One of my deacons has been referring to current society as an “upside-down world.” A fitting description of the reversal of once commonly held moral values and the subsequent confusion caused by changes in the meaning of words and the coining of new terms that are less defined. One area which has caused considerable turmoil even within the “evangelical” church is the understanding of God’s design for men and women. Many books have now been written on this subject advocating a diverse range of ideas about this. To be clear, I will define a few key terms I will be using in this brief article.
Defining Terms
Feminism: “The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of sexual equality” (Oxford Dictionary). The belief that the sexes are fundamentally the same and therefore interchangeable except in the biological process of birthing and breastfeeding infants. It places a higher value on masculine qualities and the roles and positions traditionally held by men than the traditional roles of women being homemakers and mothers.
Egalitarian: from the French égalitaire meaning “equal.” “The principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities” (Oxford Dictionary). This is the term generally preferred by feminists within the Church.
Complementarian: A position of resistance to feminism developed formally by the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) with its core beliefs outlined in the Danver’s Statement of 1987. Its main emphasis is that (1) Husbands hold a leadership role in marriage; and (2) Pastors and elders must be men. 1Garris, Zachary. Masculine Christianity, (Zion Press), 55. Note that this position does not address the role of men in society, and there is a variation on how men lead in the home and what women are allowed to do in the church.
Patriarchal: “Father rule” from the Greek words pater and archō. The traditional understanding of male responsibility and authority in the home, the church, and society. This term has been so demonized by feminists that most of those who hold this position no longer use the term.
Feminism Disruption of the Family, the Church, & Society
Feminism began in the 19th Century as an extension of the Enlightenment in a quest for economic, political, and social equality, including women’s suffrage, that would enable women to be more easily independent of men. By the mid-twentieth century, its anti-Christian roots became fully exposed as second-wave feminism advocated anti-family positions of no-fault divorce, a right to abortion, and for women to leave the home and join the workforce. “If first-wave feminism can be described as women’s desire to be independent from men, second-wave feminism can be described as women’s desire to act like men.” 2Ibid., 17. We are now in a third-wave of feminism which includes advocation of homosexuality and transgenderism which confuses even basic sexual identity. These waves of feminism have transformed Western culture, but most people are unaware of the extent feminist thought affects their belief systems or that it is at the root of the breakdown of the nuclear family and the rise of rampant sexual immorality and perversion.
In the effort to differentiate themselves from secular feminists, those professing to be Christians began to refer to their positions as egalitarian. However, their beliefs parallel feminism, and their influence has caused many churches to reject the biblical distinctions of roles and responsibilities between men and women. The result has been women taking positions in churches as pastors, elders, and ministry heads, and the usurpation of the husband’s leadership in the home.
As noted above, the complementarian movement arose in opposition to egalitarian influence in the church and home, however, those describing themselves as complementarian range from those holding to traditional patriarchy to views so narrow, they could be called a lite version of egalitarianism. At this latter extreme are those that reject men having authority or acknowledging a hierarchy in Biblical gender roles. They restrict women from having particular titles but allow usurpation of God’s design by presenting women as having equality within mutual submission.
Genesis Mandates
Our understanding of God’s design for men and women begins in Genesis. Feminists and egalitarians reject this due to their rejection of biblical truth and authority.
We begin with Genesis 1:26-27 which states of first importance that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” God endowed man with personhood and the ability to reflect the communicable attributes of God. This also distinguishes mankind from animals over which God gave rule or dominion. Genesis 1:28-30 adds that they were to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” to be God’s regent, and were given stewardship to both take care of and appropriately use the earth and all the creatures upon it.
Genesis 2 gives greater detail about the sixth day of creation including the sequence of events related to God making humanity. Genesis 2:7 states, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” The narrative continues, stating that God planted a garden and placed the man in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 states that he was given the responsibility to “cultivate it and keep it.” God gave man a job on his very first day of life, and then granted the man the freedom to eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning that he would “surely die” in the day that he might eat of it (2:16-17).
