At Hope Baptist, we are preaching through the Ten Commandments. This Sunday we will providentially consider the seventh command, "You shall not commit adultery" (Deuteronomy 5:18) This command will initiate a celebration of the wonderful commands of God for marriage. This command takes us into the deepest recesses of the heart of God's love for men and women. He desires us to mirror His own nature in the loving unified relationships in the Godhead as well as His sacrificial love for the church that Christ demonstrates. This is the essence of Biblical patriarchy and it displays the truth that God's commands for marriage are both a soothing breeze and a wall of protection for all those who would obey them.

Why do I say that this command is the essence of Biblical patriarchy? Because Christ's love for the church is the supreme example of what we mean by patriarchal leadership. There are different kinds of patriarchy out there to choose from, but the Bible has the perfect form that is communicated in summary form in 1 Cor. 11:3 - "God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man and man is the head of woman." It is through this patriarchal chain of loving leadership that women are loved and cared for. Love begins in heaven in the heart of a loving Father. It is passed down to His Son who gives it to man who presents it to a woman. This is biblical patriarchy - the love of the Father expressed to Christ, who expresses it to man, who expresses it to a woman in marriage.

Now consider this: Not only does God give husbands to be communicators and demonstrators of His love to their wives. Additionally, He lovingly gives every Christian woman a direct line to the blessings of Christ through the Spirit. It is in this way that God supplies a double conduit of love for the daughters of Zion. Nowhere but in a biblically structured marriage is a woman more honored, cherished, and loved. This is biblical patriarchy.