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Freedom in God's Divine Order for Women
One overriding concern I have is the tendency of some people to reinterpret the Bible to address the problems of unfairness and the sinful attitudes that they see in the world and in the church. The church’s part in the sins and practices of the crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Nazi Germany’s extermination of Jews, Ireland’s “religious” war, slavery and discrimination of blacks, and bondage of women by men, could have disappeared if people had really wanted to have God’s heart on the issues. With the right heart they would have searched the Word with a willingness to have their theology changed. They would have been open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. None of them needed to change the wording of the Bible to correct their ungodly attitudes or actions.
Trying to force the interpretation of the Bible to fit our preconceived concepts of right and wrong is fraught with danger because we may identify God with our ideas of fairness and justice. When we do that, our conclusions can easily end up containing significant distortions of His word. One man I know says that when he was a young Christian he attempted to interpret the Bible in a way that would make God more tolerant (He was referring to God’s judgments which include sending people to hell.) He finally decided that God’s justice and order are different than ours. He needed to learn God’s ways and not follow his own ideas of fairness.
Over the centuries, Satan could not get rid of the Bible no matter how hard he tried (including burning and banning it). But he has successfully led many people to regard it as only the words of men. Where he hasn’t been successful with this approach, he has worked to dilute its meaning and significance and compromise its inerrancy. He has done this by pointing out issues, which on the surface seem to be discrepancies or errors. He has also tried to convince people that God’s word isn’t relevant for today. He has divided people over interpretations of minor doctrines. He has caught people up into “new revelations,” robbing the Scriptures of its power for those who followed such “insights” to the neglect of foundational truth.
The author of a commentary on Ephesians[112] points to the following three women who became predominant in their churches and through “new revelations” brought spiritual disasters to many:
Mary Baker Eddy took to herself the role of church leader and teacher and birthed Christian Science.
Madam Petrovna Blavatsky became a theologian and spiritual leader and founded Theosophy.
Mrs. Charles Fillmore in a similar manner founded Unity.
Both Christian Science (which teaches that the Bible contains lies) and Unity treat God as a force not a person. All three teach that Jesus was only a man. “Unity teaches that God is principle or mind and accepts books of other religions as valid.” “Theosophy rejects JudeoChristian revelation and theology, often incorporating elements of Buddhism and Brahmanism, and is based on a special mystic insight or superior speculation.” This is not to say that only women have led people into error (or that all women in leadership in churches have done so). Jim Jones started as an evangelist and ended up promoting himself rather than God. At one point he was purported to have thrown a Bible on the ground and was to have said, “Follow me, not this.” He then led his people to mass suicide. But Paul does point to Eve’s deception when he discusses a woman’s place in teaching and authority in 1 Timothy 2:14. Paul seems to be saying that allowing women in a place of authority over men puts the church in a place where error can arise through deception. The reference to Jezebel in Revelation 2 is a good example of the potentially bad results that could come from allowing a woman to take a place of authority in a church. I believe God included her story in the Bible as a warning.
Anyone, man or woman, allowed to be in authority when their life is out of order, opens the church to problems. It doesn’t matter what the person’s gifting is or how anointed it seems. This would be especially true if such a person were consumed by ambition or a longing for recognition, controlled by lust, an idol worshiper, one filled with hatred or pride, or simply grasping for a place in the church outside of God’s plan or order for him or her. If God’s Divine Order does indeed limit women in teaching men or being part of the government of the church, then those who propose changing His order do a great disservice to the church!
I would like to make three further comments about books which propose that women should be part of the church government. First, some of them use inflammatory language when referring to men, and opposing opinions are many times addressed with ridicule. The tone at times reveals an underlying anger and hostility to anyone who disagrees with them. This kind of treatment is something the enemy can use to stir up painful memories in women who have been previously wounded by men, whether fathers, brothers, or husbands. There are fathers who desert their families as well as some who physically, mentally, or sexually abuse their daughters. Even the experience of a father refusing to acknowledge or speak to a daughter for long periods of time can be traumatic to her. Touching these painful memories through the exaggerations in books can stir up attitudes of resentment even against godly leadership.
Secondly, it is at times difficult, if not impossible, to determine the exact definition of all words when translating from another language. One theological approach handles this problem by assuming that the Holy Spirit was active not only in the original writing of Scripture but also in the centuries of translations. The translations then can be assumed to retain all spiritual principles of faith and practice. (Revisions from early English translations reflect changes in word meanings since the original translations rather than errors.)
Determining the proper translation of words at times requires looking at the whole of Scripture and the principles established by other verses to determine the exact meaning of individual words, especially when the purpose of a study is to see how a Biblical passage fits with a premise popular in the current culture. However, often principles established by other passages are ignored. A change in the translation of words in a particular passage is a first step in forcing it into a preconceived theology. Starting with an erroneous premise may lead to what seems to be a logical and sound conclusion. However, the conclusion will not be true. I believe that this is what has happened in trying to change the Bible position concerning women and authority. I wonder why people believe God would so completely obscure the role of women in the church that it takes many books and centuries to uncover it. God could easily have presented a woman’s authority clearly in many passages of the Bible if He had wanted women to be in positions of authority over the church.
