WOMEN AND THE CHURCH

It has been said that there are two kinds of people: those who tend to divide people into two groups, and those who don’t. The tongue-in-cheek comment is something of a put-down directed at the trend of attempting to oversimplify things. And perhaps nowhere do we find ourselves in more trouble than when we attempt to declare that men are one way, and women are another.

There are a few crucial physical distinctions, of course, for which many of us are quite happy. But beyond that, how much can we polarize the two genders? Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, as the popular pundits express it. But sometimes men and women are many worlds apart, and other times they seem to be so similar that any “space” between them is undetectable.

When it comes to what Christians believe, what are the appropriate roles for men and women? Again, you’ll get a lot of different answers to this question. The traditional viewpoint is based on the black and white teaching of Scripture where a number of clear-cut “rules” for appropriate behavior of women are provided. Yet some people argue that the Bible also provides rules for slaves. Just as the culture at the time tolerated slavery as well as the submission of women to men doesn’t mean that either practice is ideal for modern society.

YOU’RE SUB-MISSIN’ THE POINT

Let’s first look at a few of the specific biblical passages before we get into the rebuttal arguments. In regard to how husband and wife should relate within marriage, a frequently quoted passage is Ephesians 5:21-28:

And further, you will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. You wives will submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of his body, the church; he gave his life to be her Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives must submit to your husbands in everything.

And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man is actually loving himself when he loves his wife.

At first glance it seems that the wives may be getting the raw end of this deal. And for some people, any number of subsequent glances will yield the same result. If we dwell only on the submission part, it does indeed seem that women might be relegated to inferior status within the relationship. But taken in the context of the entire passage, we see that submission is supposed to be mutual (v. 21).

Who’s the boss: the husband or the wife? It’s a trick question. Jesus is the boss. And because He is, both husband and wife are supposed to demonstrate submission to one another, as should any other pair of believers on the planet. If it gets to the point where a family conflict has to go one way or another, the wife is asked to submit. Of course, this is supposedly after the husband has already showered his beloved spouse with large doses of Christlike love, devotion, sacrifice, and commitment.
For any organization to succeed—whether military, business, family, or whatever—someone has to be in charge. Private Hotshot can join the army as a new recruit with an IQ of 210, four doctoral degrees, a bank account in the billions, a black belt in karate, and the world’s strongest desire to serve his country. Will he go straight to the head of the Pentagon? Not likely. He will do pushups for Corporal Hillbilly, clean latrines for Sergeant Loudmouth, peel potatoes for Lieutenant Dimwit, and do every sweaty exercise and dirty errand demanded of him by any number of other bosses. In order for the military to function effectively, privates report (submit) to other ranks. Yet this fact says nothing about Private Hotshot’s significance as a person. And if his so-called superiors are smart, they will quickly promote him up the ranks to capitalize on his wealth of talent and abilities.

Similarly, in a marriage, the expectation of a wife to submit to the husband has nothing to do with the spiritual qualifications of the wife. The headship of the husband was designed to bring order to the family, the church, and society as a whole. While many people today rankle at this concept, many others see this structure as an ongoing biblical mandate.

STAINED-GLASS CEILINGS?

Moving from the wife’s relationship to her husband, let’s go to the woman’s relationship to the church. Again, the oft-cited passage is frequently a sore point: “Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. If they have any questions to ask, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings” (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). Furthermore, custom required women to cover their heads during worship, while men had no such restrictions (1 Corinthians 11:4-10).

Commands such as this seem quite harsh to many modern women. Yet we need to remember that women were at least permitted inside the Christian church to participate in the services and sacraments. That in itself was progress for the female gender of the time. (In the temple, women were prohibited from being in the main area where the men worshiped.) The first-century church showed a great deal of respect to women.

The question is whether or not all these biblical mandates are still expected of 21st-century women. A few churches still demand head coverings for women. Many more are resistant to allowing women to hold any kind of authoritative position. And they point directly to Scripture to back their policies.

On the other hand, these aren’t the only references to women in Scripture. Some churches encourage women to identify and apply their spiritual gifts at any and all levels, defending such a tolerant policy because the Bible actually speaks quite highly of women.

While few serious religious leaders during New Testament times would even speak to women on the street, Jesus seemed to go out of His way to include them in His ministry. He initiated a conversation with the woman at the well (John 4). He didn’t condemn the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). Scripture gives much attention to Elizabeth (His relative), Mary (Jesus’ mother), Anna (the priestess who saw Jesus in the temple as a baby), Mary Magdalene, sisters Mary and Martha, and others. Their stories teach us valuable spiritual truths.

Jesus healed women as well as men. Women followed the disciples as they ministered. And to the discomfort of the men around Him, Jesus even allowed women to anoint Him with perfume and wash His feet (with tears, no less) on occasion (Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-8). Women were at the crucifixion, and first at the tomb to hear of the resurrection.

As the church was just forming, women remained prominent. Philip the deacon/evangelist had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:8-9). The first European converts were women (Acts 16:13-15). In Paul’s letters, he singles out women for special greetings, some of whom are identified as church officials (Romans 16:1-3, 6, 14-15, etc.).

Even tucked away in the Old Testament are glorious stories of strong and courageous women: Deborah, Ruth, Esther, Miriam, Sarah, Rachel, and others. Another less familiar story is telling as well. In the days of Moses, when women had few rights in comparison to men, a man named Zelophehad had five daughters and no sons. The rule was that property was passed along to sons, and when Dad died, these five sisters had no legal right to inherit anything. They brought their situation to the attention of Moses and the other leaders, who in turn asked God what to do about it. God’s response was logical: give the daughters of Zelophehad the land that had belonged to their father. Because they questioned the tradition of the time, a new law was established that gave women additional rights. (See Numbers 27:1-11.)

Some Christians feel that when women get this much ink in Scripture amid a culture that didn’t do much to build their self-esteem, it demonstrates that women have great value and worth that ought not be subdued. The submission passages are still there as well and need to be addressed. Yet given the totality of the information about women, some Christian churches feel the freedom to allow them to get involved at every level the men do.

Bringing order to a church body requires a great deal of discipline, and all the rules can get cumbersome—especially if one entire gender feels slighted. Whether or not limits are imposed on women’s participation, and in spite of any other problems faced between the genders today, we need to remember that these are temporary, human constraints. God never sees one gender, race, or social status as any more or less important than another. For now, the best the church can do is attempt to interpret Scripture to the best of its ability and apply all discovered truth to its regular worship activities. If something seems unfair now, God will certainly make everything right and equal in His perfect kingdom.

Just as women have had to struggle for equality in society during the past century and are still not quite where they would like to be, so they may need to continue to persevere in the church. But anyone who uses a spiritual gift on behalf of the church body in selflessness and humility will be rewarded by God, if not immediately respected by his or her peers. The church owes much to its faithful women throughout the centuries—past and present.

Please stay tuned for more.