Genesis 3:16b (NIV); ….”your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” - God, at the time the Curse came upon the earth when he separated Adam and Eve from Himself in the Garden of Eden
Galatians 3:13,14a (TPT); “Yet, Christ paid the full price to set us free from the curse of the law. He absorbed the curse completely as he became a curse in our place. For it is written “Everyone who is hung upon a tree is cursed”....Jesus Christ dissolved the curse from our lives...” - the Apostle Paul to the early Church
1 Corinthians 11:3; (TPT) “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every person, and Adam was the head of Eve, and God is the head of the Messiah.” - the Apostle Paul to the early Church
John 10:30; (NIV) “I and the Father are One.” (Jesus Christ)
Galatians 3:28; (TPT) “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” - the Apostle Paul to the early Church
Ephesians 5:21; (TPT) “And out of your reverence for Christ be supportive of each other in love.” - the Apostle Paul to the early Church
Hello everyone! I write this blog for the universal Church. I also believe others outside the Church can benefit from these words. I do not usually begin a blog with Scripture but I wanted to draw your attention to these verses early in the discussion, particularly the bold words. My goal today is to remind us that Jesus has reversed all curses, every single one, all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Allow me to add some context to the verses I have highlighted today.
We start with Genesis 3:16b where God is telling Adam and Eve the cost of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and their separation from Him at that point. I firmly believe God took no pleasure in saying anything he had to say in Genesis 3. If you read the entire chapter, in His mercy, he also clothed them and did not destroy them, but sent them on their way to a place they could farm and start their family. The Curse, of course, is in full swing and it has affected the relationships between men and women to this day.
The issue Church is not that Jesus hasn't broken the original Curse (Genesis 3:16b) where men and women are concerned as you see above in the two verses from Galatians and in Ephesians. The problem is and has always been our understanding of “headship” - what it is, what it isn't, what we've been told to believe, and how we have been deceived.
Our present “headship” theology is based on 1 Corinthians 11:3, and we've been reading that verse wrong for over 1,000 years, not to mention adding our own cultural context to it and baptizing our faulty interpretation since the time it was translated into English in 16th century England. After all, King James couldn't have the populace believing Jesus was the head of all Christians, particularly women, if he were to have his way in the land and be both the political and religious head of Church of England now could he? Evil has been at work a very long time, not only to undermine what Jesus did for all Christians and non-Christians alike on the cross, but to oppress half the population of the planet using the very scriptures that are supposed to set them free. This won't end well for Evil.
We fail to see the purposeful verbs in 1 Corinthians 11:3. We fail to thoughtfully consider this scripture. I have highlighted the verbs above to hopefully give us better understanding and greater context. I had a lightening bolt moment so to speak. I felt the sharp end of the sword as I read these words prior to starting this blog. That sword cut through all of the mess I've been told and believed for the last 25 years or so and revealed the actual truth of this verse for what it is, not what it has been assumed, lied about, and long practiced. Let me explain.
Christ is the head of every person – man and women, the verb "is" in the present tense. Paul was writing in present tense then and it applies now in present tense. He wrote this first to ensure his readers remembered it!
Adam was the head of Eve – “was” denotes past tense as in no longer applicable. This fits with Galatians 3:13 and 14a.. Yes God the Father and Jesus the Son made a way to reverse what they did not want to do, but had to do in the Garden because of Adam and Eve's disobedience. Read it for yourself. Adam and Eve ate the fruit. Adam and Eve were disobedient. Jesus died to set us free from the bondage that came (the Curse spoken to both Adam and Eve) from Adam and Eve's disobedience. Jesus reversed the curse spoken in Eden long ago about women! The headship this verse refers to is now past tense, as in no longer necessary because it was a part of the curse He has already reversed and Jesus is the head of every person!
God is the head of the Messiah – "is" denoting present tense when Paul wrote it and present tense now. God and Jesus are One in the same, two parts of the three part Holy Trinity, submitting one to another always. This lines up with our verse from Ephesians 5:21 and our other verse from Galatians 3:28. Jesus has made us one with him, as He and God the Father are one (John 10:30).
This revelation blows headship theology and one-sided submission out of the water! They can't hold water! Do you want to know why? I am now speaking to the men. At the root of headship theology and one-sided submission is the belief that Jesus didn't come to reverse any curse. If you believe that Jesus didn't reverse any and all curses, then you deny the power of the Cross. This either makes you a wolf among sheep or you are blindly following said wolf. In fact, I would go as far as to say you deny the Lordship of the Son of God in your life (even if you don't think you do) and instead believe in and support your own “lordship” of sorts in your home and with your family. Do you understand that you are giving Evil a place in your family and your life by doing so? Do you understand that this mindset will only lead you and your family to destruction? Do you understand that this is as far from the redemptive work of Christ as one can get?
You are probably thinking at this point, “Those are strong words Elizabeth.” I am well aware this will be a hard pill to swallow but it is a necessary pill to swallow. Necessary medicine is not always appreciated when first administered, but it is later understood to be the reason the person recovered from their illness. This corrupted theology is a dire illness within the Church today and it is corrupting men and women.
The problem with not addressing the issue of the faulty interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:3 and the completed, redemptive work of Jesus is if we follow current headship theology as it is preached today to its end, we end up with men expecting to be the "little lords" of their home, not submitting themselves to the Lord Jesus who is the head of not only them, but their wives too! They want to have the final say and be the boss without the accompanying humility and mutual submission to Christ and their wife. Ladies and gentlemen this is a recipe for disaster because I have lived it! Headship theology today uses not only a twisted reading of 1 Corinthians 11:3, but is also uses this idea to prop up its validity, "you love and trust Jesus and he is Lord of your life and I am supposed to be like him, so what does that make me." This is a terrible misrepresentation of our trust and love for Christ! This causes men to be self-centered, not Christ-centered. They get enough self-centered nonsense in the manosphere, they don't need it at church too! Guys, I know it doesn't sound like it, I am rooting for you! You deserve better than lies! You deserve to be told the truth about a theology of headship that has been warped for a long time. You have been deceived, women have been deceived! The whole Church has been deceived!
I want to close with some declaration and encouragement. Christ came to reverse ALL curses including the ones spoken in Genesis about men and women! We have been set free from the curses spoken in Genesis! Adam was "lord" over Eve because of the curse, not because God wanted it that way. Sarah called Abraham "lord" because of the curse, not because God wanted it that way. Paul in Ephesians and Galatians was concerned with Roman household codes that were very oppressive to women, children and slaves, and he wanted the early Church to know that the Roman way was not the way! It is still not the way Church, yet we have allowed it to creep into our theology! We must choose to believe that either Jesus came to reverse every curse or he didn't come to reverse any at all! Ladies, our desire can be for the King of Kings and to see the men in our lives set free from oppressive doctrine! Men, you are not called to be "lords" or "heads", you are called to be servants. We (men and women) both mutually submit to one another as unto the Lord, as servants of our Lord Jesus!! If we mutually submit to one another and allow Jesus to be our head, we will love, protect, serve, and stand with each other in our relationships in ways we have never known! We will not need scripted “roles” to care for each other because Jesus will be our script! This sounds like freedom! Let us throw off that which so easily ensnares us Church and be free! I am ready, are you?
Love,
Elizabeth