Are We Blaspheming?

There is only one passage in the Word of God that speaks personally to older women. It is a specific command that is given to them through the unction of the Holy Spirit. It is surprising to me that so few older women in the church bother to take any notice of these words. They live and act as though they are not mentioned in the Bible.

What is this command found in Titus 2:2-5? The Jerusalem Bible translations says, "The older women…they are to be teachers of the right behaviour and show (notice these words… "and show") the younger women HOW they should love their husbands and love their children, HOW they are to be sensible and chaste and HOW to work in their homes and be gentle and do as their husbands tell them…"

Not only are the older women to teach the younger women, but they are to show them by example HOW to be husband-lovers, children-lovers, and home-lovers. The Message Bible says, "By LOOKING AT THEM, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children…"

This passage also relates to the younger women. Amongst the few older women who do take these words seriously, I often hear the comment that the younger women don’t want to listen to them. There is responsibility required on both sides. We as the older women are commanded to take up our calling to teach the younger women. The younger women are to walk in the footsteps and teaching of godly older women who are speaking the Word of God in truth – to be clean-minded, to love and submit to our husbands, to love our children, and to guard and keep the home.

Now if we think that this is all very unimportant and out-of-date, what will happen? The Bible tells us plainly. God’s Word will be blasphemed! Wow, that is strong language. The word ‘blaspheme’ means ‘to speak about God or sacred things with abuse or contempt.’ We bring contempt on God’s Word when we refuse to obey these words. To make it clearer, let’s see what some other translations say

We will blaspheme the Word of God. KJV

We will malign the Word of God. NIV

We will disgrace the Word of God. TJB

We will dishonor the Word of God. NAS

We will discredit the Word of God. RSV

We will bring reproach to the Word of God. Amp

We will slander the Word of God. MLB, Beck

It will be a scandal to the gospel. Moffat

These are powerful words, aren’t they? Don’t you think it is time that we lined ourselves up with what God says, rather than what society says? Who governs our lives anyway? Today's current thinking or God’s eternal Word that is for all generations? Psalm 33:11.

There is an another phenomenon that is popular today. In fact, it is considered the norm. But once again, it does not line up with God’s Word. It is the fact that in many homes there are two Adams, rather than an Adam and an Eve. When God made Eve for Adam, He didn’t make another Adam. He made someone different. He made a helper for him, someone to complete him, not compete with him.

The Hebrew word for ‘helpmeet’ is ‘neged’. It means, ‘part opposite, counterpart, over against, the other side.’ Eve completed Adam by being opposite to him. God gave her a different function. He planned for Adam (and all men to follow) to be a patriarch and pattern man for his family, to be a provider, a protector and a priest of his home. Perhaps we could even add – a promise-keeper. He created Eve (and all women to follow) to be a nurturer, a nourisher and a nest-builder. The marriage and the home functions best when each one fulfills the function God has planned for them. God didn’t plan for two Adams, but for an Adam and an Eve.

In fact, God has a special care for women and has designed that they will always be under protection of the man who is the provider. We see a further understanding of this in Numbers chapter 30. In this chapter it tells us that if a daughter makes a vow and her father hears it and says nothing by giving "silent consent", she is bound to fulfil her vow. However, if her father hears it and is not in agreement with her pledge or vow, he has the power to make it invalid.

Similarly, if a wife in her husband’s home makes a vow or a "thoughtless utterance" and her husband hears it and says nothing, her vow must stand. However, if her husband expresses disapproval, the Bible says that her husband "shall make void her vow which was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips…and the Lord will forgive her." This passage reveals God’s heart for women and the authority God has given to man to protect women. Women are not meant to be out of covering for one day of their life.

While she is unmarried, a daughter is under the protection and guidance of her father, until the day that he says, "I do" and "gives" her to her husband. The father has a responsibility to know before God that the man that he "gives" his daughter to on the wedding day is the one that God has chosen for her, a man who will continue to provide, protect and care for her as he has done all his life.

The new bride now comes under her husband’s covering, and under this protection she can fulfil her highest calling of nurturing the children that God gives to the marriage. As she embraces her nurturing instinct, she becomes a nation builder and a nation shaper.

Dear wives and mothers, please understand my heart. I do not write this to condemn anyone but to re-focus our minds on God’s highest plan, rather than the mind-set of this society. It is not my idea. God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9. And remember His commandments are not burdensome or irksome. 1 John 5:3. God wrote them for our good and for our ultimate blessing.

I’d like to end this article on a positive note. The J.B. Phillip’s translation of Titus 2:5 says that if the younger women obey these commands to be clean-minded, to love and submit to their husbands, to love and embrace children, and to guard and keep the home, that it will be "a good advertisement for the Christian faith." What are we advertising?

What about single mothers, widows, and women who have no one to protect them? I suggest that you refer to the following scriptures for consideration: Genesis 38:11, Leviticus 22:13, and 1 Timothy 5:4-10.