Complementarianism

Introduction

What is the greatest challenge today facing the Christian understanding of manhood and womanhood?

Is it abuse? Some would say it is. Some would say it’s the long history of male chauvinism, it’s the apparent disregard for the value and dignity of women, and it’s the numerous ways women and children are still marginalized and neglected and taken advantage of by men. One can hardly argue that abuse is not a threat to biblical manhood and womanhood. And our perspectives cannot help but take on the coloring of our experiences and those that seem common in our culture.

Maybe you don’t think it’s abuse, but instead you think the greatest challenge is the sweeping attack on authority (in general) and on masculinity (in particular). Some make this very argument. Twenty-three years ago, Christina Hoff Summers (a “first-wave” Feminist) published her book The War Against Boys, and many others have sounded a similar alarm over the last two decades. Even those who are politically and socially “left” are calling for a more traditional approach… at least more “traditional” than the confusion of our present culture. Here too, the honest observer must admit that there is something wrong. Many women are feeling lonely and unhappy, and many men are feeling neutered or vilified.

Friends, I want to argue that both of these are similar challenges (the abuse of authority and the rejection of it), but they are coming from different directions.

If you have been abused, if you’ve experienced the bad use of authority, or if you’ve had childish versions of masculinity modeled in front of you, then it’s no surprise that you are a bit skeptical of those in authority over you. Likewise, if you’ve been accused of “toxic” masculinity, if you’ve seen what mob justice looks like when some authoritative decision comes into question, or if you’ve been taught to think that “empowering women” is basically the same as treating them like men, then it’s no surprise that you are a bit leery of stepping up into authority.

Now, I’m less than 3 minutes into my sermon, and I’ve already made a connection that you might not have noticed. It is so intuitive and natural for us to think about masculinity and femininity in connection with authority and submission that I suspect many of us did not notice that everything I’ve said about masculinity so far is related to the good or bad use of authority.

Friends, we are inherently relational creatures, and all relationships operate on the basis of some kind of dynamic of authority. There is no doubt that authority can be abused, and there is also no denying that the lack of good authority leads to chaos. In short, the solution to the abuse of authority is not the absence of authority but the good exercise of it. And this begs the question… What is good authority?

My goal today is to lead us in exploring the biblical concept of complementarianism, which affirms the mutual dignity of men and women and also a distinction in the way men and women both possess and use authority. This is just one aspect of a conversation about authority, but it is an essential and fundamental aspect of it.

Complementarianism is a regrettably long word, but it represents the idea that men and women are both image-bearers of God and identical in their shared dignity and worth, but they are not interchangeable; rather, men and women are different, and they are designed to complement each other in their differences.

As often happens on Sunday mornings, I will not even try to answer every question on this subject. I encourage you to read and think about and discuss this topic more than just this morning. If you want some recommended resources to study this further, ask me after the service. I will gladly help you as best as I can.

Historically, there has been a nearly unanimous Christian understanding of complementarianism throughout the last two millennia. The word itself was invented in the late 1980s by the founders of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,[i] but the concept is all over the pages of the Bible, and Christians have lived as distinctly male or female throughout the centuries. Even today, a large majority of Evangelical Christians affirm some version of complementarianism. The only disagreement among Bible-believing Evangelicals is on just how thick or thin (broad or narrow) one should apply this concept.

As a local church, our confession of faith contains explicit affirmations of complementarity in the home and in the church. We believe that the Bible speaks directly to the male-female relationships within these two institutions – the family and the church. So, these will be the focus of our applications today.

When it comes to broader society, however, we do not believe these are matters to divide over. Good Christians should come to their own convictions about whether women should serve in combat roles in the military, whether a married man should be alone with a woman other than his wife, and a host of other practical applications we might understand to be related. But we should also be gracious and charitable with one another when we disagree about how to apply complementarianism in the detailed scenarios of our lives.

The main idea I’m arguing today is that Christian men and women bear witness to Christ in the world by serving the Lord according to their distinctly designed roles in the home and in the church.

Our main passage today will serve as both the primary source of my argument and as a springboard for drawing upon other texts of Scripture. Let’s turn to Colossians 3 together, and I’ll read Colossians 3:18 through 4:1.

Let’s stand together, and I’ll read our passage aloud.

Scripture Reading

Colossians 3:18–4:1 (ESV)

3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

4:1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Main Idea:

Christian men and women bear witness to Christ in the world by serving the Lord according to their distinctly designed roles in the home and in the church.

