'To dislike patterns of authority and submission (whether in the family or church or society) implies that we dislike a pattern that is intrinsic to the beauty and glory of God himself.'
Ouch.
That one hit me hard today.
I found out recently that the word for submission in german is 'Unterwerfung' or 'Unterordnung', the former immediately conjuring up, in my mind at least, this horrid picture of throwing a woman under a bus or something. Hm, so not exactly a positive picture...
Yet although we had some qualms about the helper-role of women at first, what really shed new light onto the submission and helper qualities was the understanding of God being named as the 'Helper' and of this characteristic as being a godly one. This is not a helper who is second rate or who is a second class citizen. Rather a helper who plays an essential role in order for the work to be carried out properly.
I think I'm far from understanding all of this but hopefully when we meet again on Sunday evening to cover some texts in John that deal with this issue of authority and submission within the trinity, things will become a little more tangible.
It's funny as I rather thought I'd gotten a lot of this sorted out within my own mind and heart. Oh how wrong you can be.
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