Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free? Parts 1-2: The Designer Knows Best

Video: https://youtu.be/99uRAnkosPY

[Music] oh [Music] Lord why would you give me gifts that you don't allow me to use in the church just because I'm a woman why does the bible always use the term man am I important to God [Music] too why do you love boys more than girls why am I told that I can't lead in public prayer why are there so many rules for women that I can't find in the [Music] Bible Godly men and women have had questions throughout the centuries about the spiritual Val value of a woman's Ministry in the church while some leaders have taken a very legalistic approach even Banning a woman from leading in public prayer other leaders are allowing women freedom to operate in their spiritual gifts within the church without restriction who is right one group holds firmly to several passages of scripture that seem to restrict women from teaching or having any kind of authority over man another group restricts women from teaching Bible studies to men in the church but allows them to teach adult males in informal groups and through writing doctrinal articles still other groups cite scriptures that appear to liberate women from centuries of tradition that have held them silently in the background this group gives women equal spiritual rights along with the men in the body of Christ how do we discern truth from error how can we properly interpret scripture so that we can be sure what God's will is for women in this presentation we will look at each disputed passage of scripture in its proper context in order to understand God's intended meaning we will look at the words that God inspired in the original languages as well as the inspired grammar we start our journey through script scripture with some foundational beliefs the first belief is that all scripture is inspired by God we cannot ignore certain passages of scripture because we don't like them each passage was written for our training or for our correction 2 Timothy 3:16 Says all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in right rightousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work hey wait a minute is this verse only for men no this verse is for women too the word translated as man is anthropos which means human being men and women are both included in this verse verse 17 in The Net Bible says that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work scripture must be read in its context to be properly understood verses taken out of their immediate context or subject to Distortion Greg kokal an award-winning writer and apologist says never read a Bible verse Greg says that the single most practical skill that he has learned as a Christian is to read the context surrounding the verse not just a single verse itself scripture must be considered within its historical setting and cultural background so that we can understand what the meaning of The Passage would have been to the early Christians scripture must be understood using tools that help us to grasp the original meanings of the words that the Holy Spirit inspired and lastly scripture will not contradict other scripture a correct interpretation of scripture will knit all relevance passages together so that there is no contradiction while the subject of women ministering in the body of Christ has produced a lot of debate we want to affirm that those on the opposite side of this theological fence are still our Brothers and Sisters in Christ they are worthy of our love and respect and this issue should not be one that divides the body of Christ in this presentation we will be documenting both sides sides of the women's issue we have chosen audio tapes and literature from two public Ministries to represent the opposition The complementarian View complementarians believe that women are restricted from teaching or having authority over men in the church the first public Ministry is John MacArthur a highly respected Bible teacher capable of properly defending his Viewpoint we appreciate the sound teachings of John MacArthur on other important doctrines which form the basis for our Christian faith he has been a strong defender of the real Jesus Christ and has clearly exposed the false Jesus of the cult groups however we must strongly disagree with his views about women in Ministry on this point we must take exception to his conclusions about women although we consider him not our enemy but as our brother in Christ the second public Ministry is the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood we also consider these men our brothers in [Music] Christ it has been said that all of theology has its basics in Genesis if you can get the basics right in Genesis then the rest of the Bible will follow but if you don't have Genesis right then your foundation isn't prepared for understanding the rest of scripture let's look at the Creator's view of the creation of man to get the basics then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky over the cattle and over all the Earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth God created man in his own image in the image of God created him male and female created he them God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth God created them both male and female In His Image and gave them equal rule over the Earth God who created Eve for Adam said that he would make her a helper comparable to him the word for helper in Hebrew means one who gives Aid or assistance it is often a term used of God the name eleazer means God is my helper the word helper is not an inferior term but used for one who supplies something that is lacking the fact that God is often called a helper shows that one who helps is not automatically deemed the follower the text says nothing about Eve created as a follower God also said the woman is to be comparable to Adam according to the word study dictionary the Hebrew word indicates Eve's likeness to Adam she was comparable to him not different as the animals were God brought the woman to the man and by doing so he brought what was taken out of Adam back together with him to be one flesh with him for this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh the very purpose of marriage is stated as a one flesh Union a of two equals now our brother in the Lord John MacArthur believes something very different from the biblical account since his foundation is different it is no surprise that his conclusions are also different