9: JUST IGNORE THE “DISPUTED” PASSAGES? 93that they have decided to follow, and that commits them (for the pres-
ent time at least) to either a complementarian or an egalitarian position.
So this issue is different from questions about the end times, because
every church and every organization has to make some decision or
another on this issue. Leaders on both sides of this issue seem to agree
that no real “middle ground” is possible. In fact, the editors of the recent
egalitarian collection of essays Discovering Biblical Equality wrote:
Though we speak strongly in favor of unity, points of agreement and
dialogue, it must be noted at the start that we see no middle ground
on this question.... two essential questions remain. Are all avenues
of ministry and leadership open to women as well as men, or are
women restricted from certain roles and subordinated to male author-
ity on the basis of gender alone? Likewise, do wives share equally
with husbands in leadership and decision making in marriage, or does
the husband have a unique responsibility and privilege to make final
decisions, based on his gender alone? The answers to these questions
will continue to distinguish clearly between the male leadership and
gender equality positions.^14Actually, the role of women in the church is in one way similar to
the question of baptism, in that churches have to make some decision.
Either they will baptize infants or they will not. They have to make a
decision as soon as the first baby is born in a church.^15
And churches on both sides of the baptism question have explana-
tions for why they think their view is consistent with Scripture. The lead-
ers among the Lutherans and the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians
don’t say, “The Bible verses about baptism are too hard for us to decide,
but we baptize infants because it makes parents happy” (or some other
such non–Bible based answer). And the leaders among the Baptists don’t
say, “We can’t decide the disputed verses about baptism in the Bible
because there are godly scholars on both sides, but we have decided to
(^14) Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, “Introduction,” in Discovering Biblical
Equality, ed. Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothuis (Downers Grove, Ill.:
InterVarsity Press, 2004), 17, emphasis added.
(^15) Even the Evangelical Free Church of America, which allows parents to decide for themselves
whether they want their infants baptized, has made a decision: it has decided it will allow the
validity of infant baptism when the parents want it.