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Continued FROM DSC VALUES PAGE—CLICK
Within the church body there are several views of the roles of men and women and how they relate to one another. These varying views will generally fit into one of the following categories:
Egalitarian – men and women are equal in all aspects and there are no role distinctions. Both men and women should be given equal access to positions of leadership in the church and in the home. Egalitarians claim that it was part of the curse that the woman was put in a subservient role (submission) and, through Jesus' death and resurrection, He cancelled this curse and now there is total role equality. Any distinction in giving roles to men versus women in the Bible is said, by Egalitarians, to be based on cultural norms rather than on God's Word and God's purpose.
Complementarian – men and women were both created in God’s image and neither is better or worse than the other one. They are one in essence and the Christian brother and sister have equal access to God's throne. In God’s design he created men and women to complement each other and as such created distinctive roles for men and women - the woman in a submissive role, displaying the glory of Christ's Church submitted to Jesus, and the man in a headship role, displaying the glory of Jesus' love - the love that Jesus showed as he laid down his life for the Church.
We take the Complementarian position and see this as clearly Biblical, that is: that men and women are created equally by God, though have different roles established by God. We see the Egalitarian position as something formed by our culture. Based on our understanding of Biblical teachings, we affirm the following:
· that both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood. . . · that distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the · that Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin. . . · that the Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women
in the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility. and. . .
We see the Biblical order being established in the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man and before the curse was pronounced. A strong argument can be made for man's headship position before the Fall as he was the one who was first created (see 1 Corinthians 11:6), as he was the one who had the responsibility of naming the animals (naming is give to one in authority), and because God addresses the man first for the sin in the Garden, though Eve was the one who first sinned - or was she? Did God hold man responsible and speak to him first because, as the head in the relationship, he was silent (when Eve at the forbidden fruit) when he should have spoken up? Indeed, Adam was addressed first by God because he was the one who was in charge - before the Fall. These are strong arguments for man's Biblical headship of the man both in the Church and home.
The reasons for the confusion in Biblical roles today are perhaps because of our changing the Bible truth in order to accommodate passive and silent men and independent and discontented women. Adam was silent in the Garden and Eve was discontent and acted independently of her husband. Perhaps we've changed the order because of the abuse of power that men have shown in their headship position. Whatever the case, we are not permitted to change God's order. We are the ones who need to seek to change and all submit to God's design, His purpose, and His order. Here are some Biblical references regarding Biblical headship:
DIFFERENT GLORIES IN GOD'S STORY 1 Cor 11:6-9 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
DIFFERENT ROLES, DIFFERENT WORDS: Wives submit, husbands love... Eph 5:22-6:1 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
HEADSHIP WITHOUT CONFLICT
PAUL SEES MAN BEING CREATED FIRST AS A WAY OF CONFERRING AUTHORITY ON THE MAN: THE KEY WORD HERE IS "FOR" 1 Tim 2:11-3:1 permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.
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biblical — manhood and womanhood |
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