10-1-3. Spiritual Equality Of Men And Women
Men and women are equal I salvation (Gal. 3:27-29). In Christ, husband and wife are “heirs together...of life” (1 Pet. 3:7). Their ‘equality’ is in the fact that both men and women have equal hope of salvation. Yet in the same verse, Peter speaks of the wife as “the weaker vessel”. He does not say ‘the weak vessel’, as we would expect, if woman is only weaker than man due to centuries of conditioning (as feminist theologians argue). “The weaker vessel” clearly shows that there is a strength difference, in whatever way, between man and woman. Thus the Bible does not teach equality of roles in every way. If man and woman have equal roles, then how can we obey the command for women not to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence (1 Tim. 2:12)? Why did God create Eve to be a “help” for her husband, and why did He command her: “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16)? The Hebrew for “rule over thee” occurs again in Is. 40:10 and Zech. 6:13, speaking of how Christ will “rule over” the nations in the coming Kingdom. We cannot say that this command was just reflecting local culture at the time, for there was no surrounding culture; they were the first ever human beings. The New Testament commands regarding the silence of women in church meetings draw their authority from these principles in Genesis; these principles are not altered by time or culture. If the Genesis record was not influenced by surrounding culture, seeing there was none, then it is impossible that the New Testament passages which teach the same thing were influenced by their surrounding cultures. They are quoting the same culture-free principles which were found in Genesis. We dare not say that the record of God’s words in Genesis was influenced by a writer reflecting the local views of his time. For if this is so, then those records are not really inspired; God did not actually say the words which the Bible says He did.
Why is there the command for women to have their heads covered as a sign of their subjection, if the truth is that man and woman are totally equal? Would God tell us to do something which contradicted a fundamentally true principle? And why is Sarah held up as an example to female believers, in that she called Abraham her “lord” in her heart? Her subconscious awareness of Abraham’s lordship is held up to women as an example to copy (1 Pet. 3:1-7 cp. Gen. 18:12). How can Christians who claim that men and women are totally equal in role even start to copy such an example? Why was Eve given a different punishment to Adam, if man and woman were created totally equal? Surely their punishments were related to their intended roles? Likewise, women are told to develop certain characteristics, whilst men are told to concentrate on others (1 Pet. 3:4-7). Why, if God wanted to inculcate total equality of roles, as feminist theologians argue?
It is clear from these passages that women are expected to fulfil a role-model which is in subjection to the man. The spiritual equality between men and women in Christ does not mean that there is no element of hierarchy in structuring their relationship. Likewise, all of us are equal in Christ, but men who are elders deserve more respect in some ways; Jews and Gentiles are equal in Christ, but Jewish Christians have a particularly exalted status (Rom.9-11). The same is true for male and female believers; they may be equal in Christ, but the man is typical of Christ, who is worthy of respect and a leadership role. Thus if there is to be no subjection of women to men in the church, then there will be no subjection of men to men. Yet the idea of subjection is taught in Scripture.
