• Women in Ministry: Theological Foundations

  Don Williams on July 30 2010

  Introduction

   

  Liberation movements with their attack on traditional, patriarchal society, have provoked a crisis in Western culture.  This, in turn, has provoked a crisis in the church.  How has the church responded?

  First, there are those who are committed to “hold the line.”  For them, the fundamentals of truth and God’s order are at stake in this issue.  Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that the image of Christ, born by the clergy, demands a male priesthood and male government.  Many traditional evangelicals teach that the hierarchical order in the Trinity demands hierarchical order in the church, including male dominance and female submission.  In maintaining traditional gender roles, the church is maintaining the whole ontological order of reality, grounded in God himself.  Surrender here and we will surrender elsewhere, moving from order to chaos.

  Second, there are those who are committed to “redraw the line.”  They argue that the Bible allows (or forces) us to reevaluate the traditional views of male headship, female leadership, roles, and authority in the church.  For liberal Protestants it is mandatory to surrender male dominance.  Only in this way will the church survive the cultural shift, and affirm the full value of woman in ministry.  Oppression ends with equal access to ecclesiastical power.  For contemporary evangelicals, the cultural changes force us to reexamine the biblical basis for male dominance.  In doing this, biblical revelation is much less certain than traditionalists hold.  Fresh exegesis opens us to the opportunity for fully embracing women in leadership on an egalitarian (or better, eschatological) model.¹

   

  Back to Basics: Gender Identity and Roles in Creation
  
  What can we learn from Genesis 1?

  Genesis 1 teaches us that men and women are equal in the divine image.  We are both created in the Image of God, male and female.  As male or female, we share gender distinction.  As male and female, we are made for heterosexual community.  Moreover, God’s full image is displayed only in male and female together.  To speak humanly: God himself has what we call both male and female characteristics and only displays them fully when we are in community with each other. No monastic life adequately represents God’s image in mankind. As a trinity, God also lives forever in community; our community represents the divine life.  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
  
  Genesis 1 also teaches us that men and women are equal in the divine blessing.  Contrary to certain Victorian notions, we are both blessed in our sexuality: “And God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply….’”   We equally share in God’s purpose to extend the generations through procreation. Our creativity reflects the creativity of the Creator (Genesis 1:28).

  Finally, Genesis 1 teaches us that men and women are equal in executing the divine rule.  Together we are empowered to have dominion over the created order.  “…fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)  Just as an ancient ruler would put up an image of himself to represent his sovereignty over a region, so, made in the Image of God, we are a sign on this planet that this is God’s domain.  We are vice-regents in his kingdom.
  
  In sum, male and female together are equal in nature, blessing and dominion.  Their subordination is only to God himself.

   

  What can we learn from Genesis 2?

  First, we are taught man’s nature.  He is made from dust [formation] and receives the breath of God [animation].  Second, we are taught man’s task.  He is made for vocation [stewardship].  At the same time, he lives with limitation.  He may not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In his innocence he lives under the boundary of God’s Word. (Genesis 2:16-17)  Third, we are taught man’s need.  He is incomplete.  It is not good for him to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)  He needs a helper, but not just any kind of helper.  He needs a helper “suitable [or ‘fit’] for him” [literally, ‘as in front of him’].
  
  Victor Hamilton comments:

  The last part of verse 18 reads literally, ‘I will make him for him a helper as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him).’  This last phrase, ‘as in front of him (or according to what is in front of him)’ occurs only here and in verse 20.  It suggests that what God creates for Adam will correspond to him.  Thus the new creation will be neither a superior nor an inferior, but an equal.  The creation of this helper will form one-half of a polarity, and will be to man as the south pole is to the north pole.  This new creation which man needs is called a helper (‘ezer), which is masculine in gender, though here it is a term for woman.  Any suggestion that this particular word denotes one who has only an associate or subordinate status to a senior member is refuted by the fact that most frequently this same word describes Yahweh’s relationship to Israel.  He is Israel’s help(er) because he is the stronger one (see, e.g., Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7, 26, 29; Ps. 33:20; 115:9-11; 124:8; 146:5; etc.).  The LXX [Greek translation of the Old Testament] of ‘ezer by beothos offers further support for this nuance.  The LXX uses boethos forty-five times to translate several Hebrew words, and except for three occurrences (I Chr. 12:18; Ezek. 12:14; Nah. 3:9) the word refers to help ‘from a stronger one, in no way needing help.’  The word is used frequently for human helpers, and even here, the helper is one appealed to because of superior military strength (Isa. 30:5) or superior size (Ps. 121:1).  The verb behind ‘ezer is ‘azar, which means ‘succor,’ ‘save from danger,’ ‘deliver from death.’  The woman in Gen. 2 delivers or saves man from his solitude.”  The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17(Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1990), p.175f.

  Fourth, we are taught man’s authority.  He is given dominion over the animals as he names them (2:19-20).  Fifth, we are taught man’s fulfillment.  He is given a helper fit for him: “From him and for him” (Genesis 2:20b-23). Sixth, we are taught man’s relationship with this helper.  It is to be permanent: “A man shall leave…”; heterosexual: “cleave unto his wife…”; and monogamous: “the two shall become one….” (Genesis 2:28)

   

  Is subordination taught here?

