"Keeping The Home"
I have encountered oppostion to the biblical role for
women that says, "you're the only ones who see it that way!" Is that true? The following quotes from various sources indicate otherwise. They also open our eyes to the perspective others have. A perspective that has been slandered and oppressed in the propoganda campaign of our day. They help open our eyes to the noble role women have been called to.
Assorted Words of Wisdom:
This first quote was given by an English woman. She didn't consider herself to be in the midst of a "society oppressive to women". This is the testimony of a woman in the midst of the Victorian Era:
"Thanks, however, to the improvements in modern society, and the highest example shown to the nation by its most illustrious personages, temperance is, in these happy days, a striking feature in the character of a gentleman. Delicacy of conduct towards the female sex has increased with the esteem in which they are now universally held, . . . "
from Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861, London p.14
From this same source, we find a number of valuable contributions to the consideration at hand:
"I. As with the Commander of an Army, or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment; and just in proportion as she performs her duties intelligently and thoroughly, so will her domestics follow in her path. Of all those acquirements, which more particularly belong to the feminine character, there are none which take a higher rank, in our estimation, than such as enter into a knowledge of household duties; for on these are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and well-being of a family. In this opinion we are borne out by the author of "The Vicar of Wakefield," who says: "The modest virgin, the prudent wife, and the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice and trains up the other to virtue, is a much greater character than ladies described in romances, whose whole occupation is to murder mankind with shafts from their quiver, or their eyes." (Pr. 6:25)
from Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861, London p.1
"I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife's badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways. Men are now so well served out of doors, at their clubs, well ordered taverns, and dining houses, that in order to compete with the attractions of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery as well as be perfectly conversant with all the other arts of making and keeping a comfortable home." (Note: mistress was a term indicating the head of the home.)
from Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861, London p.iii
"Nothing lovelier can be found in Woman, than to study household good"
Milton
The following is from John Knox (Scotland) in an attack on the violent Queen of England of his time. He addressed the issue of a woman being in such a position. He starts his sermon showing the common stand he was presenting was held by the church leaders from his time back to the first Christian century. This is significant since a common deception of this day is that the views I'm presenting are so far out of this world that, as my wife was actually told by one pastor's wife, "You're the only ones who hold to that view. If you're right, how come you're the only ones who see it that way?" Such a position is bogus. John Knox does a good job of outlining that fact covering the first 1,500 years of the Christian church. Take a look at touches of what he said:
". . . to wit, that a woman promoted to sit in the seat of God (that is, to teach, to judge, or to reign above man) is a monster in nature, contumely to God, and a thing most repugnant to his will and ordinance. For he has deprived them, as before is proved, of speaking in the congregation, and has expressly forbidden them to usurp any kind of authority above man. . . . I have therefore thought good to recite the minds of some ancient writers in the same matter, (concerning women) to the end that such as altogether be not blinded by the devil, may consider and understand this my judgment to be no new interpretation of God's scriptures, but to be the uniform consent of the most part of godly writers since the time of the apostles." John Knox goes on to quote numerous sources that all took the "anti-feminist" position. He quotes from Turtullian (200 AD) as one source.
"Of the same mind are Origen (185-254 AD) and diverse others (whose sentences I omit to avoid prolixity), yea, even till the days of Augustine (354-386 AD)." "With Augustine, St. Jerome (340-420 AD) agrees in every point," "The same Ambrose (374-397 AD),"
Knox follows with quotes from "Chrysostom (397 AD - 4th Century), amongst the Greek writers of no small credit," taking the same stand. "And with Chrysostom fully agrees Basilius Magnus (4th Century),"
Knox finished this section of a sermon with, "Innumerable more testimonies of all sorts of writers may be adduced for the same purpose, but with these I stand content; judging it sufficient, to stop the mouth of such as accuse and condemn all doctrine as heretical which displeases them in any point,"
from John Knox (1558) Scotland Protestant Reformer
Early sources often looked down on women. However, facts clearly show respected church leadership could not accept the modern "biblical feminists" (as they call themselves) position. They say things along the lines of, "Paul wasn't really saying the stuff as we would understand them, taking his words at face value. The original readers understood details that would completely change the meaning." They go into very acrobatic maneauvers to twist the pertinent passages to agree with their view. The early "church fathers" would have also known this "read between the lines" basis for interpretation, yet records show no such position was held by them.
The following is a quote from a godly woman of Church history who knew the cost of raising godly children:
"No one can, without renouncing the world in the most literal sense, observe my method. There are few, if any, who would devote about twenty years of the prime of life in hopes to save the souls of their children."
from Susanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley
This next portion picks up where John Knox left off and expounds in a wonderful manner.
The following quote flowed from a paragraph showing the position commonly held in early New England that, "no repectable person questioned that a woman's place was in the home. . ."
". . . However, this view went beyond the Puritans and was the perspective of all branches of the church and a central aspect of Western Christian culture. For example, Lenski, the eminent Lutheran commentator, stated that the phrase ‘keepers at home' indicates domestic responsibility and that the home is the place of a married woman's work; she is a ‘housekeeper' who dispenses ‘all good things in this domain.'
