the 19th century who used this and other texts to justify the owning of slaves.  Now slavery in Paul's day is far different than the systemic racial slavery found in American history, but in our day, we have come to recognize that all forms of slavery are inconsistent with a Christian ethic.  So was Paul endorsing slavery or simply guiding those who found themselves in that station, in that culture, on how to live out the Christian life as a slave.  I would suggest the latter and therefore this is a local truth.  But it also has universal implications for our day - how should an employee relate to his or her superiors for example?  (You really might want to spend some time reflecting on your work relationship based on this text.)

So is this muddying things up for you?  I hope not.  God gave us brains and He wants us to use them in cooperation with the Holy Spirit (and that last prepositional phrase is essential - with the Holy Spirit - we don't get to just randomly choose what we like and dislike in the Bible, or pick what is relavant or not based on our bias - Paul writes, "ALL scripture is God breathed . . .")

Okay, deep breath, just one final thought as you exercise your brain today and one question that I will leave unanswered.  Comment below if you want to venture into this.

If we Christians so readily dismiss this text on slavery (22-24) as culturally irrelevant (as local truth), why are so many Christians adamant about claiming the submission text (18) as universal and applicable (in it's raw form) for today?

Don't check your brain at the door of your church.  Acknowledge that you do have bias (we all do - cultural, historical and personal bias) and that you want God to revel His Truth to you.  God honors that prayer.