By Greg Holt

There are two views on this, and obviously, one is based on complementarianism, and the other on egalitarianism.

Complementarianism, in short, is the belief that – in the home, men are the spiritual leaders, loving their wives as Christ loved and gave Himself for the Church, and nurturing their children.  The woman willingly submits to the headship of the husband, loves and respects him, and nurtures and cares for her children.  In the Church, the men are the spiritual leaders, pastors, elders etc. woman cannot be pastors, and therefore have authority over the men.

In egalitarianism, the view is that men and women were created equal, and this is true, but it goes further than that – the basic idea is that: God never intended for there to be any difference in the roles both men and women were to assume.  Therefore, in this view, woman can be pastors, elders etc.

In my view, egalitarianism is an unbiblical viewpoint, and does not line up with what the Scriptures teach.

I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for this, but it is true nonetheless, this isn’t about misogyny as so many feminists wrongly claim.  What does the Bible teach, period.  When God created human beings, He created Adam first – Eve was created from Adam’s rib, Eve was the one who was created to be the companion to Adam, not the other way around.  I believe that this was intentional, after all, God could have created man and woman at the same time had He wanted to – there was a reason why He did not do so.  Is this idea in the Bible?  No.  But it’s also logical, and I think common sense, even if you disagree with me on the basis of this article.

Another thought here: who is the blame placed on for bringing sin into the world?  Adam is the one named (Romans 5), not Eve – despite the fact that it was Eve whom the “serpent” approached, and then Eve who convinced her husband to sin.  Eve was the one deceived, not Adam, Adam foolishly chose to sin.  Why does this matter?  Adam was the one who was granted headship, he was spiritually responsible for himself, and Eve, so despite Eve sinning first, Adam received the blame for sin coming into the world!

On the man having headship, being in charge etc., this does not mean what so many think that it does: “I’m the boss, you do as I say”.  That is unfortunately the view of far too many men (And women).  The man may have the ultimate say, but the woman has a voice, her opinion matters.  She is not to be silent, not to be a slave, not to be abused and used etc.  The perfect example of this?  Jesus is God, period.  Yet, Jesus submits to the Father.  Jesus is in no way inferior to the Father, they merely have different roles to play.  It is the same for men and women.

As for outside the Church, women should be able to do any job outside of the Church that they want to do, if they are qualified – men who claim otherwise are twisting and abusing Scripture.  If a woman doesn’t have the physical strength to be a firefighter, then she should not be one, if she does, great.  A woman can be anything she wants to be, if she can do the job (Or learn it), and there should not be any problem with this.  Not all women are capable of doing all jobs, and neither are all men!

As far as the Church goes – I do not believe women should be pastors.  Why?  Well, show me one female pastor in the entire Bible, just one.

Some feminists like to point to Deborah, but she was a judge, not a pastor.  I believe she became a judge, because a man refused to step up and do the job.  Was she effective?  Seems like it, yes.

The Apostles were all men – there is zero female leadership in the Church ever mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

The Apostle Paul stated that the head of every woman was a man.  Some feminists like to dismiss this as applying only to the Jewish culture of Paul’s time.  This is an erroneous conclusion that does not line up with the context of what the Bible teaches on these matters.  Consider this also – if the man being the head of the woman was only intended to be a part of the biblical times Jewish culture, then why was this information made part of the Bible?

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3

Does this mean that women are not equal to men?  NO.  They simply have different jobs, different roles.

Paul also stated that the man is to love his wife, as Christ loved the Church – that is a pretty heady assignment.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Ephesians 5:25

“Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” Ephesians 5:24

Paul stated that as the Church is subject to Christ, so wives are to their husbands.  Therefore, how can anyone think that it is ok for a woman to be a pastor, and to be in authority over men?

One last thing, it a wise man who listens to the counsel of his wife (Proverbs 31).