One of the ladies in our church who keeps a blog has been under attack for defending the Biblical (Complementarian) view of the roles of women in the church as opposed to an unbiblical (Egalitarian) view of such roles. The roles of men and women in the church are ordained by God, not determined by men (or women). And before someone asks the question, "Do you not believe a woman is just as capable as a man with regard to some of the roles in the church?" - my first response is this - It has never been an issue of capability but of responsibility. God, in His Word, has ordained the husband to be the head of the wife even as Christ is head of the church (1 Corinthians 11:3). Similarly, God has ordained a plurality of God-gifted men to be elders to shepherd the flock of God (1 Timothy 3:1-7).
Let me quickly define complementarian - the Biblical teaching that both men and women are equal in status before Christ, but have different and complementary roles in the family and the church. A brief definition of egalitarian is - the teaching that men and women are equal in status before Christ and therefore each have the right to pursue leadership in both the home and the church. Please consider reading this (summary) of the two positions.
Several years ago, the church (Hope CBC) was confronted with this issue and had to make a statement at its District Conference meeting. I have included the Affirmations of Hope Community Bible Church (then Hope Evangelical Free Church). These affirmations were adapted from the "Danvers Statement."
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Affirmations and Resolutions of Hope Evangelical Free Church
(Now Hope Community Bible Church as of October 2003)
With Regard to the Roles of Men and Women in the Home and in the Church
As Determined at its Annual Business Meeting – October 14, 2001
AFFIRMATIONS
The congregation of Hope Evangelical Free Church (now Hope Community Bible Church) has Biblically considered the issue of roles for men and women in the church over the past year. Upon review of this issue, the congregation makes the following affirmations:
1. We believe that men and women were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons, yet distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).
2. We believe that God has ordained distinctions in the roles given to men and women in both the family and within the Church (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).
3. We believe that Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall and therefore was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).
4. We believe that the Fall of man introduced distortions into the relationship and roles of men and women (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9);
· In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
· In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines the woman to resist Biblical limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of spiritual gifts in appropriate ministries.
5. We believe that the redemption brought by Christ Jesus has as one of its goals to restore right relationships and roles between men and women that were distorted by the Fall.
· In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands’ leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
· In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men(Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
6. We believe the Biblical principles and practices of role distinctions in the Christian community apply to the church universal, be it in the context of a local congregation or in a larger context of saints gathered to worship, pray, seek God’s will and advance God’s kingdom.
7. We believe that both the Old and New Testaments manifests equally the high regard and dignity God attached to the roles of both men and women and that both Testaments affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community.
8. We believe that the Lord and His Word alone are the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission – domestic, religious or civil – ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority that neglects or rejects the teaching of the Word of God (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).
9. We believe that both men and women are to use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church in appropriate ministries and settings, never turning aside the Word of God and its teachings to justify a particular ministry or role that contradicts or undermines the clear teachings of Scripture (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9).
10. We believe that neglect of, or failure to these stated principles by the Church has caused devastating spiritual consequences on our families, on the church and on our culture.
11. We believe it is the Church’s responsibility to call God’s people back to the Biblical principles and practices of gender role distinctions, encouraging true male and female piety in accordance with the Word of God.
RESOURCES
· Cottrell, Jack “Headship, Submission and the Bible,” Cincinnati Bible Seminary, 1997.
· Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, “The Danvers Statement,” 1987
· Grudem, Wayne “But What Should Women Do In The Church?” CBMW News (November 1995). 1:2.
· MacArthur, John Different By Design, Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1994.
· Piper, John, and Wayne Grudem, eds. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991.
· Strauch, Alexander Men and Women: Equal Yet Different, Littleton, CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 1999.
With Regard to the Roles of Men and Women in the Home and in the Church
As Determined at its Annual Business Meeting – October 14, 2001
AFFIRMATIONS
The congregation of Hope Evangelical Free Church (now Hope Community Bible Church) has Biblically considered the issue of roles for men and women in the church over the past year. Upon review of this issue, the congregation makes the following affirmations:
1. We believe that men and women were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons, yet distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).
2. We believe that God has ordained distinctions in the roles given to men and women in both the family and within the Church (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).
3. We believe that Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall and therefore was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).
4. We believe that the Fall of man introduced distortions into the relationship and roles of men and women (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9);
· In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
· In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines the woman to resist Biblical limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of spiritual gifts in appropriate ministries.
5. We believe that the redemption brought by Christ Jesus has as one of its goals to restore right relationships and roles between men and women that were distorted by the Fall.
