Tag: Biblical

Mankind, Created in God’s Image

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27)

Both men and women were created in God’s image. To be created in God’s image means to be created “like God” (Gen. 1:26). Women are meant to be part of God’s family also, and to reflect God’s glory just as the men. In the new creation order in Christ, there is neither male nor female; we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). This doesn’t mean there are no functional differences between men and women in the Christian life or in family life, but it does mean that a woman in Christ is just as much a child of God as is a man in Christ.

Adam and Eve were full of God’s glory. This is God’s desire for His children. They were to be like God in character, and to a lesser extent, in capacity. The fact that we are made in God’s image, even if now that image is distorted through sin, makes us magnificent and valuable. Even fallen men reveal something of the creativity, brilliance and artistic nature of God. Man should never be treated like an animal or like an object. We should love and respect all people because they are made in God’s image, with potential to be children of God in nature by adoption.

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The Father and His Family

Both Old and New Testament reveals that God is a Father. Psalm 89:26 says, “He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’ “. Psalm 68:5 declares that God is a Father to the fatherless and a defender of widows. God asks where His honour as Father is (Mal. 1:6) in the way His people were treating Him. God reveals Himself as Father in all these passages.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ gave us a fuller revelation of the Fatherhood of God (John 14:9). He taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father, which is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9). Paul bows his knees in prayer “to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:14,15).

God’s Fatherhood reveals that He is the author and initiator of life, that He is warm, loving, generous, good and strong. God’s intention was that we be in His image, just as Jesus Christ was and is (Gen. 1:27; Col. 1:15). We have seen other aspects of God’s Father heart in lesson 2. Love is the motivation of God’s heart (1 John 4:8).

The Father’s family begins with the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. God the Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). Jesus often called God His Father (John 10:29), and yet He says in the next verse, “I and my Father are One.” (John 10:30). Jesus Christ could say this because He Himself is Uncreated. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1,14). All things were made through Jesus and for Jesus, including the material universe as well as spiritual beings and authorities (John 1:3; Col. 1:15). The word “first-born” in Col. 1:15 means “pre-eminent”, “heir”, and “first in authority”. It does not mean that Jesus was born at a point in the distant past. We have seen in lesson 2 and even from the verses above that this cannot be – a fundamental doctrine of the Bible is that Jesus is fully God.

John the Baptist testified of Jesus that “this is the Son of God.” (John 1:34). Jesus was declared by God Himself to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 1:4).

God’s intention has always been to have a large family, both in heaven and on earth. The angels are called “sons of God” (Gen. 6:24; Job 1:6). The creation of the first man, Adam, was part of God’s purpose to have sons. Luke 3:38 calls Adam, “the Son of God”. As we will see, Adam lost his sonship relationship to God the Father through wilful rebellion, when he chose to ignore God’s Word in relation to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But God’s plan to have true sons on the earth was not totally frustrated at this point. In fact, through the victory of Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, we can all become sons of God once again through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 3:26). For this purpose to unfold even creation eagerly waits (Rom. 8:19).

“But as many as received him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13).

We see that becoming a child of God involves a new birth, a definite trust and receiving of Jesus and the power of His name. The greek word for “name” – ‘onema’ also means ‘authority’ and ‘cause’. We must believe in Jesus’ Lordship, His authority and His cause – the salvation of mankind – in order to become children of God. Thus not all men and women are children of God. By nature and natural birth we are “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Jesus said to the religious Jews of His day, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

The apostle John in his first letter writes, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1). There is a difference between the children of God and the people of the world at large.

All people and all things were created for God’s pleasure (Rev. 4:11 KJV). God knew before creation took place who would have an inclination to turn back to Him in love and trust, and so through predestination he made sure that they would be adopted into His family as sons. “For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29). Ephesians 1:5 tells us that true Christians are adopted into the family of God.

This family is a family of love, marked by love for the Father and for one another. (John 17:23,24,26; John 13:34,35; 1 John 3:10,11). God loves us and wants us to enjoy eternal life with Him (John 3:16).

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Women Picture the Church Bowing to Christ When They Bow to Their Husbands

The full Biblical picture of the marriage of Christ and his church reveals much than his sacrificial provision for and protection of his wife, the church.   It reveals more than his headship over the church.  A full Biblical picture of the marriage of Christ and his church also demonstrates his lordship over his church and his discipline of his church.

