When I look at contemporary Christianity, I see a lot of vanity, distraction and ignorance. I
see a lot of ugly, hard truths that need to be faced that we don't wanna
face. I see plastic smiles and plastic
platitudes peddling a plastic Jesus. I
see a lot of Band-Aids being applied to mortal wounds. There are many hard, ugly truths that need to
be faced in the church, but one which seems to consistently prick at my soul is
the ugly, bitter pill of truth that the church is not a fraternity and was
never meant to be one.
We must move past
the mindset that the church is a fraternity.
The church is a family of brothers and sisters. It is not a club for men who want authority, a
title, recognition, power, or an order of brotherhood. If your desire to serve Christ is fueled by
bravado and an appeal to your masculinity, then it is a desire rooted in vanity. The answer to liberal feminism is not glorified masculinity. Christ never appealed to the men He chose by telling them that they were destined for greatness because they were men. He never encouraged them in any way by a vain appeal to their gender. Christ spoke to their soul. He taught them to use their minds and hearts as human instruments of God, not as warriors on a God-given conquest. Our identity in Christ isn't prioritized by how manly or womanly we are, it is prioritized by how pure our heart is and how teachable we are (Matt 5:8; 20:25-28; 23:10-12; Psalm 24:3,4).
There is brotherhood to be found in the church, but it is encompassed in
the context of the unity we are to have in Christ (Gal 3:28). Which means that along with brotherhood,
there is also sisterhood and both are supposed to work together in unity and in
mutual submission toward a mutual goal (Eph 5:21). Recognize it or not, there is latent misogyny
in the evangelical church and many are not willing to address it, whether out
of ignorance or of fear of being labeled as a progressive feminist Nazi. It is a misogyny that is masked with a veneer
of patriarchal self-righteousness and a smug, misguided scriptural purpose. Many churches are filled with gifted,
intelligent women, who are systematically discriminated against and ignored
simply because they are not men. Don't
waste your breath saying that women are of equal value and importance in the
church when your actions speak otherwise.
God doesn't fill women with the gift of leadership to just be the church
secretary or run the nurseries. God
doesn't bless a woman with the circumstances and ability to acquire a Master's
Degree in theology to just pick out Sunday School curriculum.
We must apply an
even hermeneutic.
How this is worked out in each church will be different,
which is why women's roles in the church are considered a secondary issue and
many churches will have different interpretations of the proper application of
scripture in our time and culture. The
reality is, we don't apply an even hermeneutic to how we interpret scripture on
this issue. Case in point, most of the
evangelical church disregards almost all of 1 Corinthians 14 as no longer
applicable, except for two verses. Which
means that thirty-eight verses are thrown out, except for the two that talk
about women being silent in the church. 1 Timothy 2:8 is cast aside into the pen of extinct
cultural application, in favor of staunch legalistic adherence to 2:11 & 12
without any regard to context. Paul's example
of Eve's deception at verse 13 is interpreted as an eternal restriction upon
women, even though he uses the same analogy at 2 Cor 11:3 as an example of the susceptibility of deception within the church as a whole.
Such inconsistency is reprehensible.
All scripture that is interpreted as restrictive upon women--which is, in actuality, a
scant few verses-- is didactic in nature.
The "letter" genre of scripture--which encompasses all of
Paul's writings-- is didactic, which means by nature, it is situational and
occasional. It was written to address specific
situations during a specific frame of time, which means not only that the
theology being discussed was written for the task or situation at hand, but
also means that we have to be aware of cultural relativity. Meaning, we must apply good exegesis to
determine what applies to the original audience alone, versus what spiritual
principles are being taught that transcend culture and are a word to be applied
for all seasons. Good exegesis
reconstructs the original situation the author was addressing, so that correct context can be determined. Correct context is critical for determining proper
application.
This is not a
moral issue.
How women function in the church is not a moral
issue. And sin is not a cultural
issue. Sin is sin and God's view of sin
does not change with the culture.