he was created to be led by Adam the weakness of a woman is that she needs a head the woman is the submissive one by creation and by virtue of her weakness in the fall that confirms her submissive role it's because of creation it is the way God intended it from the very beginning nowhere in the creation account does God say that Adam is to lead Eve or that Eve is to be a follower instead of an equal ruler the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood has given several reasons they say proves that God created man to be the ruler and woman to be the follower we will look at these reasons and compare them them to the actual biblical account Bruce wear explains first it's a very simple point isn't it the Man was created first that the woman really was created after the man indicating his priority in that relationship brother wear says Paul brings up the importance of Adam's creation were it not for the fact that we had the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:8 and 1 Timothy 2:13 indicating this this so clearly perhaps we wouldn't have gotten the message so well but we have the Apostle Paul's teaching didn't Peter indicate in in second Peter 3 that the writings of Paul were scripture do you think you know more than the Apostle Paul knows what Mr wear is referencing is 1 Timothy 2: 13 and 14 here Paul says that the fact that Adam was created first is important because Adam was not deceived but note Paul never says that Adam's first creation made Adam the leader of Eve he links the importance of the order of creation to the fact that Adam was not deceived these verses do not mention any link between the order of creation and Leadership the link is between the order of creation and deception why wasn't Adam deceived in our section on 1 Timothy Chapter 2 we have gone through the passage verse by verse to understand why Adam was not deceived and why Eve was Bruce wear tries to prove Adam was given the leadership over Eve because Paul mentions Adam's first creation but the text does not support that at all Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has shown us that Adam's first creation step status has everything to do with why Adam was not deceived Paul ties in Adam's first creation to the importance of learning sound Doctrine to counteract deception Paul never connects Adam and Leadership now let's think about this for a minute if God gave a clear statement in Genesis that Adam was created to be in authority and Eve was created to be in submission who are the three persons who would have known about the authority and submission Arrangement the three persons who would have clearly known the creation order as it relates to Authority and submission would be God Adam and Eve would you agree let's look at the Genesis account to see what these three knew then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful multiply fill the Earth subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth Genesis 1 gives us a bird's eye view of creation and also God's design for man and woman God created both both man and woman in His image and he gave them both rule over his creation God said to them that they should subdue the Earth and rule over it in Chapter 2 the specific details of the creation of mankind are highlighted and the creation of woman is in verse 22 the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man and brought her to the man when God brought Eve to Adam there is no record that he told Adam that he was to be the leader of Eve there is also no record that Eve was told Adam would be her ruler and she was responsible to follow him now without a direct command how would we know if Adam was given a specific leadership role over his wife by the words and actions of the three persons involved we can find evidence to to either support or deny the leadership and submission roles the events after the fall reveal several key things to consider now if God had called only Adam to account for the sin of the entire family then Mr wear might have a valid point but God didn't do that God called Adam and Eve individually to answer for their sin Mr wear points to Adam being called to account first as a proof that Adam was the leader but Adam because of his privileged first creation status had the most knowledge and with that came the most responsibility responsibility is tied in with what we have been given from everyone who has been given much much will be required God did not ask Adam what the family had done he called Adam to account for himself Adam was the one who was given the most and he was the one who because of his special knowledge had the greatest responsibility now if Adam was in charge of Eve he would be responsible for what she did under his leadership let's have a look at how Adam answered God because it is crucial to our understanding the man said the woman you gave to be with me she gave me from the tree and I ate The Inspired words of scripture are very revealing here Adam said that God gave Eve to be with him he didn't say the woman whom you gave for me to be in charge of or the woman you gave for me to be the leader over Adam affirmed that God's purpose for Eve was for her to be with Adam not subordinate to him let's look at the Hebrew word usage here the Hebrew word for with means in conjunction with specifically equally with so how do Adam's words confirm his knowledge about God's created purpose for Eve Adam's words confirm that she was given to be with him there is no mention of a leader follower relationship in Adam's words and these are the words that are inspired for our learning in scripture if Adam was Eve's leader and she stepped outside the boundaries of his leadership Adam had the right to blame her for insubordination he would have had a valid complaint but Adam clearly does not blame Eve for stepping outside his leadership why because he had no leadership role over her in creation Adam blames God for giving Eve to him in the first place and then he blames Eve for one thing only giving the fruit to him if Adam had more to blame Eve for he certainly would have blamed her there is no evidence at all from God's words or Adam's words that confirm that Adam was Eve's delegated leader Instead The Inspired words say that Eve was created to be with Adam in an equal sense next let's look at God's interaction with Eve what did God call Eve to account for let's pay close attention to see if God questioned Eve about her insubordination against Adam's rule then the Lord God