On October 9th, my husband and I will joyfully and gratefully celebrate 38 years of marriage. Somehow, the two of us have blossomed into a tribe of sixteen strong (and I don’t know that our family is done growing)!
I’ve written a guest post for CBE International about a major paradigm shift my husband and I experienced in recent years regarding husband/wife roles in marriage. I hope you enjoy the piece, which begins like this:
Rob and Julie were quite certain they had the formula for a successful marriage. God had brought them through a rough season early in their marriage, and now they had a testimony. Their secret? …
(Keep reading here.)
Grace and peace to you!
Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash
Generally, I agree with your thoughts on marriage,
Suzanne, but when it comes to women preachers, Scripture is very clear that men are to be pastors and elders. There just isn’t any wiggle room here.
Myrna
Thanks for reading the article, Myrna. I know you love the Word of God and have a high view of Scripture, as do I. I believe there is not only wiggle room on this issue, but that a better case can be built for biblical mutuality in the Church than the case for male-only leadership. The “clear” passages to which I’m guessing you are referring have been debated and differently interpreted between Bible-honoring scholars on both sides of the issue for a long time. It’s also important to consider actual practice in Scripture, where we see that Jesus and the Apostles are radically inclusive of women. Jesus commended Mary for sitting at his feet as a disciple (a male-only position in that day), Junia was an apostle, Phoebe was a deacon, Lydia led a house church, Priscilla taught Apollos, and so on. Paul referred to his female co-laborers with the same word he used for men. When it comes to women’s roles in the Church, much depends on language, context, translations, and the lenses we wear when we look at Scripture.
So good!
Thanks, Jim!