Uphold masculinity

Earlier this year I published my book entitled, Women on the Team. The subtitle was Liberated to Lead. In this day, you might wonder why such a book is even needed. While the world foolishly throws out gender distinctions, Christians who take the Bible seriously need to revisit the truth.

After decades of Bible study, I’ve come to believe that the church has missed it by making women into second-class citizens. Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics both have it wrong. I make the case that the Holy Spirit is an “equal opportunity baptizer.” Jesus is the great Liberator of women. Religion got it wrong, not God.

Don’t mistake me for a modern liberal who belittles men to promote women. Not so. I’m a strong advocate for biblical masculinity and femininity. It sickens me to hear intellectual air-heads spout social nonsense about gender. If their theories were adopted, it would scramble the brains of boys so badly they’d think they were misfits just for being secure in their manliness. Thank God for distinct genders!

These are two different issues. Women are called, allowed, summoned, (even privileged) to minister God’s word and they are permitted to lead in the church. Children are boys and girls; male and female. Why push to blur such a precious and valuable distinctive?

About women’s equality in ministry, freedom for women can be hard to grasp if you have not had it explained, like having your eyes opened to see racism for the first time. Change is never easy when our traditions cause us to stop examining God’s word. Why study something if you’re positive you have it figured out? Only a revelation from the Lord can open our eyes. To take a fresh look, deliberately choose to embrace the truth in the Bible. Submit your thinking to God’s word. Don’t edit parts of it out or ignore other sections. Ask the Author, the Holy Spirit, to guide you.

We know the Bible has the answers for how men and women should relate in the home and roles in the church. Marriage is honorable; God’s pattern for male and female. It transcends every culture. In the church, I believe the Bible describes the proper roles for women in the ministry. Both the family and the church are creations of God, right? But if we take the unique pattern for marriage and impose it on the church, we’ll warp it. We’ll have churches with nothing but single parents—male pastors only.

In the family, the original pattern for marriage creates a covenant between a male and a female. They complete one another. Their union makes a family. Upholding women in the ministry doesn’t diminish it. In my book, I lay out the case for Christian women having liberty to lead in the church and be respected as equals. Believe it or not, I close the case using pure biblical exegesis (delving into the author’s intent and occasion for writing) without appealing to issues of social justice at all. I could, but I didn’t.

After all, social justice is whatever the prevailing public opinion says it is. I adhere to a higher source of justice, God’s word. That means I derive my definitions for marriage and the church from the Lord, not from public opinion or religious traditions. The Lord who sits on the throne as King has the right to decide how things in his kingdom should work. That includes things in the family and in the church.