· In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands’ leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
· In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men(Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
6. We believe the Biblical principles and practices of role distinctions in the Christian community apply to the church universal, be it in the context of a local congregation or in a larger context of saints gathered to worship, pray, seek God’s will and advance God’s kingdom.
7. We believe that both the Old and New Testaments manifests equally the high regard and dignity God attached to the roles of both men and women and that both Testaments affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community.
8. We believe that the Lord and His Word alone are the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission – domestic, religious or civil – ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority that neglects or rejects the teaching of the Word of God (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).
9. We believe that both men and women are to use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church in appropriate ministries and settings, never turning aside the Word of God and its teachings to justify a particular ministry or role that contradicts or undermines the clear teachings of Scripture (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9).
10. We believe that neglect of, or failure to these stated principles by the Church has caused devastating spiritual consequences on our families, on the church and on our culture.
11. We believe it is the Church’s responsibility to call God’s people back to the Biblical principles and practices of gender role distinctions, encouraging true male and female piety in accordance with the Word of God.
RESOURCES
· Cottrell, Jack “Headship, Submission and the Bible,” Cincinnati Bible Seminary, 1997.
· Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, “The Danvers Statement,” 1987
· Grudem, Wayne “But What Should Women Do In The Church?” CBMW News (November 1995). 1:2.
· MacArthur, John Different By Design, Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1994.
· Piper, John, and Wayne Grudem, eds. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991.
· Strauch, Alexander Men and Women: Equal Yet Different, Littleton, CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 1999.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
7 comments:
Thank you, Pastor Ed. I am so thankful to be a part of a church that not only holds me accountable, but prays for our family.
And thank you... and your dear wife, for being two people that are so in love with our Lord and His Word of Truth. We are immensely blessed by this church family. So honored that the Lord would allow us the opportunity to be a part of it.
I like how you put that.
I also appreciate how your church put together their statement. Was affirming all around, and showed why the church has for the most part, gotten itself into the state that it is in.
I had to delete a comment made here on this subject - not because I am unwilling or unable to engage the comment, but because the comment was left anonymously.
Generally speaking, those who leave anonymous comments tend to be unwilling to engage in meaningful conversation intending rather to provoke controversy.
If my anonymous friend would like to have answers or responses to his/her questions/comments, then please let me know who you are. Otherwise, I will be engaged in too many rabbit trails. Sorry, but I just don't have that kind of time.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
For anyone interested in doing meaningful research on today's gender issues, go HERE.
Complimentarianism vs. Egalitarianism
(1) The denial of complementarianism undermines the church's practical embrace of the authority of Scripture (thus eventually and inevitably harming the church's witness to the Gospel).
(2) The church's confidence in the clarity of Scripture in undermined, because if you can get egalitarianism from the Bible, you can get anything from the Bible.
(3) Because the very ideal of equality championed by egalitarianism (whether secular or Christian) is a permutation of a particular strand of Enlightenment thought, and because this particular ideal of equality is actually alien to the biblical anthropology and ethic, whenever and wherever it is read into the text of Scripture and its principles are worked out consistently, there is a competition with a biblical view of manhood and womanhood.
(4) When the biblical distinctions of maleness and femaleness are denied, Christian discipleship is irretrievably damaged because there can be no talk of cultivating distinctively masculine Christian virtue or feminine Christian virtue. - Ligon Duncan
Again, I am honored to be a part of this church, Pastor Ed. Thank you for your committment to declaring humbly without compromise the whole counsel of God, as you teach the Doctrines of Grace and encourage us to grow in the knowledge of Christ. Thank you for your example to the men of servant-leadership. And thank you to your wife... her example of being a servant of the Lord has blessed me immensely. We love you guys!!!
Hi Pastor Ed,
In all fairness to myself, your blog allows people to leave anonymous comments, and there was no statement that I was not allowed to do so. My comments were entirely to the point, quite courteous, and used complementarian writings as the source of my argument.
However, as per your request, I am attaching a name to this.
Here are my previous comments:
The problem with your assertion that complementarian female gender roles are "not an issue of capability" is that at least one prominent complementarian has publically stated that he does not believe that.
Wayne Grudem believes that men have a disposition that is "better suited to teaching...in the church" and, more importantly, men have a "disposition that inclines more to rational, logical analysis of doctrine". (Please see his book "Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth")
Conversely, women must be less suited to teaching in the church and do not incline to be as rational and logical in their analysis of doctrine compared to men.
One can only assume that these weaknesses in women should impact their ability to perform secular activities that involve teaching or rational, logical analysis. It is impossible NOT to reach that conclusion. It does not make sense that women should have a lower level of rational and logical ability ONLY in the area of theology. It must be a mental trait that effects all areas of thought.
