Behind Every Great Man is a Great Woman

Part 2 of Feminism and Christianity

(Feminism and Christianity article link)

Genesis 2:18-22 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

Deuteronomy 33:26 There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to help you, And in His excellency on the clouds.

Many Pastors, Christians, Churches, and Denominations have gone to great lengths to ignore or dismiss the Bible when it comes to the roles of men and women. In their efforts, they elevate obscure passages that are easy to reframe while downplaying or outright ignoring very clear passages that cannot be manipulated to support their ideas as easily. The purpose of such efforts? To elevate women within the Christian church to positions of leadership and, in some cases, demote the position of men into subservience to women. That is where this topic becomes important when discussing getting more people to heaven. After all, leadership matters. The people who lead very often make or break a congregation or denomination, and their efforts to grow, expand, and get more people to heaven. It also affects the cohesion of a congregation and denomination. So, while this topic isn’t essential to who is saved versus unsaved (our differences don’t damn us to hell), it does matter in terms of effectiveness. It also matters when it comes to what the God-pleasing and God’s intended roles for men and women are.

One major argument when it comes to men and women is equality. Specifically, that men and women can equally lead. Sex alone does not determine whether or not a person will be a good leader or boss. The reason that argument is chosen is that most people have worked for some really terrible bosses. Some of them have been men, and others have been women. And in comparing the two, we all recognize that argument to be true. Just because a person is a man or a woman doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of the quality of a boss. So, because you agree with that, then you must also agree that women should be leaders and bosses just like men. Or, at least, that is the idea they portray.

But the question for our purposes isn’t, “Can a woman be a boss or a leader?” The question is, “Should a woman be a leader or hold a position of authority within the Christian church? Should they be a pastor?” If not, why? And does that mean that every man can and should be a leader in the Christian church? In other words, the idea that women can be good leaders, especially in comparison to some men, is a straw argument. An argument that isn’t relevant to the question of leadership within the Christian church.

The reality is that the Bible is quite clear about which sex is eligible for the position of pastor or leader within the church. As it says in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” And that concept (that men are to be the leaders) is repeated consistently throughout scripture. God created Adam first and Eve to be his helper. The firstborn male received the inheritance. The kings and priests were men and not women. Jesus appointed male Apostles. When people were needed to lead the effort to hand out food, one of the requirements for those deacons was that they were men (Acts 6:1-7). Paul stated that he did not permit women to even speak within the churches, let alone have authority over men. And then he goes on to lay out the requirements for pastors and deacons, being that they should be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 2:11-3:13). How can one be a husband if they are not a man? It is impossible. So, in such cases of leadership within the church, one of the basic requirements is to be a man. Keep in mind though, that it is simply one of many requirements. Being a man doesn’t automatically make you eligible to be a leader, but being a woman is automatically disqualifying. Whether we want it to be that way, think it should be that way, or can point to however many examples of women doing a great job as a pastor, is irrelevant in the face of the plain text. It may not be fair, popular, or in keeping with the times, but it is what it is.

That being said, what about Miriam, Deborah the judge, and all the women who Paul commends in Romans 16:1-16 and Philippians 4:3? He even calls some of them his “fellow workers.” Surely that means women can be leaders, pastors, elders, and deacons in the church despite the other verses. After all, those examples prove it to be the case… or do they?

To begin, I want to identify what Greg Gutfeld calls the prison of two ideas. In other words, people want you to believe there are only two options. Often, the reason for that is because it makes it easier to divide people and determine who is a friend and who is a foe. But it is also because their argument works best against the only option they present. In this case, what is it that people want us to believe with their arguments for women leaders within the church, etc.? They tell us there are only two options: either “a” women are equal to men (or even the same/better) and therefore can and should be able to do and hold whatever positions men hold. Or “b” you believe women are inferior, incapable, and believe they should be subjugated to men. In doing so, they present the argument for women's leadership as the moral and obvious answer, and the other option as slavery, which is only supported by those with deep moral flaws.