This article continued with other powerful food:
"Her role is so vital to the well-being of her husband and children, her responsibilities in keeping the home so demanding, that it would not be possible to properly fulfill them unless she devotes herself entirely to them. She cannot do what God has called her to do unless she abides at home.
"Furthermore, ‘guide' is a present infinitive indicating that managing the home is the wife's constant occupation, her full-time job." (expounding on 1 Tim. 5:14).
and
"Thus the roles assigned to the married woman by God confirms that ‘keepers at home' refers to those who remain at home so that they might properly attend to their duties of caring for their family and managing its everyday affairs. When her duties are understood in all their scope and significance, it becomes clear that only by being ‘keepers at home' can a wife and mother fulfill her high calling from God to be a helper to her husband, a mother to her children, and a manager of her household."
by William O. Einwechter, minister at Immanuel Free
Reformed Church from his sermon "Keepers at Home"
Originally printed in the Chalcedon Report May 1999.
Used by permission.
Considering other contemporary sources we find:
"Whereas women traditionally fulfill support roles and gained their greatest joy and sense of accomplishment from being wives and mothers, today many have abandoned their homes for the higher-paying and supposedly more prestigious jobs of the work force outside the home."
and
"Parents are responsible for the spiritual education of their children, and mothers who work full-time outside their homes usually lack the quality time to instruct their children adequately. Nor can the responsibility for this instruction simply be transferred to someone else."
From John MacArthur Jr., of Grace Community Church,
Sun Valley, California
"The Woman's first duty is the making and keeping of her home. Many a modern woman chooses a career, hires a baby-sitter, and rushes her children through childhood so that she can be free to pursue her selfish interests. The Bible teaches that women are to be ‘keepers at home' (Titus 2:5). This means a women is to be there, loving her husband, teaching and enjoying her children, and applying the homemaking arts with joy in her heart. This mother is the heartbeat of the home. She helps lay the foundation of moral standards there. The warmth of her spirit quietly establishes security in the lives of the little children, brings confidence, that in spite of their problems and fears, all will be right. Why would any woman trade this noble place for some dollars earned or for some coveted position?"
from "Woman's Role", Mennonite tract by unknown author
I read a magazine article by a Mennonite minister's wife intended for other minister's wives. She exhorted women to be faithful in keeping the home. It obviously went without saying the women didn't have a career outside the home.
"Nowadays when the godless element is putting a premium on childless homes and sneering at the faithful wife and mother, some homes are becoming centers of crime; marriage is becoming a merchandise; wives are becoming business women, and children are unavoidable nuisances. The few children who do make it into the world are turned over to milk bottles and babysitters, to public schools where there is now danger in the classroom, and to modernistic colleges, where young people live together without the legality of marriage and where drugs and drink abound on campus.
But memories of old-fashioned mothers truly bring us back home to the simple things. How different her home? How different her life and sphere of activity! Rarely do we find her equal in this modern age.
Her home was her realm — she was always there. . ."
from the Preface of Great Preaching on Mothers
by Sword of the Lord Publishers, Copyright 1988
Used by permission
"That was when mothers rocked cradles and didn't leave the baby in the nursery while she worked in the factory or didn't hire baby sitters while she went to the movies or club. Then mothers nursed their babies and loved them. Mother's arms were the safest haven, the surest comfort, until they learned to trust the Saviour.
"The breakdown in discipline, the forsaking of the family altar, women breaking away from motherhood as the most blessed career, have lost the American mother her place of influence and power for Christ, righteousness and character.
"In those days when children were taught to mind, taught to obey, mothers were rarely frantic to get a baby sitter so they could get away, and never anxious to see school start so children would be out from under foot. Oh, a godly mother with well-reared children delights in their presence and they in her.
"You could work outside the home and make a little more money, but better have less expensive carpets on the floor, and one bathroom, one car — and more time with your children.
Be sure to teach your children the Word of God. See that they are in church. Make your home a career, a matter of daily prayer and dedication."
from John R. Rice in his sermon,
"Thank God for Good Mothers!", a Baptist Evangelist
"My dear sister, the Bible teaches that womenfolk are to be ‘. . . keepers at home. . .' (Titus 2:5), not a social gadabout or a professional career woman in public employment. No woman can fulfill her duty to either her husband or her children who spends eight hours per day away from home and family. It takes real spiritual determination for any woman to properly perform her duty before God towards her husband and children."
from Bob Gray in his sermon, "Behold Thy Mother", Baptist minister
"Some poor modern mothers are addicted to the TV set, and they know more about the latest triangle on the soap opera than they do about the problems of their own children. Some read the gossipy tabloids but have little or no time for God's Book of real life stories. Some are out parading around trying to be equal with men while they lose their own man to some other woman and their kids to the world, the flesh and the Devil.
