Love One Another

 No community can function without leadership. As Christians, we need leaders, elders, preachers, teachers and managers. Parents must have authority over their children. But when Christianity is dominated by hierarchy, we have lost our way.

But he said to them, “The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 
But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves. Lk 22:25–26 NRSVue

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Jn 13:34 NRSVue

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Jn 15:12 NRSVue

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. Jn 15:17 NRSVue

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Rom 13:8 NRSVue

Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Rom 14:19 NRSVue

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Rom 15:7 NRSVue

For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 1 Cor 7:4 NRSVue 

The essence of Christian marriage is not male dominance but equal partnership. 

… being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NRSVue

There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28 NRSVue

Gender based hierarchy violates the key biblical principle of mutual love and respect.

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, Eph 4:26 NRSVue

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Eph 4:32 NRSVue

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Col 3:13 NRSVue

Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 1 Th 4:9 NRSVue

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 1 Th 5:11 NRSVue

See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 1 Th 5:15 NRSVue

Can Women Teach Men?

 Can women teach men? Can a woman teach a man? Can a wife teach her husband?

Smith Wigglesworth was an evangelist who healed the sick and raised the dead. He never went to school and he was illiterate until his wife taught him to read the Bible. 

Carl Benz constructed the first car but he lacked the confidence to test drive it. Two years later, his wife took it upon herself to drive the car from one German city to another.

In World War Two, a team of British women worked out how to defend convoys of ships against German submarines. Many seamen owed their lives to the lessons they learned from these women.

In the Bible, the prophetess Deborah governed Israel, sat in judgement in legal disputes and taught the ways of God to all the people. She was called and gifted by God to do this.

There are fundamentalist legalists today who use proof texts to give women even less freedom in the church than some women had in the Old Testament. 

This whole mindset is contradicted by Paul’s writings.

There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28 NRSVue

Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts and especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1 NRSVue

This was addressed equally to men and women. The proof of this is in the following verses.

Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head shames his head, 
but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled shames her head—it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. 1 Cor 11:4–5 NRSVue

Clearly women should prophesy if they are decently dressed according to the customs of the day. Otherwise the text makes no sense.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NRSVue

The Prime Minister of Australia was a family friend who valued the advice of my grandmother. Many prominent men owe a part of their success to the advice of their mothers, wives, sisters or secretaries.

The cardinal rule of Christian love and fellowship is mutual submission.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NIV

This means that wives should submit to their husbands but husbands should also submit to their wives. This can be difficult to understand if you leave out the loving guidance of Jesus over both marriage partners. 

Mutual submission is not always easy. It cannot be taught with simple formulas. Every couple has to learn how to apply it. It takes time, effort and practice.

If a man lords it over his wife, he dishonours his wife but he also dishonours Jesus.

If a man is not willing to learn from his wife, he is very misguided and he will suffer the consequences. 

Love Your Neighbour. No discrimination.

 Honour your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’” Mt 19:19 NIV

Love your neighbour as yourself.
In practice, this involves much more than acts of kindness by one person to another.

If you are a man, every man and every woman is your neighbour. 

If you love yourself with a healthy God given self-respect, you will recognise your gifts and talents and make the most of them to realise your potential.

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you will love women in the same way as you love men, and I am not talking about romantic or sexual love.

Just as you make the most of your own gifts and talents, you will seek to give everyone of both genders the maximum opportunity to realise their potential.

I love classical music. The most celebrated classical composers are all men, but there have been amazingly gifted female composers who have not been allowed to reach their full potential.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote the most popular wedding music of all time. 

He was one of the greats, but his sister Fanny was equally talented. Why could she not devote herself fully to becoming one of the celebrated great composers? Because she was a woman. She was expected to marry and devote herself to serving her husband.

My grandmother was an amazingly talented woman. Her father was an engineer and a university lecturer with a personal library of wonderful books. She learned to read at home and taught her sisters to read. 

She only attended school for one year, but she became an art teacher and a lecturer at a training college for kindergarten teachers. She was an excellent artist herself and she wrote a textbook for teaching art to small children. She also raised four sons. One became a farmer, another became a professor of law and my father became a psychiatrist.

How terrible it would have been if she had been forced into a traditional role as housewife with no outlets for her talents.

God Created Men and Women Equal

 The Pharisees asked Jesus why Moses allowed a man to put away his wife. For the pious Jews, the law was the perfect standard, but for Jesus the law was not perfect.

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. Mt 19:8 NIV

For Jesus, something was even higher than the law.

    For Jesus, the law was holy, but for him there was a higher principle, God's order in creation before sin entered the world.

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
and said,
(Genesis 2:24) ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? Mt 19:4–5 NIV

We are familiar with these words, but we do not know how totally radical this statement really is.
In the biblical stories we read only once that a man left his parents, married a woman and stayed with the woman.

That was Jacob, who found his wife with his uncle but then she returned with him to his family. Also with Abraham and later with the Jews under the law, the woman had to leave her family and then she belonged to her husband's family.

