In You Do Not Belong To Your Children, You Belong To Christ I wrote about the importance of believing that we belong to Christ, understanding our identity in him, and centering our lives around him and not our children. I gave many qualifications also, so that I would not be misunderstood regarding the emphasis I was trying to make.

In On Women’s Bible Study Part One I spent time writing a bit about my journey through women’s Bible studies over the years with some critique here and there.

I now want to turn toward an exhortation:

Back in February I read an interview with D.A. Carson published on Desiring God concerning The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference. I wanted to go to the conference since the first time I heard about it last summer (summer 2011), but it was after reading this interview that my husband and I were convinced. The following quote, which I want to spend some time unpacking and using to encourage each other toward magnifying the name of Christ, is something I have been turning over and over in my mind since I first read it.

“It is very important that the complementarian stance not be reduced to a cheap parody, where all we are saying is “No!” I would love to see far more churches utilizing the gifts and training of women, whether in paid staff positions or not — positions that are shaped by complementarian confessionalism and simultaneously encouraging, liberating, gospel-focused. Our churches could do with a lot more women in the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, and Syntyche. (Why do we remember the latter two only for their bickering, and not only for their ministry of contending for the gospel at Paul’s side?)“

Concentrating on the section in bold, we can ask: What does it mean to become women in the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia and Syntyche? (I love what he says in the parenthesis.) How can we get there? And is it really different from women like Ruth, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary the sister of Martha, and all the other women that followed Jesus during his earthly ministry?

Would Ruth have been willing and able to cling to Naomi and her God if she had not known and loved the God of her husband, Naomi’s son? This love, submission and the impassioned plea in verses 16-17 of chapter one did not come out of nowhere. In verse 17 Ruth uses the word Yahweh for Lord, this is the personal and covenantal name for God. Ruth was claiming belief in the God of her husband and identifying herself as part of his covenant people.

From reading Mary’s Magnificat we see that Mary knew her theology (Luke 1:46-55). Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures and were commended for their faith (2 Timothy 1:5). Priscilla and her husband Aquila took Apollos aside and “explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26) which helped him become an even stronger disciple-maker and gospel preacher, Phoebe was a deaconess-servant of the church and trusted by Paul (Romans 16:1), Euodia and Synteche labored “side by side with [Paul] in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of [his] fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Philippians 4:3). So as I personally look over the godly women of Scripture I don’t see a dichotomy between women who were dedicated to their families and women who were dedicated to gospel work. I see that all of them were well grounded in the Scriptures and the difference instead lies in the gifting and emphasis which the Lord wanted to draw attention to in his Word.

So let’s get back to the remaining two questions I asked above: What does it mean to become women in the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia and Syntyche? And, how can we get there?

It means to be Biblically literate women; to know and to love the Word of God, to learn how to handle the Scriptures rightly, and to contend for the gospel. That love and knowledge will then flow out toward service in the home, church and community producing women in the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia, and Syntyche.

I think in order to start moving in this direction, we need to heed something Carson said earlier in that interview:

“TGC aims to reform evangelicalism, putting the “evangel” (the gospel) at the center of our thinking and practice — and that means focusing on Scripture, on Christ, on the cross and resurrection, on the God who redeems his people. If we are going to contribute to the reformation of evangelicalism, we must aim to teach women as well as men.”

So I see the first step being putting the “evangel” back at the center of women’s thinking and practice. This will mean men and women working together to help women of all ages, life situations and giftedness to see themselves first and foremost as daughters of God, grounded in their identity as disciples of Jesus, and sisters in Christ together.  So that they in turn can pass this primary identity to the next generation. When our identity in Christ is better grasped we will not be as easily swayed by the “winds” blowing in and out of the church.

Another step on the road to becoming a Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia and Syntyche would be to guard ourselves from wanting to jump too quickly to life application when studying God’s work. I love the thought of Mary, Martha’s sister, sitting at the feet of Jesus drinking in his words. Let’s take a look at another thing Carson said in that interview:

“If we leap too quickly to personal application without reflecting on how any biblical passage fits into the Bible’s grand history and plan of redemption, we almost always end up (however unwittingly) distorting the Bible. Worse, we lose sight of the way Scripture flows toward Jesus. The best application of Scripture takes place after coming to grips with how any text fits into the God-given big picture.”

As Tim Keller and others have said, the Bible is not about us, the Bible is about Jesus. If we want transformation and not just information we would do well to read Scripture with eyes resting on Christ without trying to quickly bypass him to get to what the Word can do for us personally (even if it is greater sanctification that we’re looking for).

This is just the start of a conversation. I certainly don’t have all the answers. As I said, I’ve been thinking about these things since I first read this post back in February and will need to continue to think through it. I will happily admit that I am a woman desiring the heritage of Priscilla, Phoebe, Euodia and Syntyche but I also know that I have a long ways to go.