Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Galatians 3:28 There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. [Rom 3:22; 1 Cor 12:13] |
Subject: God can use woman in the ministry? |
Bible Note: Male dominance is an unfortunate unbiblical way to live out the gospel. Equality between men and women is the Biblically accurate approach. Especially in marriage and it carries over into all of life including co-laboring in the gospel. Therefore the Biblical reason for not placing women in authority over men in the church has nothing to do with dominance or tradition or attitudes toward women. The real issue prohibiting women pastors is headship, that is what 1 Tim 2:8-15 is referring to. The reason given is directly related to Adam’s accountability to God. Adam was first created, not Eve, therefore God communed in different ways with him than with the woman. Essentially Adam was originally given the responsibility to account to God for the woman, we see that is still true in Paul's epistle to Timothy. Paul says so by saying that it is substantive that Adam was not deceived, Eve was. God doesn't let the woman off the hook, instead He calls out for the responsible party to speak for the couple (remember Adam was given the command to tend the garden and not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil--Eve wasn’t created yet). “Eve was deceived not Adam”, Adam shrunk from his position as head, Eve in her deception usurped Adam’s headship. Why else did God hold Adam responsible (rom. 5:18-19), since he wasn't deceived, the woman was? Certainly Paul is faithful enough to not shrink from crediting Eve if it was true that she is to blame? Adam tried to blame Eve but God holds him responsible. Look at the curses: Eve was cursed with pain in childbirth and in the eternal struggle with her husband’s authority; Adam was cursed with death, starting with effort/pain in work, and death (return to the earth). But Eve died also, because what happens through the head also happens to the woman. The issue that prohibits women in leadership is unhangable due to the creation order. Adam was the head over Eve before the fall and after the fall, and men today are the head over women (Eph 5:22). Eve’s accountability failings from the fall are permanent according to the New Testament, just as Adam’s are; sin (death) is still with us and the woman’s struggle for headship over the man is too. It is the latter issue that states women are not to be put in authority over a man spiritually. Review, male domination is not Biblical, equality with male headship is. Through the fall conditions stated in the curses are permanent, one of these that really comes from the creation order is unhangable no matter what trends exist in modern Evangelicalism. Namely, female headship is unbiblical. I have had the benefit to learn from my former pastor (who taught Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Div./ Deerfield Ill.) who you can read more on this subject in “Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an Evangelical Response” by Piper and Grudem (it is a great book with many contributions in it). Read Chapter three by Raymond Ortlund Jr. on this to get the full thought, he was my teacher, I commend him to you. His conclusion about the similarity between male dominance and Evangelical Feminism is hot, and for some may prove to be life changing. |