Imagine being faced with such a conundrum. People naturally want to avoid conflict and be viewed as righteous and good. Therefore, moving towards and agreeing with what on the surface appears moral, appropriate, and supported by the loudest people is what people will naturally gravitate towards. After all, the water seems fine, and there are perks to going along. But people will not go along as easily if there is cognitive dissonance (i.e., the new thing they want to or do believe is in conflict with their known supporting evidence). And so, under such conditions, it is natural to make compromises with scripture and emphasize the things that may be evidence for whatever it is. And in cases where people hold evidence that cannot be adjusted in such a way, the supporters of such ideas must maintain their moral superiority and beliefs. In order to do so, they will attack the character of the one who disagrees with them or try to reason with them by undermining the evidence. In the case of women being leaders, any evidence against it is dismissed by asserting that the plain text is sarcasm, the writer (Paul in this case) is a bad person, or his ideas were only appropriate for that time.

However, let’s consider for a second that both of those options (options “a” and “b” from before) are incorrect. In other words, men are intended to be the leaders in the church, and women are not inferior and should not be “slaves” to men. What would such a relationship look like? To begin, let’s examine the relationship between Paul and the women he worked with. And to understand, I want you to consider your own job. Think about a project that you are working on with your boss. After the project is completed and everything goes well, the boss talks about what a good job he did and how he delivered for the company, and gives you none of the credit. How would you feel? I imagine you’d be a little angry at him hogging all the glory. But what if he said, “Thanks to all the people who helped with the project and worked with me.” It would change things, right? In fact, that is what we would expect of a good leader. Someone who wouldn’t hog all the glory. Now, because the boss thanked you for helping him and working together on the project, would that make you the boss? Did you have the same authority, responsibility, and role as he did? Of course not. So why then would we think the women who Paul thanked for helping him held positions and authority like his? Why would we think the people who were his “coworkers” were also his peers in authority and responsibility? Within the church, aren’t we all coworkers trying to get more people to heaven despite the fact that we all have varying positions, authorities, and responsibilities?

Or consider Deborah the judge. Our understanding of modern-day judges has been skewed due to all the legislating from the bench. But what is a judge’s constitutional role? Their constitutional role is to hear cases and apply the law as written by those in charge. A judge holds no authority on his own. He only acts in a limited capacity to apply the law as given to him. He cannot write new laws or even enforce his own orders. Rather, he has to rely on others. He is more like an administrator than a king who has true authority. Deborah was not a ruler in the true sense of the word. A fact well demonstrated by Gideon (also a judge), who refused to become a ruler over the people (Judges 8:22-23). Moreover, consider the story of Deborah and Barak (Judges 4). Was Deborah put in place as a judge because of the faithfulness of Israel? No. A fact demonstrated by Barak (the man appointed by God to lead Israel’s army and deliver the people), who didn’t go up to face Israel’s enemies as instructed. And instead, refused until he was summoned by Deborah, and she agreed to go with him for his protection. And that story tracts with Isaiah 3:12.

Finally, let’s examine Miriam. Miriam was the sister of Aaron, who assisted Moses in some capacity. In that capacity, she led the women in singing and dancing after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land (Exodus 14, 15:20-21). A fact that was restated in Micah 6:4. Unfortunately, because of her place of prominence among the people, she got a big head, along with Aaron. And their pride caused them to think that they were equal to Moses. However, what happened? God came and scolded them both. But while Aaron survived with just a scolding, what happened to Miriam? She was turned leprous, and Moses begged God that it wouldn’t be permanent. Why do you suppose that Miriam received a harsher punishment? Didn’t both Aaron and Miriam commit the same offense? Why then was one punishment harsher than the other? What was the difference between the two? Well, one is that only Aaron was known to us to be placed next to Moses by God to be his spokesman (Exodus 4:14-17). But the other difference is their gender. Moreover, if Miriam really was a leader in the sense that she was on the same level as Moses and Aaron with true authority, why wasn’t she listed with them when the leaders of Israel were identified (Numbers 1:1-17)? Moses and Aaron were.

All that being said, even though God intends that men should be the leaders and hold authority over men and women, that doesn’t make women inferior serfs to men. And men shouldn’t treat them that way. That is why I began this article with the passages I did. God created woman to be the helper of man. And what kind of helper is she? Is she one who is supposed to do all the menial, disgusting, and degrading tasks that men do not want to do? Is she to be completely submissive without a thought in her head? Is she supposed to just take it when she is abused or neglected? Is she supposed to just do whatever her husband says and never say no for any reason? And should the husband do, say, and rule without any thought or consideration for his wife? The answer to all those questions is no. And that is demonstrated by the kind of helper she is to be.

