Gender and the Chuch- The Submission of Wives

 OK folks, let’s start to get into some real issues here.  The first issue I want to tackle is that of authority.  This will be the first time we wrestle with some major contradictions.  I want to start in Ephesians 5:21-33.  First, you will notice that many Bibles divide verses 21 and 22 into different sections (which I believe to be a mistake).   Verse 21 says, “…and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”  Every other mention of subjection that follows stems from this verse.  The call is for the members of the church to submit to one another, to yield to one another, to not insist on getting your own way.  This is serve and not be served kind of language.  However, the part of this passage that gets the most play time is verses 22-24 which says that “wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”  The reason is given in verse 23, “for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church…”  Repeated again in verse 24, “but as the Church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.” 

If we stop reading here we are left with a sense that husbands hold authority over their wives and wives are called to submit to that authority… right?  For now let’s just skip the issue of what unmarried women should do and just jump right to the issue of mutual submission.  We started with submit to one another and landed on wives submit to husbands just as the Church submits to Christ.  So, how does the Church submit to Christ?
 
Do you recall those parts of the gospel where Jesus came, established himself as supreme ruler, defined levels of hierarchy, and demanded that the Church be subservient to him?  Me neither.   As I recall Jesus emptied himself, became nothing, took the form of a human infant born to a woman, served all, put himself last, established the Church, elevated and enabled the Church to his equal, and put everything into the hands of the Church.  Through this amazing act of love and selflessness Christ won the hearts of humanity to himself.  Or, as Ephesians 5:29 says, “…for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church.”
 
Review the gospels and you will see that Christ is touched by the woman with issues of blood (Luke 8:43-47) an act that would technically make him ceremonially unclean.  How does he respond?  Does he put her in her place for this bold, controversial, and unorthodox event?  No, he praises her for her faith and sends her on her way.  Read the gospels and consider how Christ interacts with women.  Men, begin to understand how Christ loved the church and you will never, NEVER have to ask for submission or respect.  How did Christ lead the church?  How did Christ assert his authority?  Is this how we lead today?  Do the policies of our churches reflect this type of leadership (especially regarding women)?

Gender and the Church- The Big 5

Please note- the following is a simplification!  Most of our policies regarding women in the church are based on five New Testament verses, written by one author, found within four books all of which are Epistles.

·         1 Corinthians 11:3-16

·         1 Corinthians 14:33-40

·         Colossians 3:18-25

·         Ephesians 5:21-33

·         1 Timothy 2:8-15

Contextually this is limited ground to work from.  What I mean is, this is not a widely written about topic that is not found throughout scripture and limited to the first century time period.  A more sound contextual foundation would be formed if these statements were made by multiple authors, in both Testaments (over thousands of years of culture), and in many books.  Moreover, we do not see Christ making similar statements in the Gospels.  However, I recognize that Paul is an apostle, the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and I cannot simply throw out passages I am uncomfortable with.  Instead, I have to do the work of studying each passage, uncovering contextual clues, comparing my conclusions with the overall message of scripture, and then making some kind of application.  This process will be difficult, will challenge our beliefs, will tweak our preconceived notions, and will put us face to face with many contradictions.   Sound like fun?  Yeah, I agree. 

Gender and the Church- The Culture Issue

There is a lot more research going into this series than any other series I have done on my blog, so please forgive the delay between posts.  One of the first challenges we are going to face in studying the role of women is dealing with culture.  Not only do we have to deal with interpreting scripture through our own culture, but we also have to deal with interpreting the culture in which the passage was written.  There are passages about polygamy, slavery, and temple sacrifices that are so foreign to our culture that we struggle to understand these scriptures from our modern perspective.  Likewise, there are times when our culture has become so removed from the truth of scripture that we struggle to make proper application of Biblical truth.   

Let’s take marriage as an example.  In my culture marriage is a covenant based on the love of one man for one woman.   However, in the Old Testament marriage was more like a binding legal agreement dictating the financial obligations a man had to fulfill to honor a woman.  If you read passages like Exodus21:7-11 you will see that women were referred to as like property, and yet there are sanctions that protect women’s rights.   In this context passages like Deuteronomy22:28-29 would seem appalling to us; however a closer look will show that men were obligated to meet financial needs of women in a culture that could easily neglect them.  In fact, in verse 18 of Deuteronomy 22 a man could be flogged for making false accusations about a woman’s reputation!  These ideas and laws are so foreign to our culture of love-based, monogamous marriage. 

YET, there are some women in scripture that transcend cultural limitations.  Eve is the first woman.  She is created in God’s image and is referred to as Adam’s helpmate (partner).  Later in scripture God is referred to as our helpmate, suggesting this position does not equal inferiority.

In the book of Joshua Rahab is instrumental in helping Israel take the Promised Land.  She is mentioned several times in the New Testament and included in the lineage of Christ despite being a foreigner and prostitute.

Abigail (1 Samuel 25) negotiates with king David in order to save her foolish husband Nabal.  She is so impressive in her role that David marries her after the death of her husband. 

Judges 4 and 5 reveal Deborah as prophetess, military leader, and judge over Israel.  Few would argue that this position of authority was not ordained by God.

 Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman.

So, we can see a culture in which women were given an inferior legal status BUT those women who obeyed God and demonstrated noble character transcended the cultural norm holding positions of respect, receiving praise and accolades, and even holding positions of leadership. 

Webb, M.P. (2004).  The Image of Woman in Scripture. Accessed http://www.loveofchrist.info/church/woman.html#C 1/29/13

The Ways God Speaks

God spoke to me through a former student and sister in Christ.  Getting back to blogging has been on my mind the last few weeks but I was not set on a topic.  Nothing was coming to me and I was praying that God would give some kind of inspiration to enable me to return to this passion.  Well, tonight I read an email asking me questions about the role of women in the Church. 

In regards to blogging, I have been out of the saddle way too long and I am eager to get back into blogging.  I am especially excited to be starting a new Bible series. Yet, I realize this topic has been covered many, many times.  So many times in fact that you have probably already decided not to read any blog posts about it.  However, let me ask you a few questions:

·         Have any of the teachings you have heard on the woman’s role included the Old Testament?

·         Have any of the classes you have heard on the woman’s role discussed prophetesses or deaconesses?

·         Have most of the teachings on this topic been from a few verses in Paul’s letters?

·         Have the classes you have been in on the woman’s role focused mostly on teaching and leadership roles (to the exclusion of the many other roles in the church)?

If you have answered yes to any of the above then please consider getting involved in discussion that will be taking place in the next few weeks/months.  My goal is to offer a unique viewpoint to some of the questions listed above and provide an alternative to the more traditional approaches to this topic.  In order to accomplish this task the first few posts will be about proper biblical interpretation.  Too many times this topic has been taught with more tradition than sound biblical research.  I thank God for answering my prayers and I now pray that he will guide me in speaking truth to the best of my ability.  Amen.