The Power of a Mother
The Bible often indicates the power of humans. Not only are we designed to bear the image of the God of all creation, but we are also designed to cultivate and keep His creation. We do not have to go far to experience the influence of other spiritual elements in our world even today, but even more so descriptive of this reality are within the scriptures. However, even with the multitude of spiritual realities and influence depicted in Bible, even angels do not have the same standing in God's eyes as humans do. For those of us who have believed in guardian angels or angels of power, we do see some of these similar concepts described in the Bible, but according to God, humans are designed for a larger purpose than even they.
Hebrews 2 describes angels as those sent to minister to those who are receiving salvation (I pray that's you!) The apostle Paul knows this reality of the influence of humans, but also has understood humans purpose as divine ambassadors to the world.
He addresses many issues that one of his church plants in Corinth was experiencing, specially here how to resolve disagreements. Many of these disagreements were leading to these people ending up in court. Paul reminds them of the power of love, grace, and truth that is in them and their high standing in God’s eyes. He is essentially saying their relational conflict skills are lacking compared to who they are truly designed to be. Granted, living the life of Jesus and following the way of Jesus was new to many of them as it is to some today, but Paul reminds them of their identity as Kingdom heirs. They (and us to) are called to judge those in the church but will one day judge even the angels. He is saying they are far too valuable to end up in court when, in fact, they are designed to show the world how handling conflicts according to God’s ways leads to a better and deeper understanding of love and faithfulness.
And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! — 1 Corinthians 6:2-3
Case in point, humans have a high standing in the eyes of God and how we fit the creation story, even above the rest of creation!
Many of us have been indoctrinated to believe that Genesis 3 is all about the worst of mankind. We talk about Eve as the originator of sin and we try to blame Adam for the sin in our lives. I believe we taken much of those texts out of context, but in the process have also blinded ourselves to the mercy and goodness of God that is hidden in plain sight. Early in the creation story, Adam and Eve both made decisions that had a big impact on the whole of creation, but God displayed mercy over and over. There was no eliminating or diminishing the natural downfall and consequences of their decision to lean on their own understanding, but God also didn’t leave or change who he was, in fact quite the opposite.
It was through this story, that we see the life-giving power of God over deadly decisions and how Eve would play a large role in the redemption of creation.
God said:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15
Here in verse 15, God is talking to the serpent who had spoken lies to deceive Eve but also states that through Eve would come forth the one who would ultimately destroy the serpent and all the spiritual entities who follow the ways of evil and deception. This means that through Eve’s bloodline, although she didn’t follow God’s good order, the Messiah Jesus Christ would come forth. If a talking snake is hard for you to believe, we all can think of someone we know who has a silver tongue and can seemingly sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. It's not a hard concept understand.
We know her as Eve, but it wasn’t until after this event that she was given that specific name by Adam, and there’s a reason.
Adam named his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. — Genesis 3:20
God spoke it into her. God was the one who designed her to bring forth the Messiah, the one who would crush the head of the serpent.
Adam simply agreed and affirmed what God spoke.
The name Eve comes from the Hebrew word chavah, which means to declare, to show, to live, but in the context of life or living. It was through this woman and all women who follow her that the design to bring forth life is not simply what they do, but it’s at the core of who they are.
Moving on through Adam's statement in verse 20, he calls her mother. Most of us understand a mother as a parent to us or the one who brought us into the world. Our birth mom is part of what mother means, but what we often miss is the figurative language of the Bible and the deeper spiritual meanings that lie within. The concept of mother is often depicted as that of the “source of origin.” Isaiah 50:1 depicts Zion as being a mother:
This is what the LORD says:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of My creditors
did I sell you?
Look, you were sold for your iniquities,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.” — Isaiah 50:1
If we can see the design of a mother as “one who declares or brings forth life” and “one who is a central figure in a family’s origin,” then we must understand what of “all the living” means.
The word “all” is easy, but what about the word “living”? Yes, it does, in fact, mean that of what has life and vitality, including flesh and plants, but the word “living,” or in the root word here chay, is an adjective that points to Yahweh, not Eve.
Throughout the Bible, God is declared as the author and creator of all that is living, but what we often don’t see are the underlying spiritual implications. Cultures and communities are established by belief systems. We have Little China in New York, large Italian, Polish, Swedish, Mexican, Irish, Native, and African American communities that are congregated because of a nation of origin but have commonality due to those nations’ belief systems. The same cultural mindset existed in the times when these ancient texts were written, but a large influence was Greek mythology, specifically polytheism, or many gods. Today, we would call these other gods idols, but to these cultures, they were deities that were real but distant and often needed appeasement to displace their anger or convince them to activate their divine powers.
This may seem like a wild, far-off concept to us, but if we consider how we are taught Santa works and what it takes to get gifts, you can see how influential paganism is in our modern-day culture. Augustine, an early church father, still largely influential in many church doctrines and understandings of scriptures, grew up in a divided household. His mother was a Christian, but his father didn’t declare faith in the one true God until he was upon his deathbed. Augustine’s father was largely influenced by a polytheistic culture and way of thinking. Although Augustine veered away from polytheism to the belief in one God over time, he still was theologically muddied due to the influence of Plato and his concept of Neoplatonism. Neoplatonism moves away from believing in multiple gods and believes in one source of all of creation and life but is still void of the deeply intimate relational character that we see in Jesus.
