The Umbrella Theory

Laughing at your religion is all about taking doctrines that are causing oppression and bombing them with the truth of the word.  It’s called Hermaneutics…     Her-me-neu-tics; herme’n(y)oodiks/ noun; the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the bible or literary texts.  When you’re reading scripture, there are basic questions you really need to be asking.  2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  So if there is a right way to interpret scripture, there is definitely a wrong way.  There are some basic questions you should ask yourself when reading the bible to make sure you’re interpreting the scripture the right way.

1. Let scripture interpret scripture, read the chapter before and after help you determine the definition.
2. Who is speaking?
3. Who are they talking to and what are they talking about?
4. 2 or 3 witnesses are needed to define a meaning – you cannot make a doctrine out of one scripture.
5. What is the culture of the people being spoken to – Who is the scripture being written about?
6. Are you reading the passage considering the finished works of the cross?

(Guidelines courtesy of Creflo Dollar – “Questions to ask when reading scripture”  http://www.creflodollarministries.org/Watch-and-Listen?slug=Questions-to-Ask-When-Reading-Scripture&returnUrl=%2FWatch-and-Listen%3Fslug%3DQuestions-to-Ask-When-Reading-Scripture-Part-2%26returnUrl%3D%252FWatch-and-Listen%26type%3DVideo%26page%3D1&type=Video&page=1 )

1 Corinthians 11:3 is one that has been an oppressive verse to wives for far too long.  “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Let’s establish this first principle, that God’s words never change.  Matthew 24:35 says “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”  Understanding this is key.  In the beginning, we go back to the very creation of woman, and the blessing that God spoke over Adam and Eve.  Genesis 1:27-28 says “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

          Do you see that?  God said to both man and to woman – be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth.  This was God’s original plan for man and woman to be equal.  But then the fall came.  When Adam and Eve fell, God cursed the both of them saying “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you” Genesis 3:16  So if God cursed man, then we can easily compare Genesis 3:16 to 1 Corinthians 11:3.  Because in these two comparisons, we are dealing with living under the curse.  Now to apply the questions to the scriptures as I outlined above, we need to look at several things.

1.   Allowing scripture to interpret scripture, we know the following things, Paul, the author of Corinthians is speaking to the Church of God that is in Corinth.  In the previous chapter, Paul warns against idolatry.  What is idolatry?  Putting anything in higher ranking than God.

2.   Paul, is a Jew.  Jewish tradition has over 100 laws against women.  In Jewish law, a husband was the head of household.  Women were very oppressed in Jewish law.  While the men were allowed to have many wives, they were allowed to divorce a woman if she didn’t please him.  Women were never allowed to divorce a husband in Jewish law or to even be educated. In the context of the Corinthian culture, Corinth was known as a city full of prostitution.  Corinth was located in Greece.  At the time, Greek mythology was the “religion” of the region.  Polytheism was the norm, and Greek goddesses ruled the land.  The basis for temple prostitutes, was because the goddesses ruled and taught within the temples.  When a man became good enough and earned status with the goddesses, they earned rights to sleep with the goddesses.  Shaving heads was a sign of a prostitute – so to continue on in 1 Corinthians 3 where it talks about covering your head, it was a time when Christianity was spreading in the region.  Covering of women’s heads was a way to reduce the judgement of the prostitutes so that all could hear the preaching of the word without judgement.  (On a side note – this is also why women were told not to speak in the temple – not only did they not want the wrong doctrine taught)

3.   We have a second witness for 1 Corinthians 11:3 by looking to Genesis 3:16.  Going for a third here, I am looking at the blessing of Abraham found in Deuteronomy 28:13 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God.  Under the new covenant, the obedience is fulfilled by 1 John 3:23 “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

4.   Reading these passages through the finished works of the cross, we need to understand that Jesus took every single curse upon himself.  1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”  Our righteousness is found in Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 1:30 “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

So to rightly divide the scripture that puts women underneath the authority of the husband is wrong, and sets women up for unhealthy and very unsatisfying relationships. We were made to rule and reign with our husbands – to be the head and not the tail.  To have dominion over the earth together and to equally submit ourselves to our husband Jesus.  We as the church are his bride.  We are one in Christ.  When we are married, we become one flesh.  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become on flesh” Ephesians 5:31.  So if we are together one flesh – husband and wife, then the only husband we are under authority to, is Christ.

          This is the freedom that Christ came to bless us with – this is the freedom in Christ.  The oppression and pain women have lived under, trying to follow the twisted doctrine of being submitted to an authoritarian husband is not Gods original intent.  It’s time we all got a grasp of what the heart of God really is concerning marriage and allow our partners to be free.  Men don’t need the pressure of being the breadwinners – women – you are free to be educated and be an equal plowshare in your relationships.  There is no need for one to be above the other, when the two of you are happily submitted to the Lord.

 

Some other great resources out there for understanding womens rights throughout the bible are from Kris Vallotton

Fashioned to Reign, and The theory of empowering women.

 

Be blessed, thank you for reading, and please – leave some comments – we’d love to hear from you.