  The arguments in favor of finding subordination in this chapter are the following.  First, the sequence: man is made before woman.  This, it is held, gives him priority. (Like the priority of the first born).  Second, the task: woman as a helper is read as subordinate (but see Hamilton’s comments above).: Third, her nature is that she is fit for him.  This implies that she is to fit into him, not he into her.  Fourth, man takes the initiative: he leaves his father and mother and is united [cleaves] to his wife. As the actor, his superiority in function is implied.  She is acted upon.
  
  The arguments against finding subordination in this chapter are the following.  Man is created first, not for governance or priority in function, but to establish his loneliness.  “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18a).  His created need for woman does not imply his superiority in any way.  The animals do not complete him.  Without woman, he is less than fully a man.  She alone completes him. Second, in his task to care for the garden, a helper fit for him does not imply subordination.  In fact, as his helper, woman rescues man from his loneliness and complements him in his vocation. Next, man and woman equally share human nature. She alone is taken from him.  She alone is to be united to him.  Subordination must be read into the passage, it cannot be read out from it.  Finally, man’s initiative in leaving and cleaving tells us nothing about his superiority to woman or her subordination.  The next verse tells us that the man and woman are naked and not ashamed.  In their “one flesh” they have complete union and communion: equal standing before God and each other (Genesis 2:25).

   

  Back to Basics: The Confusion of Gender Roles due to the Fall
  
  What can we learn from Genesis 3?

  Sin now disrupts the goodness of God’s creation.  Heavenly rebellion, represented by the serpent, stains earth.  Temptation begins when the serpent questions the woman: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1). She responds that they may eat from all the trees except the tree that is in the middle of the garden.  She adds that God said “… you must not touch it, or you will die.” (Genesis 3:3)
  
  The serpent’s question leads to contradiction: “You will not surely die…”  (Genesis 3:4)  It then makes the ultimate promise: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)  This lie sets the woman up to rationalize her decision to rebel: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” (Genesis 3:6).  
  
  What is the result of the Fall?  Rather than being like God, knowing the difference between good and evil, Adam and Eve simply now know that they are naked and they are ashamed.  They cover up from each other with aprons of leaves and they cover up from God by hiding in the bushes.  (Genesis 3:7-8)  Sin results in separation from each other and separation from God. But God does not leave them in their shame.  He comes looking for them.  As he interrogates them as to how they have come to this point, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent (Genesis 3:9).  No one takes responsibility for his or her sin and the judgment of God falls. (Genesis 3:14-19)  As they have rejected him, so he now rejects them.  How is this judgment dispensed?
  
  First, God judges the serpent.  It is cursed and will be crushed.  Second, God judges the woman.  She will have pain in childbirth.  Her desire will be for her husband [seduction] and he will rule over her [domination].  Here the battle of the sexes begins. Hamilton writes:

  “…the desire of the woman for her husband is akin to the desire of sin that lies poised ready to leap at Cain [4:7].  It means a desire to break the relationship of equality and turn it into a relationship of servitude and domination.  The sinful husband will try to be a tyrant over his wife.  Far from being a reign of co-equals over the remainder of God’s creation, the relationship now becomes a fierce dispute, with each party trying to rule the other.  The two who once reigned as one attempt to rule each other.”  Ibid., p.202.

  Third, God judges the man. Rather than tending the Garden, he will live out his vocation in conflict with the earth and end in physical death: “…for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19).

   

  Consequences and Conclusions

  Male and Female, man and woman, were companions in dominion over the earth.  They then became companions in rebellion against God.  As they did so, they surrendered their dominion to the devil and became subject to God’s judgment. Their conflict and competition, dominating each other through seduction (Your desire will be for your husband) and superior power (and he will rule over you) is not a result of the order of God’s creation.  It is a result of the consequence of judgment after the Fall.
  
  Christ, however, has come to reverse the effects of the Fall.  He takes our judgment upon himself, reestablishes God’s kingdom order in creation and takes us ultimately to a new Paradise, heaven itself.  He restores the divine image in us.  He restores the divine blessing upon us.  He restores the divine dominion through us.  All of this is given back to us as both male and female, now conformed to the image of Christ himself.
  
  If we order our ministry based upon Genesis 3:16b: “Your [the woman’s] desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,” we are ordering our life, based upon judgment rather than on redemption.  We are ordering our life based on the Law rather than on the Gospel.  We are ordering our life based on the consequences of the Fall rather than on the New Creation brought to us in Jesus.
  
  Remember the gifts and callings of God are never given according to gender.  Men don’t get teaching gifts because they are men and women don’t get serving gifts because they are women.  The Spirit gifts whomever and however he wills (I Corinthians 12:7).  And the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).  We do not give the gifts.  We receive the gifts, welcome the gifts and bless them in ministry.
  
  Genesis 1-3 is foundational for the whole of God’s Word.  These chapters prepare us for the gospel.  Genesis 3:15 gives us the first prophetic promise: “He [the Savior] will crush your head and you will strike his heal.”  Satan’s head was crushed at the cross, even as he struck Jesus’ heal. His dominion is broken, God’s dominion is restored and released through the church, male and female, sharing together in the subjection of all things under one Head, one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.

   

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  1 See, for example, Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1987); Gordon Fee, Gospel and Spirit, Issues in New Testament Hermeneutics (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), especially chapter 4, “The Great Watershed – Intentionality and Particularity/Eternality: I Timothy 2:8-15 as a Test Case”; Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996)

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