What Women These Christians Have!
Daniel E. Parks

     That declaration was made by Labanius, a fourth century Greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school, who had considerable contact with Christians (one of his students was John Chrysostom), but never embraced Christ.  Other than what I have just written, I know very little about him.
    But I most certainly and whole-heartedly agree with his evaluation of Christian women: “What women these Christians have!”
    I could speak of many Biblical women, including: Sarah, wife of the patriarch Abraham and mother of the righteous (Isaiah 51:2; 1 Peter 3:6; Hebrews 11:1): Rahab the converted harlot (Joshua 2), cited for her faith in God (Hebrews 11:31) and as a foremost example of true and Biblical justification by works (James 2:25); Deborah, a “mother in Israel” who delivered Israel from Canaanite oppressors (Judges 4-5); Ruth the Moabitess, one of the only people in all God’s Word of whom much is written without the mention of a single character flaw (see book bearing her name, especially 1:16f; 2:10-12; 3:10f); Esther, the most important figure in the deliverance of the Jews from the murderous plot devised to annihilate them during the reign of the Persian King Ahasuerus (see book bearing her name); Hannah, a barren woman whose prayer for a son resulted in Jehovah blessing His people with Samuel the prophet, whom she dedicated to the Lord for use in His service (1 Samuel 1); Mary and Elizabeth, mothers of Jesus the Christ and John the Baptist respectively – truly “blessed among women” (Luke 1); prophetesses including Miriam (Exodus 15:20f), Deborah (cited earlier), Huldah (2 Chronicles 34:22), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), Anna (Luke 2:36-38), and Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:8f); women exemplary in their hospitality to the Lord’s servants, such as Abigail (1 Samuel 25:3-42), an unnamed Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:8-37), Mary and Martha of Bethany (Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-5ff; 12:1-8), Joanna and Susanna (Luke 8:3), the “many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him” (Matthew 27:55f), Tabitha also known as Dorcas (Acts 9:36), Lydia (Acts 16:14f), Priscilla (Acts 18:26; Romans 16:3f), Phoebe (Romans 16:1f), Mary and Tryphena and Tryphosa and Persis and Julia and Nereus’ sister – all of the Roman church (Romans 16:6, 12, 15); Lois and Eunice, grandmother and mother of Timothy, exemplary in the raising of children (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14f); many others undoubtedly – if time and space permitted.
    I could speak of many women in post-apostolic days, among whom some of the more well-known are Katharina Luther, wife of Martin (1499-1552), Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (1707-91), and Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles (1832-1903).
    I could speak of many women in these present days, including those in the churches of my own circle of fellowship.  I have them delighting to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, showing exceptional kindnesses and hospitality to His ministers, faithfully loving their husbands and raising their children in the reverence of Christ.  Among them are women including ... well, that list would be way too long for inclusion here.
    “What women these Christians have!”
    And what a sharp contrast are so many women of the world.  I suppose the most desirable of them in the eyes of the ungodly are the actresses and models and other allegedly “beautiful people” who “grace” the covers of the magazines at almost any store checkout counter.  As a very general rule, they may be aptly described by the proverbial “ring of gold in a swine’s snout” (Proverb 11:22).
    And especially – O yes, especially! – are the women of manmade religion contrasted to Christian women.  This includes those women preachers and teachers whom Jesus Christ aptly characterizes as “Jezebel” (Revelation 2:20-23; cp. 2 Kings 9:22.  And tell me if you know of a single woman preacher who preaches God’s free grace and does not preach man’s freewill.)  Is it any surprise to the child of God that manmade religion is called “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:5)?  The more I consider “What women Satan and his religion have!” the more I appreciate ...
    “What women these Christians have!”
    And what a difference God makes in a believing woman!  (You do not think Christian women became so commendable through their own freewill and meritous works, do you?)  He takes even harlots and adulteresses and turns them into paragons of virtue, as he did to Rahab (cited earlier), Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-4 & Proverb 31:1ff), an unnamed woman in Samaria (John 4:1-42), and a woman brought to Christ from the very act of adultery (John 8:1-11).  And He has done so to women who formerly were daughters of the “mother of harlots” (cited earlier).  If any of these Christian women would be asked, I venture to say that she would confess that the ungodly and immoral “works of the flesh” characterized her spiritual state prior to the Lord saving her (see Galatians 5:19-21; cp. Romans 7:5; 8:5; Ephesians 2:1-3).  This most certainly is true of the wife of Christ.  O! What a difference is made in a woman by the grace of God and the blood of Christ and the calling of the Holy Spirit.  No wonder even pagans and heathens exclaim ...
    “What women these Christians have!”

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