Vashti

Photo by Mohammad Metri on Unsplash

 In opulent display of wealth,
Ahasuerus made a feast
To show the glory of his realm
To both the greatest and the least.
His banners hung in colors bold,
And marble paved the floor’s design.
They drank from goblets made of gold,
      And stinted not on wine.

I, too, of luxuries took my fill
And celebrated like the king,
But when his vain, capricious will
Demanded an unrighteous thing
And asked to put me on display,
I scorned the pride of empty show
And risked my all to disobey
      When I refused to go.

With hastiness unparalleled,
In selfish fear and wounded pride,
The coward who was thus repelled
Forever put his wife aside.
I haven’t seethe king since then.
Another woman takes my place—
So fleeting is the praise of men,
     So vain, my pretty face.

-Nita Brainard, August 2021

Too Good to Be True

This was inspired by a friend who told me the gospel seemed too good to be true.

Photo credit: Rob Long on Unsplash

 

  Too Good to Be True

                 Ephesians 1 and 2

Too good to be true! I’m afraid to believe
That God cares enough about people like me
To offer salvation that we might receive
His life everlasting entirely free.

Chorus
Too good to be true; it’s too good to be true
And yet I believe it, By faith I receive it,
And walk in His blessings: Do you?

Too good to be true! But it’s true nonetheless.
The promises made by the world are all lies,
But God can be trusted, who’s ready to bless,
And gives us good gifts that I dare not despise.

Too good to be true, but He gave us His Son,
Who died for our sins and has risen above.
Predestined in Him, our position is won,
Adopted as children and wrapped in His love.

Too good to be true, but we stand on a Rock.
By faith, and not works, we are saved and sustained;
Made holy in Christ, we are able to walk
In works that the Father beforehand ordained.

 

Ephesians1:1-6

Lee’s sermon from today. Ephesians 1:1-6

What about Junia?

Using Junia as a spring board to advocate for the full inclusion of women in church leadership involves a number of assumptions that belie it as a position of true biblical scholarship. It assumes:

1. That Junia was a woman (a plausible but not a proven position)

2. That Junia was an apostle (a plausible but not a proven position)

3. That all apostles had equal inclusion in church leadership (an untenable position)

It is a sad commentary on the state of Christianity that people get so caught up on one side or the other of the first two assumptions that they neglect the last and more important issue. "Apostle" has a variety of uses in the New Testament, and much of the discussion about Junia simply ignores this fact.

The only place in the Bible where Junia is mentioned is Romans 16:7 which reads: Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Many people have determined from this verse that Junia was a female apostle. I had always assumed that Junia was esteemed by the apostles and until recently had never concerned myself about whether this person was male or female. The Greek (like the English of the King James Version) is ambiguous and could be taken to mean either that Junia was a noted apostle or was noted by the apostles.

Perhaps Junia was a woman. Other women were honored by Paul's salutations in Romans 16, Priscilla even being mentioned before her male counterpart. That women were held in high regard by Paul cannot be doubted. They have been lifted up by the gospel to a place that is unheard of in paganism or any man-made religion. To maintain, however, from this short verse that there was a female apostle who held a place of authority in the church flies in the face of clearer passages of Scripture. 

Perhaps Junia was an "apostle." I suppose, if she was, that she was a missionary, and a highly honored one. That is what the Greek word, "apostle" means, after all. The apostles are men whom God sent to do His work. Certainly He sends women to engage in missionary work also. He sent Mary Magdalene to inform the disciples of His resurrection. He asked the woman who touched the hem of his garment to testify to His work in her life before the crowds in the street. Let us, however, not make so much of this verse about Junia that we use it to overthrow the clear teaching of the Bible. Junia could have been sent of God and still obeyed the injunction to be silent in the churches (1  Cor. 14:34) and not to have authority over men. (1 Tim. 2:12.) 

Whether male or female, not all the apostles held places of authority in the church. The idea that the apostles were somehow greater than other people is not the teaching of the New Testament. Even the original twelve were ordinary men who served their God. They had no infallibility and no authority above the word of God. Even if Junia was a woman (which is by no means certain) and even if she was an apostle (which is also not certain on the face of the passage,) any use of the Scripture about Junia to justify placing women in the place of pastor or church leader is based on a misapprehension what it means to be an apostle. 

