I’ve been having a discussion with my friend Mark Traphagen on twitter (if you can call 140 characters at a time, discussion ;P ) about Egalitarianism and Complimentariansm i.e. the roles of men and women in the Church/Body of Christ. We’ve decided to take it to blogs in order to have more room to form arguments..etc. I hope the following is beneficial.
Just for background …
Mark: Redemption involves restoration of the imago dei, shared by both male & female before the fall.
Me: I totally agree. And even before the fall Men and women had jobs and roles that we distinct and different
Mark: Just curious: where do you get that they had different “jobs and roles” pre-fall?
What follows is my response.
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Three issues stick out to me in the first few chapters of Genesis as they pertain to gender roles. While there may be more I shall only focus on these three.
First, is the issue of creation order. Many egalitarians laugh at the idea that man being created first has any real bearing on this issue but the Apostle Paul, himself, provides the weight to this argument. Paul Says in I Timothy chapter 2 that “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve…” (12-13) The Apostle Paul uses the creation order to argue that women should not “exercise authority over a man.” As J. Ligon Duncan has said,
“We may not like Paul’s view of the meaning and significance of the creation order of male then female in Genesis 1-2, or his application of it. We may not accept that view and application, but that it is indeed Paul’s view and application of Genesis 1-2 is incontrovertible. And because Christians understand that the New Testament is in many ways God’s divinely inspired hermeneutical manual for the Old Testament, when a New Testament passage tells you what an Old Testament passage means, for an orthodox Christian that interpretation becomes a matter of dogma.”
Second, we see that Adam is given a job before Eve is ever created. It is only after this that Eve is created and given the task of being an assistant or “helper” to Adam (Heb., ‘ezer kenegdo, literally “helper like unto himself “). Adam was not made to be a helper for Eve but Eve was made to be a helper for Adam. Though some argue that gender roles are a result of the fall, Paul bases his argument in 1 Timothy 2 for male-headship on the situation in Eden before the fall which we see in Genesis. While it is true that the fall did corrupt gender roles, as it corrupts everything it has to be important that Paul uses this pre-fall argument. The woman was created from the man and for the man to be a helper to him in his responsibility (Gen 2:18); The man was clearly identified as the head or leader and his headship was defined as well
Thirdly, and finally we have the issue of the specific job of Adam. He was given the job, though not his only job, of naming all the animals that he has been given dominion over.In Genesis 1:26, God gives Adam rule, dominion and authority over all animals. Withing the next chapter, in the parallel account in Gen 2:19-20, we see Adam being given the charge naming the animals. God makes them and then Adam names them, thus displaying a form of God given authority over them. But the question arises, who named Eve?
Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
There it is. The very sign of Adam’s authority was naming. Therefore, it would seem, that one must conclude that Adam naming eve “Woman” was a sign of dominion and authority.
Women are equal to men this is evident in the greek word for helper being translated “”helper like unto himself “. Adam had a helper that was, like himself, created in God’s image. However, she was different from him in creation order and role.
Let me add a final post script, if I may.
Mark had mentioned Galatians 3:28 and the equality of men and women. In response i will quote John Piper and Wayne Grudem:
The context of Galatians 3:28 makes abundantly clear the sense in which men and women are equal in Christ: they are equally justified by faith (v. 24), equally free from the bondage of legalism (v. 25), equally children of God (v. 26), equally clothed with Christ (v. 27), equally possessed by Christ (v. 29), and equally heirs of the promises to Abraham (v. 29).
This last blessing is especially significant, namely, the equality of being a fellow-heir with men of the promises. In 1 Peter 3:1-7, the blessing of being joint heirs “of the gracious gift of life” is connected with the exhortation for women to submit to their husbands (v. 1) and for their husbands to treat their wives “with respect as the weaker partner.” In other words, Peter saw no conflict between the neither-male-nor-female principle regarding our inheritance and the headship-submission principle regarding our roles. Galatians 3:28 does not abolish gender-based roles established by God and redeemed by Christ.