Even the law given by God did not restore God's original order.
What was God's order for man and woman before the Fall?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen 1:26–27 NIV

In the beginning, God showed his authority as Creator. Spiritual authority is creative.
God created both man and woman in his image. Both express God's nature and character, the man no more than the woman.

God gave man and woman the quality of fertility, the ability to transmit life, people who would also have God's nature.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Gen 1:28 NIV

God gave the man and the woman authority over the earth. He did not give the man authority over the woman and he did not give the woman authority over the man.

God's guiding principle from the beginning was partnership.

Some say God gave men authority over women in Genesis 3.16.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16 NIV

Was painful childbirth part of God’s plan in creation? Of course not. It was the bitter fruit of sin. So too the domination of men over women was the tragic result of sin. Jesus died on the cross to free us from the curses of sin, including male domination.

Women in Ministry

Why I do not agree with John MacArthur’s view that women may not teach or lead in church:

(Article by Bob Edwards. Copied with permission)

This is how the Greek New Testament describes the ministry of women:

• Phoebe: διάκονον (deacon) and προστάτις (leader), Romans 16:1-2

• Priscilla: one of the συνεργούς (co-workers) of Paul, Romans 16:3; ἐξέθεντο (expounded, interpreted) “the way of God more accurately,” to a man Acts 18:26.

• Junia: ἐπίσημοι ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις (outstanding among the apostles), Romans 16:7

My understanding of why 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 do not prohibit women from teaching, leading, or speaking in church:

1st Timothy 2:12 is not a prohibition against “all” women teaching or leading in the church of Ephesus.  Priscilla taught a man the way of God more accurately, in Ephesus.  

The context of the verse is in a letter against “false doctrines” (1 Timothy 1:3), “godless myths” (1 Timothy 4:7), “opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20).  A woman *engaged in false teaching* should learn before teaching.

I do not believe 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 was a command from Paul telling women they must be silent in church; nor do I believe Paul was saying it is “shameful” for women to be heard in church.  The rabbinical oral law of the day said those things:

“A woman’s voice is prohibited because it is sexually provocative” (Talmud, Berachot 24a).  
“It is a shame for a woman to let her voice be heard among men” (Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin).

I believe Paul’s response to the oral law appears in 1 Corinthians 14:36-39:

“What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? … Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

In other words, oral tradition should not be used to prevent women from expressing their spiritual gifts in church, everyone must simply express their gifts in an orderly manner (see verse 40).

Ministry roles are not given according to gender.  They are given according to spiritual gifting: 

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;  if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;  if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12:6-8)  

The Greek word used to describe the gift of leading is προϊστάμενος; it is the verb cognate of προστάτις, the word used to describe the leadership role of Phoebe in Romans 16:2.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). 

 Paul really believed this.  When Peter related to Gentile Christians differently than Jewish Christians (by refusing to eat with them) in Galatians 2:11-14, Paul rebuked him.  As in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul explained that it is wrong to “force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs” (Gal 2:14).

When John MacArthur tells women that they may not teach or lead in the church, I believe he is acting like Peter in Galatians chapter 2, he is nullifying the word of God by holding on to human tradition (see Jesus’ remarks to the religious leaders of his day in Mark 7:13

Social Justice and the Gospel

 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Ga 3:28 NIV

Why oh why do so many Christians ignore this revolutionary teaching of Paul, this message from God Himself?

In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. Col 3:11 CSB

Why do so many Christians aggressively support white supremacy and Christian nationalism? Why is there so much political partisanship amongst Christians?

My brothers and sisters, do not show favouritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in,

if you look with favour on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”
haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Jas 2:1–4 CSB

So many Christian churches have ignored God’s command to love each other as brothers and sisters. Instead, we have prioritised hierarchy and obedience to someone of higher rank.

The founding fathers of the American republic declared that all men are created equal, but President George Washington owned slaves.

The Southern Baptists separated from the American Baptists because they insisted that Southern Baptist pastors should own slaves.

They quoted bible verses to justify their injustice.

Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. Eph 6:5 CSB

Many conservative evangelicals still twist scripture in a similar way when they demand that wives always obey their husbands, no matter how unspiritual or domineering they might be.

Why do so many conservative Christians overspiritualise the Gospel? Loving your neighbour is reduced to nothing more than preaching at people to get them converted.

We are saved by faith and not works, as they accurately quote Paul.
But they conveniently ignore what James says, James the younger son of Mary and the brother of Jesus.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him? 

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself. Jas 2:14–17 CSB

God Created Men and Women to be Equal

Why do many Christians teach that men must always be in charge of churches, not women? Why do they say a woman must always obey her husband?

They can quote bible verses here and there, often with doubtful interpretations. Every verse can also be interpreted to show that it is not a universal law of God, or even that some verses are incorrect translations.  Books have been written to explain this in detail.  

Paul also instructs slaves to obey their masters. If we tell wives to be subordinate, we should, to be consistent, be in favour of slavery.

