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What does the bible say about how men should treat women during their period and how women should also `control` themselves when their hormone level changes occur and they become emotional?
As a woman, I can tell you that you will search in vain to find a Scripture that deals with a woman’s hormones. This does not mean that God does not know about them, it is just that it is only in the recent past that “science” has learned how wondrously different God has made us. However, just because the Bible does not have a chapter on hormones does not mean that the LORD has left us with out principles and guidelines. There is no contingency in our lives, no aspect of our humanity that is not addressed by Scripture. God has given us resources and provisions that when used, allow us to stand through what ever twists and turns our humanity throws at us (2nd Peter 1:3-4). In light of that, while it may be true that we do not have control over the processes of our human lives, we do have control on how we respond.
For the purpose of answering this question, one must not assume the level of spirituality. In other words, if both the husband and the wife in this situation are believers, we can access the Word of God and come to a Biblical plan of action. If a personal relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ is not the case, we can still access the principles, however, the reality is that in the case of one that is not born again, the issue is salvation. While obeying God’s principles can bring an “in time” blessing to the unbeliever, it does nothing to change their eternal relationship with God. Therefore, since I cannot make a judgment concerning spiritual standing, I will proceed and you can make a determination about the level to which you can benefit from the answer that I will offer.
Let me begin by saying there is no Scripture that teaches that a man should treat his wife with hormone issues any differently than he would treat her at any other time of the month. In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes a thesis on the characteristics that should be evident in the lives of believers who walk controlled by the Holy Spirit. In the passage of Ephesians 5:18 – 6:9 the Apostle begins with an illustration of what walking under the control of the Spirit means. Just as we can recognize the characteristics of someone under the influence or control of too much wine – they are unsteady in their walk, they are not in control of their speech or their thoughts and they make unwise choices – so (sets up the comparison) we should be able to recognize the characteristics of believers who are under the influence or control of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a person who is walking under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit will have their walk, their speech, thought patterns and the choices that they make be evidence of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. What are those characteristics? We find them in Galatians 5:22-23. The characteristics listed are the “fruit” (singular) of the Holy Spirit. In other words, all of this and not just part is the characteristics that should be seen in the lives of believers and are the basis of our relationship to God (vertical) and our relationship with every one else (horizontal).
The Apostle goes on in Ephesians to give us what the evidences of the control of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer are. The evidences begin with the wife and then move to the husband and into every aspect of our human relationships. These are not suggestions they are in the imperative. In other words the believing husband and wife are to choose to exhibit the characteristics of the Holy Spirit in their relationship to each other. Notice that in this passage there are no caveats. In other words it does not say that during that time of the month when the woman is allowing her hormones to control her responses to her husband, the husband is then excused from loving, caring and protecting his wife as “Christ loved the church.” It also does not say that a woman is excused from exhibiting the characteristics of a wife as “unto the LORD” just because she may be having hormone issues.
I thoroughly understand what a woman goes through for as a woman I have gone through the same processes – some of them at my age are over. I say this because there is light at the end of the tunnel. Some women go through these processes with more difficulty than others. We have a wealth of information available to help a woman with out resorting to chemicals. However, the bottom line in this is that every aspect of our lives has a spiritual component. There may be times in which we are overcome by our human processes and the way to deal with those times are spiritually through resting in the LORD and using confession (1st John 1:9) and walking in fellowship. Both the response of the husband when his wife is in a hormonal episode and the emotional response of the wife to her episode are a matter of how each personally appropriates the principles and guidelines that our LORD has provided for us. God would not command us to walk in the Spirit and if we do we will not “fulfill” the demands of our carnal flesh (Galatians 5:16) if that was not possible using His strength and grace. The basis of our relationship with God is grace. Grace is God giving to us what we do not deserve. We are then to allow that same grace to be the basis of our relationships with everyone else (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13). In other words, God’s provisions are available and if we use them, we will be blessed and a blessing for as believers we are not excused by hormones or any other of life’s processes from walking in obedience to God.
The reality is that it is our individual responsibility to respond to whatever “all things” (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18) that our lives may pres ent us in a way that brings glory to God (1st Corinthians 10:31). The way we do that is to allow the grace of God to be the filter and the power of His Spirit to be the basis or the source of our choices to respond to “all things” in love. I trust that this has been some help. God Bless you.
