The Excellent Wife

On the heels of yesterday’s post, A Titus 2 Example, I would like to share with you a book that helped to shape my marriage into a more biblical one.  This particular book was introduced to me early in my Christian walk by a mentor who invited me to a women’s Bible study.  At the time, my marriage was on sandy soil and I didn’t even know it!

The Excellent Wife:  A Biblical Perspective, by Martha Peace, is worthy of serious examination by all Christian women.  She wrote this book…

“…to be a comprehensive resource for pastors, counselors, teachers, missionaries, and Christian women to use for themselves or to teach others what it really means to be a godly wife. “   (Introduction) 

Broken into four parts, Peace covers the following topics:

     A Wife’s Understanding–Foundational Truths for the Excellent Wife
     A Wife’s Responsibility–Faithful Commitments of the Excellent Wife
     A Wife’s Submission–Fulfillment of the Excellent Wife
     A Wife’s Special Concerns–Sin Problems of the Excellent Wife

Throughout the entire book Scripture is used as the foundation of her teaching.  Peace starts with God’s Word and uses it to show how God originally planned for women to be man’s helper.  Unlike what this world would teach, she correctly points women to a holy career as a godly wife.

One key excerpt from Chapter five, which speaks of God’s goal for marriage is,

“The goal of the Christian husband and wife in their marriage is to have a oneness that is characterized by a loving spiritual and physical bond that glorifies God and thereby enhances personal spiritual growth.  (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:22-23; Galatians 6:1; Hebrews 13:4).  Oneness and spiritual growth are achieved as each partner helps the other become as much like the Lord Jesus Christ as possible.”   pg. 33

Another important aspect to her lessons, is her “Put Off” – “Put On” Dynamic that she develops throughout the book.  She helps us to understand how to ‘deal practically‘ with our sin.  While many times we are spurred on by the Holy Spirit to recognize  our sin, we must also confess it to God, repent, then not do it again.  Unfortunately, the hard part is not doing it again!  So, Peace gives us a method of  ‘establishing new habit patterns’ that, if we commit to, can aid in our victory over that sin.  I found this method to be quite helpful and even taught it to my children while we were studying the characteristic of  ‘willingness’. 

This powerful study was so instrumental in improving my marriage, that I have given copies to friends and family and recommended it to many others!  I hightly recommend this book to all women who are married or considering marriage. 

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
Proverbs 31:10

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