7 Ways To Blaspheme God’s Word (Part 1)

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A TIME FOR A BIT OF BREVITY AND FRANKNESS

As I near my fortieth birthday and watch the collapse of the American empire, I am resolved to speak plainly about what the Bible says. No tricks. No gimmicks. No apologies. Just plain and honest truth from the Word of God frankly delivered.

I am resolved towards this because it is in such short supply these days. If honesty and truth were our nitrogen and oxygen, this entire country would be left suffocating. This is because the Church abandoned her post a long time ago. Pastors traded in their pulpits and posts for skinny jeans, pop psychology, and man buns. Being relevant has become more important than righteousness. The approval of carnal men has become more captivating than the approval of God. And, instead of heralding the unvarnished Word in a world bereft of truth, many have adopted a slimy sort of worm-tonguedness known as "winsomeness" that prefers to keep feelings intact while souls barrel on towards hell.

That kind of charade has run its course and has been found lacking. What the Church and society at large need are not more marble-mouthed, weak-kneed, spineless, jellyfish pastors who are more afraid of offending the congregation than they are of offending God. We need men with chests. Men who will wrestle with the text, pour over it with fear and trembling, and humbly declare it as the Father's God-breathed revelation for a world lost in heresy and sin.

We need this today because God is good, and the Word He authored is also good. We may not always like what it says; in the same way, a child does not always like the taste of medicine, but what goes down bitter will produce something sweet.

That is certainly true of today's passage, which not only communicates substantial hard-to-swallow-truth but also chafes and irritates the soul of the modern man worse than a week-long diaper rash without a tube of Bordeaux's butt paste. What we will see, however, is that these texts are not only true but good for us, so that anyone who ignores what they are teaching does so at their great peril.

With that, let us dive into our text.

THE TEXT

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. - Titus 2:3-5 NKJV

A WORD ABOUT "BLASPHEMY"

According to Paul, the Word of God can be blasphemed, which is a word on the level of damnable cursing. In the Old Testament, when a fella or Felicia blasphemed God, they were immediately put to death by the community since blasphemy was not only considered a social poison but also an affront to the awesome holiness of God (See Leviticus 24:16).

When you blaspheme, you are violently cursing the name of God. You are shaking a middle finger at the heavens. You are looking out to your sovereign Lord with demonic disdain and malevolent boldness, saying: "may you be damned." And in your hubris, you deserve to die. You deserve to die because, in your madness, you believed it possible to ascend the heights with Satan, asserting your stupid and unlearned opinion over and above the Most High. And if the most glorious and beautiful angel ever created will be decisively cast into the lake of fire for his act of pride, how much more will a worm like you? Like the smallest ant cursing the most prominent man, you deserve to be pressed into the ground, stoned by the mobs, buried beneath a crushing weight of earth because you believed you could bring an infinite, Holy, matchlessly pure, and maximal in all splendor and glory, God, (yeah that God) down to your pitiful and senseless level, putting him securely under your wretched feet. Death would be too good for a fool speaking this way to the Almighty.

Similarly, let us contemplate the fate awaiting the one who deliberately or even ignorantly blasphemes the Word of God. The Word is His divine revelation, representing all He loves and everything He has ordained for us to know. Indeed, to assail the Bible is to wage an assault on the very nature of God Himself. How so?

First, the Bible is the sacred repository of God's divine revelation, carrying within its pages the timeless wisdom, divine truths, and majestic narratives inspired by the Creator Himself. Its words, divinely breathed, resound with the authority and essence of the Almighty.

When one launches an attack on the Bible, they seek to undermine the very foundation of God's self-disclosure to humanity. They cast doubt upon the authenticity, reliability, and divine inspiration of the Scriptures. In doing so, they are questioning God's character and integrity, for He is the ultimate author behind the written Word.

Second, Paul uses a common phrase for the "Word of God" that is often used to describe Jesus Christ (See John 1:1). With this in view, blaspheming the word not only communicates cursings towards the Bible but also toward God's Son, the Word made flesh (John 1:14).

Wouldn't you think that the same God who fiercely prohibits blasphemy of His holy name also responds with unbridled fury when His sacred Word is slandered so grievously? Wouldn't a sin like that provoke his Holy ire? Could He ignore such dastardly crimes when He is a just and righteous God? Of course not!

If it were not for Christ's pleasures and mercy, this passage would hang over nearly every pulpit in America as a death sentence on the man (or woman - God forbid) who does not teach such things. What do I mean? In this passage, there are seven truths that older women are to teach younger women, so they do not blaspheme the Word of God. This means not teaching these truths to younger women, or teaching younger women to live in opposition to them, would amount to nothing less than the charge of blasphemy.

