Men, Women and Biblical Equality
The Bible teaches the full
equality of men and women in Creation and in Redemption (Gen 1:26-28,
2:23, 5:1-2; I Cor 11:11-12; Gal 3:13, 28, 5:1).
The Bible teaches that God has revealed Himself in the totality
of Scripture, the authoritative Word of God (Matt 5:18; John 10:35;
2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21). We believe that Scripture is to be
interpreted holistically and thematically. We also recognize the
necessity of making a distinction between inspiration and interpretation:
inspiration relates to the divine impulse and control whereby the
whole canonical Scripture is the Word of God; interpretation relates
to the human activity whereby we seek to apprehend revealed truth
in harmony with the totality of Scripture and under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit. To be truly biblical, Christians must continually
examine their faith and practice under the searchlight of Scripture.
Biblical Truths
Creation
1. The Bible teaches that both man
and woman were created in God's image, had a direct relationship
with God, and shared jointly the responsibilities of bearing and
rearing children and having dominion over the created order (Gen
1:26-28).
2. The Bible teaches that woman and
man were created for full and equal partnership. The word "helper"
(ezer) used to designate woman in Genesis 2:18 refers to God in
most instances of Old Testament usage (e.g. I Sam 7:12; Ps 121:1-2).
Consequently the word conveys no implication whatsoever of female
subordination or inferiority.
3. The Bible teaches that the forming
of woman from man demonstrates the fundamental unity and equality
of human beings (Gen 2:21-23). In Genesis 2:18, 20 the word "suitable"
(kenegdo) denotes equality and adequacy.
4. The Bible teaches that man and woman
were co-participants in the Fall: Adam was no less culpable than
Eve (Gen 3:6; Rom 5:12-21; I Cor 15:21-22).
5. The Bible teaches that the rulership
of Adam over Eve resulted from the Fall and was therefore not a
part of the original created order. Genesis 3:16 is a prediction
of the effects of the Fall rather than a prescription of God's ideal
order.
Redemption
6. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ
came to redeem women as well as men. Through faith in Christ we
all become children of God, one in Christ, and heirs to the blessings
of salvation without reference to racial, social, or gender distinctives
(John 1:12-13; Rom 8:14-17; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 3:26-28).
Community
7. The Bible teaches that at Pentecost
the Holy Spirit came on men and women alike. Without distinction,
the Holy Spirit indwells women and men, and sovereignly distributes
gifts without preference as to gender (Acts 2:1-21; 1 Cor 12:7,
11, 14:31).
8. The Bible teaches that both women
and men are called to develop their spiritual gifts and to use them
as stewards of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10-11). Both men and
women are divinely gifted and empowered to minister to the whole
Body of Christ, under His authority (Acts 1:14, 18:26, 21:9; Rom
16:1-7, 12-13, 15; Phil 4:2-3; Col 4:15; see also Mark 15:40-41,
16:1-7; Luke 8:1-3; John 20:17-18; compare also Old Testament examples:
Judges 4:4-14, 5:7; 2 Chron 34:22-28; Prov 31:30-31; Micah 6:4).
9. The Bible teaches that, in the New
Testament economy, women as well as men exercise the prophetic,
priestly and royal functions (Acts 2:17-18, 21:9; 1 Cor 11:5; 1
Peter 2:9-10; Rev 1:6, 5:10). Therefore, the few isolated texts
that appear to restrict the full redemptive freedom of women must
not be interpreted simplistically and in contradiction to the rest
of Scripture, but their interpretation must take into account their
relation to the broader teaching of Scripture and their total context
(1 Cor 11:2-16, 14:33-36; 1 Tim 2:9-15).
10. The Bible defines the function
of leadership as the empowerment of others for service rather than
as the exercise of power over them (Matt 20:25-28, 23:8; Mark 10:42-45;
John 13:13-17; Gal 5:13; 1 Peter 5:2-3).
Family
11. The Bible teaches that husbands
and wives are heirs together of the grace of life and that they
are bound together in a relationship of mutual submission and responsibility
(1 Cor 7:3-5; Eph 5:21; 1 Peter 3:1-7; Gen 21:12). The husband's
function as "head" (kephale) is to be understood as self-giving
love and service within this relationship of mutual submission (Eph
5:21-33; Col 3:19; 1 Peter 3:7).
