Nowhere in Paul’s letters do we get the smallest hint that male and female have ceased to be important categories for life and ministry. Paul is not obliterating sexual difference across the board. Rather, he is reminding the Galatians that when it comes to being right before God and being together in Christ, the markers of sex, ethnicity, and station are of no advantage.

It’s not surprising, given the volatile nature of sex in our world, that the divinely designed complementarity of men and women is a disputed topic. On the one hand, we want to be humble before the Lord and before each other, acknowledging that we can make interpretive mistakes.

On the other hand, we don’t want to undermine practical biblical authority by declaring that all we have are “interpretations.” The existence of rival interpretations does not preclude that one of them is right or at least more correct than another. “Come now, let us reason together” is necessary advice for God’s people today as much as it ever has been (Isa. 1:18).

With that in mind, let me address a number of common objections to complementarianism.

Objection 1: Galatians 3:28

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

For some Christians, this text settles the question of sex roles in the church. While Paul’s teachings in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy were more occasional, they argue, this is clearly transcultural. Galatians 3:28 is the verse. Nothing can be understood about men and women apart from it, and every verse must go through it in order to have validity.

But aside from the questionable approach of making this verse the final word on the subject, does it teach what some Christians claim? Does Galatians 3:28 obliterate sex-specific roles in the church?

Consider the broader context of Galatians. Paul is trying to forge a theological path through the Jew-Gentile controversy ravaging the church. The main issue at stake is whether Gentiles have to start living like Jews in order to be saved. This in turn brings Paul back to the larger question of what it means to be a true Jew in the first place. Do we receive the Spirit by the law, or by believing (3:2)? Are we justified by the law, or through faith (2:16)? Paul’s clear answer is that we are declared right before God through faith in Christ.

But some Jews were in danger of missing the boat. Peter, for example, had to be rebuked because he refused table fellowship with Gentiles (Gal. 2:11–14). Apparently, some in Galatia were making the similar error of thinking Jews and Gentiles were on a different spiritual plane. Against this error, Paul strenuously argues that we are all one in Christ.

So what does it mean that we are all one? In what way is there neither male nor female? Does sexual difference cease to matter for those in Christ? Certainly not, or the logic behind Paul’s condemnation of same-sex sexual intimacy would not make sense (Rom. 1:18–32).

Nowhere in Paul’s letters do we get the smallest hint that male and female have ceased to be important categories for life and ministry. Paul is not obliterating sexual difference across the board. Rather, he is reminding the Galatians that when it comes to being right before God and being together in Christ, the markers of sex, ethnicity, and station are of no advantage.

Objection 2: Ephesians 5:21

“submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21).

No one should deny that we are to love one another, prefer others above ourselves, deal gently with each other, respond kindly, and treat others with respect and humility. That’s a kind of “mutual submission” I suppose, but is that what the text is talking about? Some Christians maintain that mutual submission cancels out differences in marital responsibilities and structures of authority. Even if wives are told to submit to their husbands (and the Greek word is implied but not stated in verse 22), this is only in the context of already submitting to one another. That’s the argument, but does it hold up?

The key to understanding verse 21 is to look at what comes next. Following the injunction to submit to one another, Paul outlines the proper relationship between different parties. Wives should submit to husbands, children obey their parents, and slaves obey their masters. Paul has in mind specific relationships when he commands mutual submission.

His concern is not that everyone deal graciously and respectfully with one another (though that’s a good idea too) but that Christians submit to those who are in authority over them: wives to husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ means that we submit to those whose position entails authority over us. (It is also worth pointing out that the “one another” language does not always imply reciprocity. See, for example, Matt. 24:10; Luke 12:1; 1 Cor. 7:5; 11:33.)

Any other meaning of Ephesians 5:21 does not do justice to the Greek. The word for submission (hypotasso) is never used in the New Testament as a generic love and respect for others. Hypotasso occurs 37 times in the New Testament outside of Ephesians 5:21, always with reference to a relationship in which one party has authority over another.

