III. Evangelical Feminist Claims from the Gospel and Acts

Go to the pages listed in parentheses to read the entire claim and answers from the on-line book link above. These are just excerpts.

(pg. 159) Jesus treated women with great honor and dignity. He surprised the Jewish people of his day in the way He interacted with and honored women as well as men, including several women among the group of disciples who followed Him. He even chose women to be the first witnesses to his resurrection. Don't Jesus' example and teaching show that He is overthrowing the patriarchal bias against women that was found in the Old testament and in the Judaism of His day? Doesn't His example show that we should allow women and men equal access to all positions of leadership in the church?...

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.1: JESUS’ TREATMENT OF WOMEN: Jesus undermined the patriarchal nature of first-century Judaism through his positive treatment of women. (159)
Answer 5.1a: It is true that Jesus undermined abuses of male leadership found in some parts of Jewish society, and treated women with great respect and dignity. (160)
Answer 5.1b: But Jesus did not overthrow all male leadership, because he consistently called only men to the roles of governing and teaching God’s people. (161)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.2: JESUS AND MARY: When Jesus praised Mary and corrected Martha (Luke 10:38–42), he overturned the expectations that a patriarchal culture placed on women. (161)
Answer 5.2a: Jesus overturned some expectations, but the text does not say he overturned all expectations. (162)
Answer 5.2b: This egalitarian argument imports ideas into the text that are not there. (163)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.3: FIRST WITNESSES TO RESURRECTION: Women were the first witnesses to the resurrection (Matt. 28:1–10), showing their reliability and suitability as messengers of the Lord. Therefore they can surely be pastors. (164)
Answer 5.3a: Yes, women were the first witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, and this is a wonderful affirmation of the trustworthiness of women and their equal dignity as persons made in God’s image, in contrast to some ideas in first-century culture. (165)
Answer 5.3b: But to give testimony as an eyewitness of a historic event is not the same as functioning as a teacher or elder in a church. Women did not do this in the NT. (165)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.4: JESUS’ HUMANITY IS IMPORTANT, NOT HIS MALENESS: Jesus’ humanness, not his maleness, allowed him to represent all humanity, both men and women. (166)
Answer 5.4a: We are not free to pick and choose some attributes of Jesus’ person as important and some as unimportant. (166)
Answer 5.4b: The pattern of male headship from the beginning of creation argues for the importance of Jesus’ maleness to represent all believers. (166)
Answer 5.4c: Some complementarians argue that Christ’s maleness shows that all pastors should be male as representatives of Christ. But all complementarians see Christ’s maleness as indicating a pattern of male leadership among God’s people. (167)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.5: SERVANT LEADERSHIP IS IMPORTANT, NOT AUTHORITATIVE LEADERSHIP: Jesus taught servant leadership, and this is inconsistent with a male leadership pattern of use of power over others. (167)
Answer 5.5.a: Jesus was both a servant and a leader with great authority. (168)
Answer 5.5b: Elders should likewise use authority with a servant heart. (168)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.6: ANTICIPATE HEAVEN: Since Jesus taught that gender issues will no longer matter in the next life (Matt. 22:30), we should do what we can even now to eradicate many male–female distinctions. (168)
Answer 5.6a: We should obey the New Testament commands for the church age. (169)
Answer 5.6b: This reasoning would lead us to abolish marriage today as well! (169)
Answer 5.6c: The Bible says people will not marry in heaven, but it does not say there will be no male or female in heaven. (169)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.7: CULTURAL REASONS FOR MALE APOSTLES: The fact that Jesus appointed only men to be apostles was a mere concession to the culture of his time; it is not normative for us today. (170)
Answer 5.7a: Jesus never compromised with the culture of his time in matters of moral right and wrong. (171)
Answer 5.7b: The maleness of the apostles established a permanent pattern for male leadership in the church. (172)
Answer 5.7c: But the Jewishness of the twelve apostles was only a temporary pattern because Jesus came first to the Jews. (172)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.8: NO SPECIAL AUTHORITY FOR APOSTLES: There was no special authority for the twelve apostles, nor was the original group of twelve very significant. (173)
Answer 5.8a: The New Testament sees the original apostles as very significant. (173)
Answer 5.8b: Jesus himself chose a replacement for Judas. (174)
Answer 5.8c: The apostles had much greater authority than the rest of the church. (174)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.9: GIFTS TO ALL: Since the Holy Spirit is now poured out on all believers, both men and women (Acts 2:17–18), and since the Holy Spirit gives gifts to both men and women (1 Cor. 12:7, 11; 1 Pet. 4:10), there should be no restriction on the ministries available to both men and women. (175)
Answer 5.9a: I agree that the Holy Spirit gives both men and women spiritual gifts in this age. (175)
Answer 5.9b: However, the Holy Spirit works within the boundaries laid down in his Word, the Bible. (176)
Answer 5.9c: Women who have teaching and administrative gifts should be able to use them in many ministries that do not include being an elder or doing Bible teaching to assembled groups of men and women. (176)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.10: PRISCILLA TAUGHT APOLLOS: Since Priscilla and Aquila both explained to Apollos “the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26), women can teach men in the church. (177)
Answer 5.10a: Scripture encourages men and women to talk with each other about the Bible and Christian doctrine. (178)
Answer 5.10b: To say that there is no distinction between private and public teaching is to ignore the two fundamental factors of interpretation: the words of the text and the context. (178)
Answer 5.10c: Priscilla’s example does not give warrant for women to teach the Bible to the assembled church. (179)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.11: PRISCILLA IS NAMED FIRST: Since Priscilla’s name is put before Aquila’s name, especially when they are in ministry situations, this indicates that she was the leader in their ministry team. (179)
Answer 5.11a: It is difficult to know what, if anything, was meant by the order of names. (180)

Egalitarian CLAIM 5.12: TABITHA AS LEADER: Peter raised Tabitha from the dead because of her leadership role. (181)
Answer 5.12a: Bilezikian is importing into the Bible things that are not there. (181)