Egalitarianism vs. Complementarianism: Evangelical Feminism -Modern America (Part 2)

I recently started a series on Evangelical Feminism. I wanted to break down the history of this topic, to help everyone better understand what this topic is about. We discussed a few different types of views – Egalitarians and Complementarians. So what is this truly all about and why is it important to us today?

So from the perspective of an Egalitarian – God created the heavens and the earth, he also created man and women and he created them in full equality and in the image of God. Man and woman lived in perfect harmony as it was intended by God. During this time, both man and woman were tempted by a serpent, they both ate of the fruit and the great Fall happen.

After the fall, Eve was cursed and was told she would incur great pains during childbearing and would be subject to Adam;

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Gen 3:16)

After the curse, Jesus came to earth to remove that curse by dying on the cross for our sins, so God sent his atonement, which was Christ and after his death he removed the curse and restored the original creation between man and woman.

For many readers, this all would make a lot of sense, especially if you do not actually know the Bible. I can totally see why this would be a compelling argument…..If it were actually true based on the Bible.

BUT IT’S NOT.

Let’s explore these claims and address them one by one.

1.) Were men and women created equally in the image of God? Let’s be very careful how we word this, because many people are confusing one very big point here. Men and women were created in equal VALUE and DIGNITY. Furthermore, Adam and Eve were both created in the Image of God.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen 1:27)

However, this does not mean that they were created equal by entirety, we know that biologically men and women are different, and God never suggested anywhere in Genesis that man and woman are equal. It just states that man and woman are created in the image of God. This is very important, because I have noticed that the biggest problem with Egalitarians is they have a lot of theories and implications. They love to use the word “perhaps” and one can assume….or worse yet, they make false accusations about what the Bible doesn’t say.

Actually it suggests quite the contrary. Men and women have different roles in marriage as part of the created order.

Both Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood.
Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (very important part of humankind, for God’s plan for procreation and the relationship with man and woman – (we will discuss this later).
Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin.

We will address several reasons against the idea that men and women were created equal from the creation in the Garden of Eden.

1.) The order- Adam was created first, then Eve was created from Adam.

2.) The Representation of Humankind – We see that God named Adam – which in Hebrew translates to Man. So man is Adam, and when we refer to mankind (which is plural) we refer to both men and women. We also see that man and Christ have a direct correlation in the scriptures;

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

We see the first relationship between Christ and the man. Some Egalitarians suggest that God is referring to Mankind, but he doesn’t use the word man or people, he uses “Adam” which is a very explicit explanation of the first man of creation (ADAM).

3.) Naming the Woman- Adam actually named Eve;

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen 2:23)

4.) The Naming of the Human Race- God name Adam after the the human race. In Hebrew Adam means man.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. (Gen 5:1)

Human race is also referred to as Mankind.

5.) The Primary accountability- God spoke to Adam first after the Fall. This is very important because we often forget that accountability goes along with authority.

A good analogy is, when we leave our kids at home, we often tell our eldest or we at least expect our eldest to keep an eye on the other siblings, and to make sure the house is in order. If we were to arrive and find the house a disaster, or something were to happen to any of the siblings, the eldest would be accountable for the actions.

6.) The Purpose- Eve was created as a Helper for Adam, not the other way around. Some egalitarians have twisted the notion of a helper and suggested that because the Holy Spirit was also referred to as the Helper we, wives, are also in respect seen as an authority. That cannot be farther from the truth, the Bible never brings up to suggest that the wife has authority over a man (Not Once). We also need to remember that the Holy Spirit is not forceful with power, but relies on us listening to His suggestions and making the right decision. Often times, we see women giving direction and insight to men, and men listening to their wives, and women helping a man come to a resolution.

7.) The Conflict- The Curse Brought distortion of previous roles, not the introduction of new roles.

We see that women will have the desire for man, and man will rule over her. What does that mean exactly? That means that prior to the Fall, man didn’t have to rule over women, she acknowledged his authority and she respected his authority and God’s authority. But after the Fall, she had a desire for her husband, what does this mean? She desired to disobey him, as we know this isn’t referring to a sexual desire, God never sees sex as a bad thing, in fact he blesses those types of arrangement in the marriage. So you can see that women will become resistant to man. They will desire to disobey man, and man will rule over her. That means that man will have all authority over a woman and he by his nature will want to use that power in his advantage. Man’s natural desire is to disobey God’s original order. Because sin has caused the Fall, this causes men to force control over a woman in the form of a tyrant, or typically the man will battle for control because the women resists (this is of course because her natural desire is to resist against submitting to man). Because of this Fall, man was doomed to have never-ending conflicts with his spouse in their relationship.

