Pastor’s Corner
To the Women
I grew up in a family of boys. I am the middle child of an older brother (Tommy) and a younger brother (Timothy). We grew up doing “guy stuff.” We loved to hunt, fish, camp, go four-wheelin’, beat each other with sticks pretending they were swords, throw rocks at each other, deliberately try and cause brain damage to one another…you know, guy stuff! This is one of the reasons why women have longer life spans than men. It is also why I think God looked at Adam and said, “it’s not good for man to be alone, or left to his own devices, so will make him a helper fit for him,” (my own hilarious personal translation added). God created women because men NEED them. And they are vital to humanity and deserve respect, honor, and dare I say, admiration, from men. And there are good biblical reasons why, so let’s take a look.
The World Needs Women
Let’s take a look back at the creation of woman. Genesis 2:18 is a response to God looking at His creation and finding, for the first time, something not good. Up to this point, everything had been good until He points out that man cannot be alone. There is something found in the nature of women that men lack that is needed in the world and church today. When God created man in His image in Genesis 1 it says that He made man and woman. Together, they possess the full image of God. So there are characteristics both parties possess that benefit the whole of mankind.
One obvious characteristic unique to women is the ability to bear children. And sadly this incredible ability is under attack by society. It is being portrayed as an inconvenience, a hampering of woman’s ability to progress in the world, and a political pawn. But this doesn’t seem to be the original intent behind the original design. In Genesis 1, after creating Adam and Eve, God commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply.” In Genesis 2, a more focused telling of creation with a focus on mankind, Adam names all the animals and realizes there is not one that corresponds to him. So, in a genius move, God creates someone who perfectly corresponds to Adam and allows him to no faithfully carry out God’s first command to Him; be fruitful and multiply.
The question remains, why is the multiplication of our species so important to God? Remember what makes mankind so special and different than the other species according to the creation account? We are made in God’s image. His desire was and still is for mankind to steward and rule His creation in partnership with Him. A common practice of rulers in that time which is still used today is the circulation of the ruling authority’s image throughout his or her domain. In ancient times this was usually statues of the ruler placed throughout the kingdom. A holdover of this in the modern era is the images of rulers, past and present, on a country’s currency. So, as the rightful ruler of the world, God was putting His image throughout His domain and He chose to do that by giving women the incredible ability to bear more image bearers!
Now, I recognize that it takes two to tango, and men/fathers are important to this process, but it is to women that God gave a more hands-on approach. We men will never be able to experience the beauty of growing a life inside of us. We won’t be able to sacrifice our bodies in the way that women do. Even after birth, women play a greater role in sustaining the life of the child than men do. God created superheroes when He created women. Even Paul recognizes the beauty of childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he states that even though women were led into temptation first, it is through childbearing that they will be saved! We mustn’t also forget that it was only a woman that could carry the Son of God! So, the ability to bear children should be cherished and seen as an important testament to the reality of God. But there is so much more to women than childbearing alone. So, if you are a woman who has chosen not to have children, struggles to conceive, or chosen to remain single, you are just as vital to the church as well!
Makers or Breakers
Modern skeptics of the Bible like to point out the apparent unfair power the Bible gives to men. They point out that it has been used to sustain our modern culture’s “patriarchy.” Part of this is true. Men have inaccurately used the Bible to justify sexism and chauvinism. But if you look at the whole story of the Bible, you will see that it is women who hold a HUGE amount of power and influence both for good and evil. They can make or break leaders. But let’s take a look at some makers and breakers in the Bible.
I want to start with some breakers. When Israel was about to go into the land of Canaan, God warned them to completely destroy the Canaanites because they were utterly despicable and had been allowed to reject YHWH for long enough. God also warned the Israelites not to intermarry with them in Deuteronomy 7:3-4 for a very important reason. “You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.” Sadly, this turned out to be very true. In 1 Kings 11, King Solomon is said to have married many foreign women who “when Soloman was old, turned his heart away to follow other gods.”
