Cheryl

Jason,

Your quote: “JIP: What is jeopardized in these translations is the fact that, according to Scripture, masculinity entails leadership and femininity entails support. Patterns of cooperation between the sexes in which the man takes leadership responsibility are, on balance, healthier, because they are directly fitted to human nature in a way that a reversal of this pattern can never be.”

While we can see that the pattern of humanity since sin entered the world has been one of male domination, we simply do not see this instituted by God Himself. If it were, we would find that God would be guilty of contradicting himself. The pattern instead is one of giftedness and willing servanthood and both are signs of God’s leading not mankind’s leading. If God gifts a woman and then serves the body of Christ through her, who are we to tell God he cannot do this? Who are we to say that there is some unwritten “rule” that negates a woman being used in any position that may influence an adult male? The fact is that men and women are different and this fact reinforces the wisdom of having both men and women serve the body. Woman often give leadership/servanthood in more compassionate ways than many men do. Women balance out men just as men balance out women. True complementarity is balance. True complementarity is not exclusion of people due to their race, their gender or their social status. When we ignore true biblical complementarity we find ourselves in a human-centered program. God’s Spirit is best expressed through both His male and his female “sons” complementing, encouraging and supporting one another without prejudice.