1. Creation teaches mutuality
• Men and Women each created in the image of God
• “rib” vs. side/half
• Ezer- helper= Savior
• If you get creation wrong, you get it all wrong- Paul and etc.
2. Men ruling over women is a result of the fall and desecration of the world
• If Jesus’ death and resurrection reverses the effects of the “fall” it disproves complementarian roles
3. The idea of gender “roles” is not biblical. “Giftings” is a more biblical approach.
• The Spirit always gives gifts indiscriminately
• God doesn’t show partiality.
4. Authority (rulership) and hierarchy are antithetical to the Kingdom of God.
• Throughout the Bible we see many instances of God’s ideal that that no person have rulership over another, but rather that we rule mutually
• We obey God alone, we submit to each other out of reverence for Christ, our King
• When Paul used head in Col 3 and Eph 5 it’s talking about the thing on top of your shoulders and not authority. Preeminence.
• Considering marriage in 1 Cor 7 everything is applied mutually
5. 1 Tim 2 and 1 Cor 14 were dealing with specific issues, in a specific church, at a specific time. These passages do not prohibit women from speaking, teaching, or leading today.
• These passages are descriptive and not prescriptive.
• The command in 1 Tim 2 is for the woman to learn (This is exciting for the women!)
• Women being commanded to be silent in 1 Cor 14 must be reconciled with all the other instances of women praying and prophesying in 1 Cor 11, 12, and 14 in the same letter.
6. The Bible teaches a priesthood of all believers (not just men)
• Adam and Eve were the original priesthood
• 1 Tim 3 and Titus 2 use neuter (masc/fem) pronouns when referring to the giftings and character of the elders and deacons. (11 he/his pronouns in the NIV and ESV that aren’t in the text)
• There’s lots of evidence of women leading and exercising their mutual priesthood in the Bible… Here’s a few:
o Mariam (led Israel with Moses) o Deborah (Led as a judge)
o Huldah (Prophet who explained the law)
o Mary Magdalene (first to preach the resurrection)
o Percilla (discipler/teacher) o Phoebe (deacon, house church leader, Roman’s letter carrier/reader) o Junia (apostle/church planter)
• Unity and mutuality … All are one in Christ!
7. Biblical Theology and the entire lens of scripture point to God’s ideal of mutuality
• We need to view the bible not as a flat text but as a narrative
• The Bible begins and ends with a picture that looks like Eden
• We see the early church in the Bible living out this ethic of the age to come in the present because it has broken in with the resurrection of Jesus
