The Tulip Driven Life

365 Days of Male and Female Piety                 What is male and female piety? What is true, godly masculinity and femininity? How is virtue cultivated in men and women? Even pagans and unbelievers have had a sense of piety, or pietas in Latin. For the Romans, this focused on loyalty and duty toward the gods, country, and family, especially toward the household and parents. In 1 Timothy 5:4 we are commanded to “show piety at home” by honoring the widows in our family and meeting their needs rather than burdening the church with alleviating the needs of widows. The Apostle Paul’s writings in the Bible often refer to distinct duties in the home and family for male and female, for the husband and father as well as the wife and mother (Ephesians 5:22-6:9 is just one of many places where Paul addresses these matters). This piety must go beyond the immediate household to more extended family, and Paul even indicates...