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NASB | 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and to make it your ambition to live quietly and peacefully, and to mind your own affairs and work with your hands, just as we directed you, |
Bible Question:
Thanks Charis for the warm welcome: -) It so wonderful to see the mysteries of God for life being unveiled. That brings me to another question. What is the role of a Christian wife? Does she stay at home to have and raise children? Is it ok for her to go and work and desire a career? What if she desires to stay at home, however the husband needs her to work for the extra money to help him with the bills? This is a down to earth question. However it seems that most people I come across in many Christian families have this as a huge issue. |
Bible Answer: Teach "young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. (Titus 2:3-5)" Louder: "Is it ok for a wife to work outside the home, and what are a wife's priorities? "The question of whether a wife should work outside the home cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. It can only be addressed in the context of a clear understanding of God's priorities for women. A fundamental priority for every Christian woman is to live sensibly. At its most basic level a sensible woman is one who understands God's priorities for her life and lives a self-controlled and an orderly life consistent with those priorities. "What are God's priorities for women? Seven priorities of a godly wife are spelled out in Titus 2:3-5 where Paul exhorts the older women to teach "young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." "Failure to live according to these seven priorities will cause the Word of God to be dishonored. Conversely, a wife who orders her life according to these priorities will honor God's Word. (...) "There is nothing in Scripture that specifically forbids a woman from working outside the home as long as she is fulfilling her priorities in the home (Proverbs 31). "Whether or not a woman works outside the home, God's primary calling is for her to manage the home. That is the most exalted place for a wife. The world is calling many modern women out of the home, but not the Lord. His Word portrays the woman's role as one preoccupied with domestic duties. It is a high calling, far more crucial to the future of a woman's children than anything she might do in an outside job. "The ultimate decision is a personal one that each woman must make in submission to her husband's authority. Obviously, a single woman would be free to work and pursue outside employment. A married woman with no children is perhaps a little more restricted in the amount of time and energy she can devote to an outside job. A woman who is a mother obviously has primary responsibility in the home and would therefore not be free to pursue outside employment to the detriment of the home. In fact, from a parental perspective it is difficult to see how a mother could possibly do all that needs to be done in the home with the upbringing of children, hospitality, care of the needy, and work for the Lord (cf. 1 Timothy 5:3-14) and still work in an outside job. Indeed, any wife who fulfills God's priorities in her life and home will be a busy lady. However, her children and her husband will rise up and call her blessed, and a woman who fears the LORD shall be praised (Proverbs 31:28,30)." (Adapted from John MacArthur's The Fulfilled Family (pp. 224-6) and Titus: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, pp.76-90) (http://www.gty.org/IssuesandAnswers/archive/wifework.htm) |