Sermon

1. Delegated Authority

Last month, I preached a sermon on manhood and womanhood. I tried to explain how the Bible affirms gender and sexuality as features of God’s good and intentional design for humans. And I also tried to explain (at least fundamentally) how God has designed males and females to live their lives according to their distinct design – as a male or as a female. That sermon was broader, in that it focused on manhood and womanhood as concepts.

If you want my notes from that Sunday, or if you want to talk more about any of this, then ask me about it after the service.

Today, my aim is to travel a little farther down the tracks on this subject… and, hopefully, to be a bit narrower as well. Lord willing, I intend to offer some practical applications for the home and especially for the church. But before I do that, I believe it will be helpful for all of us if I begin with the foundation.

I will reference many Bible verses and passages today, but I’ve chosen Colossians 3:18-4:1 as our primary text for a reason. This passage is very helpful to our purpose today because it speaks to a few important aspects of our topic in fairly brief order. We see here the origin and delegation of authority, we see the purpose or design of Christian living, and we see some of the basic distributions of responsibility based on one’s relationship to others.

Notice how often “the Lord” is mentioned in these nine verses. Wives are to “submit” to their own husbands because this is “fitting” or proper or appropriate “in the Lord” (v18). Children are to “obey” their parents because this “pleases” or is acceptable to “the Lord” (v20). Bondservants (for our modern context, think employees) are to “obey” their earthly masters out of “fear” or reverence for “the Lord” (v22). And masters (again, for our modern context, think bosses or business owners) are to “treat” those in their service with “justice” and “fairness” because the Lord is the ultimate “Master” over all (v1).

The point is that each of the commands here are set on the foundation of an authorization from “the Lord.” Fathers, mothers, and employers each have authorization from the Lord to wield a certain kind of jurisdictional authority over those under their care and responsibility. In fact, authority and authorization have the same root word for good reason. It is because (in a basic sense) all true authority comes from God; He authorizes people and institutions to operate within their delegated parameters of authority.

Boys and girls, the main reason you should obey your parents is because God commands you to do it. Your mom and dad will have to answer to the Lord for how they used their authority with you, but God also sees all the times you obey and disobey; and you will have to answer for that. Both parents and children will give an account because all true authority is delegated or authorized by God.

This also means that all kinds of authority come with the responsibility to wield or use that authority according to God’s design. For example, wives are to “submit” to the authority of their husbands (v18), and husbands are to “love” their wives and “not be harsh with them” (v19). This is both authority (husband, lead your wife) and responsibility (husband, lead your wife lovingly).

So too, children are to “obey” their parents (v20), and parents (especially fathers) are not to “provoke” or “exasperate” (NASB) or “embitter” (NIV) their children (v21). Here again is both authority(parents, train and discipline your children) and responsibility(parents, do this with consistency and compassion).

Friends, we must come to grips with the fact that all true authority comes from God, and (therefore) all of the authority we truly have comes along with the responsibility to wield it or to use it according to God’s design.

But what is the end or purpose or design of all this delegated authority?

2. Designed for Service

Modern western culture seems to be telling us that allauthority is bad… well, at least all the traditional kinds of authority are bad. One of the major themes of our day is personal autonomy – the freedom to be who you are and do what you want. And anyone who supports and encourages that idea is “empowering” you. But anyone who stands in the way of your autonomy is trying to “oppress” you.

There is so much wrong with this idea of personal autonomy that it’s hard to know where to begin. But with this second point, I’m confronting the idea of personal autonomy head-on and at its most basic level. I’m arguing here that personal autonomy – the freedom to be who you are and do what you want – is nonsense, it’s overt idolatry, and it will lead to personal isolation and ruin.

You and I don’t have any idea who we are unless our Creator tells us. For us to claim the right to define ourselves is to make ourselves into our own gods. And you can just look around at those who are most “free” in our culture and see that the end of such “freedom” is loneliness and self-destruction.

To put this more positively, I’m arguing that all people are designed to serve or worship or live for God… (1) as His created image-bearers, (2) in their distinct roles or stations in life, and (3) in relationship with others.

First, we are designed to serve God as His image-bearers. According to Genesis 1, humans are created in God’s image and commissioned to reflect God’s character in the world. We are to know God’s wisdom and to obey God’s commands, not merely because it’s right, but because it’s what we were designed to do. A hammer is a terrible toothbrush or fishing rod, but a hammer is great for driving nails. So too, when we serve or live for God by knowing Him, glorifying Him, and obeying Him, we are operating as we were designed.

Therefore, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord…” (v23), because “You are serving the Lord Christ” (v24).

