I am not quoting from the beginning ot the epistle in the lectionary today, but I want to allude to this. John started off by saying he was writing to the elect lady. For the Church is CHrist’s bride. TO a certain extent, and as far as a group of people can be aligned, the church is feminine… and Christ is masculine. We obey, he commands.

2 John 1:4-11
4I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning — you must walk in it.

7Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; 11for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person

John was writing about the proto Gnostics and the dualists: those who could not accept the incarnation of Jesus — that God was in the babe and was the babe that Mary carried in her womb. nowadays, the same heresies occur. It is our duty to deal with the heresies that occur in our time. We do not, for instance, need to deal with the race driven fascism of Germany — Bonhoeffer and Pius X had to.

Our burden is a form of rebellion. I noted at the beginning that the church is feminine, not masculine. It is described as the bride of Christ. And the role of a bride is to be a helpmeet, a willing helper, to do what their husband commands (or should command). God is the captain and owner of the church. We are not.

But… there are a group of women who simply do not want to obey. They want to explore their spirituality, and the teaching about submission is seen as nn anathema. In their view, women should rule, for men are crude, simple, unspiritual, unworthy, and without subtlety.

This is an error. It leads to moral laxity, a lack of fervour in doing good, and death of the church. For the word of God is Christ, and he is alive, active… and able to discern our errors. (I will note that men have made one error in the last two generations in the Church… they have pandered to women power instead of holding to the truth of the gospel).

It is time for men to lead. For doing that is to be in obedience with the teaching of Christ. So let the feminists squeal, they are not of us, and they must not be allowed to deceive us. For we must obey, not rebel.