Family and Faith Magazine June-July 2015 | Page 13

RELATIONSHIPS

(1 Cor 6:9). “If she divorces her husband
and marries another, she commits
adultery” (Mark 10:12). “And I say to
you: whoever divorces his wife, except for
sexual immorality, and marries another,
commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9).

3

. The Older Woman

Not a sin, but certainly not
God’s ideal. God expects men
to be the spiritual leaders of the home
(Eph 5:25) and it certainly requires an
extra measure of grace to lead a woman
who’s older than you. Again, if you’re a
man and you’re already in such a marriage,
then honor it till the day you die–it’s still
a valid marriage and divorce is not an
option! However, if you’re not yet married
but thinking about an older woman I want
to remind you that God intentionally (with
good reason!) created Adam before Eve in
the First Marriage. Scripture informs us
that God created man first chronologically
for the sake of authority! Listen: “I do not
permit a woman to teach or to exercise
authority over a man; rather, she is to
remain quiet. For Adam was formed first,
then Eve” (1 Timothy 2:12-13).
Apparently, even secular researchers
are now beginning to discover results
that back up biblical claims: “If you’re a
woman two or more years older than your
husband, your marriage is 53 percent
more likely to end in divorce than if he was
one year younger to three years older.”
(Source: Rebecca Kippen, Bruce Chapman
and Peng Yu, “What’s Love Got to Do With
It? Homogamy and Dyadic Approaches
to Understanding Marital Instability,”
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic
and Social Research, 2009.)

4

. The Feminist

There’s
no
room
within
Christendom for the “Christian
feminist.” Though women and men have
equal value in the eyes of God (Gal 3:28),
they certainly have different God-given
roles. Any woman who tries to usurp
her husband’s authority or even claims

“

Sexy might inadvertently
catch your eyeballs, but it
shouldn’t catch your heart.

”

to be a co-leader with her man is gravely
dishonoring the God who created her to
be subject and obedient to her husband
(Eph 5:22, Col 3:18, 1 Pet 3:1). Eve was
distinctly created “for” man, a point that
the apostle Paul makes abundantly clear
in 1 Corinthians 11 when he writes, “For
man was not made from woman, but
woman from man. Neither was man
created for woman,