Exhortation

In the modern day there are many attacks leveled at the Bible. But one of the most common is that the Bible is chauvinistic. The Bible, it is maintained, subjects women to abuse and approves of demeaning their status in the world. But not only do the feminist alternatives prove this ridiculous, the Bible itself contradicts this accusation over and over again. Let’s consider just two specific points of application:

First to the girls and women: You are called to the great and noble task of feminine godliness. You are called to this task in the face of the frenzy of worldliness. The world is taunting and shouting at you from all sides trying to make you believe that God is an old fashioned fool. The world wants you to believe that God despises your beauty. But these are lies from the evil one, and you must not listen to them. You must believe the Word of God and every bit of it. Peter exhorts you wives to submit to your husbands because this is incorruptible beauty. He says not only to adorn your bodies, but to adorn the hidden person of your heart with a gentle and quiet spirit because this is most precious in the sight of God. And to you girls who are not married yet, you also are claimed by God. He knows what is beautiful; fashions come and go, magazine covers wrinkle and fade, but the loveliness of a Christian woman is like gold in the eyes of God.
To the rest, men, fathers, and brothers, I exhort you to recognize the nobility of a godly Christian woman. Feminine godliness is precious in the sight of God. It is a stone worth months and years of your income. Are your wives and mothers waited on like the queens that they are? Do you take opportunities to bless them and do you speak highly of them to your children? Fathers, are your daughters full to brim with your affection and love? Men you have the opportunity to picture the gospel every day in your interaction with your sisters, wife, or mother. Are you a picture of Christ defending, protecting and loving your mother, your sister, your wife? Or are you a heretic, proclaiming a gospel of neglect and abuse?
Our aim should be to pour on the honor, pour on the love until the critique goes the other way. We want the Bible criticized because it over indulges women. We want the reputation of Christian men to be slandered by the accusation that we spoil and fawn over our women. This is because the gospel is rich and full. Jesus Christ did not short change anyone; his blood was not cheap. Our salvation was expensive, but Jesus loves his wife, the Church, and God the Father, loves his daughter in law so much that He gave his Son for her life. There is no higher view of women than the Christian gospel.