May 24, 2007

• Working Outside the Home

  This post is in response to Pamela’s questions and comments in my last post. I was going to just post it as an answer but it was so long that I decided to write a new entry. Here goes…

  
  

  Hi Pamela,

  
  

  I haven’t been able to find any direct commands in the New Testament showing that it’s a sin for a wife to work outside the home. But, I have found quite a few principles that have guided my decision (along with my husbands) to remain in the home, if at all possible.

  
  

  Wives are commanded to be a ‘keeper/worker at home’ in Titus 2:3-5 and then in 1 Timothy 5:14 we’re told that we are to ‘manage the home’. These are direct commands. Both passages say that a woman can bring reproach on Christ if they do not fulfill this duty.

  
  

  Here is what each of those terms mean in the Greek language:

  
  

  Titus 2:3-5 – “Workers at home”

  
  

  Oikouros: “Oikos“- home “ouros”- keeper at home, a guard. One who looks after domestic affairs with prudence and care.

  
  

  1 Tim. 5:14 – “Manage the house”

  
  

  oikodespoteo – “oikos”- house “despoteo”- to govern

  
  

  To govern or manage the domestic affairs of a family

  
  

  (Husband is the ruler, she does the ‘ruling’).

  
  

  My hesitation with working outside the home has always been… how do I keep the above commands (along with all the other many commands given to women and Christians in general) and take on a job, too? For me, personally, I could not find the time or strength to fulfill them all and take on a part/fulltime job. Something would be lacking. Do I want the lack to be found in God’s direct commands? Or in an area that He has not commanded? Here is just a FEW of His direct commands I’ve found in the New Testament:

  
  

  - Bringing up children (1 Tim. 5:10)
  - Showing hospitality ( 1 Tim. 5:10)
  - Washing the feet of the saints (what would be the equivalent to this today? What things could a godly woman do in her home to make a person comfortable when they enter her house?) 1 Tim. 5:10
  - Helping those in trouble ( 1 Tim. 5:10)
  - Help widows in her family (1 Tim. 5:16)
  - Feed the hungry (Matt. 25:35)
  - Give drink to the thirsty (Matt. 25:35)
  - Take in strangers (Matt. 25:35)
  - Clothe the naked (matt. 25:36)
  - Visit the sick (Matt. 25:36)
  - Visit those in prison (Matt. 25:36)
  
  Honestly, as a stay-at-home wife, I find myself lacking in these areas WITHOUT a part/fulltime job outside the home.

  
  

  This is not to say that there may be times of extreme necessity when a woman is asked by her husband to go to work to meet the basic needs of the family. Of course, she is not bound by Scripture not to. But, personally, over the years I’ve rarely seen this be the case in America. Generally, the woman goes to work to provide for the extras (vacation, nicer home, nicer furniture, updates, etc.) because she is not willing to work harder in the home or cut back on her spending or do without.

  
  

  The ‘extras’ to me do not make up for what I feel my lack of presence in the home would lose. I don’t personally feel that having extra money to go on vacation or buy nice things makes up for me not being available to minister/ help my husband or my grown children or my church when they need me. The extra things don’t make up for the time lost to minister to those in my neighborhood or even my extended family.

  
  

  What about God’s command to not love the things of this world that are passing away? (1 John 2:15-17) Where is the contentment that Paul displayed? He learned to live with much AND little. He counted everything , including the loss of all things, to be nothing in order to gain Christ. (Phil. 3:8) This conviction is rarely seen in American Christian homes. Bigger and better is the motto today.. even for the Christian and I’m just as much to blame. Gaining ‘stuff’ has been the goal of many a Christian home which is so opposite of the Christian we see in the New Testament times.

  
  

  This is not to say that there may not be times of extreme necessity when a woman is asked by her husband to go to work to meet basic expenses. Of course, she is not bound by Scripture not to. But, personally, over the years I’ve rarely seen this be the case in America. Generally, the woman goes to work to provide for the extras (vacation, nicer home, nicer furniture, updates, extra money, etc.). Which, there is no law against! She is free to do so if her husband commands it. But, at what cost?

  
  

  Laine from Laine’s Letters is a perfect example of what a woman can do on a limited income (I think I read that her husband makes 26,000 a year). Is this easy? Nope! But, I see her life as saying … ‘ God has providentially supplied our family, through my husbands labor, with a certain amount of money. I will work hard to make do and be content with what He has provided.’

  
  

  If my husband commanded me to go to work I would submit! But, I would be praying feverishly for a way out. My children are grown and so the loss would be less … although I still believe there would be loss.

  
  

  Biggest of hugs!
  Georgene

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 8:43 pm
  • 16 Comments