A full Biblical picture of the marriage of Christ and his church shows us that women are not just commanded to submit to their husbands or even just respect them – but rather they are commanded to reverence their husbands as Ephesians 5:33 and 1 Peter 3:2 command.

Who is being commanded to acknowledge her husband as her lord and to bow to him in Psalm 45:11? It is the church.

When we tie together the principle that marriage is to picture the relationship of Christ to his church (Ephesians 5:22-33) and that the Bible commands women to acknowledge their husbands as their earthly lords (1 Peter 3:6) and to reverence them (Ephesians 5:33) then we can see beyond a shadow of a doubt that the command of Psalm 45:11 is given to wives just as it given to the church whom wives are to represent.

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Practical Ways That Wives Can Incorporate Bowing into Their Marriages

Now that we have established the Biblical command that wives should bow to their husbands – how can wives practically incorporate this in their marriages on a regular basis? This is the question we will address next.

The images below illustrate several ways in which a woman can bow in her husband’s presence.

The first would be her greeting him as comes home from work as seen below:

This image below from a vintage ad is routinely mocked as “sexist” yet this is very biblical behavior for women to do toward their husbands.

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The Difference Between Bowing in Reverence and Bowing in Worship

If bowing is not automatically a form of worship, which the Bible shows it is not, then what is the difference between a woman bowing in reverence to her husband and a woman bowing in worship to God?

The answer is found in the intent in the wife’s heart and how she sees her husband verses how she sees God. 

Is the woman bowing to her husband in obedience to God’s command that she affirm her husband’s earthly lordship over her by bowing to him? If so, then her bowing to him is not worship which is reserved for God alone.

However, if a woman sees her husband as perfect, sinless and all powerful like God and that is why she is bowing to him – then she is engaging in an act of worship which is sin.

In other words, when we bow to God, we are and should be acknowledging his perfection, his sinlessness and his being the all-powerful sovereign of the universe.

I am often falsely accused by my detractors, whether they be Christians or non-Christians alike, of teaching that I think women should regard their husbands as gods.  And nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead, I teach what the Bible says that God has placed sinful and imperfect men as the heads of sinful and imperfect women.  God does not call women to submit to, reverence and bow to their husbands because these men are perfect and all-powerful beings.  God calls women to submit to and bow to their husbands in spite of their imperfections and weaknesses because of the position God as ordained men to over women.

A woman’s acknowledgement of her husband’s earthly lordship over her by bowing to him is an acknowledgement of Christ’s lordship over all creation and his authority to appoint her husband as her lord.

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But Aren’t Women Worshipping Their Husbands If They Bow to Them?

Many Christians, even conservative Christians who believe in male headship and wives submitting to their husbands will object to this calling it a form of “husband worship” or a wife making her husband an idol.

But this objection to women bowing to their husbands is frankly rooted in cultural ignorance.  In 21st century America when we think of the word “lord” or someone bowing to another we exclusively think of God and worship.

But if we were to go to Britain – they would not associate the word “lord” exclusively with God nor would they associate bowing exclusively with worship.  Because in their society they have many lords who are of a nobility class and they bow to their Queen.

In Africa, it is an ancient custom still practiced today for women to kneel before their men when being proposed to:

And traditional African brides kneel before their husbands as part of the wedding ceremony and feed their husbands:

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Why is the KJV translation of Psalm 45:11 different than the ESV translation?

The reason for the difference in translation has to do with the Hebrew word “Shachah”.  The most literal meaning of Shachah is “to bow down”.  But sometimes when someone bows down, they are not just showing reverence, but they are also engaging in worship.  In other words, worship usually involves bowing of some sort, but not all bowing is worship.  Sometimes bowing is just reverence.

The easiest way to illustrate this is when Moses did Shachah in two different occasions.  In Exodus 18:7, Moses did Shachah toward his father-in-law so it is simply translated as “obeisance” which a synonym for reverence.  However, in Exodus 34:8, when Moses did Shachah toward God – it was more than just reverence – it was an act of worship and it was translated as such.

Psalm 45 presents a dilemma for translators when it comes to translating Shachah.  In this story, we see a King being married to the royal daughter of another king.  But the story here is a prophecy of Christ being wedded to his church.