12. The Bible teaches that both mothers
and fathers are to exercise leadership in the nurture, training,
discipline and teaching of their children (Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3; Deut
6:6-9, 21:18-21, 27:16; Prov 1:8, 6:20; Eph 6:1-4; Col 3:20; 2 Tim
1:5; see also Luke 2:51).
Application
Community
1. In the church, spiritual gifts of
women and men are to be recognized, developed and used in serving
and teaching ministries at all levels of involvement: as small group
leaders, counselors, facilitators, administrators, ushers, communion
servers, and board members, and in pastoral care, teaching, preaching,
and worship. In so doing, the church will honor God as the source
of spiritual gifts. The church will also fulfill God's mandate of
stewardship without the appalling loss to God's kingdom that results
when half of the church's members are excluded from positions of
responsibility.
2. In the church, public recognition
is to be given to both women and men who exercise ministries of
service and leadership. In so doing, the church will model the unity
and harmony that should characterize the community of believers.
In a world fractured by discrimination and segregation, the church
will dissociate itself from worldly or pagan devices designed to
make women feel inferior for being female. It will help prevent
their departure from the church or their rejection of the Christian
faith.
Family
3. In the Christian home, husband and
wife are to defer to each other in seeking to fulfill each other's
preferences, desires and aspirations. Neither spouse is to seek
to dominate the other but each is to act as servant of the other,
in humility considering the other as better than oneself. In case
of decisional deadlock they should seek resolution through biblical
methods of conflict resolution rather than by one spouse imposing
a decision upon the other. In so doing, husband and wife will help
the Christian home stand against improper use of power and authority
by spouses and will protect the home from wife and child abuse that
sometimes tragically follows a hierarchical interpretation of the
husband's "headship."
4. In the Christian home, spouses are
to learn to share the responsibilities of leadership on the basis
of gifts, expertise, and availability, with due regard for the partner
most affected by the decision under consideration. In so doing,
spouses will learn to respect their competencies and their complementarity.
This will prevent one spouse from becoming the perennial loser,
often forced to practice ingratiating or deceitful manipulation
to protect self-esteem. By establishing their marriage on a partnership
basis, the couple will protect it from joining the tide of dead
or broken marriages resulting from marital inequities.
5. In the Christian home, couples who
share a lifestyle characterized by the freedom they find in Christ
will do so without experiencing feelings of guilt or resorting to
hypocrisy. They are freed to emerge from an unbiblical "traditionalism"
and can rejoice in their mutual accountability in Christ. In so
doing, they will openly express their obedience to Scripture, will
model an example for other couples in quest of freedom in Christ,
and will stand against patterns of domination and inequality sometimes
imposed upon church and family.
We believe that biblical equality
as reflected in this document is true to Scripture.
We stand united in our conviction that
the Bible, in its totality, is the liberating Word that provides
the most effective way for women and men to exercise the gifts distributed
by the Holy Spirit and thus to serve God.
Gilbert Bilezikian
W. Ward Gasque
Stanley N. Gundry
Gretchen Gaebelein Hull
Catherine Clark Kroeger
Jo Anne Lyon
Roger Nicole
Endorsed by: Miriam Adeney, Astri T.
Anfindsen, Timothy Paul Allen, James Alsdurf, Phyllis Alsdurf, John
E. Anderson, Patricia W. Anderson, Carl E. Armerding, Myron S. Augsburger,
Raymond Bakke, Sandra Bauer, James Beck, Virginia L. Beck, Elizabeth
Bell, Roy D. Bell, David G. Benner, Gordon C. Bennett, Joyce R.
