Let’s Talk…
About Women in
Ministry
Dr. David Smith
VP for Academic Affairs
Kingswood University
Nov 5, 2013
Question of Approach
• A “Word Study” that leads to one more deadend and larger walls being constructed between
Complementarians and Egalitarians?
• or
• A “Family Conversation” that sets grounds for
common agreement…and future talks not
arguments
• Best history of the debate is found in Dr. Alan
Johnson, A Meta-Study of the Debate over the
Meaning of “Head” in Paul’s Writings Priscilla
Papers Vol 20, No 4, Autumn 2006
Let’s Talk…
Definition of Terms
• Complementarian – sometimes called
Hierarchical – Traditionalist Approach
• The biblical passages dealing with men and women
teaches a normative order at home and at church.
Male leadership (headship) model.
• One end of spectrum: Male leadership in public
ministry
• More common: Women are eliminated from the
office of elder/pastor (i.e., the teaching or ruling
positions in the church).
• Least restrictive: women can be appointed to any
position in the church as long as she is ultimately
under male leadership.
Let’s Talk…
Definition of Terms
• Egalitarian Approach
• No distinction between men and women in church
ministry; yet there are different camps within the
church and their approach to scripture may be
radically different
• More Liberal perspective; all the scriptures which
creates a distinction between men and women
express a prevailing patriarchal opinion of the
writer’s day.
• More Evangelical view; Text is authoritative yet
these passages are applicable only to specific times
in specific situations. This teaching is not to be
applied literally; it is not normative for the church
today.
Let’s Talk about…
The Trajectory of Scripture
• Is it fair to say, “The Bible says it! I believe it!”
• Or
• Is the Word of God doing more than merely recreating His people but also re-forming and reshaping entire societies?
• And will we become, as a culture, what the Lord
wants us to be?
Let’s Talk about…
The Trajectory of Scripture
• Is there a growth and development in Biblical
principles?
• Conversation Partner
• I. Howard Marshall – Beyond the Bible:
Moving From Scripture to Theology
Let’s Talk about…
The Trajectory of Scripture
• Sacrifice –
• What was once commanded (OT) is now obsolete
(NT)
• Salvation –
• Gift to Israel alone
• Inclusion of Gentiles is surprise to Jews and early
church
• Divorce –
• From simple writ (OT) to sin (NT) Note esp. Mark
10:10-12
• Marriage –
• Many Wives – polygamy seems to be condoned in
OT
• One wife (Creation norm and Re-creation goal)
• Slavery -
Let’s Talk about…
Theology, then and now
• As society changes (and it constantly will) our
delivery of the Gospel must be open to adaptation.
• The form of the delivery system changes; not the
Gospel Message. (e.g.; Sermons in Book of Acts;
1st century house church vs. 21st century megachurch.
• The profound pressure from the 1970’s women’s
movement caused all evangelicals to alter their
theology of the sexes. (e.g., women in work-force,
access to higher education, “the Pill”)
• Society began to ask different questions and was
essentially structured differently – as the Church we
must respond to remain relevant.
Let’s Talk about…
Theology, then and now
• Culture has forced us to re-capture and re-create
our theology of the sexes.
• In reality, this is a gift culture has given to the
Church. (Divine Providence?)
• Radical re-interpretations of Scripture have
happened many times throughout history.
• Bible forbade “usury”… and then come Capitalism.
• Science (esp. Sun “revolving” around earth)… and
then comes Kepler and Copernicus.
• Kings were all the rage…then comes Democracy.
Let’s Talk about…
Theology, then and now
• Conversation Partners
• Kevin Giles - The Trinity and Subordination:
The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary
Gender Debate
• John Stackhouse – Finally Feminist: A
Pragmatic Christian Understanding of
Gender
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now:
• Our stated (and often un-stated) presuppositions
will (pre)determine our interpretive outcome.
• Conversation partners:
• Gordon Fee – Commentary in 1 Timothy
• William Webb – Slaves, Women, and
Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of
Cultural Analysis
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now
• But, let’s make certain that we recognize a new
day and not speak of NOW as THEN
• In most Complementarian circles, the argument
is made, “We are traditional in our reading of
Scripture”
• Meaning, we can trace our argument back to the
way the Bible has been traditionally read.
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now
• Let’s listen to statements which reflect a
“traditional” reading of Scripture
• God has made women as a race or class as inferior to
men, excluding them from leadership in the home, the
Church, and the world in general.
• Women should be kept silent in Church and in public.
• Women are not equally made in the Image of God.
• Women were made second, and therefore of second
rank, inferior to men.
• Women are more prone to sin and deception.
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now
• Now, let’s listen to a standard Complementarian
view:
• Men and women are equal.
• Sadly, the historic teaching of the Church have been just
the opposite…from Jesus’ day right to the 20th Century.
• Men and women have different roles.
• Men are given the role to lead, women are given the
complementary and supportive role.
• This thesis is determinative for interpreting texts such as
1 Cor 11:3-16; 14:33-35; Eph 5:22-33, 1 Tim 2:11-14
• Women may speak (just only not teach men)
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now
• Now, let’s listen to a standard Complementarian view:
• The order of creation, before the Fall
• In the book, “Rediscovering Biblical Manhood and
Womanhood, 19 of the 21 authors argue for their position
based upon the order of creation, as found in Genesis 2)
• Piper, “the loving headship of husbands or the godly eldership
of me [is] the created order of nature” (pp. 73-74). Men are to
lead in ministry not because of women’s moral incompetence
but because of God’s created order for manhood and
womanhood.
• In the historic tradition, theologians agreed that the Bible
depicted women as a class or race inferior to men because of
the chronological order.
• In no commentary prior to 1960, can I find a claim that the
Bible set men over women because of a once-given forever
binding social order given in creation.
Let’s Talk about…
Hermeneutics, then and now
• Now, let’s listen to a standard Complementarian
view:
• Does this interpretive decision – Order of Creation
make sense.
• John Calvin doubts it, “Paul’s argument that women
is subject to because she was created second does
not seem very strong; for John the Baptist went
before Jesus in time yet was inferior to Him.” (Calvin
Commentary on 1 Timothy, p 217)
• Nothing is made of the order in Gen 2…only post
fall (see Gen 3:16)
Summary of Interpretive
Trajectory of Kephalé (Head)
• Today, we refrain from asking secondary
questions such as,
• “What is the lexical meaning of the word
‘head’ in Paul’s writings?”
• “In each context, is the word kephalé being
used in a literal or metaphorical manner?
Summary of Interpretive
Trajectory of Kephalé (Head)
• Today, we pursue these foundational questions,
• What is the overarching trajectory of the message of
Salvation that Paul is proclaiming?
• Does Paul’s message place limits to the restorative work of
Jesus?
• Does the hope-filled message of the Resurrection in
actuality reverse the curse of Genesis 3?
• As the Kingdom is being ushered in through the Work of
Christ in the Church, what are the visible signs to which the
Body of Christ and our society should model a “redeemedrenewed-restored-recreated-reimaged” people, with Christ
as the Head?
• Is not the restoration of gender equality as originally
designed in Gen 1-2 one of these signs of a fully redeemed
society?