Second, we are designed to serve God within the parameters of distinct roles or stations in life. Sometimes these roles will be more permanent (like gender or generation), and sometimes these roles will be more temporary (like child, parent with kids at home, employee, or boss). We were all born in different years, in different cultural contexts, and either male or female… and these characteristics will not change throughout our lives. These are permanent; we will always be marked by our life experiences, our original culture, and our gender.

But we will not always be in the same circumstances. We are children only for a little while. Our hands-on parenting days are numbered. And many of us will be both employees and bosses over the course of our vocational lives.

And yet, in all of these distinct roles or circumstances, whether permanent or temporary, God intends for Christians to live in service to Him within the boundaries of these distinct situations. “Wives” serve the Lord as wives, under the authority of their husbands (v18). “Husbands” serve the Lord as husbands, responsible to love their wives (v19). “Children” serve the Lord as children, under the authority of their mom and dad (v20). “Bondservants” serve the Lord in their position under the authority their masters (v22), and “masters” wield authority in their position under God and for the good of their bondservants (4:1).

The principle and command are always the same – “Serve the Lord” or “Live for the Lord.” But the specific way we each obey will look a little different, depending on who we are, what role we have, and where we find ourselves in relationship with others… Speaking of relationship with others…

Third, we are designed to serve God in relationship with others. Notice how “serving the Lord” throughout this passage is always in relationship with others. Wives are serving the Lord in relationship to their husbands, husbands in relationship to their wives. Parents and children are living for the Lord in relationship with one another. And, so too, are Christian bosses and employees commanded to serve the Lord in their work relationships.

The point I’m getting at here is that the goal of life is not authority or power or personal autonomy. Our efforts are not to be devoted to increasing our position of authority or to gaining a platform of influence or power. And this is one of those places where the biblical worldview collides with our culture.

The goal of Christian living is to serve the Lord or to live for the Lord (whatever that might look like in any given circumstance) and to help others do the same (whatever their circumstance). This is just another way of saying that discipleship is me following Jesus, and discipling is me helping others follow Jesus. And whatever authority God has authorized us to use in our given circumstances is to be exercised with that purpose or design in view.

Brothers and sisters, this changes everything about how we live, how we work, how we parent, how we treat our spouse, and how we act as church members and/or church leaders. And we all know the difference when we see it.

If a boss leads his or her employees with the goal of gaining or protecting power, that is a terrible boss. If a husband leads his wife with the goal of flexing his dominance, then his wife will suffer. If a wife submits to her husband with the aim of manipulating to get what she wants, then her husband will suffer.

But, if a boss leads employees for the good of the company and the good of the people working there, then everyone benefits. If a husband leads his wife out of love for her and toward what he believes is good for the whole family, then everyone benefits. If a wife submits to her husband out of love for him and as a part of her service to Christ, then both husband and wife will benefit.

Especially for the children in the room, if you will obey your mom and dad out of love and respect for them, then you will likely find that you will do better.

The world outside will tell you that what you need is power. Our screens and our relationships and the entire structures of our society will make you believe that personal autonomy is the only way to ensure that no one takes advantage of you. But the word of God tells a different story.

God teaches us to serve or live for Him, in whatever circumstance or station or role we’ve been given, and to trust that God Himself will give both blessing and judgment, vindication and punishment, in His own good time.

See v23-25 of our passage, “Whatever you do, work heartily [or literally “do it with your soul”], as for the Lord and not [merely] for [others], knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward” (Col. 3:23-24). But, v25, “the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality [with God]” (Col. 3:25).

So then, because all true authority is delegated by God (it’s authorized by Him), and because God has designed us to serve Him in whatever situation He has placed us, there are some distinct ways that Christian men and women may bear witness to Christ in the world by serving Christ in the home and in the church.

3. Distributed Responsibilities in the Home

As I mentioned at the outset today, my sermon about a month ago on manhood and womanhood already ventured into the husband-wife relationship a bit. If you’re like me, then repetition is not a bad thing, and it does actually help us think better about any topic. However, I intend today to offer some more specific challenges and to try to help us with some practical applications on this subject.

So, what does the Bible teach us about the way God has designed marriage and the family? And how does this affect our understanding of the distributed responsibilities of family life or life in our homes?

Our passage is one of several in the New Testament that confronts our worldly and sinful tendencies – for men to abuse or neglect women, and for women to subvert or manipulate men. Since Genesis 3, men and women have naturally had a dysfunctional relationship, and there is no scenario in this world that will eliminate our natural tendency to treat each other sinfully.