The facts are these: The name Junia in Romans 16 is in the accusative case. For this name, the accusative case is the same whether the name is feminine or masculine, so the gender of the name cannot be determined by the text itself. The context gives us no conclusive evidence as to Junia's gender. The name is paired with a masculine name which might incline us towards her being his wife, but Junias could also be a male co-worker.

The male form Junias is rare in the history of Greek writing which inclines many people to the assumption that the person mentioned was feminine. This is a legitimate opinion, but it still remains only an opinion and not an indisputable fact. Chrysostom in the fourth century believed Junia was both feminine and an apostle. His opinion is evidence in favor of this view, but clearly not authoritative. He lived four centuries after the people involved and had no greater insight into Biblical Greek than modern preachers have into the English of the 1600s. We have no testimony to the gender of Junia/s from anyone who actually knew the people involved.

 Unless a first, second, or even third-hand testimony from someone who actually knew Junia is discovered, no amount of research is going to definitively decide this question. Apparently, in the eyes of God who breathed the Scriptures, the gender of this person was not of high consequence and is nothing to build a doctrine on. There are seven other women in the list of salutations, the first of whom was entrusted to deliver Paul's letter. If we need a female example, let us follow one of them.

Woman’s Role

The feminist spirit permeating the world has caused an understandable reaction from many Christians. Most reactions however, are overreactions, and therefore lead to new errors. As often as not, new errors lead to new reactions like a game of ping pong with no winner—unless perhaps the thoughtful observer who digs into the Scriptures to determine where the real truth lies. The world is no better as a sounding board than it is as a guide, and we have no more business taking an opposite stance on all of its tenants than we do obeying its dictates. The only safe road is to follow God’s word. It is God who tells us “This is the way, walk in it” when we turn to the right or the left. (Isaiah 30:21) The Bible alone points a straight path of truth through the twists and turns of the world’s deceit. It provides clear guidance on the subject of women’s roles that can keep us from going too far into the ditch on either the right side of the road or the left.

In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image,” and in verse 27, “in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them.” This makes it very clear that men and women are created equally. They both bear the image of God, and yet the fact that male and female are mentioned at all indicates that they are in some respects different from one another. 

In the New Testament, we are told plainly “There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ.” Male and female stand on the same ground before God as Jews and Gentiles or bond and free. (Galatians 3:28) The priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4-5) applies as much to women as to men. There is “One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1Timothy 2:5) A woman answers to God Himself just as a man does. Clearly, she does not need another mediator besides the Lord Jesus.

On the other hand, there are verses in the New Testament which indicate a difference in the roles between men and women. However we break down and define those roles, we cannot, if honest with the Scriptures, deny them entirely. Ephesians 5 indicates that the man and woman have different roles in the family. 1 Corinthians 14:34ff and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 indicate that there is a difference in their roles in the church. The difference in the church (apparent in the last verses mentioned) has something to do with speaking and with authority. We may not know why God has chosen to make a distinction in these areas, and we may differ with one another on the manner and circumstances under which they apply or on the extent to which they should be enforced. Nonetheless, we know that whatever may be implied by these verses, it does not affect the woman’s standing before God. Nor does it make her in any way less than a man. 1 Corinthians 11:3 makes it plain that woman is every bit as equal with man as Christ is with God the Father, though in some manner subject to him.*

The examples of women in Scripture give us parameters by which to check the extremes that people may fall into when defining the woman’s role.

1. Saphira teaches us that a woman bears responsibility for her own sin. She does not get to hide behind her husband’s authority or use his preference as an excuse for her actions. 

2. Lydia teaches us that it is in some circumstances allowable for a woman to have secular employment. She also teaches us that women may have prayer meetings and may support the servants of God.

3. Euodias and Syntyche teach us that there is a place for women in the direct work of God.

4. Philip’s daughters teach us that woman’s ministry may be oral. Whatever those verses mean which speak of women being silent, they do not mean that they can never speak at all on spiritual topics.