Solomon was on a roll as king up to this point. It was the closest to the restoration of the conditions of the Garden of Eden that Israel had ever come. The Temple was built. God was dwelling in their midst. The kingdom was flush with cash. Yet these women, though not the ultimate authority in the kingdom, had the influence and power to destroy the nation. The nation split in two after Solomon’s reign and subsequent kings and their kingdoms were led into idolatry because of powerful women (think Jezabel and Ahab).
Proverbs says a lot about the power of women. Proverbs 14:1 says, “Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 21:9 says “it is better to live on the corner of a roof than to share a house with a nagging wife.” 21:19, “it is better to live in a wilderness than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.” So, if you ever see me on my roof or in the wilderness, you know why (just kidding, it’s likely because I did something dumb and Brittany put me there). In the New Testament Paul, when discussing church leaders, says in 1 Timothy 3 that a qualified church leader has to have a godly wife or else risk ruin for his ministry/church. Therefore, the lack of godliness of women negatively affects their marriages, their churches, and their community.
Just as women can tear down, so too can women build up! So onto some makers! Deborah is one of the coolest women in the Bible. She didn’t play any games with Barak. It’s clear in Judges 4 that God told Barak to lead the armies against Jabin’s general, Sisera, and his army. Barak refused to lead with faith the way that God had directed him to, so Deborah gets straight to the point and says that a woman is going to step up and do the work God assigned him to do. He would miss on the glory and a woman would deal the final death blow to Sisera. This took place when Jael ran a tent peg through his head. These two women led when men failed to.
Proverbs talks about the value of having godly women in the lives of men. 18:22 says, “a man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.” Then there is the Proverbs 31 woman. It opens up, “who can find a wife of noble character? She is far more precious than jewels.” The writer of this proverb writes of how much value a godly wife can bring to her whole family and community. Nothing like this is written about a man.
In the New Testament, Peter points out how a godly wife who lives submissive to her husband, even her unbelieving husband, brings life to the family unit. “In the same way, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live,” (1 Pet. 3:1). Within the church life of Crete, Paul instructs the older women to be disciples of the younger women (Titus 2:3-4). As I stated before, godly women can make or break leaders, marriages, the health of the Church, and the health of society.
What about Submitting?
Living submittingly, as a woman to the leadership of men, is now portrayed in culture as sexist and patriarchal. It’s seen as an outmoded way of thinking and doing things. As the old song goes, “anything you can do, I can do better. Anything you can do, I can do too.” This is the cry of secular feminists. Sadly, this mentality has crept into the life of the church and is gaining an even stronger foothold. Women can certainly do many of the same things as men. Women should be paid the same when they do the same work as men. Women should not be excluded from doing secular jobs solely because of their gender. However, life within the sacred covenant of marriage and life within the body of Christ are two areas in the Bible that are quite clear on the distinct and complementary roles of men and women.
Let’s revisit Ephesians 5. Verses 22-24 say, “wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.” Here Paul is laying out how the Gospel transforms every facet of one’s life, especially marriage. Remember, one of the curses in Genesis 3 was that there would be disunity between man and wife where the wife would want to rule over her husband but he instead would rule over her. What Paul is arguing now is for a return to the pre-sin order of things. And keep reading and you’ll see the expectations of the husbands and how they are to sacrificially love their wives.
Now it certainly is easier for wives to submit to their husbands when their husbands love like this. And husbands can more easily love their wives when they lovingly submit to his leadership but neither of these commands are contingent upon the obedience of the other partner. They are expected regardless of whether the other spouse is being obedient. But as Peter said earlier, it is the wife’s obedience to this that wins her husband over.
But submitting is perhaps the most Christlike characteristic one can display. What does Philippians 2 state? That Jesus submitted himself to God’s authority, humbling Himself and obeying God’s will to the point of death. For a wife to be commanded by Paul and Peter to submit to their husbands shouldn’t be taken to mean that the wife is lesser than her husband. Would any theologically sound Christian say that Jesus was less than God the Father because He submitted? Certainly not! So, when the wife submits to her husband, she is poignantly displaying the gospel!
