Joint-Heirs

‘And if children, then  heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together’ Rom.8:17[KJV]

Someone I was discipling some years ago had an issue and he was about to walk out on an institution that had been a great blessing to him. Naturally, I had to step in and attempt to influence him. The issue was that his boss, a woman, perhaps had some expectations he did not meet so she was very hard on him and he was livid. While lamenting, he said ‘how can a woman talk to me like that’. At first I did not understand him, so I asked what he meant. And he said ‘I have her type at home’. I replied ‘well she also has your type at home’. He had a problem dealing with criticism because his leader was a woman. That is not what the Bible says. The man is not the head of the woman; the husband is the head of his wife alone. You are not the head of every woman except of course you are their pastor or their spiritual father in which case you provide covering for both the man and the woman. Did you get that? Very often, a man and a woman are put on a project and the woman becomes timid because the man is bullying her meanwhile they are supposed to be peers. Yet sometimes the woman is more gifted than the man. Sometimes she has more knowledge or more anointing than the man.

The way the Bible relates to us male and female in the new covenant is that we are joint-heirs. Joint-heirs meaning co-owners of an inheritance. So even though the husband is the head of his wife, God put it that way for order and so there is no confusion. So the wife should submit to her own husband. You cannot be deferring to another persons husband at your work place but at home you are rebellious to your husband, something is wrong with that. You are to adapt to your own husband. A classic example of joint-heirs are Aquila and Pricilla in the Bible. The Bible refers to them interchangeably [Acts 18:18, 26; Rom.16:3; 1Cor.16:9; 2Tim.4:19]. In other words, they are together. As joint-heirs in Christ, it is important to understand how God positions us, whether male or female, within the family and in the community.

Prayer: Father, help me stay under the things You have placed above me, partner with the things you have placed beside me, and stand above the things You have placed under me, in Jesus Name.