The issue was and still is one of how Scripture is to be interpreted. At the end of the day the question is always the same, “Does the Bible gives us a comprehensive and clear teaching on whether or not women should preach or be ordained to the office of elder and pastor? And if so, on what basis?

Aimee Byrd had her first preaching debut this past Sunday. Since many women in our churches have read Byrd’s books and listened to her speak, I think it’s important to be made aware of this development. In response to others who have expressed concern, Byrd expressed her freedom from the modern categories of complementarian and egalitarian, saying that she doesn’t fit nicely into any category. Byrd then asserted that the church is confused as to what preaching is in the church today (really, we’re all confused about preaching?), as she affirmed the inviting pastor who, ex cathedra, championed a distinction between “the act of preaching from the office of the preacher.”

When a present charge of confusion is made against a clear practice of the church, what is required is a reminder of the basic, biblical teaching on the matter without fear that these issues have already been covered. Sometimes, as a pastor, I feel like present challenges to our theology and practice are hijacked in such a way that to restate the basic, biblical and confessional truth of the matter seems elementary, unnecessary, or even assumed. But the church is always in need, when errors are introduced, to have clear, biblical responses to be set before the people to wash away the actual mud of confusion.

Deja Vu, All Over Again

In 1996 the first woman pastor was ordained in the Christian Reformed Church. The issue of women in ecclesiastical office had already been an issue in the CRC for over twenty years. A minority report at the 1984 Synod called into question the validity of the headship principle and whether it should be understood as a creation norm. (Acts of Synod 1984, p. 376). After the appointment and work of various study committees the Synod of 1992 adopted the following declaration:

The scriptural teaching that the husband is head over his wife within marriage cannot be broadened to claim the headship of all males over all females in the church and so to prohibit women from serving in the offices of the church (Agenda of Synod 1992, p. 377).

Based on this declaration, the CRC opened the door for the churches to use “discretion in utilizing the gifts of women members in all the offices of the church” (Acts of Synod 1990, p. 650).

The issue was and still is one of how Scripture is to be interpreted. At the end of the day the question is always the same, “Does the Bible gives us a comprehensive and clear teaching on whether or not women should preach or be ordained to the office of elder and pastor? And if so, on what basis?

The root of the disagreement lies in the application of the word equality. Proponents of women being ordained as elders or pastors believe that equality must be understood in its fullest sense. As Dale Groothuis expressed, “To posit a radical disjunct between being and function is viewed as counter to the biblical teaching and the most rudimentary principle of social justice.” The problem is that many egalitarians only seem to speak from an ontological reality. But why is it arbitrary to say that the exercise of authority does not originate ontologically but is expressed in terms of functionality assigned by God in creation? This equality is not in tension with the fact that God has assigned functional responsibilities for men and women.

In Genesis 2:18-20, the woman is referred to as a “helper” of man. She was created “out of” Adam, and “for” Adam. Moreover, Adam had the responsibility to name the woman. The gender role distinctions in Gen. 1 and 2 in the state of perfection demonstrate a certain creation order between man and woman. The man was created to lead his wife, and the wife was created to be a helper to the man. In Ephesians 5:22-23 Paul gives instructions to husbands and wives based upon this principle. “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and he is the savior of the body.” Functionally, the woman was created to be the glory of man; she was taken from him to be his helper. Functionally, the man is to be the head of the wife, leading her with love.

The Bible does not posit a tension between the constitutional equality between man and women, and functionality in the assignment of roles between men and women.

Creation Norms & Authority

Egalitarians stress that the creational relationship of Adam and Eve was one of complete partnership without any inferiority or subordination. In the state of perfection, Adam and Eve were involved in a side-by-side relationship of parity. But in the fall, this parity was damaged and the curse entailed a cruel oppressive relationship between the man and women. It is in Christ that the “hard curse”, as it is often expressed, of Genesis 3:16 is reversed; the rule of the man over the women is now abolished. With the coming of Christ, oppressive social structures are removed, the curse of Genesis 3 is reversed, and women can now exercise their equality (in the fullest sense of the term), with man in the church. “This is beautiful,” as Byrd states. The woman is now elevated to her original state of equality and pristine role of partnership and equality with man, and, to go further, as Byrd does, “Redeemed humanity is a mankind who has become “womankind”.

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