And, perhaps you are wondering, why is God so intense about His designs for womanhood? Why does He call it blasphemy if an older woman does not teach a younger woman, or if a younger woman does not love her husband and submit to his leadership? Why is that in a very exceptional category of sin? And the answer of course is that God loves womanhood. He loves His design so tremendously, that to tamper with it, would be to blaspheme His Word and His vision.

A BRIEF WORD ABOUT "OLDER WOMEN"

This passage indeed concerns what the "older" or "aged" women in a community ought to teach younger women. And my writing of this article is, at least in part, to help encourage mature and godly women within Christendom to effectively work so that this passage is no longer blasphemed and so that the Kingdom of Christ grows in ways that please the Father.

But I am also writing because I want everyone in Christ's Church to see how vital these seven commands are to Him. He did not threaten mild divine annoyance, quenching of the Spirit, or even heresy if these commands were not obeyed and joyfully taught. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that an awful blasphemy against His Holy Word has occurred if these things are not cherished, believed, and taught in Christian community.

A WORD ABOUT “MY AIM”

I pray that young married women will read this post, rejoice in the truth it communicates, and be conformed to who God has made them to be. There are plenty of godless and deplorable visions of "what is a woman" that the world has tried to plaster onto femininity, which have contributed to the chaos and confusion so many women feel. It is high time that our beloved and precious sisters in Christ and our dearest mothers in the faith were given a Biblical picture of what married womanhood looks like so that they can flourish and be strengthened in the role God created for them.

I am also praying that older women would rejoice in the blueprint God has provided them, causing them to eagerly get involved in the discipleship of younger women. Many older women have never had this modeled for them when they were younger, which is truly sad. Maybe they had devoted mothers and a handful of older women in the community, but no one took it upon themselves to intentionally guide them. Now that they are among a class called "older women," there could be much discouragement and confusion about where to begin. But, this is also where we must praise our sovereign God, who very lovingly provided specific instructions for the older women to follow in discipleship. If this is done well in our day, we will not have another generation of Christian women growing up confused about their gender, ill-equipped for marriage and motherhood, and incapable of passing these timeless truths on to the next generation.

I also pray pastors would stop avoiding texts like this and teach the truth to their congregations. Women need to hear what God has said about them. Little girls, young women, married and single, need to catch a vision of who God has created them to be, and that vision must be communicated by you, pastor. Do not abnegate your responsibility for applause or because you are afraid a text will offend. Put your big boy pants on, preach the text with love, gentleness, and humility, and help your people see!

With that, let us look at our passage. Today we will look at the first two commands, and then next week, we will look at the final five, but for today, let us focus on how a wife should love her husband and her children.

ENCOURAGE THEM TO LOVE THEIR HUSBANDS

Paul begins with a simple command. Older women are to encourage younger women to love their husbands. When that is not taught, or young women are taught to behave differently, the Word of God has been blasphemed.

To get after what Paul is talking about here, we need to understand what the apostle means when he uses the word "love." Instead of using the most common term for Biblical love (Agape), which is sacrificial care for another person, Paul envisions a peculiar kind of love that young women will particularly struggle with and need to be encouraged to implement in their homes.

For instance, after a massive blowout argument, it is nothing to see a woman in the kitchen making dinner for the family. She may be fuming. She may be carrying hurt feelings and resentment. But she naturally puts herself aside for a moment to care for her little clan's needs, her husband included. In fact, sacrificial love comes more naturally to women than to men, which is why Paul did not use the more common term "agape" when referring to women in this command. He does, however, use "agape" when dealing with the men in Ephesians 5:25 because husbands struggle with sacrificial love more than their wives.

Instead of agape, Paul uses a unique Greek word, "φίλανδρος," which combines two common words together (the words for husband and "love") in order to make one word out of the two. So in this sense, the woman is commanded to be a "lover of her husband" or, put more simply, a "husband lover," which just begins to shed light on the uniqueness of this phrase.

To make the phrase more astounding, Paul uses the word φίλος (Philos) for love, which is the term that means brotherly love that exists between friends. By using this word, Paul is not only commanding young women to love their husbands like she is his best friend but also to be friendly toward him, agreeable in character and demeanor, and to show joyful affection to their husbands in all the ways she would of her bestie.

Paul tells the older woman, "Make sure you encourage younger women to be pleasant toward their husbands," because this is precisely where she will struggle the most. He is telling the younger women: "Make sure you understand that your role in his life is to be friendly to him, to laugh with him, to cheer for him, and to build camaraderie with him so that he feels supported and so that the Word of God is not blasphemed.