Lastly, such books would not have had to be written if more men lived up to their Biblical roles as husbands and elders, and if churches were patterned after “New Testament Churches.” Such a church can provide an environment in which all believers exercise their gifts in a freedom that encourages growth within the sphere of each one’s call. There are no second class citizens and all believers are “equal” in God’s eyes. Being “equal” is not what the “equal rights” people are striving for. Egalitarianism includes a philosophy called functional anthropology in which we describe the value of a person, not by what they are, but by what they do. They demand that men and women must be not only essentially and spiritually equal, but also functionally equal. Thus, if women aren’t allowed in all positions that men are, there is unacceptable inequality.
But being equal in God’s heart is being equally loved, equally forgiven, equally redeemed, equally sanctified by God, and equally righteous in Jesus. Being equal means having equal access to His throne of grace. Being equal means we are all being transformed into His image. Being equal means that the gifts of the Holy Spirit (distributed “to each one individually as He wills.”) are not given with partiality to sex, race, economic status, or national origin. Every person has an individual call in God’s house. No one is more important than another; all are special. The call of men to be the overseers of the church is a part of God’s order; it is not a call to hierarchy; it is not an elite class; it is no more important than any other call of God to serve.
Raymond C. Ortland, Jr.[113] addresses equality this way. “Consider the obvious: God does not value intellectual or esthetic equality among people. He does not value equality in finances, talents, and opportunity. It is God who deliberately ordains inequalities in many aspects of our lives. When I came from the womb I had only so much potential for physical, intellectual, and aesthetic development. Some are born with less than I was, others with more. Because God is ultimately the one who shapes our lives, I have to conclude that God is not interested in unlimited equality among us. And because God is wise, I further conclude that unlimited equality must be a false ideal. But the Bible does teach the equal personhood and value and dignity of all the human race–men, women, and children–and that must be the only equality that matters to God. One measure of our wisdom as God’s image-bearers is whether we share this perspective with God. One measure of our reconciliation with God is whether His sovereign decrees draw from us a response of worship or resentment.”
Striving for equality is a worldly pursuit.The fact that Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped (Philippians 2:6) demonstrates that He did not consider submission to be demeaning. If we find ourselves caught up in a struggle with submission, we may have lost sight of the source of our true worth. It is not in having a certain level of spirituality; it is not in the position we hold in the church; it is not in titles or degrees; it is not in power; it is not even in freedom; it is in Him and Him alone. We are to find our value, our worth in knowing that we are His and that He loves us with a love that is beyond our comprehension. “He loves me, yes He loves me; for I am His child and no good thing will He withhold!”[114] His love “is a love that gives us worth because of who we are in Him. It then draws us away from any desire to find worth in ourselves because of the surpassing worth of who He is in us!”[115]
My adventure into the subject of church government began when a relatively young Christian in our church asked me why women can’t be pastors. My position on women pastors at that time was mostly based on what I had been taught. The challenge this young woman’s question posed started me on a very long, in-depth study of Scriptures related to this subject.
As a result of this study, I am now convinced that it is not possible to allow women to be in the governing authority of an established church or in a place of teaching doctrine to men without altering or disregarding sections of the Bible. Anyone who believes that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and sanctions women to operate in these positions is corrupting the word of God.
What seems to have happened over the last several decades in some circles is that a sociological tail is wagging the theological dog. “The proliferation of theological and interpretive arguments for the ordination of women to all positions in the church over the last thirty years, and the novelty of these arguments in the larger historical context suggest to us that this trend is driven, not by new and compelling insights into the meaning of Scripture, but by the desire that the church’s practice be conformed to contemporary cultural and ideological trends. Moreover, the strained and even tendentious character of many of these arguments suggest that some proponents of woman’s ordination have imbibed the postmodern notion of scholarship as a ‘political act’ rather than a quest for truth.”[116]
The result of the efforts of these egalitarians is that truth regarding God’s plan for leadership in the church has been lost or distorted for many church groups. Through their compromises on women, the church has become prey to Satan and he has been able to bring further heresies, such as active homosexual pastors, into the church using the same twisting of Scripture. The degeneration hasn’t stopped there. As we have seen, some authors, and even churches, now propose throwing out the deity of Christ, the existence of a personal God, and salvation through Jesus alone. Whenever any Biblical truth is compromised, even in seemingly minor issues such as women pastors, the integrity of the Bible and eternal truths are sacrificed.
Paul also faced challenges to the truth in his day. He wrote to the churches in Galatia and Corinth of those who preached a different gospel and of those perverting the gospel of Christ.
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted...
The fact that we see compromises of God’s word in our day obviously is not something new; each age seems to have its own unique problems. However, all distortions of the truth have the same effect regardless of the issues; they turn people away from the grace of Christ. Satan will often appeal to the culture of the time to lead people astray. Distorted senses of “equality” and “acceptance” (which includes approving of sin), along with the emphasis on “political correctness,” are seedbeds for heresies in our culture.
To combat the perversions occurring in society today, the church needs a renewed commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible, to God’s ability to maintain His eternal truths over the centuries through fallible human beings, and to the centrality of Christ in our lives and in our churches.
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