Thus, Jesus submits (hypotasso) to his parents (Luke 2:51), demons to the disciples (Luke 10:17, 20), the flesh to the law (Rom. 8:7), creation to futility (Rom. 8:20), the Jews to God’s righteousness (Rom. 10:3), citizens to their rulers and governing officials (Rom. 13:1, 5; Titus 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:13), spirit of the prophets to the prophets (1 Cor. 14:32), women in churches (1 Cor. 14:34), Christians to God (Heb. 12:9; James 4:7), all things to Christ or God (1 Cor. 15:27–28; Eph. 1:22; Phil. 3:21; Heb. 2:5, 8; 1 Pet. 3:22), the Son to God (1 Cor. 15:28), wives to husbands (Eph. 5:24; Col. 3:18; 1 Pet. 3:1, 5), slaves to masters (Titus 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:18); the younger to their elders (1 Pet. 5:5), and Christians to gospel workers (1 Cor. 16:16). Nowhere in the New Testament does hypotasso refer to the reciprocal virtues of patience, kindness, and humility. It is always for one party or person or thing lining up under the authority of another.

Objection 3: Slavery

Christians are often embarrassed by the Bible’s seeming indifference toward, or even endorsement of, slavery. Since the New Testament household codes command the wife’s submission and the slave’s obedience, some Christians conclude that both injunctions must be cultural. They argue that God did not create slavery or male headship; he simply regulated them. And even though the New Testament does not overturn these patterns, it does encourage equality and respect among all people, sowing the seeds for the full emancipation of women and slaves in the future.

What are we to make of this argument? The best way to approach this objection is to start with an honest assessment of the Bible’s perspective on slavery. It’s true that the Bible does not condemn slavery outright. Remember, however, that slavery in the ancient world was not about race. In America, you can’t talk about slavery without talking about blacks and whites. But that wasn’t the context in the ancient world. Slavery was a lot of things, but it wasn’t a race thing.

But still, why didn’t Paul, or Jesus for that matter, denounce the institution of slavery? For starters, their goal was not political and social revolution. To be sure, political and social change followed in their wake, but their primary goal was spiritual. They proclaimed a message of faith and repentance and reconciliation with God. They simply did not comment on every political and social issue of the day. In fact, Paul in the book of Acts is eager to demonstrate that being a Christian did not make one a rabble-rouser or insurrectionist.

More to the point, the New Testament does not condemn slavery outright because slavery in the ancient world was not always undesirable (considering the alternatives). Some persons sold themselves into slavery to escape grinding poverty. Others entered into slavery with hopes of paying off debts or coming out on the other side as Roman citizens. Slavery didn’t have to be a permanent condition. It could be a step toward a better lot in life.

Of course, we don’t want to paint a rosy picture of slavery in the ancient world. It was dehumanizing and unbearable. Masters could treat their slaves cruelly and force them—male and female, young and old—into sexual degradation. Nevertheless, slavery could be a manageable way out of dire poverty.

In the Old Testament, for example, there were a number of ways for slaves to gain their freedoms. In some circumstances, you were set free after six years. Other times, a relative could purchase your freedom or you could purchase it yourself. And at the Year of Jubilee, Hebrew slaves were released and received back their inheritance. The Old Testament regulated slavery in a number of ways without ever explicitly condemning it.

While the Bible does not condemn slavery outright, it never condones slavery, and certainly never commends it. Slavery is not celebrated as a God-given gift like children are. Slavery was not pronounced good before the fall like work was. John Chrysostom, preaching in the fourth century, explained the marriage passage in Ephesians 5 and the slavery passage in Ephesians 6 in very different language. On why wives should submit to their husbands, he writes:

Because when they are in harmony, the children are well brought up, and the domestics are in good order, and neighbors, and friends, and relations enjoy the fragrance. . . . And just as when the generals of an army are at peace with one another, all things are in due subordination . . . so, I say, it is here. Wherefore, saith he, “Wives, be in subjection unto your husbands, as unto the Lord.”

Chrysostom assumes submission in marriage to be an unqualified good. But when it comes to slavery in Ephesians 6, he comments:

But should anyone ask, whence is slavery, and why it has found entrance into human life . . . I will tell you. Slavery is the fruit of covetousness, of degradation, of savagery; since Noah, we know, had no servant, nor had Abel, nor Seth, no, nor they who came after them. The thing was the fruit of sin, of rebellion against parents.

Clearly, Chrysostom’s approach to slavery is much different than to submission. Headship and submission in marriage were self-evident to him, even when justification for the institution of slavery was not.

Slavery is never rooted in God’s good purposes for his creation. In fact, slavery as it developed in the New World would have been outlawed in the Old Testament. “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death” (Ex. 21:16). That command alone would not allow for anything like the African slave trade.

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