"By bringing the world into our homes through television, many a woman has been made discontent with her lot, with her home, with her calling as a wife and mother. That is too bad. The women's lib movement has ruined many a family as women have been thrust into the work forse to the neglect of husband and children. ‘. . . a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame,' we learn in Proverbs 29:15.
Ambition is not in itself wrong. enthusiasm is a trait to be desired. But the wise mother will be most enthusiastically ambitious to make her home a haven for her husband and a place of contentment and delight for her children. If she does this, she will find that her career as wife and mother will keep her hands and heart full to the brim! Jesus said, ‘If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them' (John 13:17)."
from the sermon, "Carry Him to His Mother!"
by Hugh F. Pyle, Baptist preacher
"The father is responsible for seeing to it that his wife keeps her place in the home, that the children are sweet-tempered and obedient, that the boy gets a haircut when he needs one and that the daughter dresses modestly. (The ‘queen' will either make the clothes or teach the daughter to make them or help her pick out the right kind — Prov. 31:19,21,22.)"
from the sermon "A Man's Castle" by Hugh F. Pyle, Baptist preacher
". . . the career-chasing of mothers who are not satisfied with simple, unapplauded home duties; the selfishness of wives who criminally avoid motherhood.
In addition to these difficulties, heightened, as they are, under the laxity of war, American mothers are being coaxed away from their families into high-salaried positions. I have some startling figures for you. They are reliable, submitted to me by Frank X. Reller of the St. Lois juvenile court, and show that in this city almost one third of all juvenile offenders under seventeen came from homes in which both father and mother were employed.
‘But,' you say, ‘perhaps their mothers had to work. Perhaps these families could not exist without her extra salary.'
What does Mr. Reller say? He answers, ‘In every one of these cases the father was employed with an adequate income to support his family without the necessity of the mother's employment or her leaving the home.'
‘Why, then you ask, do these mothers work? Again, this juvenile court official explains, ‘They are actually sacrificing the welfare of their children for a few paltry dollars and a few items of luxury.'
You may be ready to denounce me for what I will now say; but I am certain that if you follow this advice, some day you will be ready to thank me: Mothers, give up your work now! Go back to your family! Pray God to show you how your children should be trained! Watch over them as the gift of the Lord's love! You may lose a little money, but how rich you will be when your boys or girls — under parental direction — become stalwart Christians!"
from a message preached on "The Lutheran Hour" for Mother's Day, 1943
by Dr. Walter A. Maier, a Missouri Synod Lutheran preacher
We've spent time considering words of council on keeping the home. Along with keeping the home comes the position of authority that must be submitted to. Knox was addressing this in his sermon, but we find this stand clearly declarated in the following
from an Anabaptist publication we see a woman's leading men in church in prayer is out of line:
"From v.5 it might seem at first that Paul allows women to pray or prophesy wherever they wish so long as they are properly veiled. But this is not the case: other instructions govern where women may prophesy. . . . 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 quoted . . . . These two statements show that women are not to prophesy in church meetings."
from "The Christian Veiling", copyright 1996 by
Leland M. Haines, Northville, MI at bibleviews.com
"Women cannot preach, lead singing, lead in prayer, serve at the Lord's table or any other thing that would place her in the leadership role instead of the role of subjection that God has assigned to her.
and
". . . This is the very kind of sin characteristic of those who insist that women should be permitted to do such things in mixed assemblies as: leading in prayer, preaching, teaching and leading in singing."
from a Church of Christ Minister, Don H. Noblin
"It is difficult to reconcile the role of reading and leading the assembly in prayer with the spirit of the strong command of silence of 1 Corinthians 14, which excludes women even from asking questions. Furthermore, 1 Timothy 2 specifies that men everywhere are to lift up holy hands in prayer."
from Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Q/A page on internet
Plunge On
- The War Is Just Beginning:
Further Research
At first going, I found it difficult to find articles stating the biblical view of a woman's family role. You do internet searches for such topics as, "women" and "women's roles" and you find a host of articles from the women liberationists perspective. You can begin to come under the impression, you're almost the only one left who holds to a sound biblical position. I later searched under the topic of "keepers at home" and hit the bonanza! There are many out there still fighting faithfully on the front line.
The Lord led me to a wonderful resource from which I found a reservoir of sermons on the subject of women. That ministry publishes a book I highly recommend entitled, "Great Preaching On Mothers" compiled by Curtis Hutson and published by Sword of the Lord Publishers, P.O. Box 1099, Murfreesboro, TN 37133. Copyright 1988. A note as to how boldly this ministry preaches. I looked them up on the internet at the public library and got a filter shut down that wouldn't allow me to contact the ministry or go to their home page because the library filter felt they presented material harmful for the welfare of children. Needless to say, "True Gospel preaching isn't always popular."
We've taken a quick look at the "keepers at home" of the Bible through short excerpts from responsible church leaders through history and across denominational lines. Let their wise council sink in to help give direction in our families. Until relatively recently the liberal view wasn't even considered a sound option of biblical interpretation. Don't be swallowed up by their rhetoric now.
Copyright 2004 Darrell Farkas
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Free to Copy under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND3.0 License by Darrell Farkas