This astounding statement goes right to the heart of where most women struggle. She will naturally and very comfortably pour out time and energy to make sure he and all of his children have everything they need, but how often will she be known by him as friendly, joyful, and pleasant? Of course, he will see her sacrificial care, but will he see her interest, joy, laughter, and smiles? Will the man know that his wife loves him and likes him? Both Paul and the Holy Spirit considered these questions consequential!

Knowing this, wives, ensure your husband and children see you smile. Make sure you bring the same kind of joy, personality, vivacity, and effort to your husband that you bring to a coffee date with your best girlfriend. Speak to him with the tones that you would speak to a friend. Greet him like you would a new acquaintance at Church that you will not be going home with. Do not become so fixated on your mission as wife, mother, and homemaker that you lose the friendly, spunky love the text calls you to. Do not be a nag. Do not dole out shrilly side comments. Enjoy your husband and pour out your friendliness and kindness onto him because this greatly pleases the Lord.

ENCOURAGE THEM TO "LOVE THEIR CHILDREN"

Paul does the same thing when discussing a woman's love for her children. He does not tell her to be sacrificial; she does that naturally. Her children may have taken her to the point of madness, and she will still feed them, pray for them, change their soiled diapers, breastfeed them while they're cutting razor-sharp teeth, and even die for them if that becomes necessary. She is excellent at sacrificing and doesn't need much encouragement on that end. Where she needs help and encouragement is in being friendly and bringing a pleasant and joyful aroma into the home God has given her charge of.

It may be easy for a mother to become discouraged. It is undoubtedly easy for even the godliest women to let their children and husbands see the annoyances, eye rolls or to hear the thousand tones of grievances and offense. This is because husbands and children are sinners and often hard to love. But how often do they hear authentic kindness oozing from your response? Do they perceive happiness when you are with them? Do they see you letting your hair down and having fun? These are the aspects of "love" God wants our young women to eagerly bring into their families. He was so emphatic about it; He called it blasphemy when a home is deprived of a mother's friendly mirth.

CONCLUSION

From this passage alone, it is clear that the Word of God can be blasphemed, and the Apostle Paul carefully gives us specific criteria that he considers blasphemous. For instance, older women who do not teach the younger generation of women to live out these truths can be accused of blaspheming the word of God. In the same way, younger women who reject this vision of womanhood may likewise stand condemned by God's holy and authoritative standard for femininity.

That standard, which we began to see unfolding this week, includes how a woman brings love into her home. More than being sacrificial and meeting the family's needs, the woman is to be taught and encouraged to bring joy into her home, friendliness to her family, and a pleasant atmosphere for them to live in. She is to be tender with them, kind, and to bring exuberant love into every nook and cranny of her casa.

Will a woman struggle to do this? Absolutely! Will she be condemned to hell if she does not do this perfectly? Absolutely not! We know from the Scriptures that our salvation is not based on our performance. We sin daily! We fall short of the glory of God. We are occasionally wretched, world-class sinners, and our salvation is never in jeopardy!

This is because the Lord Jesus Christ died for every single sin, every stain, every mark upon our character, every blight on our personality, and every blasphemy we have ever hurled at Him. In Christ, all our sins have been washed white as snow and have been cast as far as the East is from the West (Isaiah 1:18; Psalm 103:12), which means that our God will never remember them or hold them any longer against us. On the basis of Jesus Christ, we have been forgiven!

Yet, this does not mean we can go on living in the same old patterns of ignorance. As forgiven people, our lives must increasingly conform to the Word of God, repenting where we fall short and striving for godliness as an act of love and devotion to the God who saved our souls. We do not ignore Scripture; now, in Christ, we have been empowered by the Spirit of God to grow in it and produce its fruit.

A NOTE TO ALL CHRISTIAN WOMEN,

Dear sister in Christ,

As we examine these truths this week and next, do not allow the enemy to beat you up, tear you down, and accost you with feelings of inadequacy and shame. If there are things in this passage where you are currently deficient, repent to the Lord for them; joyfully lay yourself down, and pick up your cross so that you may follow Him.

The vision of womanhood that He describes in His word is better and more lovely than any vision we can come to on our own. Embrace what God says about you, let your heart be filled with joy, your tongue seasoned with sugar, and your vibrant personality not wasted on strangers and acquaintances so that the people you love more than anything will get to see and experience the very best of you. Give yourself permission to be friendly and joyful to the glory of God and for the good of your home.

See ya'll back here next week as we conclude this incredible passage.