Everybody in the Body

“ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

Woo boy. Hold on to your hats for this one ladies and gentlemen, because Erin's about to go off on y'all.

The church is really seriously messing up on this one. We get caught up in another verse, found in 1 Corinthian 14 which states women are to keep silent in church. Seems to be a contradiction. Before I get into clarifying how it really isn't, let me just point out that even if it were contradictory, I find it interesting that the culture continues to place the words found in one book of the Bible over the words found in another book of the Bible. We cannot decide that the words of 1st Corinthians are more valid, more important, or more worthy of following than the words found in Galations. Yet, for centuries, this is exactly what the church has done.

So then, how do we marry these versus? The directive to the church in Corinth was not about women being in minsitry leadership. It was about women who were bringing into the Christian assembly practices which were pagan in origin and involved loud cries and disruptive behavior. This is why understanding historical context is such a biggy to me when we read Scripture. Knowing this, I can wholeheartedly agree that women should keep silent in the pew (so should men) and that no one should detract worshipers from the purpose of gathering together for instruction in the Word and corporate prayer and praise.

That being the case, we simply MUST revisit our position regarding women in leadership within our churches and organizations. As the Intervarsity Press Commentary (from www.biblegateway.com) states:

All racial, economic and gender barriers and all other inequalities are removed in Christ. The equality and unity of all in Christ are not an addition, a tangent or an optional application of the gospel. They are part of the essence of the gospel.

Equality in Christ is the starting point for all truly biblical social ethics. The church that does not express this equality and unity in Christ in its life and ministry is not faithful to the gospel. .. any expression of social class superiority (the free over the slaves) or gender superiority (men over women) violates the truth of the gospel. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (v. 28). All the divisions and prejudices that matter so much in the world are abolished in Christ.

When men exclude women from significant participation in the life and ministry of the church, they negate the essence of the gospel. Some will argue that the equality Paul defends here is only in the "spiritual" sphere: equality before God. But Paul's argument responds to a social crisis in the church: Gentiles were being forced to become Jews to be fully accepted by Jewish Christians. Paul's argument is that Gentiles do not have to become Jews to participate fully in the life of the church. Neither do blacks have to become white or females become male for full participation in the life and ministry of the church.

The equality of all believers before God must be demonstrated in social relationships within the church if the truth of the gospel is to be expressed.

I can't say it much better than that.