Whether it’s in a courtroom, in a conference room, in a coffee shop, or even within the walls of a local church, at one time or another we’ve all found ourselves participating in or watching two people engage in a conversation, where one person is in disagreement with or at least questions the validity of another person’s claim. In other words, it doesn’t take very long to find out that in life not everyone always agrees with what you believe about any given topic. And the topic of manhood and womanhood, as it is taught in the Scriptures, is one of those areas that Christians haven’t always agreed upon – which will be the focus of our episode
In this episode, we will consider a series of questions/objections to the Bible’s teaching, broken into two major categories—biblical objections, that is, based on particular biblical texts, and then more general objections.
Biblical Objections
1) Eph 5:21: Paul says that all Christians are to “submit to one another.” So, Doesn’t the Bible then teach mutual submission? And doesn’t that rid us of any idea that the husband is the head of his wife or that a wife needs to submit to her husband?
2) 1 Tim 2.12: isn’t Paul teaching that women can preach/teach in the gathered congregation, at least under the delegated authority of the elders?
3) Doesn’t Galatians 3:28 remove gender as a basis for distinction of roles in the church?
4): Didn’t Priscilla teach Apollos in Acts 18:26?
5) Leveling of gender roles as a hermeneutic thrust of Scriptures? Doesn't Scripture move towards abolishing gender distinctions all together?
The redemptive thrust of the Bible does not at all aim at abolishing gender distinctions and roles, but rather at redeeming them.
6) What about Deborah’s leadership in the book of Judges? Doesn’t that undermine the understanding of gender roles we’ve been teaching in this episode series?
General Objections:
Does teaching male headship encourage domestic abuse?
The Bible nowhere justifies a man abusing a woman in any way, be it physical, verbal, or emotional. And the Bible nowhere calls a woman to submit to such abuse.
If God has genuinely called a woman to be a pastor, who are you to say she can’t be one?