8.) The Restoration – When we come to the New Testament, we see that salvation in Christ reaffirms the creation order. Christ came to restore that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. The harmony and the unity between Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve no longer had to fight and man no longer had to rule over the woman.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. (Col 3:18)

We see Paul addressing the wives by saying submit yourself to the husband. You are now under the sovereignty of Christ, and because you are now led by the Spirit and it gives you all ability to overpower the flesh you no longer have to resist against man. Men you are now filled with the Holy Spirit you do not have to be harsh with your wives. Now man could once again love Eve with his God given ability through the power of the Spirit. Through the coming of Christ the curse was broken, now as long as we follow Christ we can easily accomplish that which Paul compels us to do. Women submit yourself to your husbands, for they are now your authority as originally intended in the Garden of Eden. Husbands, love your wives like God loves the Church and how you once loved them in the Garden of Eden before sin created a barrier of conflict among you two.

9.) The Mystery- Marriage from the beginning of creation was a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church. We see many examples of this in the texts.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev 21:2)

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Eph 5:25)

In conclusion, I want you to understand the seriousness of this topic, Egalitarianism is harmful to the Church, because ultimately it causes people to question scripture, instead of reaffirming it. The Bible never suggests that we are to question authority, in fact it teaches quite the opposite. It shows authority between God the father over God the son. It shows God the son having power over the Holy Spirit. It shows parents having the authority over their Children. We see God giving the headship to men over women. Then what happens, Satan does exactly the same thing he did in the Garden of Eden. He had Eve question all authority and it caused her to stumble and sin, and it didn’t end there. Eve even convinced Adam to sin with her – which caused the great Fall of mankind.

We see that in our current culture, women are infuriated with the idea of having to submit to anyone. The idea of submitting makes them feel weak and inferior. This is because they are not Godly women, they are carnal women and are thinking with their carnal instincts. After the Fall, they were cursed to be under the man by force – they want to resist due to sin being in our world, so even though they are told by Paul that they are to respect the man and submit to man through the power of the Holy Spirit they are unable to do so, because they aren’t fully transformed. I believe the only way to accomplish this for both man and woman is they must be born again and make a full transformation, and only then will they be able to follow the command of Paul by submitting to one another. Man can only love his wife if he received a given respect, and woman can only respect if she receives love. But when the power of the Holy Spirit is within us, we are able to do this unconditionally. This is only conditional to the carnal man/woman. There are no restrictions to a born again man.

Ultimately, the entire notion of man and woman was destroyed when egalitarians touched the subject. Quickly, they began to question Paul’s teachings, they began to change the wording, the translation, the history behind everything, etc. because it just didn’t coincide with their ideologies.

But if you take the true meaning of God’s plan. God created man and women in His image. He created them with no sin, therefore Eve did not resist Adam because there was no opposition. Sin had not yet ruled over them. Adam although had full authority over woman never had to use his authority, as they both lived in full harmony and loved one another. After the fall, women and man were cursed, they began to oppose one another, man started to rule over the woman by force, and woman started to resist man. This was due to the created disruption because sin had entered the world. Christ came to earth and broke the bonds and chains of sin. Christ sent the helper (Holy Spirit). Woman no longer had to resist man, and man was no longer forceful by nature against woman, because the power of the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to be like Christ. In both submission to one another and in love and servitude.

By contrast we see this being the complete opposite of what Egalitarians suggest, Egalitarians believe that God created man and women in full equality (Bible doesn’t say that anywhere). After the Fall man ruled over woman and woman desired man. Then when Christ came he brought us back to full equality (God never talks about us being equal in all of our roles).

But here is the irony. In most households these days women rule over men this is because they are still prone to the curse, resisting against man ruling over them . You will even see this in so called “Christian” families. Why is this? Because the entire system is backwards. By suggesting equality you force people to question authority and women (because of sin) cannot submit to the husband nor to God, breaking the chain of command and headship. Making the entire structure compromised. The only way this can work is if we use God’s model. The one structured at creation.

Gods structure will only bother a non-Christian, similarly how Atheists are bothered by Gods injustice in the Old Testament. They question how can God be a loving God and do the things that he did in the Bible? God didn’t do anything, its because of sin men were punished and destroyed. Many Egalitarians would say; equality is the ultimate goal between man and women! We were created to be equal and live like that for eternity. Also False! In fact, we will all have different rankings in heaven, the chain of command here on earth will be so much more complicated and advanced in heaven, we will have ranking over angels, we will have rankings over certain people (based on our heavenly reward), we will see the right men of God like Moses and Elijah. Why would God create 100% equality just to prepare us for a place like heaven that does not have equality? Its nonsense.

The ideology of equality is not a God-given notion, but a human created agenda as a result of the Fall.

Amen.