said to the woman what is this you have done and the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate God has already asked Adam if he ate from the tree now he ask Eve what she has done as with Adam God confronts the woman only about her eating the forbidden fruit notice God never questions the woman about Adam's leadership or about any rule of submission that she is supposed to have it is a key point that no one mentioned this failure of evees to be in submission to Adam not God not Eve and most importantly not even Adam why is that it is because neither Adam nor Eve knew about a leadership submission role at this point God did not tell Adam to rule his wife when he created her and he did not tell Eve that she was created to be under the authority of her husband everything in the passage says joint leadership and two equals made one in the flesh is the original design God did not call Adam to account for his failing to take a position of rulership over Eve the only way you can get this view from the preall account is to read into the biblical account something that is just not there although Adam did not have a rulership position over Eve he had a moral obligation because he had the full knowledge of the Creator John Piper talks about Adam's silence and if you say what is this listening to the voice of his wife in 17 referring to it's just referring to what's happening he's standing there listening while she's carrying on this conversation with the devil and God says because you listened just stood there and listened and did nothing Adam had a moral obligation to instruct even the truth about God God saw that Adam took no initiative to bring Eve up to his level of understanding God said that Adam Adam listened to the voice of his wife and did nothing to convince her of the truth Adam was not deceived so he had a moral obligation but he was not Eve's ruler brother John MacArthur takes this leadership issue one step further by saying that the male was created to be the sole ruler in the world so that the male was given the Dominion and authority over God's created world and by that fact is the reflected glory of God in other words he Bears the role of ruler in this world the fall didn't change any of that the man still Bears Authority even after the fall while brother MacArthur gives man the sole rule from God he says that Eve entered into the Forbidden territory of rulership and no daughter of Eve should follow the path of Eve and and lead to Tragedy by entering into the Forbidden territory of rulership which was intended for man the basis of refusing women to have any leadership opportunities in the church is based on the creation account but is this valid and the intent of what the word is saying here is that woman needs protection that she has a certain vulnerability she was designed with the need for a head she was designed with the need for a leader she was designed with the need for a protector and a savior the origin of woman and her reason for being is God's clear statement that man is in authority and she is in submission John mccarthur says that woman was designed to need a leader where is that found in Genesis God didn't say it and Adam and Eve didn't show it through their actions or their words John Piper gives another reason that he says proves that man was created to be the leader and that's the rule of Primal genitor as Moses wrote this for his Hebrew Community he knew and they knew that when a child is born first when a son is born first that son no matter who all the others are has a sort of responsibility of uh leadership they call it primogeniture the right of primogeniture so that when a son was born first he was made the heir or the leader in some sense in the family the right of Prima janitor is defined in the dictionary and in the Old Testament as the right of the eldest to inherit the entire state of one or both parents note it was a right of inheritance not a right to rule even if Adam was considered the firstborn of siblings there is no right of primogenitor that would give Adam the right to rule we respectfully say that this does not apply to Adam and Eve and so cannot be used to prove that man was created with a Right To Rule The woman there is nothing in the Genesis account of creation that shows that God created the man to rule over the woman for one to attach a male Authority and a female subordination before the fall one must transfer this reasoning into the account as it is not there as it is read on its own so why did God create Eve after Adam God planned for a special relationship of man and woman and he wanted them to be United as one flesh right from the start to do this he needed the first man to become the source of the woman but before God created Eve from Adam's own body he had a task for Adam and a discovery for him to make by bringing the animal pars to Adam for naming God helped Adam to understand his need and to fully Embrace Eve by making them one only when Adam realized his need did God bring Eve into existence yet by creating Eve in such a special way some men today interpret the this as the woman not fully possessing the direct image of God Bruce wear explains this reasoning man is the image of God directly woman is the image of God only through the man because Man was created by God In His Image first man alone was created in a direct and unmediated fashion as the image of God manifesting then the glory of God in man that is male man again we affirm Bruce wear as a brother in Christ but we must challenge his assertion that God made a difference in the image of God through male and female merely by the substance of creation material Man was created from the dust of the earth and he was created in the image of God the dust of the earth is not what made man the image of God not neither is the Flesh of man what made woman the image of God it is God's fashioning each one after his own image that makes them equally in the image of God yet Bruce wear states that woman does not have a direct image but rather a derivative image of God the source of the male only leadership role appears to come from the allegation that there is a difference in m manhood and Womanhood in that one is a direct image bearer of God and the other is an indirect image bearer of God Bruce wear puts it this way if male headship is rooted in image of God itself then it isn't just a functional distinction in how we work out it really does mean we're made in a different way we respectfully say that to assign