What the Bible does so fantastically well is speak directly to the real problems we face as sinful humans and to offer us genuine solutions. This, of course, begins with the gospel message itself. The Bible doesn’t shy away from calling us sinners. In fact, the Bible teaches us that we are far more sinful than we can even comprehend. We have lived in rebellion against the holy God who made and sustains us, and we deserve His justice and wrath.

But God is rich in mercy, and He has shown His love for guilty sinners like us by sending His own Son (in the person of Jesus Christ) to suffer God’s righteous punishment in our place. Through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, sinners like us can be counted righteous and good and holy in God’s sight, and we can be welcomed into eternal life and blessing from God.

This is true for sinners of all kinds, male or female… and if you want to talk more about the gospel or about what it means to turn from sin and follow Jesus, then let’s get together after the service this morning.

For our subject today, the Bible also speaks directly to our relational problems as men and women, and it offers real solutions. Most of us know that men are prone to neglect their responsibilities as husbands and fathers, and men are also prone to operate as unkind tyrants as well. So too, most of us know that women are prone to subvert the authority of their husbands and also to resist their leadership in both passive and aggressive ways.

This is not a precise description of all men and women. It’s merely a broad-brush picture of our tendencies, to one degree or another. And if we’re honest, I think we can admit that the picture I’ve painted is at least generally true.

So, how does the Bible speak to our sinful inclinations? It does so directly! The Scripture says, “Wives,” (v18), don’t subvert or manipulate your husbands. Instead, make it your aim to “submit to your husbands” (v18).

This is just one passage that speaks this way. Ephesians 5 is another, and it says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church” (Eph. 5:22-23). And 1 Peter 3 says, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands…” (1 Peter 3:1).

Note that the biblical command is not that every woman submit to every man, but rather that each wife submit to and respect her own husband. We should also note that this will look somewhat different in each marriage and family. The Bible doesn’t tell us that all wives must do the dishes or that all husbands must cut the grass. We all have specific strengths and weaknesses, interests and allergies. But a good question every wife might ask herself is “How can I grow in presenting a regular posture of respect and submission toward my husband?”

I think Titus 2 gives us good reason to make this a topic of discussion for godly women to have with younger women in the church. There we read, “Older women… are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands…” (Titus 2:3-5).

May the Lord help us to be a church where honest and messy conversations like this happen more often, and may God grant us spiritual and practical growth and maturity along the way.

The Scripture speaks directly to men’s sinful tendencies too. See v19 of our main passage. “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them” (v19). Men, as a husband, lead your wife with love and care (i.e., don’t neglect your responsibility), and do not be harsh or bitter or sharp in your words or actions.

Verse 21 is similar in the biblical admonition for fatherly leadership. “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (v21). In other words, don’t make rules on the fly, and don’t be stingy with your praise. There is no doubt that our children do need fatherly criticism and discipline, but they also need fatherly consistency and encouragement.

A few Bible passages give us more detail. “Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself” (Eph. 5:28). “Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel…” (1 Peter 3:7). In other words, men, bear with her weaknesses, and maintain an understanding that you (as the husband) are ultimately responsible for leading and loving, even if your wife is difficult.

Once again, the practical application of this teaching will look different for different marriages and families. But a good question for every husband might be “How might I grow in leading my wife and my kids with love and dependability?”

Again, I pray, may the Lord help us strive for conformity to His word, and may He grant us blessing and joy as we aim to walk with faithfulness.

4. Distributed Responsibilities in the Church

I want to remind us all that the goal of Christian living is not to gain authority or to avoid submission. This is true at home, and families will tend to do best when husbands love and lead their wives and kids, when wives respect and submit to their husbands, and when kids honor and obey their parents. When the whole family is collectively aiming toward raising the children in Christian virtue and toward contributing to the good of the world around them, and when each person is playing his or her distinct role as part of the family unit, then the result will tend to be what we call human flourishing.

Emotionally, physically, socially, financially, and in every other way, the well-ordered family will tend to do better… and so will others around them. This is not an absolute promise; we still live in a fallen world, we still sin, and unexpected disasters still pop up. But this is what we call a truism – something like a proverb.

The same is true for local churches. A well-ordered family is a healthy family, and a local church ordered according to God’s design is a healthy church. As with the family, the goal of the members of a church is not to gain authority or to avoid submission. Rather, the goal or mission of the whole church is to make disciples by preaching and teaching the gospel, by baptizing those sinners who repent and believe, and by teaching and obeying all that Christ has commanded.

And as with the family, the Bible speaks to the delegation and distribution of authority and responsibility among the members of a local church. I know we’ve covered a lot of ground so far, and my sermon is nearly done, but I hope you’ll listen carefully and think about these next few statements. If we’ll all align ourselves with this way of thinking and acting, then FBC Diana will benefit tremendously. We won’t be perfect, and we will still have our challenges, but we will grow increasingly united and increasingly healthy as time goes by.

