Pambo for Women
Pambo, is a noun that means adornment in Kiswahili. It points to something you put on for the sake of beauty. This is the vision for this ministry – that it will be part of helping women put on the gospel of God, so that they are beautified by it, but also that they might beautify it. The Bible tells us that both things are good and true.
According to 1 Peter 3:1-4, whilst addressing wives, Peter points the women to conduct themselves in submission and respect that they might win their husbands over to the gospel by their conduct. He urges them to be interested in their attitude and behavior more than their external beauty and beautification, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Pet. 3:3-4, ESV).
Beauty is good and it is not sinful to seek to accentuate it. However, beauty fades. No matter how beautiful a woman is externally, she will eventually experience the wear and tear of life in this broken world. However, Peter says that it is possible for a woman to have an undying beauty; a beauty that is more valuable and unfading. This beauty comes from the inner state of the heart that is humble and peaceful. This is a beauty that God considers worthwhile.
It is important that we remember that Peter is writing to those who are “born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for [them]” (1:3-4). These women he is addressing, are those who have been brought back to life through Jesus’ death and resurrection and who are to reflect the nature of God and that which He has promised that is incorruptible, pure and eternal! It is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ that can transform these women from seeking mere external beauty to having an internal beauty that reflects the Lord in “purity” and “reverence” (3:2, NIV).
Therefore, when it comes to submission within marriage and being faithful witnesses to Christ to unbelieving husbands (the context of chapter 3), these women are not to employ worldly tactics with many words and external adornment. Rather, they are to live lives that reflect the Lord they love and serve. Now, when it comes to the conversation on submission, humility and quietness do not seem like appealing traits to us. And yet, Peter does not ground this in mere culture but on this being something that God Himself considers valuable and worthwhile.
So much of the modern conversation on submission and a woman’s conduct, especially within marriage, is tied to a rejection of patriarchy and promotion of feminism. But, not enough is thought of or said about what God thinks about women. The general feeling is that God is the one who ordained patriarchy and so He cannot be pro-women. We fail to account for the brokenness that came about as a result of sin and God’s judgement upon it.
In Genesis 3, one of the consequences of God’s judgement on sin is that man and woman would want to rule over each other. “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Gen. 3:16b). As the woman receives judgement over her sin, she is told that her desire will be either for or against (see footnote) her husband, and the result will be that he will rule over her. Patriarchy is rooted in sin and its just consequences! Marriage and the roles that each gender were to play have been corrupted so that there is now a battle against each other and a deliberate ‘ruling over’ the other. The woman shall scramble for power, but her husband shall rule over her. Starting with that first couple and spreading forth into the societies that would form from them.
Yet, through the gospel, God brings about a return to wholeness – to the initial desires and purposes in creation. Man and woman are called to turn back from their rebellion and to submit themselves again to God through Jesus Christ, through the power of the Spirit. In Peter’s words, we are to “return to the Shepherd and Overseer of [our] souls” (2:25) . This is why we must be “born again” (1:3). While this return is supernatural, it is not easy. We are called again and again to die to self and to be ruled by the greater, truer spiritual realities that are secured in Christ. We are to “not be conformed to the passions of [our] former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1:14, also, 2:11-12). This transformation is slow and incredibly painful. This rejection of the way we were before we were born again and conformity to God’s holiness, is what results in the imperishable beauty that Peter talks about and that women need.
This is what this ministry hopes to help with: the transformation in which we put off the old nature that is corrupted by the brokenness of sin and have our minds renewed with the truth and then we can better put on the new self that is to be conformed to Christ. This is how we hope to make women beautiful with an imperishable beauty!
But we also hope that as women put on the gospel, they will make it even more beautiful because of living consistently with their confession to the glory of God. They would be “adorn[ing] the doctrine of God, our Savior” (Titus 2:10), as Paul instructs the slaves to do. This is the gist of Jesus’ own exhortation to believers who live as lights in the world, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16). How we act as those who confess their faith in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, reflects directly on how others think and see God. If we as women really live in accordance with the Word of God, by His grace, then we will be showing God off to the world, and this will bring honor and glory to God.
May God, in His kindness, give us grace to put on he gospel as well as shine a glorious light upon its beauty!