Christians don't have to be feminists in order to believe in social justice. Feminism is not something that must be added to Christianity in order for the church to honor women. The gospel itself is pro-women. It is quintessentially Christian to be pro-people. Hence it is just as unnecessary for a Christian to be a feminist as it is for a Christian to be a humanist. There's no need to blend a humanist worldview into a Christian worldview, because Christians already have the highest view of humanity in the world. Our Lord Jesus is himself the all-time greatest Advocate for men and women and children. Anyone who thinks that treating women fairly is a feminist thing to do, not a Christian thing to do, doesn't understand Christianity.
The point of Christianity is to unite the people of God as one in Christ. When any of us squabble about power and personal status, we display a lack of faith in God's plan. God has arranged for each member of the body to make a contribution--though not as the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church (Colossians 1:18). None of us are the head. The pope is not the head. Billy Graham is not the head. No woman is the head because no man is the head. Christ alone is the head.
And yet, here we are, as members of Christ's body, debating over who can be the head. We're clamoring for power because we keep overlooking God's plan. God's plan is for us to be united to the Head. That's what the church is all about. It's about us being one with Christ. About us growing up 'in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ' (Ephesians 4:15). God also has arranged for us to reign (Revelation 22:5; 2 Timothy 2:12). Someday each of us will reign, but none of us will reign as the head.
Until we learn this, until we have it settled in our minds that Christ--and no on else--is the church's head, I don't think we're ready to talk about other matters of church order. For whenever we attempt to inaugurate someone other than Christ to be the head, inadvertently we forfeit an aspect of our freedom. Unwittingly we end up subjecting ourselves to the very yoke of slavery (that is, slavery to sin) from which Christ has effectively released us. Galatians 5:1 says, 'It was for freedom that Christ set us free.' He did not set us free so that we could attempt to displace him. Christ set us free so that we would be free. Free from death. Free from sin. Free from selfish ambition. Free from deception. Free from dishonesty. Free from religious hypocrisy. God wants us to be free so that we can show the world what it means to be reconciled to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18).
God also intends for Christian men and women to be fully reconciled to one another. In Christ, we have been made one (Galatians 3:28). While to some it may appear that Christian men and women are already fully unified, the indicators say that we are not. If we were unified, we would not be embroiled in such a heated debate about the parameters for women in the church. Instead, we might be focused on mobilizing laborers for the gospel.
This is where repentance comes in. Some of us need to repent from feeling threatened by the giftedness of others. The Bible says, 'But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and lie against the truth. This wisdom is...demonic' (James 3:14-15). Selfish ambition is of the devil. It is not from God above. I know firsthand how destructive my own selfish ambition can be. As James puts it, where selfish ambition exists, there is 'disorder' and 'every evil thing' (James 3:16). This verse couldn't be more relevant to the subject of women in the church. For if we want to establish church order, then we have to put away the disorder that arises from our selfish ambition. In other words, we have to repent.
To be clear, I am not saying that people must repent from their doctrinal differences. Nor am I saying that diversity of conviction isn't good. Instead, I am saying the mere topic of women in ministry is uncomfortable. Many of us dread it because we know it's complicated; thus we'd just as soon not try to sort it out. I understand. Just as I didn't want to write this book, others may not want to read it. It's painful for the church to consider our sins against women. It's hard to come to terms with what we've done and what we're doing. It is humbling to realize that we have failed to treat men and women lovingly without partiality. I have failed in this. Who hasn't?
Overall, I believe that the debate on women in ministry has been improperly reduced to a debate about roles. The church is prone to say that women should do this and not do that when her activity is not the issue. As I see it, the confusion in the church ultimately stems from a more fundamental question of relationships. The church has not yet learned how to relate to Christian women, who in light of their ministry calling, have chosen to walk an unconventional path. Though I am getting ahead of myself, let me try to illustrate what I mean.
I have been told that Christian women in Korea feel devastated socially if they turn thirty before marriage. Evidently they feel challenged, even in the church, to find their role. As I see it, the issue of their role is not the problem. The problem, rather, lies in everyone around them who feels at a loss to know how to relate to them as single Christian women. My single female friends in the United States, especially those over the age of forty who have never been married, constantly describe the same ordeal. They feel that many Christians do not know how to relate to them comfortably. Instead, people want to know 'how they're coping' with their singleness and lack of motherhood. In other words, they want to know how they're coping with their conventional rolelessness.
Conversely, it seems that Christians also feel uncomfortable when a women in the church begins to obtain an excessive rolefulness, if you will. In other words, we begin to squirm when a woman accepts a visible position of public leadership. Thus we start to wonder about Anne Graham Lotz, a daughter of Billy Graham, because she is a she, and she is a preacher in our midst.
Granted, on the surface the debate about women has to do with proper roles. But underneath, it has to do with the more complex question of the God-given nature of women. Followers of Christ are struggling to figure out how it is that female human beings can be made in the image of God who reveals himself as 'he.' On top of that, we're arguing about culture and perspectives and the authority of the Bible. In truth, we are arguing about a multitude of things because the question of women's identity inevitably is connected to a multitude of other related factors. So many questions come to mind. For instance, what does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a man? Why do an inordinate number of men avoid the church? Would even fewer men attend if women served as pastors and preachers? What are we going to do about the divorce rate? What about women who feel convicted to stay at home and rear their kids? What about the Bible? What about the church being true to obey God's Word?..."
- Sarah Sumner, PH. D.
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