Tag Archives: women in the church

Does Galatians 3:28 provide the final word on gender roles in the church?

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Bathroom-gender-signWhen discussing gender roles, one passage is often played as a bit of a trump card. It’s the magnificent statement by Paul in the third chapter of Galatians, where he affirms the equality of every Christian:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek,
slave nor free,
male nor female,
for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

There it is, for all to see. Gender differences are wiped out, they claim. I definitely agree. As far as access to salvation is concerned (Paul’s concern in this context), there is no difference between the genders.

Most scholars consider Galatians to be one of Paul’s earliest writings, if not the first. Some place the Thessalonian letters earlier. The vast majority agree that the following come later:

  • Paul’s discussion of gender roles in 1 Corinthians 11
  • Paul’s description of gender differences in Ephesians 5
  • Paul’s specification of male-only elderships in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3
  • Paul’s discussion of gender roles in Titus 2
  • Paul’s teaching about widows (and not widowers) in 1 Timothy 5

I’ve intentionally avoided “the two passages,” though there’s no valid reason to ignore the fact that instructions are given considering the different genders in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2.

Let’s discuss the extent to which there is to be a differentiation between genders today. Let’s discuss how men and women can each function within the modern church. But let’s not pretend that Galatians 3:28 did something that Paul never intended it to do: obliterate the differences between men and women. (And please stop saying that there are only two passages that discuss limiting what women do in the church)

Does Paul go against the rest of the Bible on the topic of gender roles?

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Bible by fireplaceOne of the myths in the debate on gender roles is the idea that the weight of the biblical record supports full egalitarianism, but two verses written by Paul have led churches to discriminate against women. That’s not the case at all.

Another debate which courses through our fellowship is the topic of instrumental music. In that case, instruments were clearly accepted in the Old Testament; the case must be made, therefore, as to why that changed (or didn’t) in the New Testament. [Another topic for another day]

That’s not how it is with gender roles. As we’ve discussed this week, the bulk of the biblical record argues for a difference between what men and women do. There are exceptions, few and easily counted. There’s been a furor this week about the ratio of women speakers to men speakers in Christian conferences. One blogger calculated that 19% of the speakers are women. The percentage of women in leadership roles in the Bible is far lower than that, even if we include ungodly women like Jezebel and Athaliah.

The burden of proof, so to speak, is on those that want to show a marked change in policy. The weight of the biblical record, not to mention church history, is against them. Don’t think that by dealing with Paul’s remarks, we’ve settled the issue. There’s much more to be looked at and studied.

Let me repeat what I said on Wednesday: I think women have often been mistreated, abused, and wrongfully treated as second-class citizens of the Kingdom. I think that the whats and hows of their participation in the Body need to be examined with an open mind.

I just don’t want to start the process with misconceptions.

Gender roles and the cultures of the Bible

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Bible by fireplaceContinuing yesterday’s discussion about the interaction between Scripture and the culture in which it was written, I think we need to recognize that there was some interaction. I think that the Bible talks about many natural things in ways that people would understand, such as references to the four corners of the earth, to storehouses of hail, and to the sun standing still. The Bible expresses things in ways that the original readers could understand.

I think there are many things in the Law of Moses that reflect the culture in which they were living. Many of the prohibitions of that law had to do with things which the nations around them were practicing. Some of those are identified as such, others aren’t.

In a missions class with Dr. Ed Mathews, he made the point that one way we can identify teachings that transcend cultures is to look at things in the Bible that are taught consistently in different cultural settings. And, although people talk about “the culture surrounding the New Testament,” the fact is that the New Testament was written to people in different cultural settings by people with different cultural backgrounds. Galatia was not like Rome. It definitely wasn’t like Jerusalem. Crete and Ephesus were not the same. There were similarities throughout the Roman Empire, yet there were great differences.

Look at how Paul was misunderstood in Lystra. That time was because of language. Then he was misinterpreted in Athens, even though he spoke the same language. The worldview of the Athenians was very different from Paul’s.

If we take the Bible as a whole, then we get still more cultural settings. The world of Genesis differs from the world of the judges; life in Egypt was not like life in Babylonia.

Some of those settings were completely male dominated. As Jr pointed out in the comments yesterday, other cultures gave much more public participation to women.

In none of those settings does God call for egalitarian leadership. He does specify male leadership on several occasions. We see the exception being practiced here and there, but never taught explicitly.

I think women have often been mistreated, abused, and wrongfully treated as second-class citizens of the Kingdom. I think that the whats and hows of their participation in the Body need to be examined with an open mind. But I’m not ready to join those who say, like Mark Love, “I am for full gender equality in congregational practice. Period. Everything. Preach. Teach. Eldering.” I don’t think that’s what we see in Scripture.

Gender roles: You’ve got homework!

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I’m going to be away from the blog next week. I want to continue discussing gender and the church. Let me throw out some questions for you to solve between now and then:

  • What do we do with the fact that a patriarchal system is not only portrayed but is actively taught in the Bible?
  • What do we do with the exceptional women of the Bible, like Deborah, Huldah, Philip’s daughters, and Junia?
  • What do we do with the weight of history and tradition and their teaching about women?
  • What about the fact that history has been proven wrong at times, as in the case of slavery?
  • How do we deal with the passages that seem to limit women’s activity in the church?
  • How do we deal with the concept of Spiritual giftedness, with gifts being given to both sexes?
  • Is God’s call based on ability? Does not being chosen by God for a task mean that one is inept for that task?
  • How do we balance the home and the church? What does biblical teaching about motherhood, male headship, and raising children have to say about this topic?
  • How does biblical teaching for the first century apply to the twenty-first century?
  • How does teaching addressed to a home church setting speak to modern assemblies?

That should be enough to hold you. I want 5-7 pages, typed (no computers), double-spaced with a one inch margin. Sources should be quoted in Turabian format. Footnotes, not endnotes.

No, seriously… feel free to throw out more questions or to take a stab at answering some of these.