gengwall

Mark – “So in James 4 we are told to ‘align with’ (not submit under or to) God in the sense that he does not have authority over us…correct?…”

No – in the sense that the text is not talking about God’s authority over us. Why should we introduce it into the text? There are scads of texts in the Bible, especially in the OT, where God is seen as a side by side partner with us, especially in contexts where we resisting some enemy. This is especially true when we are resisting the Devil. What does God’s authority over us have to do with reisiting the Devil? Nothing. Scripture informs us: “if God is with me, who can stand against me”. The way we get God “on our side” is to align with Him.

Mark – “I guess the next argument will be, that Eph 5:21 uses the ‘align with’ and then Paul switches with Christ to ‘submit under’- I can see where this is leading. Paul just loves to be confusing like this doesn’t he!”

That would be your argument, not mine. My point was that “align with” makes much more sense for 5:21 than “align under”, and Paul would be consistent in 5:22. And yes, I believe the church aligns with Christ, although it certainly aligns under Him as well in some contexts. The question we need to ask is if “marriage” is such a context. I don’t believe it is.

Mark – “My response: yeah maybe, if we want to put our selves on a level par with the creator of the world, the creator of us, the sustainer of all things, and say that we are not under His authority. Sure I can accept this novel interpretation, if I thought I was God.”

My friend – you seem to be like other comps here who think that Christ and God have only one relational paradigm with humans, and that one paradigm is the authoritarian one. That simply isn’t the case. Stop putting words in our mouths by saying that we are contending that God “never” has authority over us. That isn’t what we are saying at all. What we are saying is that in the marrital paradigm, authority is not even in view. It is a reciprocal, equal, unified, “one flesh” relationship.

“…This is all becoming hysterical! How far must we go to re-invent Biblical teaching.”

I might give the retort – “How far must we go to reinvent Greek to support our biblical teaching”.