Page 34 - Sarah's Children

But Peter and the apostles answered,
“We must obey God rather than men.”

Acts 5:29

Obeying Authorities

he previous chapter leads into a great and often troubling question. What
should a woman do when she is commanded by a husband or father to commit
Tsin? We know that the abiding principle in all relationships involving
authorities that Yahweh has established is to obey. But what do we do when the
authority of man contradicts the authority of God?

The opening verse of this chapter should give one answer enough, but more should
be said about this matter. There is always a tendency to go to extremes in one
direction or another. Some have mistakenly declared that if a husband or father is
walking in disobedience that he is no longer to be considered an authority at all, and
some have used such thinking to justify rebellion and the casting away of all earthly
authority. Others have gone the other direction and have declared that a woman
must obey her husband or father even when instructed to commit sin. We will see
clearly from scripture that both of these views are in error.

Let us begin by looking at the latter error. It has been taught by some that a woman
must ALWAYS obey her husband or father, even when commanded to sin. Some
have used the example of Sarah as an illustration to support this conclusion. Since
Sarah is given as an example for godly women to emulate in I Peter chapter 3, some
have supposed that they are to imitate everything in Sarah’s life. However, Peter is
quite precise about what aspect of Sarah’s conduct should be imitated. He states:

I Peter 3:5-6
For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God,
used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her
children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

It is evident that Sarah’s reverent and respectful attitude toward her husband is the
characteristic Peter is praising. He is not saying that women should do everything
that Sarah did in her life. We are told on one occasion that when Sarah heard
Yahweh declare that she would bare a child in her advanced age that she laughed.
When Yahweh asked her why she laughed she replied that she had not laughed, lying
because she was afraid (Genesis 18:12-15). We know that lying is wrong, so we