Hunt The True Woman (Updated Edition)

The Beauty and Strength of a Godly Woman
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4335-6511-3
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

'A classic 'must-read.' Bold, countercultural, and more relevant than ever.' Mary A. Kassian, author, Girls Gone Wise Have you sensed God's call to change your world? Do you believe you can be one of those women who, by her virtue, wisdom, dignity, and faith, makes an impact in her home and community? Maybe you've heard the call but weren't sure how to maximize the opportunities. Maybe society's definition of 'true womanhood' has clouded your view of who you are in Christ. Or maybe you've just been waiting for a little encouragement and inspiration. In any case, Susan Hunt says, 'Start now.' And let this book be your encourager and companion.  You will read how other Christian women are reflecting Christ despite difficult and sometimes tragic circumstances-and how you can reflect him, too. You'll explore what the Bible says about your identity as a true woman of God. And you'll discover how to further develop a biblically shaped and Spirit-driven character that people are drawn to. Begin today to draw closer to God and deepen your impact. This exhortation to biblical womanhood will set your heart on fire and help you take up the unique opportunity you have-an opportunity to make a difference for eternity.

Susan Hunt is the widow of pastor Gene Hunt, a mother, a grandmother, and the former director of women's ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. Hunt has written over 20 books, including Spiritual Mothering.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hunt, Susan

Leseproben

Introduction

Twenty-Two Years Later

It was almost the end of the twentieth century when I wrote this book. I was fifty-seven. Now it is the twenty-first century and I am seventy-nine. There have been remarkable changes during those years, but one of the most shocking has been the growing rebellion against the biblical design and standard of sexuality; so when Crossway suggested a reprint of The True Woman (TTW) I wondered if twenty-first century Christian women would see it as irrelevant.

Shame on me.

God’s Word is always relevant and whatever specific issues in the Word are being challenged are the very issues we need to fearlessly and lovingly address, so I am grateful to Crossway for their decision to revive this book.

Over the last twenty-two years, the concepts I wrote about in TTW have not changed, but my understanding of them has definitely expanded. That’s the way it is with God’s Word—we never exhaust it. Admittedly, some of the examples and quotes regarding characteristics of the culture at the time I originally wrote TTW are now outdated, but I chose to leave them so you can consider how our current culture is the consequence of that time. But, God’s truth is timeless; it transcends generations, cultures, and ethnicities. No matter how familiar a passage is, we can be continually surprised by new understandings and applications.

The more I learn about biblical womanhood, the more passionate I am to provide resources to encourage and equip women to think biblically and live covenantally, to celebrate our creation design and redemptive calling, and to obey the Titus 2 mandate to give the legacy of biblical womanhood to the next generation. I hope this brief summary of how my understanding of these concepts has developed will give greater clarity as you read the book and will provide an apologetic for becoming a true woman.

Thinking Biblically and Living Covenantally

Genesis 1 is packed, but I simply want to consider five foundational principles for thinking biblically and living covenantally that unfold in this chapter. The story of redemption began in time and space with five fascinating words:

In the beginning, God created . . . (Gen. 1:1)

Foundational Principle 1: God is the reference point for all that is. Unless we begin with God there is no value or purpose—everything is meaningless.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Gen. 1:3)

Foundational Principle 2: God’s Word is the authority over all that is. God commanded and light obeyed. Light did what it was created to do. Whether we acknowledge it or not, God’s Word is the authority.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26)

Foundational Principle 3: God’s glory is our purpose. Humans were created to live in God’s presence—in a unique relationship with him—and to reflect some aspects of the glory of his character.

So God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)

Foundational Principle 4: Gender distinctiveness is God’s good plan. God did not create a genderless being. The man and woman were equally in God’s image, but they were different.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion.” (Gen. 1:28)

Foundational Principle 5: Gender distinctiveness is necessary to fulfill the cultural mandate to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over the earth.

Men and women are needed to fulfill the gospel mandate to multiply spiritually by making disciples (Matt. 28:18–20).

The man and woman had the same authority, purpose, and mandate, but they were designed for different functions in God’s kingdom. They were to live covenantally—in relationship with God and with each other in a way that reflected God’s character to one another. It was very good.

God said so.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Gen. 1:31)

God’s Creation Design of Woman

Genesis 2 gives more detail about God’s male and female designs.

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature . . . Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Gen. 2:7, 18)

Man’s aloneness was not good because he was created in the image of the triune God. He needed one who was equal, but different, so that together they could reflect the equality and diversity of the Trinity.

The helper design is not limited to a woman’s role as a wife. This design is intrinsic to who we are as God’s female creation. It is an incredible design that reflects some aspects of God himself. The Hebrew word for helper, ezer, is frequently used in Scripture to refer to God as our Helper. As you read the following verses, consider how God helps us.

But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,

that you may take it into your hands;

to you the helpless commits himself;

you have been the helper of the fatherless. (Ps. 10:14)

May he send you help from the sanctuary

and give you support from Zion! (Ps. 20:2)

Our soul waits for the Lord;

he is our help and our shield. (Ps. 33:20)

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble. (Ps. 46:1)

Behold, God is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life. (Ps. 54:4)

But I am poor and needy;

hasten to me, O God!

You are my help and my deliverer;

O Lord, do not delay! (Ps. 70:5)

For he delivers the needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper. (Ps. 72:12)

You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. (Ps. 86:17)

If the Lord had not been my help,

my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

When I thought, “My foot slips,”

your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. (Ps. 94:17–18)

The Lord is on my side as my helper;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. (Ps. 118:7)

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,

but the Lord helped me. (Ps. 118:13)

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy. (Luke 1:54)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that in Luke 1:54, part of Mary’s magnificat, the word helped “means to succor . . . or, perhaps better still, to lift up. The people of Israel had been cast down; they needed to be lifted up, they needed to be saved. They had been thrown down by an enemy, but someone comes and rescues them, he takes hold of them and helps them to stand upon their feet.”1

The helper ministry is a description of Jesus!

As we reflect on how the triune God ministers to us as our Helper, we begin to understand the beauty and strength of our design. The creativity of this design is limitless in the ways it can be expressed in various relationships and circumstances, but it is constant in its purpose to glorify God. This has application for us as individual women and as we join together with other women to be corporate helpers in God’s church.

Woman’s Redemptive Calling

When the first man and woman sinned against God, they deserved death but received the gospel promise of life through a Redeemer, and, grace upon grace, this Life would come through woman. The man and woman listened as God spoke to Satan:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)

In response to this covenant promise, Adam gave his wife a new name. “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20).

“Eve” sounds like the Hebrew word for life-giver. The gospel promise of Genesis 3:15 brought a radical reversal: the one who became a life-taker because of sin is declared to be a life-giver because of God’s grace. Womanhood was redeemed.2

When we are saved, our potential changes from life-taker to life-giver because our status has changed: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

Birthing a child—a life—is a beautiful illustration of our redemptive calling to be life-givers, but the ultimate demonstration...