an indirect secondary nature to the image of God in woman is not a Doctrine found in scripture men and women bear the image of God the same way Genesis 1 shows no difference of God's image God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them we accept the inspired word of God and we don't want to make a distinction in the image of God if God didn't make that distinction if you make a distinction between direct and indirect image of God how do you deal with Jesus if Jesus did not inherit the full image of God as a human being because he received his human nature only through the woman was he less than the full image of God In the Flesh than we are this distinction is not in God's word let's summarize this section with some questions if God created Eve to be in a submissive role and Adam to be a leader to Eve why did God Adam and Eve not know about these roles how come neither God nor Adam blamed Eve for acting independently of the man why did God not blame Adam for failing to take rulership over Eve where does the bible say that the helper must always be under someone's lead leadership when God helps us is he under our leadership if God created a derivative indirect or copied image of God and Eve how come God didn't mention that in his inspired word in the next section we will be discussing the implications from the fall of [Music] Man [Music] the account of the Fallen Genesis chter 3 is essential in understanding the manhood and Womanhood controversy in the last section we saw that neither God nor Adam nor Eve knew about a leadership submission role in the creation we also saw that Adam did not blame Eve for insubordination which would have occurred if he considered himself in a leadership role over her in this section we will be discussing the role that sin played in the gender controversy although the woman fell into sin first God placed the blame of sin solely onto the man First Corinthians says this for as an Adam old die so also in Christ shall all be made alive the Bible tells us that but the sin nature comes through the man only why is that John MacArthur gives his view a man was not deceived like the woman he chose to disobey God willfully and premeditatedly chose to do what his wife wanted him to do he chose his wife over the word of God and he not the woman as the head of the union and the head of the race was held culpable for the sin that's why in Adam we die rather than in Eve he is the head of that union he is therefore the head of the race John MacArthur says that God blamed Adam for bringing sin into the world because Adam was the head of the human race but that isn't what the Bible says first Timothy 2:14 tells us that Eve's sin was different from the sin of Adam and it was not Adam who was deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression Eve fell into sin by being deceived and Adam walked into sin with his eyes wide open he was not deceived the sin of Adam is described by John MacArthur and we agree with this indictment so here is the cause of the curse the man is indicted by God he's indicted for premeditated willful disregard for God's clear word we can understand that can't we there's nothing IAL here this is just plain and simple God said this my wife said this I chose to do what my wife wanted me to do so the man is indicted for a first-degree crime premeditated will for disregard of God and man deserves to die Adam was responsible for sin's entry into the world because he was the one in deliberate Rebellion against God it was Adam who SED will Yul with knowledge God puts the blame solely on Adam for bringing sin into the world but John MacArthur says that Eve was Adam's Destroyer she was created by God for a wonderful purpose to be his true Helper and she became his Destroyer she was created to be led by Adam she became Adam's leader with disastrous results brother MacArthur also says that Eve led the human race into into sin and stigmatized all women because of it a woman is saved from the stigma of having led the human race into sin as Eve did a woman is saved from the stigma of being the weaker vessel by by bearing children and raising them in sobriety and virtue and godliness and righteousness this same kind of thinking is found in the Apocrypha not in scripture of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die in contrast to the Apocrypha scripture never states that the woman is charged with leading the race into sin the Bible clearly states that Adam is responsible and through him we all die therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin so death spread to all men because all have sinned the Bible charges Adam with bringing sin into the world not because he was the figurehead of the human race but because his sin was deliberate sin Eve sin was not an act of rebellion but she fell into sin through deception that is why the Messiah was prophesied to come through a virgin woman without the seed of a man and I will put Amity between you and the woman woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel the woman seed would not carry the sin nature William Webster a former Roman Catholic and now director and founder of Christian resources and apologetic Ministry to Catholics says this about Mary and the sin nature Roman Catholic writers claim that the term full of grace is unique and that it could only mean Mary must have been born free of original sin and was able to live a sinless life as she was to be the mother of Jesus he could not be born of one who had been defiled by sin that's the logic basically that the Roman Catholic Church applies to their teaching of this Dogma in other words how could the Lord Of Glory dwell within a defiled vessel that argument just simply is doesn't hold any water it's an empty argument it's empty first of all because the Lord Jesus would not contract sin from Mary because he didn't have a human father our dear Catholic friends have been taught that Mary had to be sinless to Bear the Son of God but God's word says that the sin nature comes through the man and not through the woman Jesus would not inherit the sin nature from Mary in the events after the fall God only curses two things the animals and the Earth along with the Cur vers say there are things that God says that he will do and things that God prophesies that Adam and Eve will do and I will put enity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head you shall bruise him on the heel God starts Genesis 3:15 with what he will do he says that he is