What Does The Bible Say About Women Pt. 11 - Bringing it All Together
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Intro
We’ve talked about a lot of stuff over the past 11 weeks. Today, let’s bring it all together. First off, when studying a topic like this, if anyone doesn’t first start with the entirety of Scripture – using the clear to explain the unclear – and instead focuses on a single passage that “enlightens” the rest of Scripture, you’ve already missed the point.
For example, if the next time you’re listening to a podcast or a video online on “what the Bible says about women,” and if they don’t immediately start from the beginning of Scripture and take you through the Bible story, then you should immediately be skeptical. If they say something like, “Let’s turn to 1 Timothy 2, or Galatians 3 or 1 Cor 14,” then that should automatically raise some red flags for you.
Overview
Let’s go over what we’ve learned so far about what the Bible says about women. For those of you who missed a few sessions or haven’t read the previous blog posts on this topic, I encourage you to go back, read or listen through these discussions, and come back with a full understanding of this 11-week conversation we’ve been having.
What did we learn from the Genesis creation account about women?
Are there any Old Testament examples where the language of “subordination” is explicitly used?
Were women ever scolded for being in charge or in positions of authority in the Old Testament?
What two roles were women no allowed to serve in within ancient Israel? Why and why is this significant?
What’s the difference between a Patriarchal society and a Patrilineal society?
What did this mean for Israel and its view on women?
What kinds of roles/ positions were women allowed to serve in in Israel? What significance does this hold?
Shifting to the New Testament, how did Jesus view women?
How does the New Testament view how spousal relationships are supposed to look like? Why?
Is a “Top-down” power structure how Jesus/Paul/ the NT describes how marriage is supposed to be? Why/why not?
Moving on to the difficult passages we’ve talked about the past few weeks, What is the number one thing we should do when we try to understand these passages?
Why is understanding a passage's context so important?
What did we learn from 1 Cor 11-14 (Women being “silent” in the church”); Galatians 3 (Jew/gentile, slave/free, male/female); and 1 Tim. 2 (“A woman shall not have authority over a man”)?
What now? What’s the application for today?
Let me ask you this, When it comes to churches, many of which are often led by people – usually male elders, preachers, ministers, deacons, etc., - they serve as “rulers” within the church. Now note that we/most people don’t use the word “ruler” – we don’t explicitly say “ruler” out loud - but functionally they lead/guide the church in a way that is in a position of strong authority. When they speak, people listen; when they preach, people take their words as truth; when they tell people what to do and order them around, and people are expected to do as they say. These leaders Lord it over the church because “well its in your best interest,” or “I’m doing this as a humble servant of God, but you still need to listen to my authority that God himself has given to me.” The church submits to their power without question. Then people ask, “Are women allowed to do that?” What do you think?
And the obvious answer is no! The answer should also be, “Not only are women not allowed to do that, but neither are the men!” If you are looking for who can occupy positions of power and authority in the church, then you’ve missed the Kingdom mindset. Some people say, “I just can’t be in a church where women are ‘telling me what to do,’” to which the correct response would be, “I can’t be in a church when men are ‘telling me what to do!’” No one should be telling anyone with absolute authority what to do the way the world “tells people what to do.”
“Telling people what to do” is NOT the church. People in power who dictate orders and instructions is not the church. This only happens when church has succumb to the world. This question should never be asked the way it is phrased. Never should anyone in the church be thinking “Can women hold positions of power in the church?” Why? Because “positions of power” is not how Christ led. He led as a servant. And not just a servant in words only. Some leaders say “Oh we are ‘servant-leaders’” or they do a gesture once a year to show the congregation that they’re ‘humble.’ But functionally, they rule over the congregation with power and authority. The usage of “Spiritual authority” is exactly the same as well.
When they say “We’re doing this for your own good, or in your best interests, listen to us since we know what we’re doing,” that is how the Gentiles rule over one another. This is now how the church is supposed to operate.
Instead of the way the world rules over people, how are elders supposed to lead?
We’ve talked briefly about Complementarians and Egalitarians a few weeks ago. When one says “No women can’t be in positions of power,” and the other says “Women can be in positions of power” what key detail are they forgetting? What mindset are they still thinking in? Why is this significant?
They’re both still thinking in a top-down power structure like how the world understands leadership.
So you might still be thinking, “ok, but Joshua, what’s the answer then? Can women be elders or ministers or preachers?” My answer to that is that it’s not my job to tell this church or that church what they should be doing. I, nor anyone, should be in any position to say “for all churches everywhere for all time, is this the rule for women in leadership.” In fact, this is exactly the position Paul takes because he speaks only to the specific churches and their specific context and addresses the immediate issues that those specific churches are facing.
I can only speak to Cornerstone and as a whole, we collectively need to understand what Cornerstone needs to do.
why is context so important, especially within the Churches of the Bible and churches today?
Why is it so important that neither Paul, nor me, nor any preacher or minister, make a blanket statement about who can or can’t serve in such and such area of ministry?
If you want my answer to the question of “Can women serve in positions of leadership within the church,” then I say "Yeah me, Scot, the Staff, and the elders, are all doing stuff for the church, but think about all of the people here at Cornerstone who are actually leading the different ministries at this church. Who is really doing the work of the Kingdom? It’s not the staff or the elders – it’s the people of Cornerstone! These people who are Home Group leaders, Sunday school teachers, feeding the poor, training students, building relationships with others, living life together, and noticing the Unnoticed. THOSE PEOPLE – including lots of women! – are the ones building God’s Kingdom. I just help guide people to where they are strongest and best suited for ministry. You know who the powerhouses are here at this church, regardless of their sex."
Ephesians 4:11-13: 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Cornerstone is responsible for Cornerstone and our immediate context and everyone should contribute to the church with their own giftedness.
Think about this...
Think about this also, when we talk about the afterlife or the fullness of the Kingdom of God when Christ returns, are men above women? Of course not! Why?
Is God’s kingdom here? Yes this is what the church is. It has not come in its fullness but it is here! And when Christ returns it will fully come! The Kingdom of God is NOW! Jesus told us this so many times in the Bible.
So if the Kingdom is already here, just not in its fullness, why do we still live and behave as though it's not here? Why do we still live as though “well, women will be full participants in the Kingdom when Jesus comes, but sorry because of sin/the world/etc., women have to wait to be full participants” ?
Or how about this? Some people will say, “Well in the ‘real’ world, things just have to be this way.” Is that a good excuse? Will God give that answer a pass?
Do people truly believe that the Kingdom has come like Jesus says or do they believe it's just far off into the future and doesn’t actually impact us now?
Basically, many are saying that the Kingdom has all this power to overcome the boundaries between Jew/Gentile, Slave/ Free, Barbarian/ Scythian, racism, poverty, sin corruption, depravity, and death itself! But sorry God’s Kingdom can’t overcome these male/female relations with one another. You have to wait until Christ comes back for this to be solved. Is that biblical?
Our next topic will be discussing what this “Kingdom of God” thing looks like and how we as the church are supposed to live.
What are your thoughts?
How has this impacted you and how will you live differently because of what you’ve learned?