5. Priscilla teaches us that a woman may in some in some circumstance teach a man and expound on the word of God.

The injunction of I Corinthians 16:13 to behave ourselves with masculine strength “Quit ye like men, be strong” applies as much to women as to men. We have plenty of opportunity within the context of the New Testament to follow the example of Deborah and Jael who stand out above the men of their time. Let us humbly do so in the spirit of honor to Christ and obedience to His every word. 

 

*No explanation of any Greek word or doctrinal stance can get around the fact that this verse is in the present tense, "the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." The copula is not repeated in the original. The same verb in the first clause "the head of every man is Christ" applies to each succeeding phrase.  

Conspiracies

Do I think there is a conspiracy going on in the world? I certainly do. Who do I think is responsible?

The “Dems”? No
The government? No
Bill Gates? No
The "MSM"? No
Anti-vaxxers? No
Dr. Fauci? No

WHO?

The devil himself. He has deceived all the above mentioned people and myriads more. They are all playing their part in the mystery of iniquity, but not one of them is truly in control. Not one of them is the enemy. Not one of them should be feared by those who fear God.

Christians, why are we getting involved in the yin and yang conflicts of the world? Why are we distributing videos about conspiracy as if they had something substantial to add to a biblical understanding of the world? Don’t we already know that prince of this world is working in the children of disobedience? Don’t we know the world is corrupt and that its people have their bellies for their god and glory in their shame? Don’t we know that evil men will become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived? Don’t we know the end is coming and the Lord is returning to clean this place up? Don’t we have a commission to call others out of darkness and into the marvelous light of the gospel of Christ?

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We don’t wrestle against living men, but against spiritual powers, the demons who are at work behind the scenes moving the poor, deluded souls who are under their control. Let us not use the world’s weapons or let their passions inflame us. Let us put on the whole armor of God and stand against the wiles of the devil. The tools listed in Ephesians 6:10-18 that we should be using are truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer. Anything else only gets in the way of our responsibility as ambassadors of Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:4-12
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Ephesians 2:2
Philippians 3:18-19
2 Timothy 3:13
1 Peter 2:9
2 Corinthians 5:20

The Making of a Book

In the early 1990s I read A Narrative of Facts by Robert Baxter, a short, autobiographical book written by a British lawyer in 1833. Though I was in the habit of reading material from that age period and earlier, I found this book especially difficult. Nonetheless, it was so absolutely fascinating that I thought it well worth the effort it took to read. I wanted to share it with everyone, but not many people appreciate old English like I do, and I didn’t find many willing even to try.

A few years later, my husband, Lee W. Brainard suggested I rewrite Baxter’s story in modern English. Neither of us are big fans of updating the English of old books for the benefit of readers who think it is too hard to look up archaic words and ponder over quaint phrases. Baxter’s book is an exception to our usual rule of letting old authors use their own words to tell their own story. One reason for this exception became apparent when I made my first attempt to rewrite A Narrative of Facts. I had worked on only a few pages when I realized that replacing archaic expressions was not enough to make the book readable. The organization of thoughts was still foreign to our common way of thinking, and the manuscript I was creating was too complicated for my targeted audience. I set the project aside for nearly 10 years.

In 2011 I took the book up again, writing in the third person and reorganizing the story. When I was finished, I handed the manuscript over to my husband. Lee thought I had left out too much material, so he spent a year or two putting doctrinal arguments back in. When he was done, I sifted through it again, banishing some of the doctrinal portions to appendices in order to maintain an easily readable flow of events. The end result is nearly 10 years of writing and rewriting again and again and is evidence of at least two things:

1. Rewriting in “modern English” is not as easy as it sounds, at least not when you start with a book that actually needs to be rewritten for modern readers.

2. Writing with two authors is harder than writing by yourself. I believe, however, that the end result in this case is better than if either of us had worked on our own. To judge for yourself, order the book from either of these places:

Amazon.com (paperback or kindle version)

Smashwords (e-versions)

Many thanks to Bill Kinderman of Sioux Falls, South Dakota for proofreading and making excellent suggestions!