Theology Recap Tuesday (Only A Day Late)

Women And Authority In Marriage and The Church - Where Do You Stand?

A rather lengthy debate broke out in class on Monday night, and again people, I'm asking you to step up to the plate and state your position on yet another touchy subject. I'm going to touch on a few key issues within this one topic, so while I might seem to be jumping around, please bear with me: it all unites to create one major point in the end.

First and foremost, we look at Ephesians 5:22-32:

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

So in this context, what should a woman's role in marriage be? How should her husband treat her? If a marriage relationship were modeled after this passage of scripture, how do you think it would appear and function? Would there be a definite "dominance" of the man in the household, or would there be a sense of equal submission on both parts?

Next we look at Genesis 3:16:

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

The debate here was three-fold: what does God mean when he says, "thy desire shall be to thy husband"? Does this mean that we will always be yearning for and chasing after the affections of our husbands because we are more emotional than they are? Or does it mean that we will always "aspire" to be equal to, or on the same level as them in the relationship, thus creating friction? It states rather clearly at the end of that verse, "and he shall rule over you", what the roles are, no? Also, the men were rather insistant upon the issue of Adam being "punished for Eve's wrongdoings". But that begs the question, why didn't Adam do anything to stop her? Would not then, he be equally as guilty for not having stepped in as Eve was for giving into temptation?

And lastly, where do you stand on the issue of women's role in the church? It states in 1Tim 2:11-12:

11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

So! Should we say that this scripture was merely "speaking to the times" and say that it's okay for a woman to assume the role of senior pastor of a church, knowing that she would have spiritual authority over men? Or, do we say, keep women out of that role of authority, but allow women to pastor children, youth, and other women? What do you think of women like Joyce Myers, etc...?

For more information on the issue of women and authority in the church, please visit The Broken Messenger: As I was formulating my thoughts for this post yesterday, I came across his site, and couldn't believe that he wrote about the exact issue that I was struggling with at that very moment. It's a great read, so please take the time to read it, and then, in true Katie fashion: please please please come back and comment!