From Mere Comments: All Flattened Things are Equal refers to the post below and is relevant to John Pethtel's post. This "complementarian" objects to the implication that he is not egalitarian.
The discussion linked below in the post Burk on Hutchens makes me wonder whether those of us Christians who hold to Pauline (and Petrine!) scriptural teachings on the headship of the husband should concede the word "egalitarian" to our opponents. Complementarians, as we are now called, believe, after all, that men and women are equal in dignity before the Lord; that Christ died to save men and women both, without distinction of sex; that membership in the Church, by baptism, is open equally to men and women; that sanctifying grace comes to both men and women; that both men and women are images of the invisible God. No Christian, for instance, can follow Mohammed in imagining a hell stocked full of women.Read the rest.
But traditional Christians also hold that the husband is to be the Christ-like head of the wife, as Paul says; and that, according to the same word of God passed down to us by the apostle, and as simply analogous to the law of the household, the ordained ministry is not open to women. And here we come to the crux. How, without accusing that theological genius Paul (and also Peter -- and, of course, the Lord Jesus, whose choice of apostles is instructive) of simplemindedness, can we hold both ontological and soteriological equality, and hierarchy? Or rather, turning the question against itself, how can Christians fail to see that equality and hierarchy are not necessarily contradictory, seeing that they have the examples of the obedience of the Son to the Father, and of the inner life of the Trinity itself?
1 comments:
This article is representative of much in the "complimentarian" camp...sadly the end of his post shows an unfortunate attack on the "egalitarian" camp. I hold that women can be ordained for the ministry, and I hold that the Pauline, Petrine "Housecodes" are still authoritative...so Lord willing, my wife will allow me to lead in the home. Its important to remember these are ad hoc documents, written to particular situations, to read them like a rule book for all churches for all times is easy, but misguided.
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