Homosexuality, adultery and fornication are moral issues. They are sins and they will always be sins no
matter what the cultural context is. Sin
is never a secondary issue because sin affects salvation and the working out
thereof. Thus, to put women's roles in
the church in the same category as allowing homosexuality in the church or
overlooking adultery and fornication among the men is not only utterly absurd,
but also grossly out of context. It is
argumentum ad hominem.
We must look at
the bigger picture and focus on the central Biblical message.
The reality is, that there are scriptural applications which must be interpreted by looking at the overall Biblical witness and message and by applying an even, consistent hermeneutic based on that witness and message. Slavery, which scripture was used to justify, would be included in such an application (1 Cor
7:21; Col 3:22; 4:1; Eph 6:5-9; 1 Tim 6:1,2; Titus 2:9,10; 1 Peter 2:18). Also segregation (1
Kings 11:2; Deut 7:3,4; Joshua 23:12; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 13:23-25; Psalm 106:35), not giving women the right to vote (Eph 5:22; 1 Pet 3:1,2; 1 Cor 14:34; Col 3:18), and, believe it or not, even restricting pain
prevention during childbirth was once justified by scripture (Gen 3:16). Many times we interpret scripture pursuant to
our personal perspective, feelings or opinions, and this is not an appropriate
hermeneutic.
The fact of the matter is that half, and in many
circumstances, over half the church is composed of women. Yet in most evangelical churches they are
woefully underrepresented and many feel that they have no voice. In many evangelical churches, women are
completely unrepresented in visible
leadership roles and all church decisions are made by men. People are leaving the church in droves and
we must take an honest look at ourselves and ask why? And I don't believe there will be a single
answer. But I do believe that part of
the answer "why" will include our insistence to continue following vain methodologies and empty traditions rather than the leading of the Spirit, which was the fatal flaw of the Pharisees. I
believe that the mentality of "the women serve the men as the
men serve Christ" was never Christ's intention for the
church in the first place. I believe
that God will bring revival to the church and it is a revival that will be
composed of both men and women working together, lifting each other up,
encouraging each other, serving each other, doing nothing out of selfish pride
or ambition, but in humility considering others more important than themselves,
not looking to their own interests but putting other's needs before their own
(Phil 2:3-5). It will be a church
without compartmentalization and without division, structured around Christ and
Him alone.
I do not covet the pulpit, nor do I desire to have
authority over men. Honestly, I have no
desire to have authority over anybody because I have four daughters to raise
and a farm to maintain and Bible college to finish and a church to serve and I
ain't got that kind of time. But I
will say that I am neither complimentarian nor egalitarian because for me to
categorize myself into one camp or the other would be to categorize God. It would be for me to assume that God is with
one camp and against the other, which would be to further exacerbate the
ingroup/outgroup mentality that pervades the church. It would be for me to encourage the "us
versus them" attitude. Paul says
about secondary issues in the church, to be "fully convinced in your own
mind" (Rom 14:5). Which means that
churches which interpret scripture one way on the issue should not be condemned
or criticized by those who interpret it another way. There are copious amounts of theological
pontificating on both sides of the argument, both presenting reasonable
arguments, both resolute in their "correctness" of interpretation,
both of which should let the other be, until Jesus comes back to sort out the
details.
Any form of discrimination not rooted in moral
preservation creates, fuels, and fosters division in the church and opens the
doors to bitterness, resentment, contempt and needless despondency and discouragement. Regardless of how either side interprets
scripture, God is most fully and gloriously represented through both men and
women, which is why He created both genders and not just one. He created them both to each be equally
dependent upon the other, each voice and each perspective indispensable to the
other, which means that each voice and each perspective are also dependent upon
each other and indispensable to the other in the church. In every area of the church. Which means that men and women--both faces of God-- must work
together in unity, rather than in exclusion, and in mutual submission rather
than singular submission, toward a mutual goal of sharing the Gospel, making
disciples, and building Christ's kingdom.
"God created mankind in His own image, in the image of
God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said
to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue
it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every
living creature that moves on the ground.'" (Gen 1:27,28)
"Submit to one another out of reverence for
Christ." (Eph 5:21)
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)
"For we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church." (Eph 5:30-32)
"...But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ and each of you is a member of it." (1 Cor 12:24-27)