However, there is a simple Biblical explanation that shows men and women should be equal in every respect.

God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” Ge 1:27–28 NET

Who did God appoint to rule? Only the man? Only the female? No. He appointed both man and woman to rule, with no indication of hierarchy.

But some Christians point to Genesis 3:16.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16.

Did God decree that a husband should rule over his wife? Some understand this to be a divine decree. Others believe God was sadly predicting the unjust subordination of women because sin had corrupted the original godlike human nature. 

Adam and Eve were both originally sinless and therefore created in the image of God.

But God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty of sin.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

If you believe in Jesus, if you put entrust your life to the love and truth of God, if you commit your life to the leading of God, you are no longer an outsider with God.

But that is not all.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— Jn 1:12 NIV

As a follower of Jesus, you are a child of God, a son or a daughter. God does not discriminate.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 2 Co 5:17 CSB

This translation says anyone in Christ is a new creation. The masculine pronoun HE is not in the original Greek text.

When God first created man and woman, there was not even a hint of rank order or gender based hierarchy. Salvation after the cross restores God’s original intention. 

Both man and woman are in God’s image and are appointed to rule jointly.

God wants husbands and wives to be partners, equal in every respect, including equal in authority, just as in Eden before sin spoiled everything.

Likewise, the church should reflect this principle of complete gender equality, in spiritual ministry and church government.

 

Complete Gender Equality before God

 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” Ro 8:15 NRSV

If as an adult man or woman you are obliged to always fulfil the expectations of your parents, your spouse or your pastor, you are enslaved, because you are not free to follow the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In the Roman Empire, sons and daughters were by no means equal. The son was the heir of the father. The wife always had to obey her father or husband.

In Romans 8, Paul says all believers are adopted as children and heirs of God. In Roman law, an adopted son became the heir of the adopting father, equal in status with a natural born son.

Only sons were heirs, not daughters

In Romans and Galatians, Paul taught that as Christians we are all have the status of adopted sons and heirs, not only men but also women. It means that she is equal with the brothers in the faith. 

This is not only an indication of the value of her soul, but also a clear teaching that she is equal in everything, because in Roman law, sonship was primarily a legal status.

and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Ro 8:17 NRSV

Being an heir does not only mean being loved and valued, but also having the legal standing of an heir, which means complete gender equality in every sense of the word.

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
 
Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Ga 4:4–7 NASB95

Doctrines of gender based Christian hierarchy are mainly based on dubiously interpreted proof texts, verses taken out of context.

Are Men and Women Equal?

In the Old Testament all the priests were men. There were only kings in Israel. 

When Abraham looked for a wife for his son, Rebecca had to leave her home and her family and come under the authority of Abraham and her husband Isaac.

Ancient Greek men believed women were a curse. A married woman was the personal property of her husband.

A Canadian woman married an Arab man. When she tried to leave her husband, she was not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia because according to their law, she was the personal property  of her husband. 

In Bible days, women were often little better than slaves. A Roman man was the owner of his family and he could divorce his woman and kill his children or slaves.

In the Roman Empire female babies were often simply allowed to die. 

A father would order his wife to abandon her newborn daughter on a hillside. The abandoned babies either died of hunger or cold or they were harvested by pimps and raised to be prostitutes. That was normal for those days and a wife dared not disobey her husband.

In the New Testament Jesus only chose men as his apostles.

How should we understand all this? Is it the will of God that men should always have authority over women?

In Bible times it was mostly so, as it still is in some parts of the world.
The Law of Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife if he just gave her a written letter of divorce. It was unthinkable for a woman to divorce her husband.

When Jesus spoke against easy divorce for men, the Pharisees appealed to the authority of Moses and the Scriptures.They asked Jesus why Moses allowed a man to legally divorce his wife.

For the religious Jews, the Law of Moses was the perfect expression of the Will of God.

Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. Matthew 19:8 (NIV) 

For Jesus, the Law of Moses was holy and true. It was given to Moses by God. But there was a higher law, the perfect plan of God at creation, before Adam and Eve fell into sin.

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 

and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? Matthew 19:4-5 (NIV) 

We are so familiar with these words, that we don’t realise how radical they are.

In Bible days a man married couple would live with their extended family, almost always the husband’s parents, as it still is the case in traditional societies in India, Africa and many other places. 

But Adam, whose only parent was God, prophesied the perfect will of God, that a man would leave his family and be united to his wife. Unheard of! This is not traditional patriarchy at all! 

After the Fall of Adam and Eve, God planned to restore humanity to His original design. This was to take place step by step and we have still not reached the end of the story. 

• The call of Abraham was one step. 
• The shaping of the chosen Hebrew people was another and giving of the Law was yet another but the Law of Moses was only one stage in God’s plan, not the blueprint for the final consummation.

What was God’s original design before sin came into the picture?

Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV) 26  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 

27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

God gave the man and woman authority to rule over the earth. He gave the man no authority over the woman and the woman no authority over the man.

God’s guiding principle from the very beginning was partnership.