As a woman, I can tell you that you will search in vain to find a Scripture that deals with a woman’s hormones. This does not mean that God does not know about them, it is just that it is only in the recent past that “science” has learned how wondrously different God has made us. However, just because the Bible does not have a chapter on hormones does not mean that the LORD has left us with out principles and guidelines. There is no contingency in our lives, no aspect of our humanity that is not addressed by Scripture. God has given us resources and provisions that when used, allow us to stand through what ever twists and turns our humanity throws at us (2nd Peter 1:3-4). In light of that, while it may be true that we do not have control over the processes of our human lives, we do have control on how we respond.
For the purpose of answering this question, one must not assume the level of spirituality. In other words, if both the husband and the wife in this situation are believers, we can access the Word of God and come to a Biblical plan of action. If a personal relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ is not the case, we can still access the principles, however, the reality is that in the case of one that is not born again, the issue is salvation. While obeying God’s principles can bring an “in time” blessing to the unbeliever, it does nothing to change their eternal relationship with God. Therefore, since I cannot make a judgment concerning spiritual standing, I will proceed and you can make a determination about the level to which you can benefit from the answer that I will offer.
Let me begin by saying there is no Scripture that teaches that a man should treat his wife with hormone issues any differently than he would treat her at any other time of the month. In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul writes a thesis on the characteristics that should be evident in the lives of believers who walk controlled by the Holy Spirit. In the passage of Ephesians 5:18 – 6:9 the Apostle begins with an illustration of what walking under the control of the Spirit means. Just as we can recognize the characteristics of someone under the influence or control of too much wine – they are unsteady in their walk, they are not in control of their speech or their thoughts and they make unwise choices – so (sets up the comparison) we should be able to recognize the characteristics of believers who are under the influence or control of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a person who is walking under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit will have their walk, their speech, thought patterns and the choices that they make be evidence of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. What are those characteristics? We find them in Galatians 5:22-23. The characteristics listed are the “fruit” (singular) of the Holy Spirit. In other words, all of this and not just part is the characteristics that should be seen in the lives of believers and are the basis of our relationship to God (vertical) and our relationship with every one else (horizontal).
The Apostle goes on in Ephesians to give us what the evidences of the control of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer are. The evidences begin with the wife and then move to the husband and into every aspect of our human relationships. These are not suggestions they are in the imperative. In other words the believing husband and wife are to choose to exhibit the characteristics of the Holy Spirit in their relationship to each other. Notice that in this passage there are no caveats. In other words it does not say that during that time of the month when the woman is allowing her hormones to control her responses to her husband, the husband is then excused from loving, caring and protecting his wife as “Christ loved the church.” It also does not say that a woman is excused from exhibiting the characteristics of a wife as “unto the LORD” just because she may be having hormone issues.
I thoroughly understand what a woman goes through for as a woman I have gone through the same processes – some of them at my age are over. I say this because there is light at the end of the tunnel. Some women go through these processes with more difficulty than others. We have a wealth of information available to help a woman with out resorting to chemicals. However, the bottom line in this is that every aspect of our lives has a spiritual component. There may be times in which we are overcome by our human processes and the way to deal with those times are spiritually through resting in the LORD and using confession (1st John 1:9) and walking in fellowship. Both the response of the husband when his wife is in a hormonal episode and the emotional response of the wife to her episode are a matter of how each personally appropriates the principles and guidelines that our LORD has provided for us. God would not command us to walk in the Spirit and if we do we will not “fulfill” the demands of our carnal flesh (Galatians 5:16) if that was not possible using His strength and grace. The basis of our relationship with God is grace. Grace is God giving to us what we do not deserve. We are then to allow that same grace to be the basis of our relationships with everyone else (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13). In other words, God’s provisions are available and if we use them, we will be blessed and a blessing for as believers we are not excused by hormones or any other of life’s processes from walking in obedience to God.
The reality is that it is our individual responsibility to respond to whatever “all things” (1st Thessalonians 5:16-18) that our lives may pres ent us in a way that brings glory to God (1st Corinthians 10:31). The way we do that is to allow the grace of God to be the filter and the power of His Spirit to be the basis or the source of our choices to respond to “all things” in love. I trust that this has been some help. God Bless you.
