The Ideal Woman

Part 6: Galatians 5:22-25; Proverbs 31:10-31

Before we move on to the second half of this Bible Study, we’ll look at the portrait of the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31. This passage has been a blessing and an intimidating challenge to countless women through the ages. It is a blessing in that we are given an ideal for which to strive.  God has not abandoned us to just figure out for ourselves how to be a godly wife and mother.  Rather He has given us a beautiful set of character qualities and abilities to aspire.

Dorothy Patterson gives the Virtuous Woman the highest praise:

Is Homemaking a career? The dictionary defines the homemaker as “one who manages a household, especially a wife and mother.’  There are reasons why I believe this career is important enough to demand a woman’s diligent preparation, foremost commitment, full energies, and greatest creativity.  A homemaker does her job without the enticement of a paycheck, but she cannot be duplicated for any amount of money, for “She is worth far more than rubies” (vs. 10).  Homemaking is not employment for the slothful, unimaginative, incapable women.  It has as much challenge and opportunity, success and failure, growth and expansion, perks and incentives, as any corporate career”.¹

The Virtuous Woman is an intimidating figure because it is impossible to do all of these things perfectly, but we can at least begin to do so.  As with any worthy endeavor, the skills and attention needed will be unique to each woman’s situation and God’s grace is there to help us through it all.

Blogger, Julia Bettencourt, likened this list to a string of pearls.²  We are seeking to collect our most beautiful and lovely talents and abilities to add to our string.  Some have a long string, and some are just two or three brightly shining gems to display and we can seek to add to our string of pearls each day and each year. 

God always gives us the strength we need for what He wants us to do, not necessarily for our extra wants.  So as we walk through these characteristics of the Virtuous Woman, let us rely fully on God for the strength to do so. 

Read Galatians 5:22-25

1. Describe the difference between character qualities and good works.

2. Where do these qualities (fruits) originate?

We will see in Proverbs 31 that the outward and inward virtues are two sides of the same coin.  We cannot be loving to our families without the acts of love.  In 1 Corinthians 13, all of the descriptions of Agape Love (all-giving love) are verbs in the original Greek!  Love does kind things, suffers long, hopes all things, etc.

In the New Testament a Christian will see new character qualities develop as a result of Spirit-filled living.  Those are “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-25.  The fruits are characteristics of a Christian who is walking in the Spirit.