APPLYING NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING

APPLYING NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING

ON MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND PUBLIC DECORUM

Virgil Warren, PhD

CONCEPT 1:  Family is the basic unit of society, more than the individual.

CONCEPT 2:  When order is added to personal relationship, the qualities of person relationship

are not set aside.  Structure retains the interpersonal.

CONCEPT 3:  Worth and the sense of worth come from behavior compared to responsibility, not

           person compared to person.

                        Worth comes from accomplished responsibility, not “success” in competition.

CONCEPT 4:  Leadership is for accomplishing the purposes of the group.  Leadership

(“headship”) is responsibility before it is authority.

CONCEPT 5:  Deference (“submission”) acknowledges the responsibility carried by another.

CONCEPT 6:  Distinction between deference and the manner of expressing deference

                        Differences exist across cultures and over time as to how deference expresses itself. That observation calls for a distinction between New Testament specifics of deference manifestation and deference behavior itself.

            The concepts above apply to home, business, social process, formal education, government, the body of Christ, and any other circumstance that adds order to purely interpersonal relationships.

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