Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism?

96 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE

and pastors. That is because we can’t understand what you mean

when you say elders should be the husband of one wife.”

By contrast, the response of complementarians to these verses is sim-
ple. It looks like this:

God’s Word: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise

authority over a man” [when Christians assemble to worship and to

hear the Bible taught].

Complementarians: “Okay, God, we won’t have a woman teaching

or exercising authority over men when we assemble as a group of

Christians for worship and Bible teaching.”

God’s Word: “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the

husband of one wife.. .”

Complementarians: “Okay, God, we will only have men as overseers,

elders, and pastors.”^18

Now I realize that people can raise hundreds of questions about spe-
cific situations and how these commands apply to one situation or
another. But those are questions of wisdom in application. We are not
saying, “We can’t understand what it means.” We are saying (as all
Christians have to do with all of God’s commands), “We need godly wis-
dom to apply this command rightly in this or that specific situation.” But
we are seeking to apply it from a position of understanding what it
means and being willing to obey it.^19
Do we think this topic is something that God cares about? Do we
think it is something that he counts as a matter of obedience to him? Or

(^18) People differ on the exact sense of “husband of one wife,” but they all obey it in the sense
they think it has. Some think “husband of one wife” means “not having multiple wives, not
being a polygamist,” and they obey the verse in that way. Some think it means “never being
divorced or widowed and then remarried,” and they obey the verse in that way. Some (very
few) think it means an elder must be married (not a bachelor) and they obey it in that way. I
hold the first view and have argued for it in Systematic Theology, 916-917.
(^19) I discuss the application of these verses to dozens of specific situations in Evangelical
Feminism and Biblical Truth, 84-101.