Complimentarianism: A Short Defense, Part 1

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been confronted with, from more than one place, the idea of women in roles of leadership in the Church both pastoral or otherwise. It's no secret that the official position of the Association of Vineyard Churches USA is egalitarianism, or the view that women should not be held back from leadership positions in the Church. However, this is only on the translocal level. On the local level, that determination is left to the local church. But the egalitarian view is clearly the majority opinion in the Vineyard.

The other side of this question, and the position that I embrace and am now prepared to defend, is complimentarianism. In short, this view states that God created both men and women equally in His image, but assigned to each different, but complimentary roles in the family and in the Church. In other words, there are certain roles that only a man can fulfill, but that a woman compliments him in. Conversely, there are certain roles that only a woman can fulfill, but that a man compliments her in.

Before I move on I would like to state a few things. Firstly, I do hope that my statements are taken in the sense that I mean them. I do not wish to tear down, denigrate, or in any way hurt others in the Body of Christ, especially those with whom I disagree on this issue. It is not my intention to question the reality of any person's salvation, sincerity, or their love for our Lord Jesus Christ. I realize that this is a sensitive issue and will attempt to proceed accordingly.

Secondly, my statements are not meant to communicate any sort of chauvinism or mysogynism. I do not have some sort of sexist axe to grind. I honor womanhood and motherhood and would not be who I am today without either. I honor and love my own wife, mother, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, sister-in-law, and niece in my own family as well as the many friends I have who are female.

Thirdly, although I have the best of intentions and take great care, it is possible that I may none-the-less offend someone in the Body of Christ. It is also possible that I may also slip up and display some sort of immaturity or insensitivity. If such occurs, feel free to call me on it, in a Christ-like manner of course, and if I see it, I will immediately repent and apologize. This is a learning and growing experience for me too. I am still new at this.

Fourthly, I do this because I love the truth. I believe this issue is important and one that needs to be discussed. God has ordered the Church to function in a way consistent with His revelation in Scripture and I believe that the Scriptures do speak to this issue particularly. But I also know that the truth is to be spoken in love (Ephesians 4:15), so I endeavor to do exactly that.

The question before us that I intend to answer biblically is what does Scripture say about the role of women in the local church, specifically in regard to leadership? Historically the answer has been that only qualified men can and should fulfill this role. Recently however, the pendulum has swung the other direction, particularly in the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Third Wave traditions. Methodism, the Churches of the Nazarene and other offshoots of Wesleyanism were already ordaining women.

The Lutheran, Anglican, and Episcopalian traditions have followed suit I do believe. Many of the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Reformed varieties however have still held strongly to the traditional view of qualified male leadership.

Among those like myself who believe in the continuation of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and in the ministries of signs and wonders/deliverance, the Qualified Male Leadership view (hence QML) is a distinct minority viewpoint (although Sovereign Grace Ministries and New Frontiers International are notable exceptions).

It would be tempting to start our discussion at 1 Timothy 2:12,13 but instead I want to start at Genesis 1:26,27.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (NASB)

The reality of humanity as created in God's image is one of the central beliefs of the Christian faith. But what exactly does it mean to be created in God's image?

I believe that reflecting God back to Himself is what that means. In other words, we as human beings look like God. We sound like God. We smell like God. God created us almost like mirrors that He gazes at Himself in and finds pleasure in. At least that is what is supposed to happen. Sin has so damaged that image, that God really finds it repugnant and in order to restore that image to us, sends His only Son to die for us and be raised back to life for us. Christ's passion is designed to make human beings look like, sound like, and smell like God again for His glory.

Another basic Christian truth is the Trinity. Simply put, the Trinity is the belief that there is one, and only one, true and living God who is revealed as three distinct, but co-equal persons - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. These three are one, and only one God.

So how do these basic truths of the Christian faith tie together to argue for the QML viewpoint? I'm glad you asked!

As human beings who reflect God back to Himself, we are called not only to reflect God's rulership over the universe, and His love and compassion to each other, but also to reflect His Trinitarian existence.

In the Trinity, although the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equal in essence, there is still headship and submission. The Father exercises headship over the Son. The Son submits to the Father. Jesus said to His disciples once, "...The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). Our Lord certainly did not mean that He was inferior to the Father as some cultists teach, but that in the Trinity, there is a pecking order if you will. Similarly, the Apostle Paul states: God is the head of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:3) The Father takes a leadership role in the Godhead while the Son submits to His Father's will.

Tying that in with our current discussion, I believe that the Scriptures indicate that in the home and in the church, God has set a pattern of male leadership to reflect His intra-trinitarian relationships (I do not believe that women should be held back from positions of authority or leadership outside the home or church. Women can hold positions of authority in the marketplace or government for example and all those under a woman's leadership are obliged to submit).

Consider again with me 1 Corinthians 11:3 in its context:

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. (NASB)

Paul, I believe, is laying out the divine pecking order. God [the Father] is over Christ. Christ is over man, and man (in this context, in the church's gathering) is over the woman. But, lest the man become arrogant, Paul reminds the men that every man (excepting Adam of course), came from a woman.

What I think is important as we consider this text as it relates to the issue at hand is that when we consider Christ's obedience to the Father, we always see Him joyfully submitting to His Father and lovingly carrying out the plan of God. He never considered that it might diminish His essential equality with God.

In the next part of this discussion, I'll deal more with how Christ is the model for both the male and female.

-Christian