Women Speak
It is my passion to help people see who God is and what he has done, while removing any obstacles to faith and belief through apologetics. I am a truth teller. This one of my prayers for myself that I am given the wisdom and discernment to know truth and that all my words be truth. My heart is to lead the Saints in living in his Kingdom in the here and now, while preparing to live in his Kingdom for evermore. When I say “Saints,” I mean all the Saints, but especially the young. It brings me great sorrow when those who are raised in the church leave her for the emptiness of the world and for those who will never know the joy of salvation.
More and more over the past few years, God has also given me a longing to minister to women – especially young women. It was grievous to me that I felt I had to tell a teenage girl that leaving the Southern Baptist Convention behind was the best choice in order for her live out the calling of Jesus in her life. She simply isn’t going to get the opportunities that our male students have within the SBC. I am certain that refusing to allow women to participate in the full life of the local church is not only unbiblical, but devastatingly harmful to the Church. Ironically, I came to this conclusion after being educated in a Southern Baptist university.
I have been wanting to write on this topic and the time is now. So I am adding a new blog category called Women Speak. The name is meant to contrast the misplaced theology that women should remain silent in the church. Here, I want to give my readers bite-sized chunks of a theology of women and what I believe is our proper biblical place within the Kingdom of God, in the here and now, in our local churches. There is a great deal of orthodox biblical scholarship that supports women in the ministry of the local church. I will share with my readers what those scholars are saying and where they can find those resources on their own. There may also be comments on the current American culture and how it damages women as opposed to how the Christian worldview, properly understood, values and empowers women who are created in the image of God.
I hope this new section is an encouragement to my readers and empowers all the Saints to live and serve our risen Savior as they are called.
As a matter of full disclosure, I want to be forthright about what my beliefs are in this area. I want to come out of the complementarian closet and proclaim:
I AM AN EGALITARIAN!!
What I mean by that is that I believe that the correct interpretation of scripture as properly acted out within the local church calls women to biblically serve in any capacity within the local church, including the positions of senior pastor and elder. In contrast, I believe that complementarianism as acted out within the local church is, at its roots, a social construct based on an unbiblical hierarchy of men over women. In addition, I believe that men and women are created biologically distinct from one another and God calls that good. Men and women in their distinctiveness complement one another and each with their individual gifts are necessary for the Church to experience wholeness and, thus, properly serve as a beacon of light to a fallen world.
Going back to the creation narrative, Eve was created as a “helper” for Adam. A word study of the Hebrew word ezer used in Genesis 2:18, 20 does not even imply a hierarchy. In fact, the word used here is better translated “rescuer” and is used to describe God in most of its other uses in the biblical text. I believe that the right relationship between men and women was tainted as a result of the fall, as was their relationship with the Creator and the created world. Only the Messiah, Jesus, can correct these relationships and upon his return, he will do that. This correction takes place in a new heavens and a new earth where those who have reconciled with the Creator (YHWH) will live in harmony with him as we were created to do. In the meantime, the Church is given the task of reflecting the Kingdom of God in this world until his Kingdom finally comes in its completion. Paul describes this Kingdom in Galatians:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 8:27-29
According to Paul, our heritage, economic status, and gender do not define us, for all Christ’s disciples are equally heir to the promise of eternal life. What truly defines us is our relationship with the risen Savior.
Let the Women Speak.