called to pray (1-3)

Boy, oh boy, are we called to pray. Prayer is a simple part of being a believer. We pray all types of prayers for all types of people. Prayer is such a diverse calling, but can be simplified to being in a relationship with your Lord and Savior. You pray for him to work through you, you pray for those in your circles, you pray for those you do not know, you pray for the entirety of time and space. We are called to live in prayer. We should be praying about every single aspect of our lives. We should be leaning on the power God offers us through Him and his Holy Spirit. We for some reason find it easy (well easy is a relative term here, but pish posh tomato sauce) to talk to men about God, but struggle to talk to God about men. Why do we doubt the power of prayer? Paul calls us in verse one to pray for all people, to make intercessions and thanksgivings for the people in power over us. This includes our local governments within our families, churches, cities, states, countries, and the makeup of our planet. We are called to pray that God will work his will through these leaders. We are to pray that God will use them in this position for his glory. God has appointed these people to these roles for some reason beyond our knowledge. Praying is not political. I do not pray for only people I like, but for my enemies and those I disagree with. God works all of life to his glory.

autonomous creatures? (4)

As seen in verse four, God desires for all to be saved. This is a complex concept because even though God desires our salvation, this does not imply that all will be saved. In line with this, he obviously is in control over all, so he knows who is already saved and will be saved come the end times, but he did not create creatures without free will. We have to choose through Christ to accept this free gift. This gift is not free only for those he predestined before time, but for all of humanity. The sad fact of the matter is that not all will accept this gift. If every single person accepted this gift, that would be glorious, but since sin entered the world, I doubt this could be possible (not that I am doubting God’s ability to save, but more so respecting the horror of our sins). Our God is a loving God. He is such a loving God to offer us a way out of our deserved damnation. But since he loves us so much, he cannot ignore the disgusting nature of this sinful world. If he were to bypass the sin and automatically save everyone, he would be contradicting his character and scripture. We do not deserve salvation. He created us with free will. To save all of us would validate the compassionate gift he gave us in our creation. His overwhelming compassion allows for us to voluntarily join him in eternity. He does not force us to accept this offer, but gave us all we need to make our own choice.

given one choice (4-7)

We have been given one choice to make. This is a simple binary option. You either choose to follow after Christ or you choose to follow after yourself and your own desires. Jesus says in John that he is “the way”. He is not a way or an option, but he is the way. You either follow Christ or you do not. It truly is not a complex question. There cannot be any doubt in your answer since you either are or aren’t. Jesus is the only way to the Father; there is no other way you can get into heaven except through him. He is, has been, and will always be the one mediator who stands at the side of the Father on our behalf.

not through me (5-7)

I am capable of nothing without Christ. It is solely though Christ that I am capable of anything. He is the one who works in the hearts of sinners and turns around the wicked. I am a meek messenger, tasked with the simple responsibility of sharing a simple message through an all powerful God. If God saved someone has horrible as Paul, how can we doubt his ability to save others? If God used someone has horrible as Paul to share the Gospel, how can I not also share the good news? God does not call the qualified but qualifies the called.

called to worship (8)

We are called to worship Christ with “holy hands”, advocating for Christ through our worship. The worship environment is an important model of the bride of Christ. In principle with Matthew 5, we are not to worship while blatantly living in sin. This is not to say that sinners cannot worship because I hate to tell you—not really. I am so excited to tell you this if you do not already know this—all have sinned and fallen short of the endless glory of God. We are all broken and in need of the grace of a savior. It is the broken who worship their perfect God. It is the broken who recognize their need for this omnipotent deity. One day we will have new bodies and be made perfect through Christ, and oh how I long for that day, but until then we will worship through our broken vessels. The principle here goes back to the second most important commandment: to love your neighbor as yourself. We cannot stand before God in praise and worship while hating our brothers. We are called to live with love (as Christ loved us) and forgiveness. On the practical level this may mean having that hard conversation with a loved one before going to church. This does not mean that you as a sinner cannot praise God since it is the sinners who praise God.

church fashion (9-10)

God knows our hearts when worshiping. We are commanded to dress ourselves in good works. As we pray, as we serve, as we live out our lives, is out heart in the right place? Are we attracting people to ourselves or to God? Within the setting of worship, are we giving glory to God or distracting those around us? Why are we wearing this attire? Why are we worshiping God? These are all questions men and women alike need to ask themselves before worshiping God in the church. As seen in Romans 14, we need to err on the side of caution as as to not cause our brother to stumble.

equality and equity (11-12)

Men and Women are different. I honestly do not understand how me saying that is viewed as a political statement. I feel as if me saying the sky is blue and the grass is green is just as obvious (I’m sure an eristic person would argue against those facts as well, but that’s aside from the point). The simple fact of the matter is there is a very distinct and observable difference between men and women. I will not fight you on this, I will simply question your sanity and brain capacity from a distance. Back to the actual topic at hand—Women are called in verse 11 to learn quietly in all submissiveness. Submission simply means to come under rank. This calling is simply to submit to the male leadership within the church. This whole passage is in the situation of worship, in the situation of the Church. This has absolutely nothing to do with inequality. Men and women are 100% equal, but there is an order in their relationship—they have different roles. God made woman in God’s (and man’s) image and therefore, their relationship is meant to reflect the triune love and submission we see modeled through the trinity.

from the beginning (13-14)

Verse 13 explains why this order exists. God’s intended order was to create Adam first and then Eve. Adam was created to lead and shepherd. Adam was not the one who was deceived, Eve was. Romans 5 though puts the blame back on Adam as the rightful leader. Adam was given the command to lead, but in the garden roles were reversed and Adam let Eve be deceived. This perspective of sin entering the world puts such a perspective on today’s society. So many roles are being perverted and twisted. Something as simple as marriage is being turned into whatever makes you happy. All of the sins in the world today are old sins. We look at this passage and say oh this is just a cultural thing, a different time, but Paul looks back to the beginning of time. Men were created to lead before sin entered the world. We cannot disregard this passage due to culture. Part of God’s design is that men should lead. Men should not sit back like Adam and simply follow, but they should act as Christ did in giving up his life for the church (Eph. 5).

saved through childbirth? (15)

That’s gonna have to be a hard no for me. Women are not saved through childbirth (shocker, I know). Reading this verse out of context is a good reminder that the Bible is meant to be taken in the context of the story of history as a whole and within the situation of the individual book. This verse is referencing how Eve lead the human race into sin through a role reversal, but also how she lead us out of sin through Jesus being born through her lineage (notice the switch from she to they). There is a lot more in this passage as well, but it seems to be pointing out the unique role women have in being on the front lines with children.