Basic HTML Version
tality to t raveling brethren. The
office of deaconess is sti ll assigned
when needed in the modero era of
God's Church.
The Lost Century
During the middle part of the first
century after Christ's death, mo–
mentous changes began to occur
within the congregations founded
by the early apostles. Paul clearly
states that sorne false teachers were
already perverting the gospel (Gal.
1:7).
In 11 Corinthians 11:13, Paul
spoke of "false apostles ... trans–
forming themselves into the apos–
tles of Christ." Speaking of the
frightening prospect of massive
apostasy, Paul also said : "For if he
that cometh preacheth
another
Jesus,
whom we have not preached,
or if ye receive
another spirit,
which ye have not received, or
another gospel,
which ye have not
accepted, ye might well bear with
him" (11 Cor. 11:4).
The New Testament writings are
replete with warnings of impending
apostasy. Soon a century of tur–
moil, c hange and confusion de–
scended upon the Church that
Christ had built. When the curtain
finally rose a century Iater, histori–
ans found tiny groups here and
there sti ll clinging to the original
practices, now labeled Jewish. But
the majority, now viewed as tradi–
tional Christianity, retained only
rudimentary elements of the gospel
and the way of God.
Many began to preach a diluted ,
weak, basical ly sent imental gospel
that dealt primarily with Christ's
person and events in his life, rather
than his message.
Obviously, one should be famil–
iar with such events.
But, from that point on, little
was said or taught about the power
of God, the rule of the living God
in our lives, now, and the truth that
ultimately Jes us Christ would
return to establish here below a t
"the time of the end" the very
kingdom of God.
A false perception of Christ began
to develop-one th at slowly de–
emphasized the masculine side of
Christ's nature and personality. A
weak, diluted gospel gave rise to a
"Christ" that was weak, soft and
ineffective.
October 1985
Men, in general, felt uncomfort–
able and unmotivated by this por–
t rayal of a savior with gentle eyes,
uttering vague platitudes with little
substance . The result was the s low
but gradual diminution of the mas–
culine element in the local congre–
gations.
During the Middle Ages, the
Christ painted by many of the great
masters became visibly more effem–
inate in appearance. He was usually
depicted as a sickly young man,
with a frail, unmuscled body, wear–
ing unusuaJly long hair , sad eyed
and vulnerable in appearance.
It
is a sad commentary on the
society of the time and the polari–
zat ion of the sexes that many
women did find such an image of
Christ appealing. Most men did
not. So, t he church congregations
carne to be predominantly made up
of women.
The Truth Restored
I n the end of the age, in a time of
world crisis, J esus foretold that the
true gospel would be restored and
preached to the entire world as a
witness (see Matthew 24: 14). With
an understanding of the true gospel
would come a renewed understand–
ing of the man who first preached
it, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Millions today are learning what
Chr ist was really like! World1y
Christianity has in general stressed
those qualities in Jesus Christ that
we, in our human perception, view
as femi nine and have lost sight of
his masculine side.
We know that Christ was loving
and nurturing (Matt. 23:37), gentle
(Matt. 11 :29) and full of compas–
sion for people (Mark 1:41 )- all of
which are perceived in today's soci–
ety as feminine t raits. Not so--they
are traits
both
men and women
must develop.
In Christ's case, his !ove, gent le–
ness and compassion were ex–
pressed through a st rong masculine
personality. He publicly rebuked
the religious leaders of his day. Yet
he was compassionate in a manly
way.
On one occasion, we are told that
Jesus wept (John 11 :35), not from
weakness, but from strength. A
st rong, dynamic- looking maJe, with
a face sunburned from outdoor
work, with arms s inewed with mus-
ele, does not look feminine when he
weeps!
Many professing Christians have
forgotten that Christ, for much of
his earthly life, was involved in a
family construction busi ness,
founded by his human stepfather,
Joseph. For years, he was a carpen–
ter
(tekton
in Greek, better trans–
lated "stonemason" or "artisan").
During Christ's time, carpentry
included much more than just the
fabrication of wooden dwellings.
Most bornes in the Middle East
were a combination of heavy stone,
mud and clay, hewn beams and
lumber. Christ consequently spent
much of his teenage and adult years
lifting, tugging, carrying construc–
tion mater ial and enjoying hard
work out of doors. Therefore, he
was well muscled, in radiant health
and masculine in appearance.
And contrary to the stereotype,
he did not have long hair (note
J
Corinthians 11:14)!
Christ, as a human being, elic–
ited respect and a strong response
from
both
men and women. He was
a kind, good, balanced, d ynamic,
strong person.
And u1timately at the end of his
life he died for the sins of
al/
humanity.
Religion for Whom?
The great God reveals himself as a
Father. He tells us that J esus
Christ is his Son- these are not our
terms or stereotypes based on the
so-called sexism of the early gospel
writers. Our perception of God
must come from God himself,
describing himself. And God, in
inspired Scripture, clearly d e–
scribes himself as a Father who has
"sons and daughters" in this ear th–
ly realm ( II Cor . 6: 17-18).
It would be illogical for the Cre–
ator to divide the entire human race
into almost equal numbers of men
and women and then caJl mainly
women to his truth, or mainly men.
God is logical and consistent. In our
age, as in the days of the apostles,
men and women are both called to
the truth, in almost equal numbers.
"For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Saviour;
who will have
al/ men
[meaning in
Greek: human beings] to be saved,
and to come unto the know1edge of
the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3-4).
o
29