As anyone can see by even a cursory reading of this blog, I have been caught up in some discussions concerning the Biblical roles of men and women in the church and in the home. As I was thinking about this I had to ask myself a question, “Why is there such a debate today regarding the Biblical roles of men and women?” I emphasize “today” because in comparison to church history, this is a very recent debate. By and large, churches that were committed to the authority of the Word of God, particularly those of the Reformed tradition, did not have such debates – that is until recently.
This made me ask another question, “Did those who have gone before us in the Church miss something in the Scriptures for all these years? Were they so influenced by their times that they failed to correctly discern the truth of God in this matter of the roles of men and women in the church and in the home? I highly doubt it. It is far more reasonable to see this current debate as nothing more than the modern feminist movement putting pressure on the Church to break from the clear authority, understanding, and practice of the Word of God that she has tradionally and righly held.
Great men of the faith have consistently addressed this issue from the Word of God. Men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Hodge, Dabney, and Warfield as well as the most faithful of the modern teachers and preachers who hold to the absolute authority and application of Scripture all agree with that specific gender roles do exist in the Scriptures and are to be practiced. Therefore, when someone comes along trying to “rock the boat” as it were, challenging the historically, interpretively and most sincerely held views of the Church, we have great cause for concern and skepticism. We should be suspicious of anyone so bold as to question the principle of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone as the only infallible guide to faith and practice), as the modern feminist movement does regardless of how evangelical they try to sound. This is not a trivial matter. This is not a secondary issue but is one upon which our churches must be clear and teach the truth of God.
You see, there are only two options here. Either the teaching of the modern feminist movement that is seeking to redefine the role of men and women and challenge the historic teaching of the church is built upon solid biblical principles of interpretation or it is not and is merely putting pressure on the church to bend to culture and customs of the current times. Conversely, the historic teaching of the Church concerning the roles of men and women in the church and home have either been the result of years of scholarly study of the Word of God or the Church has been duped for the past 1900 years and is just now waking up and must accuse itself of being blind, pragmatic and of being willfully submissive to a male dominated culture run amuck. I am sorry, but given the options, I will take the side of the historic position of the church. To say that men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Hodge, Warfield, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur and Piper have had it wrong all this time is more than far-fetched. Additionally, the principles upon which men like these, as well as those before them, have come to interpret and expound the Scriptures must then be suspect and ultimately we end up with no real, objective means of understanding anything of Scripture. This is not a debate between Amillennialism and Premillennialism, a debate that has solid men of Biblical integrity on each side and has been hashed through the centuries. No, this is a debate that by and large has revealed itself and has increased in intensity over the past 50 to 75 years.
I would concur with Douglas Wilson who believes that the question of women teaching and preaching publicly in the pulpit is a sign of our times and reveals the very decline of the Church’s commitment to the authority of the Bible. He writes -
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
This made me ask another question, “Did those who have gone before us in the Church miss something in the Scriptures for all these years? Were they so influenced by their times that they failed to correctly discern the truth of God in this matter of the roles of men and women in the church and in the home? I highly doubt it. It is far more reasonable to see this current debate as nothing more than the modern feminist movement putting pressure on the Church to break from the clear authority, understanding, and practice of the Word of God that she has tradionally and righly held.
Great men of the faith have consistently addressed this issue from the Word of God. Men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Hodge, Dabney, and Warfield as well as the most faithful of the modern teachers and preachers who hold to the absolute authority and application of Scripture all agree with that specific gender roles do exist in the Scriptures and are to be practiced. Therefore, when someone comes along trying to “rock the boat” as it were, challenging the historically, interpretively and most sincerely held views of the Church, we have great cause for concern and skepticism. We should be suspicious of anyone so bold as to question the principle of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone as the only infallible guide to faith and practice), as the modern feminist movement does regardless of how evangelical they try to sound. This is not a trivial matter. This is not a secondary issue but is one upon which our churches must be clear and teach the truth of God.
You see, there are only two options here. Either the teaching of the modern feminist movement that is seeking to redefine the role of men and women and challenge the historic teaching of the church is built upon solid biblical principles of interpretation or it is not and is merely putting pressure on the church to bend to culture and customs of the current times. Conversely, the historic teaching of the Church concerning the roles of men and women in the church and home have either been the result of years of scholarly study of the Word of God or the Church has been duped for the past 1900 years and is just now waking up and must accuse itself of being blind, pragmatic and of being willfully submissive to a male dominated culture run amuck. I am sorry, but given the options, I will take the side of the historic position of the church. To say that men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Hodge, Warfield, Lloyd-Jones, MacArthur and Piper have had it wrong all this time is more than far-fetched. Additionally, the principles upon which men like these, as well as those before them, have come to interpret and expound the Scriptures must then be suspect and ultimately we end up with no real, objective means of understanding anything of Scripture. This is not a debate between Amillennialism and Premillennialism, a debate that has solid men of Biblical integrity on each side and has been hashed through the centuries. No, this is a debate that by and large has revealed itself and has increased in intensity over the past 50 to 75 years.
I would concur with Douglas Wilson who believes that the question of women teaching and preaching publicly in the pulpit is a sign of our times and reveals the very decline of the Church’s commitment to the authority of the Bible. He writes -
But the existence of debate within the Church tells us far more about the muddiness of our hearts than it does about the obscurity of any text. Those Christians who do see what these passages say will frequently be sucked into a tactical debate because they foolishly believe that their opponents have accepted the authority of the text. But this is not the case at all. Evangelical feminists have not accepted the (patriarchal) authority of the text; they are simply at that early stage of subversion where open defiance would be counterproductive of their purposes (Credenda Agenda, Volume 11, No. 12).So, I say that while we must engage in this debate, we need to remember and recognize where the real impetus of the debate springs from. It springs from a lack of commitment to Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) and of a proper understanding and practice of the Biblical text on the part of men and women who want to change the Church of Jesus Christ into their own image.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
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