Christians, Women, and Leadership

I think I make a post like this one at least once a year.  Here's a summary of my argument for total egalitarianism.

1. If we were starting from scratch, what would we think given only a few starting points like

• God does not show favoritism.
• God is love.
• God wants the world to be reconciled to him.  

Let's also throw in some obvious truths about men and women from experience and reason as well:

• Gender is not a predictor of spirituality, insight, or leadership capacity.
• Some women are more spiritual, have more insight, and have greater leadership gifts than some men.  In other words, general trends in terms of gender are irrelevant when it comes to individual persons and situations.  Even if you could show certain trends relating to gender in terms of spirituality, insight, and leadership capacity, such a finding is irrelevant to the question of whether an individual woman or man is more spiritual, has more insight, or is more gifted as a leader either in general or in terms of a specific.
• In cultures where "the gig is up" on the idea that men are always smarter than women, that women can never lead as well as men, to take a position that assigns leadership roles purely on the basis of gender likely creates an obstacle to the gospel.  If we take this position, we had better have a good reason. 

So the stakes are high before I even come to the gospel.  Male genitalia are not particularly known either for their spirituality, insight, or leadership capacity.  Quite the contrary.  And since "God is no respecter of persons," a person who starts without any bias would come to the Bible expecting it to affirm a fully egalitarian position.

2. Everyone finds some things strange in the Bible.  Christians have always found some verses in the Bible that are "unclear."  So you're telling me Jacob put striped branches in front of sheep and goats when they were mating so that they would have striped and speckled offspring?  Whaaaat?  So you're telling me a woman should veil her head when she is praying or prophesying because of the angels?  Whaaaaat?

If a person really understands #1 above, passages like 1 Timothy 2:12-15 should have the same effect.  So you're telling me that women have come to be in transgression because of the sin of Eve but they will be saved through childbearing?  Whaaat?  I thought we were saved through the blood of Jesus Christ!

When there are examples of women ministering in Acts and Paul (you know the drill--Priscilla, Phoebe, Junias...) and Paul lays down the principle that men and women are equally sons of God, when Acts 2:17 puts the prophesying of women as a sign of the age of the Spirit, verses are at hand for us to find "clear" on the principles.  We know the original context impacts how we apply some verses.  When #1 is so overwhelming, what perversity would lead us to see 1 Timothy 2:12 as the clear verse, when the principle of the kingdom is at hand?

3. We know where it's headed.  In the kingdom, there will not be marriage.  Women will not be "given" to men (Mark 12).  In other words, there will be no differentiation of gender authority in the kingdom.  If we can move things closer to the kingdom now, especially when it is makes overwhelming sense, why wouldn't we?

4. No verse prohibits a woman from leadership over men in general.  I'm arguing for complete egalitarianism, but I want to start by separating out the argument.  The household codes of Colossians, Ephesians, and 1 Peter have to do with, well, the household.  They are about the relationship between wives and husbands.  I believe the most likely interpretation in fact of all the notorious women passages in the New Testament fall into this category.

a. The only OT passage that explicitly subordinates wives to husbands is Genesis 3.  This is a consequence of Eve's sin.  Since Christ atoned for all sin, this is not a good argument for anything.  You could argue that it is built into the creation but, as in #1, this is simply not the case.  Naturally speaking, many individual women are regularly more intelligent, more spiritual, and have greater capacity to lead than many individual men.  "Let's stick with the Fall when we can transition to the kingdom."  That makes no sense at all.

b. I'll assume for the sake of argument that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 were originally in 1 Corinthians (there is an issue).  "Let them ask their own husbands at home."  Mention of the Law and subordination.  OK, we're talking about wives here.

But what kind of talking are we talking about here?  In 1 Corinthians 11, women prophesy in church.  They are to veil their heads to show they are under their husband heads.  So apparently, whatever silence 1 Corinthians 14 is talking about is not spiritual speech but disruptive speech.  They are asking questions, questions they should ask their own husbands... rather than someone else's?

Whew.  I'm glad I have an answer for that verse, because #1 is really making me sweat.  I mean, I don't think God is stupid, but it's really hard to see any intelligence in the "men can only fly the plane because they have a penis" argument.

