God Commands Everyone to Work
The Bible teaches that everyone has work to do. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to some who were not working. He told them: “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Men are to labor to provide for their wives and children. 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Women are to take care of the home and care for children. Paul wrote to Titus, “The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5).
This is not implying that woman cannot work in the general labor force. Several women in the New Testament did. Both Aquila and Priscilla were tentmakers (Acts 18:2-3); Lydia was a seller of purple (Acts 16:4); Dorcas made clothing (Acts 9:39). Men’s and women’s work roles are not exclusive; it is a matter of emphasis punctuated by biology and necessity. Having said that, the Bible teaches that work for men and work for women is different: men’s work is focused on providing livelihood for the home, women’s on caring for children in the home.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley