Women: A Biblical Perspective
12/14/1997 - A Summary
At the outset of this series I shared a bit of my church background with you as it relates to an understanding of God's view of women. And I was very candid in admitting that for a long time I believed that men were superior to women. I'm not proud of that, but it's the truth.
I grew up in a male oriented church. It was a good church that I'll always be indebted to. Yet a church where men and only men served as pastors, elders, deacons, ushers and Sunday school teachers. It was a church where women were not permitted to serve in any of those roles unless they were teaching other women or children. And as a child, I greatly benefited from the instruction of women.
I didn't grow up questioning the church or rebelling against it. I just assumed that's the way church worked. Men and only men were permitted to have, what I viewed to be, the most important and significant roles in the church. They could serve anywhere and do anything. But women were limited by some clearly defined boundaries. They couldn't teach or lead men.
After I graduated from college and moved away from my home church I attended a male oriented seminary. There were women on the campus, thank God, but they didn't serve on the faculty and they weren't permitted to enroll in the four year Master of Theology degree program that I was taking. Instead, they could enroll in the two year Master of Biblical Studies program. The difference was that the four year theology program contained courses in Greek and Hebrew and expository preaching. And women were not to be trained to preach. Instead they could take teaching courses in the two year biblical studies program.
That was probably the first time I began to wonder about this distinction between men and women. Where in the Bible did it say that women couldn't learn Greek and Hebrew, the two biblical languages? And why couldn't a woman take a preaching course? Even if it would only make her a better communicator to other women and children?
Others were asking the same questions too. Members of the administration and the faculty of that seminary were asking those questions. In fact, shortly after I graduated the school changed its position on women. And it created quite a stir. Women joined the faculty as professors of Christian Education and Pastoral Ministries. Women were allowed to enroll in the Master of Theology program. They were allowed to study Greek and Hebrew. They were allowed to take classes in expository preaching. That was unheard of for the first sixty years of the school! The seminary came a long way, but didn't quite embrace full equality. The catalog still states that the ministry of "pulpit preaching" in local churches is limited to men. A line drawn based on the passage we looked at last week, 1 Timothy 2:11-15.
After graduation I served for eight years in a church not far from here. It's the church where Tim and I met and served on the same staff. It was a wonderful church, but it too was a male oriented church like the one in which I grew up. However, while I was on staff the senior pastor wrote his doctrinal dissertation on the role of women in the church. And as a result of his research his position on women changed. He concluded that women could serve in a much broader capacity than that church had traditionally been accustomed to. And once again I was forced to think about this critical issue.
Then in 1992, five years ago, Tim and I left that church and with our families moved to the suburbs of Chicago to become interns at Willow Creek Community Church . We served at Willow Creek for one year before returning to the Philadelphia area to start Valley View . And while at Willow Creek I submitted myself to its leadership which included women elders. At that point in my journey, I didn't agree with women elders, but it was not a big enough issue to keep me from becoming part of that church.
During that year I also reopened my Bible on this issue and for the first time began to look at women from a biblical perspective. That was five years ago now and as I've said all along, I am in process, in many areas of my life, but certainly in this one. And I want to give you the freedom to be in process as well. After one of my messages in this series, some one asked me how long it took to prepare that message. And I could have said, "42 years!" Because its taken me that long to draw some of these conclusions.
What have I concluded? Well, that's what I tried to share over these last six weeks. Let me summarize. I've concluded that God created the man and the woman equal in his image. He did not create the man to be superior to the woman or the woman to be superior to the man. In fact, together they were commanded to rule over God's creation. They were to be co-leaders. Yet the invasion of sin into God's perfect world changed all of that.
As a result of one bite of the forbidden fruit, Adam became subject to the ground from which he was taken and Eve became subject to Adam from which she was taken. And life was never the same again. That was not God's original intent, but like death itself, it was the devastating fall out of sin. God did not create Adam and Eve to die. He created Adam and Eve to live. Sin brought death into the world. Sin also brought oppression into the world. God did not create Adam to rule over Eve. He created Adam and Eve to rule together.
Throughout the Old Testament we saw how that oppression was expressed. The man went from being an equal partner with the woman, to being a ruler over the woman, to being a ruler over many women in polygamous marriage, to being an owner over many women with harems of wives and concubines. And God hated it! So he wrote the Law of Moses to control some of the abuses of women.
By the time Jesus entered the scene the status of women had sunk to an all time low. Even in the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, women were treated as things not persons. They were owned by their husbands like he owned his sheep and goats. Women had no education, they had no rights, they could make no decisions, they could express no opinions, and they weren't even talked to in public. It was customary for Jewish men to start each day by praying, "I thank thee oh Lord, that thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman!"
Yet Jesus came to change all that! He came to change it by treating women as equals, as persons created in the image of God. He related to them on the basis of the equality found in Genesis 1 and 2, not on the basis of the oppression found in Genesis 3. And he established a church, a new community, where men and women were to treat one another as equals and use their gifts to partner together to do the work of God.
Throughout history God affirmed the value of women again and again by raising them up to various roles of leadership. Women like Miriam, Deborah and Huldah led Israel in the Old Testament. Women like Phoebe, Priscilla and Junia led the church in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul worked shoulder to shoulder with women, started churches with women, counted on women, and commended them for it.
The New Testament makes it clear that the spiritual gifts are genderless and are given to all believers for the building up of the body of Christ. Women can possess the gift of teaching and the gift of leadership and the gift of shepherding and can express those gifts in the church. They don't have to feel like one Christian woman I heard of recently who cried out with anguish in her voice, "Help! I'm a leader trapped in a woman's body!" When God gives women the gift of leadership, the gift of teaching, the gift of shepherding he doesn't make a mistake. He wants those gifts to be used in his church, not just in the marketplace to build businesses or in some other arena where it's okay for a woman to lead, teach or shepherd.
The passages that seem to restrict the ministry of women like 1 Corinthians 11 and 14 and 1 Timothy 2 can be explained with a proper understanding of both the context and the culture in which they were written. Yet at the same time, the issue is far from a no brainer. It demands serious study and dependence upon the Holy Spirit for guidance. Those who claim this is a slam dunk issue one way or the other are not being honest with the Scriptures. Yet I believe the majority of the biblical evidence supports the equality of women both in value and in function in God's church.
Perhaps the best passage that sums up this issue flows from the pen of the Apostle Paul, who is often accused of restricting women. In Galatians 3:28 he writes, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Paul grew up reciting that Jewish prayer, "I thank thee oh Lord, that thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman!" Now, because of his radical conversion to Christ, he's saying that in the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Talk about a person in process! Paul's view of women took a complete U-turn!
If a Gentile believer was not allowed to teach or to lead in God's church, but a Jewish believer was would Galatians 3:28 be true? Or would there still be a difference between Jew and Gentile? If a believing slave was not permitted to lead or to teach in God's church, but a free man was would there be equality in the church? If a woman couldn't teach or lead in God's church, could Paul really say that we are all one in Christ Jesus? I don't think so. The distinctions that divide outside the church are not to divide us inside the church. That's what's so wonderful about the new community of the church. The playing field is level for everyone.
There is to be no prejudice in Christ's body. No racism. No sexism. No tokenism either. Those who teach and lead in the church are to do so because they are spiritually qualified. Not because they are of a certain race or a certain gender or a certain color. Not because they've been a success in the marketplace or in some other arena. But because they are spiritually gifted and qualified to teach and to lead.
But this equality has been a tough pill for the church to swallow. It took two centuries before Gentiles were treated as equals with Jewish believers. Remember the church began as a Jewish movement and they had a hard time accepting Gentile believers. In fact, they wanted Gentiles to convert to Judaism before they became Christians. It took almost two centuries to deal with that.
It took the church nineteen centuries before slaves were viewed as equals. In fact, many in the church used the Bible to justify the dehumanizing institution of slavery. It sounds shocking to us! But many Bible teachers upheld slavery because in the New Testament Paul and Peter addressed slaves as slaves and masters as masters. They didn't understand that they were accommodating their remarks to the culture of their day, not approving of the institution of slavery.
And it seems to have taken the church twenty centuries to fully understand what Paul meant when he said that in the church there is to be no distinction between male and female. In fact one teacher I studied on this issue believes that the day is coming when the church will look back at the women's issue the way we now look back at the slavery issue and say, "Yes, the Bible says slaves obey your masters. But that was a cultural accommodation. The Bible does not support the institution of slavery. Yes, the Bible says women must be silent in the church. But that was a cultural accommodation. The Bible does not support restricting the ministry of women in the church."
In conclusion, let me say that you have been a wonderful, teachable church. Some of you have been thrilled with the content of this series. You've felt affirmed, built up, and liberated in your relationship with Christ. I've never taught a series, any series, that has triggered such emotion. In some cases its revealed how much some of you have been hurt by the church's stance on women.
Some of you have been upset about some of the things I've said. You've gone away concerned that I've strayed away from Scripture. But you've had the courage to come to me and to talk to me about your struggle. And for that I am so grateful to you and to God. Because the last thing I want is this series to be divisive. We are to guard the unity of the church with our lives. And by God's grace we can have the freedom to disagree over this issue in agreeable ways.
Others of you are saying, "Hey, it was great, but enough already about women. Let's move on. It's not that big of a deal to me." I appreciate you too. Because I know that this is not a burning issue for everyone right now in their spiritual journey.
Now to wrap up this series I'd like to make a few remarks by way of implication for Valley View Community Church .
First, when we talk about leadership in the church. We are not talking about dominating, authoritative leadership, top down leadership. We're not using the world's model of leadership. When we talk about leadership around here, we talk about servant leadership. It's the kind of leadership that Jesus modeled when he washed the disciples feet. The kind of leadership that is best symbolized by a basin of dirty water and a smelly old towel. The men and women who aspire to leadership at Valley View Community Church are looking for dirty feet to wash. People to serve. Not people to boss. That's leadership in the church as Jesus Christ defined it.
Right now we have two women serving in leadership positions on our development team. Servant hearted women. They are not the only servant hearted women at Valley View . We have quite a few of them. But they have the gifts and commitment to serve in leadership around here. And after working shoulder to shoulder with them for the past few years I can't imagine leading the church without the input of godly women. So if a woman aspires to leadership in the church its not a power position she's looking for, but a servant position. And I can't imagine restricting a woman or a man from being a servant.
Second, in this series we haven't talked much about the role of women in marriage. But let me say that I do believe that the Scriptures teach that women are to be submissive to their husbands. I don't believe that was cultural. Both Paul and Peter make that clear in their letters to the church.
However, the command to be submissive is not for women only. Paul says in Ephesians 5:21 we are to be submissive to one another. Submission is for wives and husbands. In fact a husband's submission to his wife should cause him to lay down his life for her, like Christ laid down his life for the church. Submission is not a woman thing. It's a Jesus thing, an attitude to be practiced by every believer.
Third, let me encourage those of you who are women to be your own person. Be the woman God made you to be. You are unique. You are unlike any other woman on the planet. God has given special gifts and talents and abilities to use for his glory. Use them. Some of you are single women, some of you are married women. Some of you have careers. Some of you are stay at home moms. Some of you are moms who also work in the marketplace. Some of you are single moms. There is no one mold for women. And you will only get yourself in trouble if you compare yourself to one another.
Don't take your ques from other women. Don't take your ques from what you think men want you to be. Don't take your ques from Cosmopolitan magazine. Take your ques from God. Because he has made you who you are and you answer to him alone. You're free to be who God made you to be and this church will not force you into a mold because God doesn't. There are plenty of examples in Scripture of every kind of woman I just mentioned.
For years the most admired woman on the planet was Mother Teresa who died this year. I don't think Mother Teresa was all that concerned about what other women thought of her. Or about what men thought of her. Or how she measured up to the beautiful people in Cosmopolitan magazine. All she cared about was pleasing God. And she the courage to be what God wanted her to be. We admire people like that. Be one.
And finally, let's give each other a lot of grace on this issue. I don't expect all of us to be on the same page after this series. This series may be the launching pad for your own further study. I hope it is for some of you.
If for instance there are women in our church who would violate their conscience if they did not cover their heads in our worship service, then by all means they need to cover their heads. And if there are others who feel free not to, then it would be wrong to cover theirs. That's what Paul means in Romans 14 when he says, Let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
So there are a lot of lessons in this series for us. Lessons that will strengthen us as a church and, I believe, make us more effective in our service of Jesus Christ.