So, while the KJV would not normally translate someone bowing to a king as “worship” they decided to translate it here as worship and to capitalize the “L” in Lord to indicate it is a prophecy of Christ.

The ESV translated it as “bow down” instead of “worship” because while they agreed that this is a prophecy of Christ and his church that it is using a human story of a King marrying a royal daughter and therefore her bowing down would not be an act of worship, but rather an act of reverence.

I can see reasons for both translations.  But in the end if we remember that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church than any reference to Christ and his bride has application to human marriage as well.

So, when applying this to human marriage and not the spiritual marriage of Christ and the church – Shachah must be understood in its most literal sense of bowing down in reverence.

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Is Psalm 45:11 Saying that Wives Should Worship Their Husbands?

At the latter end of Psalm 45:11 the KJV renders the verse as “for he is thy Lord, worship thou him”.  Since this passage is a prophecy of Christ and his church and Ephesians 5:23 tells us the husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his church – is God commanding the wives should worship their husbands?

The answer to that question is found in many passages of the Bible but Revelation 19:10 gives us an extremely clear answer where John fell at the feet of angel to worship him:

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

We worship God and God alone.  So, we know that Psalm 45:11 is not teaching women to worship their husbands.  Does that mean we dismiss the latter part of Psalm 45:11 as not applying to human marriage at all? The answer to that is no as well.

To better understand how Psalm 45:11 applies not just to the spiritual marriage of Christ and his church, but also to human marriage we will look at this same passage in the English Standard Version of the Bible:

“Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:

  forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him.”

Notice the big difference? In the KJV it tells the woman to worship the king who will be her husband.  In the ESV it tells her to bow to him.  And if you were to see the wording of this you would also notice that the KJV capitalizes the word “Lord” while the ESV uses a lower case “lord”.

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Psalm 45 – A Picture of the Relationship of Christ to His Church

Psalm 45 is unmistakably a prophecy of Christ and his bride, the church.

The noble attributes of the king are mentioned first in verses 1-5:

“1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.

4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. “

And then in verses 6 and 7 we see that this is clearly a reference to God the father appointing Christ as King:

“6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

And then in Psalm 45:10-11 the perspective changes from addressing the King to now addressing the bride who is about to marry the King:

“10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; 11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.”

These two verses are filled with rich theology.  While Ephesians 5:33 commands women to reverence their husbands – it is these two verses from Psalm 45:10-11 which help to show what the reverence of a wife toward her husband should look like.

But before we can apply what these verses are saying, we need to address a translation issue.

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The Bible Says Marriage Is to Picture the Relationship of Christ to his Church

In Ephesians 5:22-24(KJV) the Bible says the following:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”

Ephesians 5:22-24 teaches us the important Biblical principle that God designed marriage to be a picture of the relationship of Christ and his church.  This tells us that we can and should look, not just at Ephesians 5:22-33, but also at all other references to how Christ and his church interact with one another throughout the Old and New Testaments to understand how marriage should operate.

A marriage built only on the principles of Ephesians 5:22-33 will be missing key and important attributes of Christ’s marriage to his church mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.  In other words, a marriage modeled exclusively after the attributes described in Ephesians 5:22-33 will not fully and completely picture the relationship of Christ to his Church.

For example, Ephesians 5:25-29 commands men to love their wives a Christ loves his church and lists several attributes of Christ’s love for his church including him sacrificing himself for her, him washing her spiritual spots and wrinkles with the Word of God and him providing for and protecting his wife as he would his own body.

But Revelation 3:19 mentions some other attributes of Christ’s love for his church not found in Ephesians 5:25-29.  In Revelation 3:19 (KJV) the Christ said the following to his seven churches:

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

A husband’s love for his wife includes not his spiritual washing of her, his provision for her and his protection of her – but it also includes his rebuking her and chastening her.

The Biblical truth that the wife is to picture the church in relationship to Christ and the husband represents Christs means that a wife is to obey all the commands of God to the church relating to Christ, with the notable exceptions of worshipping her husband or seeing him as her savior from sin.  Those qualities belong to Christ alone and not earthly husbands.  I will address the worship issue more as this post progresses.

And now that we have firmly established the Biblical principle that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church – we will explore another passage which shows other aspects of the relationship of Christ and the church which also apply to marriage.

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