Berggren, Char Binkley, Sandra Bostian, Mark A. Brewer, Bettie Ann
Brigham, D. Stuart Briscoe, Kathleen K. Brogan, James A. Brooks,
Beth E. Brown, H. Marie Brown, F. F. Bruce, Cheever C. Buckbee,
David H. Burr, Donald P. Buteyn, Anthony Campolo, Linda Cannell,
Daniel R. Chamberlain, Caroline L. Cherry, Jack M. Chisholm, Gerald
Christmas, Rosemary Christmas, David K. Clark, Shirley Close, Bonnidell
Clouse, Robert G. Clouse, David W. Clowney, Naomi C. Cole, Mark
O. Coleman, Jim Conway, Sally Conway, Kaye V. Cook-Kollars, C. S.
Cowles, R. Byron Crozier, Peter H. Davids, Edward R. Dayton, Paul
H. De Vries, Sidney De Waal, J. Jey Deifell, Jr., John R. Dellenback,
Mary Jane Dellenback, Gary W. Demarest, Dolores Dunnett, Walter
Dunnett, Charlotte Dyck, James F. Engel, C. Stephen Evans, Colleen
Townsend Evans, Louis Evans, Gabriel Fackre, Gordon D. Fee, John
Fischer, Patrice Fischer, David B. Fletcher, Joan D. Flikkema, David
A. Fraser, Nils C. Friberg, Donn M. Gaebelein, Kevin Giles, Alfred
A. Glenn, Barbara R. Glenn, Arthur A. Goetze, Tita V. Gordovez,
Lillian V. Grissen, H. James Groen, Vernon Grounds, Darrell L. Guder,
Lee M. Haines, Robin Haines, Richard C. Halverson, Sandra Hart,
Stephen A. Hayner, Jo Ellen Heil, Betty C. Henderson, Robert T.
Henderson, John J. Herzog, Bartlett L. Hess, I. John Hesselink,
Roberta Hestenes, Janet S. Hickman, Marvin D. Hoff, Colleen Holby,
Arthur F. Holmes, Beverly Holt, Carol D. C. Howard, David Allan
Hubbard, M. Gay Hubbard, Anne Huffman, John Huffman, Philip G. Hull,
Sanford D. Hull, Richard G. Hutcheson, Jr., William J. Hybels, Vida
S. Icenogle, Dorothy Irvin, Evelyn Jensen, Alan F. Johnson, David
W. Johnson, Robert K. Johnston, Rufus Jones, Kenneth S. Kantzer,
Robert D. Kettering, John F. Kilner, Herbert V. Klem, Richard C.
Kroeger, Harold E. Kurtz, Pauline H. Kurtz, Bruce Larson, Michael
R. Leming, William H. Leslie, Arthur H. Lewis, Walter L. Liefeld,
Zondra Lindblade, Helen W. Loeb, Richard N. Longenecker, Richard
F. Lovelace, Deborah Olsoe Lunde, Kenneth H. Maahs, Faith M. Martin,
James R. Mason, Alice P. Mathews, Dolores E. McCabe, Terry McGonigal,
David L. McKenna, Lois McKinney, William A. Meyer, Hazel M. Michelson,
A. Berkeley Mickelsen, Alvera Mickelsen, Eileen F. Moffett, Samuel
H. Moffett, C. Sue Moore, Edward Moore, Graham Morbey, Mary Leigh
Morbey, Elizabeth Morgan, Stephen C. Mott, Richard J. Mouw, Jeana
Nieporte, William M. Nieporte, Alvaro L. Nieves, Arnold T. Olson,
Daisy M. Washburn Osborn, LaDonna Osborn, T. L. Osborn, Grant R.
Osborne, Grace Paddon, John Paddon, Elizabeth L. Patterson, Virginia
Patterson, Richard Patterson, Jr., Philip Barton Payne, Robert W.
Pazmino, Janet M. Peifer, William J. Petersen, Richard V. Pierard,
Paul E. Pierson, Carolyn Goodman Plampin, Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.,
Christiane Posselt, Quah Cheng Hock, Robert V. Rakestraw, Sara Robertson,
Lianne Roembke, Lydia M. Sarandan, Alvin J. Schmidt, Richard C.
Schoenert, David M. Scholer, Jeannette F. Scholer, Robert A. Seiple,
Ronald J. Sider, Lewis B. Smedes, James D. Smith III, Paul R. Smith,
P. Paul Snezek, Jr., Klyne Snodgrass, Howard A. Snyder, Aida B.
Spencer, William D. Spencer, Adele O. Sullivan, W. Nelson Thomson,
Ruth A. Tucker, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Joseph W. Viola, Virginia
G. Viola, Emily Walther, George H. Walther, Patricia A. Ward, Timothy
Weber, Van B. Weigel, Bruce Wilson, Earle L. Wilson, H. C. Wilson,
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Linda R. Wright, Walter C. Wright, Jr., Louis
H. Zbinden. (9/95)
(c) 1989, Christians for Biblical
Equality. Permission to reproduce the statement in its entirety
can be obtained from the national office of CBE.
CHRISTIANS FOR BIBLICAL EQUALITY
122 West Franklin Avenue,
Suite 218,
Mpls,
MN 55404-2451
Phone: (612) 872-6898 Fax: (612) 872-6891
E-mail: cbe@cbeinternational.org
www.cbeinternational.org
|