going to initiate enity or hostility between The Serpent and the woman and between her seed and his seed this is God's initiative and a prophecy God says I will in Genesis 3:16 God speaks directly to the woman he said to the woman I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception you shall bear sons in sorrow your desire shall be toward your husband and he shall rule over you God said that he would greatly multiply her toil and her conception the Hebrew word for toil is the exact same word that God uses for the toil that Adam will have to endure the Hebrew word for conception means the event of conception God greatly increased Eve's workload because God greatly increased the number of children she would have God says as a result of sin's effect on the body that woman will bear sons in pain the word for pain here is different than the previous word for toil this word means Grievous labor the pain is not given as a curse from God if you look carefully at the passage there are only two things that God has cursed the animals and the Earth neither woman nor man is is directly cursed by God now God gives a prediction even though the woman will experience pain in bearing children she will still desire her husband in the history of the church men have interpreted this passage to mean that God curses the woman with pain and desires her to experience this pain because of her sin because of this distorted view of scripture there were clergymen who opposed the use of anesthetics in childbirth their belief was that if God cursed women with pain that pain was not to be alleviated in 1591 a woman was burned alive on the Castle Hill of Edinburg for seeking relief of pain and childbirth years later when James Young Simpson a physician advocated the use of chloroform as an anesthetic in obstetrical cases the idea was denounced from pulpits across the land as impious and contrary to the scriptures clergymen quoting from Genesis chapter 3 accused Simpson of attempting to avoid one part of the Primeval curse on woman thankfully God does not Place such a curse on the woman but reveals to the Fallen Eve that she will experience painful labor not only that but she will long for or desire her husband God also states that the Fallen Adam will rule over the Fallen Eve notice that God does not command this he just States it as a fact concerning the future he says he will rule over you women in the Western World can only watch in amazement as they see the oppression against women experienced in the third world truly they are ruled over by their men if the nature of women especially throughout the third world is one of compliance instead of fighting and controlling then we know exactly what God meant in Genesis 3:16 the woman will long for the man and give herself to him and he will respond by ruling over over her in many areas of the world women are treated not much better than animals they are forced to wear a covering called a burka and forced to see the world through the screen of their Veil I purchased this burka from Pakistan and it really is an experience to put it on it is stifling and oppressive and you can't see very well through the veil yet there are areas in the world where women never see the outside world without having one of these on these women are not trying to control men they are surviving and dreaming of being an equal human being in the western culture we also see this pattern of men ruling over women in abusive ways although women have made great strides in personal freedom spousal abuse is still too prevalent even after being abused some women still long for their male abusers why didn't you tell this guy to hit the road cuz I loved him he loved [Music] him even with the [Music] abuse always felt like um like he needed me thankfully Christian men can break this centuries old cultural pattern by heeding the Bible Council to love and nurture their wives as they do themselves however we are saddened that many loving Christian husbands still do not allow their wives equal opportunities to minister in the church we hope that this careful look at the Bible verses used to Foster such inequality will sit m straight concerning women in Ministry a loving Christian husband who supports his wife in Ministry is to be greatly desired and appreciated by all next Bruce wear gives another reason why he says God made Adam the leader man not woman was given God's moral commandment in the garden and woman learned God's moral command from the man the prohibition was given at the time that God also told Adam what he could eat no leadership is evident in the text another reason is said to be that the serpent went directly to Eve and usurped Adam's leadership Satan assaults God's pattern by attacking the woman instead of the man how did the serpent know that Adam was the leader when neither God nor Adam nor Eve knew of this arrangement Satan did know that Eve had less experience with God and that is what made her a prime candidate for deception nothing about leadership here either the next reasoning that is cited to prove that man was created to rule is that Jesus became the second Adam not the second Eve where Paul says as in Adam all have died so in Christ all are Made Alive so you have the parallel there there between the first Adam and the second Adam the not not the first Eve Jesus was the second Adam because Adam is the one who deliberately sinned and brought sin into the world there is no second Eve needed because Jesus Christ paid the price for all of our sins male and female the last reason that is appealed to is that Adam named Eve and by naming her he showed his rulership over her and the fact then that that he says she shall be called Isha woman for she was taken from man indicates in in this culture of the time indicates clearly his sense of responsibility over her the context clearly tells us why the name Adam gives her identifies the woman scripture says it was because she was taken from the man Adam recognizes her has his his own flesh and Bone it isn't until after the fall that he gives her a proper name and by that time he has taken his own sinful rule over her let's sum up this section with some questions why was Adam created first does God identifying the woman as a helper mean that she had to be a [Music] follower who sin brought sin into the world why are there no scriptures that say that God made Adam the leader and Eve the follower in the next section we will be dealing with head coverings and [Music] Authority [Music]