Men are designed and intended to glorify God by leading as God leads. Whereas, women are designed and intended to glorify God by helping as God helps. And how does God help? That is where the second passage (Deuteronomy 33:26) at the beginning of this article comes into play. You see, the very word that the Bible uses to describe Eve’s role as a help meet is the same word used to describe God being a help meet to the nation of Israel. What kind of help did God provide? Oh, I don’t know, how about delivering Israel time and time again from the hands of its enemies? How about dying for the sins of His people (Philippians 2:8 - Jesus was obedient/submissive to God the Father and died on a cross for us). Do those sound like inconsequential and insignificant acts? Do those sound like acts that are unworthy of thankfulness and praise? Do those acts sound like work fit for slaves, incompetents, and lesser people? I don’t think so.

God is both leadership and submission. As Christians, acknowledging both those roles and acting according to our station isn’t demeaning; it is God-pleasing. This is a fact that even men should understand and empathize with because they are under authority, too. Men are not the kings of the world; they, too, must obey their bosses, the government, and even God. And that is a good thing. It is a good thing because it teaches leaders to be empathetic and treat those under their care as they would like to be treated (i.e., love our neighbor as ourselves). And not to become like many middle schoolers who, after being picked on in 7th grade, can’t wait to be 9th graders so that they can be the bullies.

Our problems today with a lack of good leadership aren’t solved by ignoring what God has to say about who should have what roles. It isn’t solved by opening up leadership positions to more people, by adding women to the mix. That doesn’t solve the underlying issues. For example, the underlying issue from our example of a boss who doesn’t give proper credit isn’t that he was a man. Putting a woman in that position who does the same thing fixes nothing. The real underlying problem is behavioral, poor leadership, and a lack of understanding of how to fulfill the role in a God-pleasing way. And a lot of that can be corrected if we talk about what it means to be a leader and fulfill our roles using God as our example. A lot can be corrected if we do a good job of inspiring and teaching men how to be Godly leaders instead of employing the same training techniques, except now offering them to women. However, the best boss can’t do much if his employees undermine him at every turn. Therefore, we must not just teach excellent and Godly leadership, but also excellent and Godly submission. In doing so, the work of getting more people to heaven is far more effective and efficient.

And what an example our God is, to follow and learn from. For example, our Father in heaven has no need of counsel (Isaiah 40:13). And yet this same all-knowing God heeds the pleas of His people and many times does according to their requests (Genesis 16:11, Genesis 18, Judges 13:1-10, etc.). Therefore, shouldn’t men concern themselves with the needs and desires of women, our wives, and all those under our care (Ephesians 5:28-29)? To help them as they have need (1 Peter 3:7 and Ephesians 5:25)? Shouldn’t we encourage and entrust hard and helpful things to them, trusting that they are capable of doing them? Shouldn’t we listen to their counsel and expect that they be learned so that they can provide wise counsel? They aren’t just there for decoration. So, we should utilize them, and praise and thank them for the work that they do (Proverbs 31). After all, just as we do not take all the credit because it is God who helps and prospers our way, so too should we give credit where credit is due when it comes to women (Deuteronomy 8:11-13, 17). And when we do give direction, to do so with compassion, understanding, and in the same manner as God gives us direction (Ephesians 6:9).

And women, shouldn’t you concern yourselves with the well-being of your husbands and those in authority above you? Do your best to identify their needs and how to be helpful even without them asking? To praise and thank them for all the work that they do, as you yourself desire to be praised and thanked? To be helpful by sharing your talents and abilities, and even learning new ones? To be submissive towards them in all ways, with the only exception being when they ask you to do something sinful (Acts 5:29)? After all, that kind of submission is not demeaning, but the same submission you should be showing towards God (1 Peter 3:5-6 and Ephesians 6:5-8). After all, if you cannot or will not be submissive towards your husband, whom you can see, how can you be submissive towards a God you haven’t seen? In being submissive to a husband, a wife is being submissive towards God, who is the one who gave the command. Likewise, refusing to go along with a sinful directive or request from a husband is also being submissive to God. And, if men should consider women’s needs and desires, women should be bold to bring their needs and desires to them. Just as we are bold to bring our needs and desires before God in a respectful way. In other words, being submissive does not mean being silent or a doormat, nor does it mean being petulant or a nag (Matthew 6:5-7, 7:7-12).

What problems have you seen when men misuse or abandon their positions of leadership? What problems have you seen when women usurp men or refuse to be submissive?

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission.
All rights reserved.

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