Women in Church
For the SBC, this has become a hot topic of debate. According to the Baptist Faith & Message, to which all cooperating SBC churches subscribe, it says in the seventh article, “[the church’s] scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of the pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” This stance is based on 1 Timothy 2:11-14. Paul says, “A woman is to learn quietly with full submission. I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.”
I won’t lie. Our modern ears, including my own, hear this passage and since some sort of sexism. Many in the modern church, have tried to soften this passage by tying it to something culturally specific to the Ephesian church (where Timothy was serving) and not the universal church. However, there are a couple of things we must remember. One, this doesn’t seem to be something specifically connected to the Ephesian culture and I’ll explain why in a moment. And two, we must be very careful not to let our own views dictate scripture. Rather, scripture should dictate our views.
This passage does not seem to be a cultural thing that Paul is addressing. If it was, we would expect Paul to say something like, “I don’t let the Ephesian women teach because they are troublemakers, etc.” But we don’t. Paul ties this back to creation itself and the roles that God established for both men and women from the outset. He’s making a theological argument. And while women played vital roles in the church even from its inception, there is no evidence that the early church, including when the apostles were alive, ever recognized women as pastors. Therefore, our modern church must be very careful not to impose modern thinking and feelings on something that historically the Church has always adhered to.
So, what can women do in the church? I think it is interesting that this is the only role women are not allowed to have, yet many are causing a big stink about it. Anything else the church does, like evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, administration, and worship, all of these things can be carried out by women. Romans 16 even calls Pheobe a “servant (diakonos)” from which we derive the word “deacon.” It seems that, just as a husband should be the spiritual head of his home, so too should the man be the spiritual leader of the church.
Lastly, for those unsatisfied with this conclusion about women only being excluded from the pastorship, it is good to remember James’ warning in James 3:1. “Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.” Though some may abuse the office of the pastor, it’s clear that it is a serious calling to a life of sacrifice and servitude. It is even an office that holds such great responsibility for Christ’s flock that if abused, will receive greater judgment. It’s not that women don’t have the ability to lead or teach. I’ve learned under great godly women, but it is a blessing that God has not specifically designated them to this responsibility.
What the Future Holds
I know this blog post is getting a bit long, but it is an important topic to explore. And I’m not able to fully explore it here. But a question that has been raised when Christians say, “this isn’t a big deal. Why are we dividing over this?” I get it. From the outset, it seems like an inconsequential issue. As Rick Warren argued at this latest convention, “we should keep the main thing (the gospel) the main thing.” But here are some things for thought before we pass the woman pastor issue off as a non-issue.
One, you really have to do some hermeneutical gymnastics to justify making a woman the spiritual leader of the church. There are more clear texts in Scripture about not letting women lead in this role than there are those convoluted ones. It’s not about a woman’s ability to lead or teach a congregation, but it is about her God-given qualifications.
Two, if you look at those denominations that have allowed women to be ordained as pastors, such as Episcopalians, United Church of Christ, and Methodists, you will find that many of them now affirm the LGBTQ lifestyle and some even allow openly LGBTQ people be ordained ministers. This is likely due to the employment of the same hermeneutical practices they used for allowing female pastors. It seems that this is the first step into theological liberalism.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it is a pretty clear disregard of the instructions of scripture. Similar to the issue mentioned above, once one quite clear command is called into question, nothing is stopping us from questioning every command in scripture. So, while yes it isn’t a soteriological, Christological, issue, it opens the door for theological liberalism to creep in and destroy orthodoxy.
Brothers and sisters, I’ll be honest. I don’t know why God designed things this way. All I know is that it is what He said and I am obliged to obey it and teach it. My prayer is that the church will stand strong in the convictions of scripture even when every fiber of our culture tells us otherwise. I also pray that any sisters in Christ reading this are upset by my conclusions. I want to make clear that women are vital to a healthy church. Without active, dedicated sisters in Christ, most churches in the US would not be in existence. Women, on average, have been the more faithful gender as the evangelical church has declined. To my servant sisters, you are needed for the church to remain healthy. Us men are incomplete without you.
I hope this long post has been encouraging and challenging. It certainly has been for me. God be with you ’til we meet again!
Your Brother,
Pastor Trenton
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