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HOUSMAIL HM112 18
November 2003 ALL ONE IN CHRIST
JESUS -- (Gal 3:28-29) “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according
to promise." (Galatians 3:28-29) Since
the advent of the "Women's Liberation Movement" in the latter half of
the 20th century, there have been many changes in our western society culture,
designed to pacify and accommodate the powerful political force of the women voters
who are sympathetic to its goals. Women are being elected to Parliament, and Political
Party Leadership roles, in increasing numbers. Laws have been introduced to prevent
"discrimination" and enforce "equal opportunity" in the work
force. In many cases it has actually worked to create a form of reverse discrimination
against men, as employers struggled to meet legally required "targets"
for increasing the visible numbers of women executives. As
might be expected this same sort of thinking quickly invaded the Church, and many
have taken up the struggle to "legalise" the ordination of women to
senior leadership positions as bishops, elders, pastors, and teachers. A couple
of generations ago this would have been virtually unthinkable and impossible --
but today it is already an accomplished fact in many denominations, as one after
the other has become infected with this unfortunate "Kings New Clothes Syndrome". One
of the main Scriptures called to support the claims of the Women's Ordination
Movement, is the passage from Galatians quoted above. However,
as we shall see, using it this way is actually a serious misuse of the
passage which lifts it out of its proper context, and sets the Apostle Paul in
contradiction against himself, when compared with his other teaching in
1 Timothy 2! BACKGROUND In the
Jewish society of Paul's day, "racism" was alive and well.
There were visible class distinctions in operation, based on wealth
and pedigree, and membership of this or that Jewish sect. Women were not «equal»
to men. The poor were not equal to the upper class rich. Greeks and Romans were
not equal to Jews. And the Samaritans were called "dogs"! And of course
similar reverse attitudes were strong in Roman and Greek cultures. Amongst
Jews, inheritance of the family estate favoured the eldest son. He got a «double
portion» of everything. i.e. Twice as much as his siblings. (Deuteronomy 21:17) But much like our own
society, family feuds could develop about who got how much. And there could be
situations where fathers and mothers had different "favourites" and
disagreed about who should get the inheritance. e.g. Isaac and Rebekah with Esau
and Jacob. (Genesis 27) And
again, just like our own society, there would almost certainly have been situations
where the favourite child got the lot, and the others got nothing. (These cases
seem to appear regularly in our 21st century press, when family members sue to
claim a bigger share of the parental estate from other beneficiaries of the will!) RACIAL
TENSION IN GALATIA Racial
tensions between Jews and Gentiles had already left their mark at Paul's home
church in Antioch. These tensions had been brought into the Church at Antioch,
by Jewish Christian visitors from Jerusalem, who had refused to eat with Gentile
Christians. (Galatians 2:11-13) Even
Peter and Barnabas were swayed to withdraw from the Gentile Christians, to join
with the «circumcision party». (Galatians 2:14) Paul moved quickly to rebuke Peter! Now
we learn from Galatians 1:6-8, Galatians 2:1-10, that «false believers»
were preaching a false Gospel, amongst the Galatian Churches, which insisted that
circumcision was necessary for salvation. Paul moved quickly again, using VERY
strong language to reject that! Chapter
3 of Galatians must be read against this
background. PAUL'S
REAL SUBJECT In the
Gospel which he describes in Galatians 3 it is baptism and "putting on Christ"
which leads to inheritance of the promises -- NOT Circumcision. Paul's
main point is equality of privilege for all believers to receive a full and rightful
share in the inheritance of the Kingdom promises to Abraham. He
is reassuring the Galatian Christians that the REAL Gospel has no room at all
for any of those carnally motivated racial and class prejudices, and inequality
of «inheritance rights», which were rampant in the unbelieving Jewish and Gentile
worlds around them. BUT
....... let us read carefully here ...... He is
not saying that everyone has the same gift of the Holy Spirit. That
would contradict 1 Corinthians 12:27-31. Nor is He saying that all Jews and Gentiles, or all slaves and
freemen, or all males and females, have equal rights or qualifications for any
particular service in the Church! That would contradict 1 Corinthians 12:6-8. Nor is he saying that
women may or should become bishops or elders or deacons. That would contradict
1 Timothy 3:1-13. And
especially in this context, nor is he saying anything even remotely like that
women may, or should, teach men! That would contradict 1 Timothy 2:12. The real truth about those things must be gleaned When
we read those other Scriptures with prayerful attention to detail, we shall discover
that there are many areas in which God has assigned different roles in the Church
for men and women. THAT "difference" does NOT make them unequal! CONCLUSION Paul's
Epistle to the Galatians cannot be used to justify contradicting, or explaining
away, Paul's very clear directions in 1 Timothy 2:8-15. Not
all have the same gifts of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:27-30) Not all have the qualifications for eldership. (1 Timothy 3:1-7) And not all are teachers.
(James 3:1) It should
be obvious that no woman can ever be the husband of one wife! And neither
can any man bear children. That isn't a matter of equality! It is
simply that God created men and women different, for different roles! And in other
areas in the Church, there are also clear differences in roles between men and
women. Don't listen to "teachers" who want to change that. Trust
God instead! Those
of us who have to listen regularly to preaching by men who do not have the "gift"
already know that not all men are called to preach, and that many of them do not
recognise their limitations. That can cause problems for the Church when men aspire
to roles to which they are not called by God, and not enabled! (The pride of life
in action!) In the
case of women, we should know from what the Scriptures tell us, that they are
NOT called by God and NOT enabled by the Spirit for roles which are expressly
forbidden! (Same pride of life problem!) For
those who are learning to simply trust God's word as their guide to life, it will
already be obvious that His greatest blessings flow from doing things exactly
as he says in His word! When
God gave Moses the plans for that first Old Testament tabernacle he said: "See that you make everything according to the pattern which
was shown you". (Hebrews 8:5 RSV) How
much more shall we pay careful attention to build the NEW TEMPLE according to
the plans we have been given in the New Testament! Being different in roles is a far cry from being unequal in status
and privilege. A CAUTION While
we are here, it is worth noting that Jesus refused to involve himself in family
feuds about «inheritances». "And one of the company said unto him, Master,
speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me". (Luke 12:13) Instead
he accused the complainant of COVETEOUSNESS! As Jesus sees it, you can be consumed
by "covetousness" about what is rightfully and "legally"
yours! Beware
lest those who consider they have a right to teach, or even a "call from
God" to teach, and who insist on pressuring others to agree, just might be
charged by Jesus with the same sort of covetousness. If covetousness doesn't quite
fit, another name for it might be "seeking the top seats at the feast".
(Luke 14:10-12) Whichever
way you look at it, it is recognisably a part of the lust
called "the pride of life", Regardless
of what you call it, those who are willing to lobby for support from others,
to win the "right" to teach, or exercise any other particular role in
the Church, through the majority democratic votes of family and friends, are actually
proving that they are not yet ready to teach "in the name of Jesus"!
That is a far cry from the example he set! And when they react angrily
and express discontent or frustration with those who reject their claims, they
are even further from that example. "EQUAL
VALUE" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS "IDENTICAL ROLE" We must
NOT make the terrible mistake of confusing the meanings of "EQUAL VALUE"
and "EQUAL ROLES". They are NOT the same thing! When
God created Eve, her role was designated as "helper". That is not partiality
on God's part. It is NOT partiality to create two people of equal value, but for
different roles. It is not partiality on God's part to create Adam for the leadership
role, and Eve for the helper role, in their "one Flesh relationship"! Yes,
Sisters are our equals. Yes, our roles differ. But our status in
Christ does not! Allon |