As reported in the news of late, President Jimmy Carter has left the Southern Baptist church because they supposedly teach that women are to be subservient to their husbands and also refuse to ordain women as ministers. Was he right?
What does the Bible say?
To begin with, God made woman (Eve), because He knew that the man (Adam) He had created, needed help (and that hasn‘t changed!), Genesis 2:18-24. Up until Adam, God had simply spoken everything into existence. Adam, however, was uniquely formed from the dust of the earth and infused with life by the breath of God. Eve was neither spoken into existence, nor was she fashioned from dirt as the man. Rather, she was even more uniquelierly (my word) formed from a rib which God took from the man.
Eve was God’s very last creative work. As such she was the completion of the creation itself as well as being the counterpart to, and completion of, Adam. Also, Eve was created just as Adam was, in the image of God, Genesis 1:27. Because she was bone of man’s bone and flesh of his flesh, it was immediately established that man would from that point on be willing to leave his own family and cleave to her. Doesn’t sound very subservient to me… how about you?
The creation of Adam and Eve was not about who was going to be the boss. Competition was never the point and neither was equality, which may surprise some. God’s intention for them was unity. His plan was for these two very different beings each created in the image of His perfection, to compliment and complete each other as they lived together in harmony, in “oneness” if you will. As Solomon later put it, man’s divinely ordered destiny is to “Fear God and keep His commandments”, Ecclesiastes 12:13. The woman‘s role is to help the man do just that.
Sin tainted this relationship when Eve was deceived by Satan and took the lead in eating the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:1-19. Satan was of course cursed, but men and women yet suffer difficult repercussions as well. God specifically told Eve:
I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth
children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule
over you. Genesis 3:16
The die was cast. Sin precipitated a brand of male dominance that God never intended. Jesus helps us to see that though God’s original order of male leadership remains the rule (see 1st Corinthians 11:1-3 on this) it is not to be used as an opportunity to take advantage, but rather to serve.
Male leadership is not at all the same as male dominance. Consider for example Ephesians 5:21-25:
… and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to
your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife,
as Christ also is the head of the church He Himself being the Savior of the
body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…(emphasis mine)
Now, you have to ask yourself after an honest appraisal of the above. Is it a pretext for abusive male dominance, or is it God’s admonition to sacrificial leadership and service. Article to be continued in a future publication.
(more next week, Lord willing)
Marty Kessler