Hell Hath No Fury…
I left church furious yesterday.
It wasn’t my pastor’s fault. He really is trying to apply an ancient text to contemporary issues that could not have been handled at the time of the text’s writing.
And I do believe that that text is living and active. It’s so sharp it cuts the heart and slices and dices the brain. It flays my justifications and destroys my shenanigans that I try to do mentally to hide from truths I don’t want to deal with. Yet I must answer for all that is and shouldn’t be and for all that is not but should be (Hebrews 4:12–13, Kittie’s Littered Version).
Saul of Tarsus AKA Paul infuriates me in Titus and other related passages. He seems to contradict himself, or maybe he manifests a different persona.
Titus and both books of Timothy as well provide instruction from Saul a new apostle post the Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension to two newbie pastors. The pastors are supposed to be building new faith communities.
Paul is very focused on roles based on gender in both these books. Men get to have more responsibility than women as if women are somehow less than men.
Yet, this contradicts what Paul has written in other books. Let’s just look at Galatians 3:27-28 (New Life Version):
All of you who have been baptized to show you belong to Christ have become like Christ. God does not see you as a Jew or as a Greek. He does not see you as a servant or as a person free to work. He does not see you as a man or as a woman. You are all one in Christ.
Hmmm…
God does not see us as male or female, but Paul limits leadership to men. He does not think women should teach men or hold authority over them (1 Timothy 2:12, most versions, although The Passion Translation suggests it has to do with newer converts)…
So, does this verse give me the right to claim to be transgendered, or at very least non-binary?!?
No! God forbid that I tread on His grace so lightly as to reject His Will that I be born female (admittedly, in the past I considered it, but I was thinking logically without Biblical filters).
By scientific sex, my chromosomes match. I am female. That’s good enough for me, especially in light of all the opportunities afforded to the lady in Proverbs 31 who was worth far more than rubies.
She did it all. She had a varied skill set, including abilities that let her
- spin thread and weave cloth for clothing
- obtain food to cook for her family and servants
- provide human resource management to servants
- purchase real estate
- perform agribusiness with vineyards
- engage in gainful trade
- quilt and sew clothes, some of which are sold for profit
I grow tired just watching this wonder woman in my mind’s eye. I am not sure how some authoritarian figures can quote all Paul’s limitations but then ignore the entrepreneurial spirit of the fine lady in Proverbs 31.
Note that she is a lady, loved and respected by her husband and neighbors. All speak well of her. She’s not denigrated as a bitch, cold fish, goody two shoes, perfectionist, do-gooder, OCD tornado, fridge human, or any other slur leveled against so many modern successful women by men and women alike.
Gender is a social construct, subject to rules devised by broken and fallen humans. Roles based on gender are just as broken and fallen as the construct of gender.
I am so blessed to be a sinner saved by grace with the whole of God’s Word to enlighten me. I am not necessarily limited by Paul when the wisdom of Solomon offers a higher, more challenging standard against which to measure my life.
It doesn’t truly matter how the world perceives me as long as by the end of my life, Abba can look at me as the apple of His eye and say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
If I love with my whole heart, if I use those abilities and skills He’s given me whether the world perceives them as neurologically male or female based on gender roles to do what He has called me to do, that is all a sinner can do. And it will result in a pure religion that is pleasing to God: to interact with the world without getting spiritually contaminated, to take care of those whose parents cannot take care of them, and to care for those who have no younger family to care for them (James 1:27, Kittie’s Littered Version).
