Talking Heads: On Headship, Teaching, and Women in the Church
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:07 — 155.5MB) | Embed
Hosts
Corey J. Mahler
Some issues arise in time, some issues fade with time, and some issues are perennial. That which is founded in the nature of Creation, which flows from the nature of God, never ceases to be relevant to His Church, to His people. The issues of headship, teaching, and authority are perennial issues, and they often arise in the context of the relationship of men and women and the role of women in the Church or in the churches.
In this episode, we address the Scriptural and the ontological with regard to authority, headship, teaching, and the role of women — both in the Church and in the Christian life.
Subscribe to the podcast here.
Show Notes
See Also
Comments?
Join the discussion on Telegram, or comment below.
The explanation here for “image” in “image of god, was something i never got elsewhere although i ams till unclear on the matter
What precisely the imago Dei is is a complex subject. In part, the imago Dei is the original righteousness with which man was created in the Garden, and this was lost in original sin, but is restored (although not entirely in this life, for original sin still taints us so long as we live here) via faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. This is likely a sufficient definition for most, but there is certainly a wealth of materials available for anyone who wishes to look into the subject more deeply.
When speaking of adult men and women, why use the term “girls” while maintaining the term “men”? Undoubtedly there are women who fail to mature into strong, wise Proverbs 31 types, just as there are men who fail to mature into strong, wise men.
Love your podcast. Grateful for your ministry.
Personally, I seldom do so, but that is not to say that I disagree with Woe’s point — he is highlighting the issue of headship. To speak of “girls” instead of “women” is to remind the listener that a woman cannot be her own head any more than a man can be his own savior; this part of the nature of woman is not altered by her age. It is not meant as a pejorative, but as a reminder.
What can be garnered on this matter from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem? What was Christ’s response to the leaders of the day when they told him to make the crowd quiet? He said, “I tell you, if these remain silent, the very stones would cry out.”
What would happen if the men no longer preach the gospel? As in the great falling away that we seem to be enduring today? Would it not fall to the woman to preach the message? or should the message be forgotten?
I do not know what sort of fantasy world you have in mind for this question, but women do not long remain in a future where there are no men. That aside: No, the public ministry never falls to women, as God has specifically precluded them — both by nature and by explicit command in Scripture — from ever holding that office. A woman may speak privately on these matters, but she must remain silent publicly.
If needed, God will raise up men, or find a donkey.
“….If needed, God will raise up men, or find a donkey….”
made me spit coffee, lol,
My brother has been listening to your podcast for the past few months, so today I decided to listen to your first episode. As a fairly traditional girl (value modest dress, complementarian, planning on veiling once I marry, etc.) I’ll admit that I’m rather concerned. My brother has never been the most gracious or loving person. He is always very quick to call out sin (or what he views as sin), usually in an aggressive and uncompromising manner. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but he often takes it to dangerously judgmental and sometimes violent extremes. While I can agree with your beliefs that women should not teach in church and should submit to their husbands, I find your interpretation of the equality (or lack thereof, in this case) of men and women to be problematic. I apologize if this is a misquote of your words because I’ve only listened to this episode once, but I believe at one point you both laughed at the idea of men and women being equal and said something along the lines of, “of course that’s not true.” Your intent behind saying this might have simply been referring to the inequality between men and women physically or the fact that we have distinct roles, in which case I would agree with you. However, combined with the other things you taught and spoke about in this episode (such as the disobedience of all feminist movements, including first wave feminism, which I do not see as a rebellion against God) this comment sounded more like a declaration that men and women are not equal in value, both to society and to God. In that case I would certainly disagree with your beliefs, because God shows His love and value for women, along with men, throughout the Bible. Even if this was not your intent, I could easily see certain boys and men, such as my brother, taking your teachings and drawing very concerning conclusions from them. While (certain) men do have headship over (certain) women, I don’t believe this headship should be as all-encompassing and controlling as your teachings suggest. Christ has headship over the church, but He still allows churches to make decisions (sometimes right and sometimes wrong) for themselves. From the beginning of Creation, one of the most important things God provided humanity with was free will. Yes, we abused our free will and the result was the Fall, but free will was still given to us. God’s headship over mankind was not threatened by His giving us free will. Likewise, I believe that men can have headship over women without trying to control every aspect of women’s lives (such as not allowing them to go to college). I apologize for the long comment, but all this is to say that, while I admire your desire to reject modern twisting of Scripture, you should be more concerned about the underlying messages of (ungodly levels of) superiority and domination that you are presenting because they could easily be used as excuses for abuse of power, violence, and self-righteousness.
Scripture states clearly that wives are to submit to their husbands in all things, not just some limited subset of things (this is also implied by the concept of headship itself):
Men and women are not equal, but neither are men and men. Inequality is built into Creation because it is part of God’s plan. One man is faster than another, one stronger, one more intelligent — equality is to be found nowhere in Creation with the sole exception being before the Judgement Seat of God: If one believes, he is saved; if one does not believe, he is damned.
The issue with women attending college is not necessarily simply a matter of men exercising headship, but a matter of women fulfilling their God-give roles of wife and mother — something that college, at the absolute best, delays unacceptably. Notably, neither of us believes college should be standard for men.
As to the issue of ‘value’, I find it too vague of a term to address.
Have been thinking about your comment about Bible groups for a while since I’m not sure if I understood what you guys meant.
You are against women leading those kinds of groups as in writing questions and explaining them if noone gets it?(I agree with that one), women answering questions from the Bible study and maybe explaining some theology? (probably agree also for more pragmatic reasons since some women in my church have pretty terrible answers/oneliners) or generally making any noise in it at all?
I remember one time no women were present at Bible study and bc of that it was one of my favourites not sure if it was just because I heard no stupid answers that time or I felt deep down women shouldn’t answer tbh maybe even bit of both?
Not sure how it looks like in america but in Poland basically a guy makes questions to the text or eventually to a subject if it’s thematic study and the rest(women included) can answer that atleast that’s how they do it in my church.
Would appreciate if you were to explain more on that.
Women should generally not speak in church (as Scripture clearly commands), and this includes the Bible study that precedes or follows the service (or occurs midweek, or whenever). It is fine for women to ask questions of their own husbands at home (perhaps even in a small group that meets in a home), but women should not be asking or answering questions in Bible studies in church. If they have questions, they can ask their husbands when they get home.