Viva la difference

Yesterday I had the privilege of being asked to go and speak at our Redeem:Women event. Privilege you say? Yes, it’s a women only event that Redeemer Central run to gather women together to worship, pray and hear teaching that is specific to them. So yes it was a privilege to be there. To be able to see the number of women that we have at Redeemer who are passionate about Jesus was really encouraging. So why was I, a man, there? I had been asked to come and speak to the group on the roles of women within Redeemer Central. No mean task! In the near future we will be publishing a paper on this, but in the meantime I thought I would share the overview that I gave at Redeem:Women.

The framework
When we teach at Redeemer we believe in always providing a framework within which that teaching sits.  The overarching framework is God’s salvation story working its way out through history culminating in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His earthly, bodily resurrection.

When we teach on the roles of men and women in the church we use the same framework that the Apostle Paul used in the New Testament;

- Man and woman were created in God’s image.
- God is a Trinitarian God who is unified, different, yet equal and complimentary.
- Man and woman have both been created equal, yet different and complimentary.
- As there are different roles in the trinity so there are different roles for man and woman.

These are the God-intended roles as set in place at creation in Genesis.

When sin enters the world in Genesis chapter 3 one of the Serpent’s strategies is to undermine this. He goes straight to the woman undermining the equality and tries to break up the unity between Adam and Eve.

Then in Genesis chapter 3 verses 14-19, while God is cursing the whole of humanity and creation He says this - Verse 16 “To the woman He said “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Note the word ‘desire’. Surely this is a good thing, right? Remember that these words are being spoken as part of the curse, not a blessing. We always use scripture to interpret scripture so consider Genesis chapter 4 verse 7 which says this where God says to Cain

Verse 7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” God is saying to Cain that the desire of sin is for you. Or more literally sin wants to control you Cain. So in the context of the curse the desire of women will no longer be one of unity with the man but control over him. And likewise the desire of man shall be to rule over women. This is very different from the word ‘headship’ used in the New Testament.

So the God-intended roles had been distorted by sin. The God-intended characters of man and woman had been reshaped to grate against each other rather than sit in unity, difference and equality.

So that’s our framework. Now let’s move on to the New Testament and deal with some of the seemingly controversial passages regarding the role of women in the church.

The New Testament
Ephesians chapter 5 verses 22-25 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

Let’s consider this word ‘submit’. Submission is often understood as a sign of weakness but in the context of the Bible and Christ it’s a sign of strength. The Greek word here is ‘Hupotasso’ which literally means ‘to stand up under’ not to be a walk over! Consider a table. Submission in this context is like the legs of the table. Without the legs the table will not stand up, has no structural stability and is unable to support the table top and is rendered completely useless. Also a table with four legs and no top is not a table and can in no way function as it was intended. In the same way this word “submit” is a positive thing, a complimentary role that when operating equally alongside a husband who is displaying Godly headship is a positive, not negative thing.

Note as well that Paul roots everything he is instructing wives and husbands to do in Christ. These are not arbitrary concepts or interesting ideas but Christ-rooted principles that we have already had modelled to us in Jesus Christ.

So in our first passage we see that Christ rooted submission and headship is a positive thing not negative as they are often understood.  This passage promotes the unity of man and woman and highlights the different and complimentary roles that man and woman have.

1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 2-5 “Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head.”

This in part is a passage about defined roles. It is clear that women are permitted in scripture to prophesy, speak out, pray and teach (see Priscilla). In this passage among other things Paul is reminding men and women of their defined, God-given roles. The head covering thing is clearly cultural and was seen as a positive sign of femininity and womanhood. Not as some believe, a direct instruction to wear head scarves to church in the 21st century! So, when a woman went to church without a head covering she was making a statement against her defined role of Godly femininity. Likewise, if a man was to go to church with his head covered he would be doing the same. In a context where disorder was breaking out, immorality was rife and the rabble that were the Corinthian church seemed to be heading in their own direction, Paul gives clarity (not confusion) regarding the distinct gender differences of man and woman.

1 Corinthians 14 verses 34-35 “…the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

Hang on a second! Paul in numerous other passages says or suggests that women are allowed to speak, prophesy and pray in the context of the church. In this context it is clear that there had been some disruption in the church caused by some of the women. This passage is Paul bringing clarity and order to that. The context is order in worship. We can only guess that if the disruption was being caused by men Paul would have said the same to them!

1 Timothy 2 verses 11-12 “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

A woman, presumably as we all should, learn to learn quietly and in submission. Regardless of gender, in the church we are all in submission to Godly leadership, men included. Elsewhere, Paul also permits women to learn theology - a culture busting concept at the time! It is important here to understand that the word “authority” is not a general term but has a very specific meaning. It means the highest form of authority in the church ie Eldership. It is not a rule that says that women are not allowed to hold positions of authority in the church. It is simply clarifying the role of male eldership.

So what about teaching? It seems that the role of teaching in this context is linked with having or exercising authority. So in the context of other scripture a woman is permitted to teach although not exercise the final authority in that. So as with anyone teaching in the church it is done under the authority of Godly male eldership.

Finally…
It is very important that we formulate our views of manhood and womanhood from scripture and not from society, stereotypes and history. 

What do we believe at Redeemer Central?
- We value women and believe that in the context of Godly manhood and womanhood, women and men play an equal role in the body of Christ.

- We believe that women play a vital role in outworking of our values, vision and ministry. We model this at Redeemer by having women on our core/leadership team, fully contributing in the worship-life of the church and operating in wider leadership contexts at every level of the church.

- We believe that, if gifted, women should be able to teach under Godly authority at Redeemer.

- At Redeemer, we want to model the God-given, defined and positive roles that He has given both men and women in the body of the church.

- At Redeemer we celebrate the difference between men and women.  God made us different and we think that is great!

I also just want to say that many of my good friends who lead churches here in Northern Ireland will hold very different views to me on this subject. It is important that you come under the authority of your Eldership or leadership team on this matter. Do not harbour any hidden grievances or unhelpful thoughts towards those who lead you in these matters. 

This article is a synopsis of a talk given at Redeem:Women on Saturday 19th September 2009. It is not Redeemer’s theological paper on this subject. This will be published soon. We will attempt to publish an audio version of this talk the next time that it is given.

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