What's even more important about 1 Corinthians 11 is that wives are both speaking for God to a congregation while also being in proper relationship to their husband-head.  This implies that subordination of a wife to a husband does not preclude women in spiritual leadership.

c. When we then see that 1 Timothy 2 is likely also talking about the husband-wife relationship, we reach our first egalitarian goal.  We see that the Bible does not prohibit a woman from taking leadership--spiritual or otherwise--over men in general.  We of course see women even in supreme leadership in the Bible.  Huldah is the supreme spiritual authority in 2 Kings 22.  Deborah is the supreme "political" leader in Judges 4-5.

1 Timothy uses words for man and woman in 2:12-15 that normally mean husband and wife when they are used in close proximity.  Adam and Eve were husband and wife, and they are the supporting argument, both in terms of birth order and who was deceived.  Wives are the ones who have babies.  The relationship that 1 Timothy uses to support its instruction is thus framed in terms of a husband wife relationship.

I can't think of any verse that prohibits women from leading men in general elsewhere--the subordinate issue is always a husband-wife issue.  I'm frankly puzzled that so many interpreters of this verse can't see it.  It's pretty obvious if you're thinking like people thought in the first century.

Whew.  I'm glad I have an answer for that verse, because #1 is really making me sweat.  I mean, I don't think God is stupid, but pretty much anyone on the street is going to think he is if he sees genitals as the secret to competent leadership.

5. The real issue is thus the husband-wife relationship.  With the previous point, there is no more argument against allowing those women whom God calls into leadership to take any role to which God calls them.  "What if their husband-head disagrees?"  Then he'd better repent because he has to obey God first.  His soul is in danger.  We have to be wise in the working out of principles.  Sometimes the gospel is hindered when we are unbending--even when we are right!

In fact, Jesus says that God allowed divorce to be "on the books" in the OT because Israel was not ready.  I guess God is pragmatic even in Scripture sometimes.  I suppose that makes sense if he actually wanted to help the people he first sent Scripture to--ancient Israel, Corinthians, Thessalonians, Romans.  I know from cultural anthropology that they didn't think like me and that actions had different meanings in different places.  I guess, whether I like it or not, I can't just blindly apply the words of Scripture directly to me without considering such things, because it explicitly tells me it was written to them... and I'm not them.

My argument for full egalitarianism, including the home, involves many of the same points I made above:

• the kingdom trajectory--There will be no husbands and wives in the kingdom.
• spiritual common sense--In other words, #1 applies here just as much as in the previous section
• the cultural argument--There was nothing distinctly Christian in the first century about wives being subordinate to their husbands.  In fact, it won't be so in the kingdom.  This was the assumption of the ancient context of the Bible.  It is when the Bible empowers women and equalizes men to them that it was being unique.
• the blinders argument--Those who argue against egalitarianism are blind to their own cultural situation.  

a) Sincere opponents would be appalled if they heard the arguments against egalitarianism made 100 years ago and are thus blind to the fact that their position has already shifted considerably, in keeping with the common sense of #1.  In other words, they have already violated their own "no accommodation" rule historically.  They are now more sophisticated than before, but this is just feet dragging on the inevitable egalitarian conclusion.
b) The husband-wife subordination issue was massively impacted by the post WW2 era when women were empowered.  So called "secular feminism" has pushed traditions like mine away from its historical positions and practices because of the association of egalitarianism with social groups its people tend to oppose.  In short, complementarians are riding cultural waves every bit as much as egalitarians--they are simply riding a different wave.
c) They are unaware of the way in which we can get verses out of focus.  I used to do this with jewelry verses.  "No woman could possibly wear an earring without it being a matter of ungodly pride."  "Any man wearing a wedding ring must really be proud of that gold jewelry."  The truth is, I was so focused on an individual tree (verse) that I couldn't see the forest.  I now realize how absurd my thoughts were.  Complementarians are so fixated on some rather "Whaaat?" verses that they can't see the bigger principles of Christianity and how they would most naturally play out.

• the stumbling block argument--It's a hindrance to the gospel.

I'm not worried.  Our grandchildren will wonder why this was an issue.  Were we stupid?  We feel the same way about those fundamentalist Christians who argued for slavery as an institution 100 years ago.  What were they thinking?  How could they not see the obvious ideal?

Of course slavery continued for 1800 years after Christ.  There is no guarantee of inevitable movement toward the kingdom.  But let me speak prophetically.  Even the Roman Catholic Church will be ordaining women by the year 2050.