There has been a war for power that we can clearly see on display beginning in Genesis 3 and arguably still ongoing today, even within our own hearts. God has simply desired a committed covenant relationship with all of humanity and has exhorted us to take care of the land of the living. The concept of a living, breathing, intimately engaged God goes against these polytheistic cultures. Who He has described himself to be and the living examples of who he is would have required a completely different way of thinking and seeing things. Even today, many of the most educated people try to reason away who God is and what the Bible says about Him and His decrees.
If we don’t see the many reasons people struggled to be covenantally faithful to God in ancient times, we will have a hard time seeing why we still struggle today. We still are idolatrous, or polytheistic, even placing ourselves as our own God living life on our own terms.
Stick with me, I’m getting to what is means to be the mother of the “living.”
Water is a term that can be seen as both good and evil. Untamed water, or what the Bible describes as chaos, can easily take a life. It is dark, unmanaged, uncontrollable, and all-consuming; however, God brings forth land out of the “waters of the deep,” thus bringing order and life. Baptisms are spiritually profound because of the declaration of a new life found only in Jesus. As we come forth out of the waters of baptism, declaring sole allegiance to Jesus, we step into living according to the author of life. Just as God brought forth land out of the darkness of the deep, He brought forth Noah through the floodwaters into the new life He had established for humanity to flourish. The Israelites came out of the waters into the new life God was establishing for them, Joshua led the Israelites through the waters of the Jordan into the Promised Land, Jesus came out of the waters of the Jordan stepping into His role as Messiah, and mothers bring forth life out of the waters of their wombs. Not only that, but the nurturing that living creation needs to thrive comes from the words, the prayers, and the compassionate hearts of all women.
Eve was far less the woman who ate the forbidden fruit and far more the one who is declared as the mother of all the living. The design of women to bring forth life is a gift to all of creation and even today impacts all of us.
1 Peter exhorts husbands to be patient with their wives because they are “the weaker vessel.” This doesn’t mean less powerful or less intelligent; in fact, I would argue that the opposite may be true. However, we also should not take this too far into the masculine empowerment of women that exists in our culture.
In the culture that Peter was writing to, women were those who had less of a voice in society. They were not looked upon as equals, let alone a life force. Peter knew that undermining women was not God’s design; rather, it was equality.
In our balance to understand God’s design, to see Him as the true God and our roles in caring for creation, let us not forget the power of moms today. Let’s exhort the life-giving power that God has placed within each woman and let us not confine our minds to believe that bearing a child is the only way to bring forth life. Even more so, there is the power of the tongue. What good is a child being born if they are shamed and abused their whole life? Life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Let us do our part to speak life into the women in our lives, realizing that we are all co-heirs in God’s kingdom if we choose faithfulness to Him. Let us look to creation and not forget the life that is birthed around us each day.
Maybe your mom has said to you, “I brought you into this world, and I will take you out!” Well, that’s partially true. She certainly did not go into her own womb and bring forth the miracle of two becoming one. She simply yet complexly was gifted an opportunity to play a role in the design of birth and participated in Gods design, even if she wasn’t or isn’t a believer in God. She also can take you out of this world, yet it doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences, and it doesn’t mean that we are property of our mothers. Nonetheless, she is a life force. She is the one God chose to shepherd and guide you. Even if you never had a great example of a life-giving mother, God still designed and empowered her as a conduit to express the life-giving power of God into all of creation, including humans. What a gift we have in the women in our lives!
Clearly, our world needs those who are daring enough to believe in the upside-down ways of living that Jesus given us as an example to follow. I usually am harder on guys, and I think that’s appropriate, but we need moms. We need true moms who understand their design and power to influence the gift of life. Jesus said “the mouth speaks what the heart is full”.
Often our negative words are an indicator of our internal personal beliefs. It’s worth putting the effort in to demolish any lies that are contrary to Gods word, but even more so is the understanding of the gift that women must give to this world and the difference it makes.
For those of you who have embraced the truth of motherhood in any capacity, thank you. Our world, our hearts, our experience of life and our understanding of God is different because of you. Happy Mother’s Day today to the Jesus-centric mothers out there, those who are working to understand their role as a mother in many capacities, and those who will someday be a mom.
~Paul
I dedicate this to my own mother, who has been a living example of her belief in the one true author of life, Jesus Christ. It is through that example that many have been shepherded to bring forth life into this world through sacrificial living, through servanthood, through humility, and through faith in God. You are an example to many of the character of Yahweh, and we honor and are grateful for your dedication to Jesus.
I also dedicate this to my mother-in-law, who has played a large role in raising the gift of the women I have in my wife, her daughter. I have experienced life beyond understanding because of the heart that God has placed within her and am forever grateful for the efforts that were made in nurturing her to become the woman of God she is and the example you set forth of love and nurture to your whole family.