Genesis 2:18 records, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’” This is the first indication of the purpose and nature of what God would make for man. The next two verses record the first task God gave to the man in naming all the animals, and its purpose in recognizing that none of these animals would be a helper comparable to him. Genesis 2:20-22 then records that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. God then took a rib from him and fashioned it into a woman and then brought her to him. Adam’s response was, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” This is followed in Genesis 2:24 by what is sometimes called the marriage mandate: “a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
These passages lay the foundation for understanding the responsibilities and roles that God gave to men and women. Perhaps man could have fulfilled God’s command to him to cultivate and keep/guard the garden alone, but God saw that it was not good, so He fashioned from his rib a new creature, a woman, that was meet (fit/suitable/comparable) to him to be his helper. Eve was specifically designed to help Adam fulfill his responsibilities, and in fact, Adam could not fulfill the mandates of Genesis 1:28 to “be fruitful and multiply fill the earth, subdue it and rule” over all the animals without her. That is why Adam gives her the name Eve in Genesis 3:20 because she was the mother of all their descendants. It would take both male and female to fulfill God’s mandates to man. There is a hierarchy in the biblical gender roles from the first day they were created. Man is given the responsibility and woman is to help him fulfill those mandates. Please note that Genesis does not restrict this to home and religious structures. This is the foundation for patriarchy. The rest of the Bible reinforces this pattern. Egalitarians reject it, but it is true, nonetheless.
Gender Hierarchy in the New Testament
Egalitarians like to obfuscate the New Testament teachings on gender roles by claiming they are based on the culture of the time and therefore subject to revision, to fit within different or changing cultures. However, those claims are false.
Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 2:9-15 regarding women, including restricting them from teaching or exercising authority over a man and remaining quiet, are not based upon culture at all. The apostle states specifically in verses 13-14 that they are due to 1) the creation order: Adam being created first and then Eve, and 2) the woman was deceived and disobeyed first: “but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” The egalitarian argument that women are equal to men and therefore should also be allowed to teach and hold positions of authority over men is directly contradictory to the clear teaching of Scripture. Frankly, it is heresy. Passages such as Galatians 3:28 which speak of the equal standing of Christian men and women before God do not negate the headship position God gave to man on the day in which He created man and woman. Man was given the responsibility and she was fashioned from his rib to help him fulfill the commands of God.
Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 also have the same basis in Genesis. The apostle begins by explaining in verse 3 that “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.” He then goes into a discussion of why men should have an uncovered head when praying and women should cover theirs so that she does not disgrace it with the issue being its symbolism of authority (vv. 4-10). Paul references Genesis 2 as the basis for his argument in verses 8-9, “For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.” Those are two very strong statements of hierarchy, with the man being in the greater position of headship.
In verses 11-12, Paul explains the interdependence of men and women in the Lord and that all things originate from God, yet he does not in any way negate the hierarchy within those relationships, for he continues in verses 13-15 to argue why women should cover their head when praying and ties that to having long hair. The purpose of the creation of the woman was to help the man fulfill God-given mandates with her appearance and demeanor reflecting that truth.
Home & Church
The Genesis mandates apply to all of mankind and therefore support not only the complementarian position but also patriarchy. For lack of space, this article will not deal specifically with biblical gender roles in the home or church other than to state the following:
- 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 specifically restrict the position of overseer/elder/pastor to men. You must pervert the Scriptures to argue otherwise. Changing the title of a position of authority in the church does not avoid this restriction. While there are women that are either immature or ungodly that desire to usurp the role of men, the real problem is men who refuse to fulfill their responsibilities and passively let women usurp them.
- Ephesians 5:22-33 defines the biblical roles, relationships, and responsibilities for husband and wife. The husband is specifically said to be the head of the wife. Even for those that argue for mutual submission from verse 21, in verse 22 the wife is specifically given the greater responsibility to submit to her husband. If each fulfills their God-given roles, they will have a marriage that glorifies God by reflecting Christ and the Church.
Resources
- Pro-Egalitarian: Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy, Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Gordon Fee (editors), Intervarsity Press, 2005.
- Pro-Complementarian: Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, John Piper, Wayne Grudem (editors), Crossway Books, 1991.
- Pro-Patriarchal: Masculine Christianity, Zachary Garris, Zion Press, 2020
Pastor Harris is an M.Div. graduate of The Master’s Seminary (1988) and has pastored Grace Bible Church, Wappingers Falls, NY since 1991. He and Diane have been married for 34 years.
This article was first published in the Sept-Oct 2021 VOICE magazine.
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