I’m going to give us three statements with very brief comment, which I believe are critical to our efforts to be a well-ordered and healthy church. First, all members (male and female) participate equally as members. Second, only qualified men may lead as elders or pastors. And third, generally, we want to encourage men to practice public leadership.

The simple fact is that very few of our church members will ever be nominated and affirmed as elders. Does this mean that the vast majority of our members don’t lead, don’t contribute, or don’t have authority? No! The most important decisions we make as a church are made by the assembled body of our members (who comes in, who goes out, and who our leaders are). Furthermore, every church member is committed to taking responsibility for other church members. We all bear the responsibility to pray for one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and to teach and admonish one another according to Scripture.

If you are a church member, whether you are a male or a female, you have significant responsibility and authority. May God help us all to embrace what we have, and may God bless our efforts to make disciples together.

That said, the office or role of authoritative leadership in the gathered church is that of elders or pastors. The Apostle Paul commanded Timothy (his young pastor friend) to “entrust to faithful men” in Ephesus what Paul had taught him so that those faithful men would “be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Paul also left Titus (another young pastor) in Crete “so that [he] might put what remained into order” among the churches, “appointing elders in every town” (Titus 1:5).

Those elders or pastors were to be men who were “above reproach,” faithful in marriage, and “able to give instruction in sound doctrine” (Titus 1:6-9). The qualifications listed in the book of Titus are nearly identical to those in 1 Timothy 3. There we read, “an overseer” (these words are interchangeable in the NT: elder, pastor, overseer) “an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled… able to teach,” and so on (1 Tim. 3:2-7).

And immediately prior to this listing of qualifications for the pastoral office in 1 Timothy 3, Paul made it clear that “a woman” is not “to teach or to exercise authority” in the way a pastor or elder does (1 Tim. 2:12).

This does not mean that women are second-class citizens in the church any more than a submissive wife is a second-class citizen in the home. But it does mean that God has designed both the home and the church to function according to His intentional structures of delegated authority.

Like a godly husband, good elders are to lovingly lead the church, according to God’s instructions and for the well-being of those church members under their care. Hebrews 13:17 is a sobering passage both for church elders and members. The Scripture says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

And finally, because we believe that local churches benefit from good and godly men stepping up into greater responsibility for the care of those around them, we generally want to encourage men to lead publicly. We want men to read Scripture and to pray in our weekly gathering. We want men who are not elders to share in the public ministry of the word, through preaching on Sunday evenings and teaching in various groups.

This is not to say that we do not want women taking responsibility or growing in their ability to teach. Quite the contrary! We very much want women to step up and to grow! But this is to say that we believe our church as a whole will do better over time if we will emphasize the need for godly men to think and speak and act as spiritual leaders… both in public and in private.

Conclusion

Friends, I’ve tried to argue and to explain today that Christian men and women can bear witness to Christ in the world by serving the Lord according to their distinctly designed roles both in the home and in the church.

What I’ve presented today flies directly in the face of so much of what is commonly accepted rhetoric on this subject. I trust that my love for Christ and my love for my fellow church members has been on clear display… and I believe that what I’ve argued today is actually far superior to the squishy and confusing notions of gender and authority in our culture.

I actually believe that if we will try to live as God’s word calls us to do then we will be happier, we will be healthier, and we will be more prosperous in all the ways that truly count.

May God help us to confess our rebellion and sin… may God grant us repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ… and may God help us to aim to serve the Lord as godly men and women… in our homes and as a gathered church.

Endnotes

[i] See The Danvers Statement, which describes the rationale and affirmations of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (or CBMW) online here: https://cbmw.org/about/danvers-statement/

Recommended Resources

Website: FBC Diana’s Confession of Faith

See especially the sections titled The Church and The Family.

https://fbcdiana.org/confession-of-faith

Website: The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

This website has many helpful articles, and it also lists books and other resources (some for sale and others accessible for free online). See especially The Danvers Statement and The Nashville Statement.

https://cbmw.org

Book: Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

This book is a bit dated (published in 2014), but it is still the go-to comprehensive resource for understanding what complementarianism is and why Christians believe it is biblical. Access a free PDF of the book or purchase a print copy at the link below.

https://cbmw.org/2014/09/04/recovering-biblical-manhood-womanhood/

YouTube: How to Understand Biblical Complementarianism

This panel discussion is a great introduction to the topic and why it matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyjkAMeBtto&list=WL&index=1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.

The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.