92 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE
should baptize their infant children,” and there is no verse saying,
“Parents should not baptize their children until the children are old
enough to make a personal decision to trust in Christ.”^12 There is no
verse saying, “Regional bishops should govern all the churches in a
region,” and there is no verse saying, “Local churches should be inde-
pendent of any control by people outside each local church.”^13 The dif-
ferent positions that people hold are argued from the implications of
various verses that tell us other things about baptism and church gov-
ernment. Since there are no specific, direct commands about the precise
matters in dispute, it is not surprising that churches and denominations
have different conclusions on these matters.
But the role of women in the church is not like those matters,
because we have direct Scriptural commands saying (in the context of a
passage that speaks about the assembled church) that Paul does “not
permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man” (1 Tim.
2:12). We have specific commands saying that an elder should be the
“husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:6). These commands speak
directly to the issues in question. So this issue is not really like the bap-
tism and church government issues.
(4) We cannot “not decide” this issue. On some issues, we don’t
have to come to a decision. We don’t have to figure out how God can
be three persons and one God—in fact, we probably will never be able
to understand this fully, not even in heaven! And regarding the end
times, many Christians can go about living their Christian lives for
decades and never decide what they think about the future millennium
or the timing of the future great tribulation. There is nothing about those
issues that forces us to make a decision now.
But the role of women in the church is a different matter. There are
really only two options: either a church has women pastors and elders,
or it doesn’t. Or, to put it another way, either a church reserves some
governing and teaching roles for men (a complementarian position), or
it doesn’t (an egalitarian position). Even those churches and groups who
say, “We are still studying this issue” still have some current practices
(^12) However, I have argued that one particular view of baptism seems to be more consistent with
Scripture (Systematic Theology, chapter 49).
(^13) However, I have argued that a particular system of church government seems to be favored
by Scripture (Systematic Theology, chapter 47).