Cheryl Schatz

Darren,
You said:

When I look at the relationship of the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirirt I believe that the Spirit and the Son submit to God the father’s authority.

The Scriptures do not say that the Holy Spirit submits to the Father’s authority. The only authority where submission is shown is regarding the humanity of Jesus and in His human nature, He submits Himself to the Father. Our DVD project on the Trinity shows the equality authority of the Father and the Son http://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Eternity-Future-Explaining-Exposing/dp/B001ID8582/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1303447476&sr=8-1 as well as the reason for the humility of Jesus. You may want to have a look at that material.

That does not make the Spirit or the Son less worthy, it merely puts them in different roles.

The Bible shows that all three operate in unity in the same work as they are all Creator and Lord. i.e. There is not just one role as Creator where only one person takes this role.

With all that being said I sacrifice and serve her, because that is the model that Christ has laid out for us, since he did not come to be served but to serve.

Sacrifice and service is mutual thus we are said to be in mutual humility and submission for the purpose of lifting each other up. This is the way that all of us desire to love and respect each other in marriage.

Is it possible that John Piper is realizing that he is failing at doing these things and wants to sacrificially show his wife Love?

It appears that this is so. The complementarian system is often fraught with problems in that it encourages pride in a position of power and authority to make decisions for another adult person. I have heard many of these high profile complementarian men admit that they had problems in their marriage with the tendency to override their wives will. Sometimes the problems surface early in the marriage and sometimes it comes after many years of overriding her will. It is a good sign when these men admit that there is a problem and admit that it is attached to their pride.

9 months off does not necessarily mean he has “big” issues like abuse. Could it be that he is tired/drained/broken and wants to rejuvenate and fall in love with his wife again,a t least emotionally.

Piper has spoken for himself and admitted that the problems are related to his pride. If fixing that problem causes him to fall in love with his wife again, that is a good thing, but the problem admitted is still pride.

Also, the reference to a man needing a helper more than a woman because scripture says that God made a suitable helper for the man is probably twisting scripture.

Maybe you could explain how you see this as a twist. Which Scripture do you reference in that the woman has in her creation as needing a male helper? Is not the woman said to be the glory of the man and not the man the glory of the woman? I think it is important to read what the Scripture says rather than adding in what we think it should say.