Women: All is Lost
/“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, … For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband?” — 1 Corinthians 7:14,16
Weinsberg, Germany. 1140 AD.
“All is lost,” cried Heinricus. All around them burned. Chaos in the streets.
Heinricus fell through the door of their modest home. Although a captain of the guard, this meant little in the impecunious lifestyle they led. He was injured from an arrow that found it’s way through an arrow loop in the town’s wall. It pierced his thigh and threatened death if the wound festered. He stumbled into the kitchen, which also served as the family room and all other rooms in the one room house separated by curtains. He collapsed into the arms of his wife, Agnes, and exclaimed again, “All is lost! The city is taken.”
Agness immediately tended to his wounds. She pulled the boiling water from the fire. Ripped their marriage sheets to shreds to make bandages. Provided ale for Heinricus and comforted him by the fire as the city burned all around.
Heinricus gathered himself to spell out the destined path before them. King Conrad III had besieged the city in a dispute over the papacy to quell “rebellion”. Weinsburg had held out as long as it could. All food had been consumed. Water was depleting rapidly. Even the horses had been slaughtered to provide for the people. But all was lost. The end was near and the city was destined to capitulate.
Agness listened and provided needed care. Then, the final blow; surrender. The one thing she had never considered. She was prepared to fight, suffer and die, but not surrender. Heinricus explained to her the crux of the impending doom. The city was lost. In a final resolution to the inevitable, the city had surrendered and sought terms. No man would be allowed to leave or live. Only the women would be allowed to leave with whatever they could carry on their backs.
Heinricus begged her to gather what was most valuable and leave…to live. He encouraged her to remember him fondly and to never forget the love he had for her. Agness quietly consoled him, comforted him and then left him to meet with the other women of Weinsburg.
As King Conrad III sat outside the gates of Weinsburg to receive its women before the final assault began, he congratulated himself on a battle well won. Smoke and fire. Bodies all around. All spoke to the cost of the campaign. All added to the sweet smell of the victory at hand.
The great gates of the city slowly began to open. Women appeared. As the king expected, they were burdened with as much as they could carry. He smiled again. Yet, as the women walked through the gates, Agness at the forefront, they passed through the smoke and came into view. The burdens they carried where not gold, silver or anything of value in their houses. They had strapped to their backs their husbands. The men of the city.
The king’s soldiers immediately began to organize to plow down these men. However, King Conrad III simply laughed. He ordered his soldiers to stand down. He valued his word under the terms of surrender more than the death of his enemy. He allowed the women to pass unmolested with the cargo they deemed most valuable—their men.
So goes (my artistically licensed) account of the “Siege of Weinsburg.” In fact, there is little to no corroborating evidence of the legend. However, there is always a grain of truth in every legend. In fact, Germany at this time is filled with similar stories of women saving their men in the midst of total loss.
I’ve never understood the controversy over whether or not women should hold positions in the church. Period. I’ve always been an advocate that men should be who God called them to be…because I am a man. I believe we should be exactly who God called us to be and if we don’t, then God will raise up others (even the rocks themselves) to replace our voice.
I’ve lived overwhelmed by women my whole life. Wife, sisters, daughters and granddaughters; outnumbered at every turn. Yet, I don’t understand women. Nor do I believe women should be anything less than who God called them to be either.
We men (and by this I mean ME) are easily consumed with what we are going to accomplish. We are going to win or lose! Succeed or fail! Live or die! There is nothing acceptable in between. However, the women in my life are much more concerned with life. As detailed in this legend, they are willing to sacrifice, not for conquest or duty, but for life. The life of those they love.
Paul writes in Ephesians, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the lord. …Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.” (Ephesians 5:22,25)
Is it not submission to carry your husband out of the clutches of death as in the legend? Or carry your husband out of the clutches of any shortcoming? And men, loving your wife as Christ loved the church is not just being willing to die for her, but for her to represent you in the world? Certainly, Christ’s love allows the church to represent Him in the world today and to speak on His behalf.
What I have been perplexed by in all of this debate is that people in the church utilize these verses to make people less. “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22) Why do we use this as a means to limit wives instead of challenging husbands. Stand up, man! Be who you were called to be, don’t expect someone else to be less. To limit one sex or the other, rather than seeing this as a call for all to be more is wrong. Rise up to who God called you to be.
The main concern I have is who is speaking. Honestly, I don’t want to hear from the woman, or the man. I want to hear from God. And if God is speaking, who am I to question the vehicle He chooses to speak through.
All I know is God has spoken time and again through the mouth of my wife, and she has carried me through more than one burning gate to safety. Perhaps we should all stop looking to the Bible to find the limits of what God wants to do through certain individuals and start looking for the miraculous work of the Lord in everyone! See what He desires to do through all our lives. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it is abundantly more than we can ever ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)
So, let’s stop limiting each other and pushing others down. Let’s reach for the abundance God has in store for each of us! It might just be that the miracle you are waiting for is being carried to safety in humility on the back of another. It also might be that God desires to work through those around you to advance life…eternal life!
© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.
NOTE: In writing this, my daughter accused me of being “gray” on the issue of women in leadership roles in the church. My honest answer is; I’m very gray! Not black or white. I struggle with this issue when I spend time studying it. And I’m not going to argue for any specific point of view save one: is God speaking?
I know all the verses and arguments. I have seen the theological twists from both sides around the text (which both claim to be simply “what the Bible says”). I’ve read the historical evidence. I’ve heard the antidotal evidence and seen examples of good and ill from both sides. But my conclusion is, I just don’t know! Nor do I honestly care to define a framework in which God can or cannot work!
The only thing I care about is what I told another of my daughters on this issue: “God has spoken through men, nature, floating axe heads, floating fingers on a wall, signs, wonders, etc., and even a donkey! Is a woman the one exception too far removed? I don’t think so, as there are many times God spoke and worked through women in the Bible. Women have been leaders in the Bible, even when it was considered completely impossible (Deborah for one as judge, prophetess and military leader). The question we should be asking is whether or not God is speaking and working? If He is, then we had better listen no matter what vessel He chooses to utilize!”
That is what I choose to focus on: Is God speaking to me in this moment? If so, listen and respond. I’m completely confident if we choose to seek Him in the moment, He is wise enough to guide us. And I know He is much more concerned about the condition of our heart than the anatomy of our body.
I will share only one passage in reference to this issue, Galatians 3:26-29, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for your are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Emphasis added)
So maybe, we should stop looking at the differences and start looking for the one thing that counts: Christ Jesus. This verse by no means answers all the questions, but it does show us what is import, and what we should be most concerned about—Jesus.
