UPDATE Sept 2021: I have come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches. He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.
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[March 5, 2023: There have been some changes made to this post. For more information, read the Editors’ notes at the bottom of the post. Editors.]
(Galatians 3:25-29 ESV) (25) But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, (26) for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (27) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
(1 Peter 3:7 ESV) Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
As I understand it, in biblical culture, the sons were the heirs of the father’s estate. The firstborn son got a double portion of that inheritance, right? According to Numbers 27, the estate of a man with only daughters was to go to the daughters. I suspect that this passage acts as a precursor of the New Testament verses quoted just above.
(Numbers 27:1-7 ESV) (1) Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. (2) And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, (3) “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. (4) Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.” (5) Moses brought their case before the LORD. (6) And the LORD said to Moses, (7) “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
All of this is to say simply that pastors and Elders and all Christians need to recognize that when a person is in Christ, he or she, Jew or Gentile, slave or freeman, has become a son of God. An heir of everything that Christ is to inherit. In other words, a heir of everything. Peter reminds Christian men that they are to remember this when they relate to their wives. Women are full sons of God in Christ and thus have full inheritance rights right just as men do. This doesn’t mean that right now there is no distinction between men and women. I hope not! Men are males and women are females. Moms and Dads. But it does mean that in Christ no one is inferior.
Notice that Peter warns husbands that if they fail to heed this instruction and treat their wives wrongly, then they can expect their prayers to be hindered. Is it not logical that if a church treats its women members unjustly, as some kind of inferior beings, then that church’s ministry and prayers will be hindered? I don’t know why not.
So, if the norm today in our churches is that abuse victims, who are almost always women, are being mis-treated, should we wonder that the Lord is not hearing our prayers? There are huge denominations afoot in the United States with many tens of thousands of members. Why aren’t we making on impact on this nation? Why does evil always seem to triumph? We can write some of it off to the fact that the world hates Christ and hates Christ’s people. But perhaps we just ought to take a closer look at ourselves and see if there might be anything within our own ranks that is preventing our prayers from rising above the ceiling.
I suggest we begin by taking heed in respect to how we are serving up a bitter pill to victims of abuse and protecting the evil man.
Maybe the problem will turn out to be less about those “no-good liberals” and more about cups that are clean on the outside yet full of corruption on the inside.
[March 5, 2023: Editors’ notes:
—For some comments made prior to March 5, 2023 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be an exact match.
—For some comments made prior to March 5, 2023 that quoted from the post, the text in the comment that was quoted from the post might no longer be found in the post.
If you would like to compare the text in the comments made prior to March 5, 2023 that quoted from the post to the post as it is now (March 5, 2023), click here [Internet Archive link] for the most recent Internet Archive copy of the post.]
A Cry For Justice 
Yes! I have heard women say that they are daughters of God, and that’s not exactly right. I probably would let the statement pass, but it bothers me. I am a son of God, meaning I am a full heir.
You also make it clear that women believers being sons of God does not imply any kind of gender distortion or blending. Good on you.
Thank you very much. We always need to guard ourselves against the common tendency to swing entirely to the opposite extreme when dealing with any issue. Men are still men and women are women. One man, one woman in marriage. God has given His roles for each and we must obey Him in this. Galatians 3:28 is often cited in support of “anything goes” as far as gender distinctions. But that is the path to the eventual denial of the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. At the same time, as our blog post said, we are all sons of God in Christ and full heirs in Him. We men, as pastors and leaders and Christians can more easily forget that than we realize and end up being patronizing and condescending to our sisters in the Lord.
UPDATE Sept 2021: I have come to believe that Jeff Crippen does not practise what he preaches. He vilely persecuted an abuse victim and spiritually abused many other people in the Tillamook congregation. Go here to read the evidence. Jeff has not gone to the people that he spiritually and emotionally abused. He has not apologised to them, let alone asked for their forgiveness.
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My comment might almost belong more on the page on this blog devoted to “What Headship and Submission Do Not Mean”, but here goes anyway.
Jeff wrote:
I completely agree.
One thing I’ve noticed about the Christians who woodenly advocate male leadership in the church and the home — they always say “Men and women are equal in Christ”, but when the rubber hits the road, they don’t treat women as equals. Equal but not equal. I don’t have a mathematics degree, but that doesn’t sounds logical to me.
It wouldn’t matter all that much, except that it causes horrendous injustice and pain to victims of domestic abuse. In the “equal but not equal” world, women are told they must submit to wicked husbands because they although they are “equal” in Christ (whoopy do!), they aren’t equal when it comes to marital rights and privileges. When it comes to their relationship with their husbands, they just have to put up and shut up.