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.