Marriage and Redemption (c)

The point: Put on your thinking cap, tighten your seatbelt, and gird up the loins of your mind to understand clearly and be competent to stand your ground against sophistry that twists clear biblical directives.

Martin quotes the title and subtitle of a book edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem to illustrate the widespread challenge of evangelical feminism and the need to refute it.

And in a very real sense, those of you who are members here of Trinity Church, you live in a kind of insulated ghetto in terms of what's going on in the ordinary, run-of-the-mill evangelical world. And sooner or later, you will confront those streams of thought and influence that are flowing out there. And no little bit. part of my task as an elder, according to Titus 1.9, is not only to exhort in the sound or healthy doctrine, but to refute the gainsayers. I hold in my hand a rather thick book. It has 565 pages, entitled Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, jointly edited by Dr. John Pi...

16:02 - 17:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Be able to sit down with your Bible with someone else and work through these issues, giving a reason for the position you take on this crucial issue.

Martin uses the analogy of a pool fed by subterranean springs to represent the Spirit-filled heart, with five streams flowing out, representing the manifestations of being filled with the Spirit.

Well, the climax of the apostles' many generic directives concerning how believers are to live out their radically new Christian lifestyle, the climax of those directives is given in verse 18 of chapter 5. And do not be drunk with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit. Possibly alluding to the horrible religious festivals of the pagan lifestyle from which many of them were taken, in which drunkenness and absorbing the Spirit of the gods and all of the immorality that went with it would have been part and parcel of their religious past. And Paul says, no, you are no longer to be d...

20:51 - 22:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They do with verse 21 what the feminists do with Galatians 3.28. In Christ, there is neither what? Male nor female, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, you are all one in Christ. Therefore, there should be no gender distinctio…

Martin quotes Gilbert Balzickian, an evangelical feminist, to illustrate how some twist the meaning of 'submit' and 'one another' to deny hierarchical differences in marriage.

This view, it is claimed, does justice to the reciprocal pronouns submitting to one another. Gilbert Balzickian, for example, recognizes that the natural meaning of the verb submit, wherever it appears in the New Testament, is, quote, make yourselves subordinate to the authority of a higher power, the authority of a higher power. This man, who is, quote, an evangelical feminist, says the word submit obviously means, universally means in the New Testament, make yourselves subordinate to the authority of a higher power, to yield to rulership. However, the addition of the reciprocal pronoun to ea...

26:55 - 27:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: They do with verse 21 what the feminists do with Galatians 3.28. In Christ, there is neither what? Male nor female, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, you are all one in Christ. Therefore, there should be no gender distinctio…

Martin quotes Lutheran commentator Lenski to illustrate an interpretation of mutual submission as loving, considerate, self-giving interaction, which, while not his preferred view, is consistent with other Scripture.

Or Galatians 5.13, where we are told to, in love, become servants one to another, or 1 Peter 5.5, a similar emphasis in the text of Scripture. Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, whom I quote periodically from this pulpit, he takes this position.

30:38 - 30:59 Read in full sermon

The point: As a wife, contemplate your role anchored to the clear statements of God's Word. As younger men and women, contemplate what kind of spouse you will seek, anchored to these clear steps.

Martin quotes from an endnote in a Bible to define 'hupotasso' as always implying submission to authority, refuting alternative interpretations.

And you'll catch the flavor of its significance. And here I quote from one of the endnotes in this marvelous Bible on these issues. Although many people have claimed the word hupotasso can be thoughtful and considerate, act in love to one another, it's doubtful whether any first century Greek-speaking person would ever put that meaning upon that word. It always implies a relationship of submission to an authority.

43:47 - 44:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds the phrase 'as unto the Lord,' clarifying that it does not mean submitting to the husband as if he were God, but rather submitting to the husband because the Lord…

Martin shares a humorous anecdote about the Greek word 'idios' (own) sounding like 'idiot' in English, to emphasize that wives are to submit to their *own* husbands, not men generically.

It's close to idiot. It's idios. I couldn't help but snicker when I was sitting at my desk looking at my Greek test. You wives, submit to your idios husbands.

47:37 - 47:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Wives, your redemptive duty of submission is not predicated on your husband fulfilling his redemptive duty to love you; you are to be submissive even if he does not obey the word.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about using the term 'bozos' to refer to husbands who fail in their duties, and a man's humble response, to illustrate the need for faithfulness in preaching and humility in receiving correction.

You need to repent of your willfulness, your proud, arrogant, independent spirit and come in brokenness to the feet of Christ crucified and lay hold of Him and the mercy offered in Him. And then fourthly and finally for this morning, voluntary submission to one's husband and this is where some of you wives, you're going to like me for this, I've got to say it, I love you enough to tell you the truth. Voluntary submission to one's husband is not to be determined by the husband's measure of commitment to his duty to love you as Christ loved the church. You're sitting there today saying, boy, I c...

66:22 - 67:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Wives, hear the word of God and lay it to heart, praying that God will help you to abound yet more and more in joyful, cheerful, universal submission to Christ, your loving head and Lord.

Martin concludes with a lengthy quote from Lenski, describing the ideal state of marriage in innocence, its disturbance by sin, and Christianity's restoration of the divine order, emphasizing the timelessness of Paul's directives.

I conclude with this lovely, lovely statement of Lenski, my Lutheran friend, where he, at the end of this whole section, writes this. In the state of innocence, the husband was the head and the wife subjected herself to him as the head. God made marriage so ideal, lovely, blessed, perfect. Sin entered and disturbed this marriage.

68:28 - 68:55 Read in full sermon