Based on Grudem's reasoning, it makes sense that women do not bear full adult decision-making responsibility with their husbands in marriage and the church. In fact, they are somewhere between an adult man and a child in their ability to be rational and logical where it really counts.
That, to me, is the real definition of complementarianism.
As distasteful as I find Grudem's statements, they at least crack the candy shell and let us get down to the real "difference" between men and women in the complementarian scheme.
Hanan,
Thanks for responding personally. I am still a bit new to the blogosphere and may need to make some adjustments to the settings so as to better moderate any Anonymous postings. Often times, not all the time, such anonymous postings are not meant to do anything but provoke and criticize without allowing any real engagement in the issue. I appreciate that your intentions are not as such.
With regard to your post, I do not see that I have a problem with my assertion that gender roles are “not an issue of capability but of responsibility.” Rather, I see that you have a couple of problems.
First, whether or not my statement is in compliance with Wayne Grudem is not the issue. The issue is what does the Word of God say? Second, with that much said, the problem with your citing Grudem is that you did so out of context, or rather with not in enough context to grasp the basic gist of what he was addressing. Here is the full quote:
“God gave men, in general, a disposition that is better suited to teaching and governing in the church, a disposition that inclines more to the rational, logical analysis of doctrine and a desire to protect the doctrinal purity of the church, and God gave women, in general, a disposition that inclines more toward a relational, nurturing emphasis that places a higher value on unity and community in the church (v14)”
Without getting into great detail at this time (I would like to go home and spend the evening with my family), Mr. Grudem did not say that women were incapable or mentally limited in their abilities, even as it comes to teaching, leadership in the church and the analysis of doctrine.
I see that you took Grudem out of context and then came to some illogical conclusions. A disposition, as Grudem uses the word, is not about ability, but how one is inclined to go about accomplishing a particular task. He is stating that in general a man’s disposition is better suited than a woman’s for teaching and leading the church. Men, when following the mandates of the Lord, do tend to be better disciplinarians, better teachers and better systematizers of doctrinal truth. It is interesting that with some 2000 years of church history, the great theological thinkers have been men. And before any says that is only because men have suppressed women, women of all ages have fought against this and today, in an age where women have the best opportunity to show forth doctrinal prowess, there is yet no true woman theologian who ranks with the likes of Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Spring, Ryle, Hodge, Warfield, or Lloyd-Jones. Even in the contemporary setting no true woman theologian has been noted along with R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur or John Piper. This is not because women are mentally incapable of knowing and understanding such truth, but in the context of communicating and administering this truth, women’s dispositions are not geared like men. In general, a godly woman’s communication of truth, while it may be theologically accurate, does not come across with same authority as that of godly man. Why? Because God ordained it so. God called upon the men to be the communicators of the truth to the congregation at large while leaving opportunity for women to teach one another (in like disposition) and children.
Grudem also stated (this you left out) that a woman’s general disposition is better suited for relational and community oriented aspects of church life. To conclude, as you did, that what Grudem means is that women are “somewhere between and adult man and a child in their ability to be rational and logical” is faulty – it was never about ability, but inclination or disposition. Now here is a statement for you to sink your teeth into. I believe that the Bible presents us with a picture for godly male leadership in the home and in the church that if followed would have godly women lovingly and most willingly desiring to follow such leadership. When this Biblical method of leadership is interrupted or abandoned, the church suffers. The feminization of the church may result in churches that are more relational, more nurturing and big on community, but by and large such churches will be woefully weak doctrinally leaving people with improper understandings of God and worse yet, false assurances of genuine faith. I don’t need anymore proof of the failure of women in leadership in the home and in the church than what we see taking place all around us. And, as men in sin tend to take the path of least resistance, leaving more and more of these leadership positions to women, we are not seeing a revival but yet a further decline in the spiritual well being of the church. Men need to be men and lead, according to God’s Word. Women need to be women and faithful follow their godly heads (fathers, husbands, brothers) as they picture all who follow the true head who is Christ the Lord.
I think it takes a tremendous amount of ability for a man to be a faithful and godly leader in the home and at church. I believe it equally takes a tremendous amount of ability for a woman to be a faithful and godly helpmate in the home and at church. No, it is not about ability, but about God-given dispositions and responsibility. God has given leadership responsibilities to men who must seek to faithfully administer those responsibilities. God has given complementary responsibilities to women who must seek to faithfully administer those responsibilities. If the genders wish to cross these responsibilities up, both have the capability to do so, but it will be to their own detriment, to the detriment of the church and in disobedience to God’s Word.
That’s all I have time to cover for now.
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