EDITOR’S NOTE: A resource list of books, journals and websites follows this article.
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While previous generations battled over the inerrancy of God’s Word, a current debate among Southern Baptists deals with the sufficiency of Scripture to define the distinct roles of women and men.
“The big battleground today is not that the Scripture is inerrant and absolutely true — though that’s still a battle ongoing — but among evangelicals and among Baptists the real battle today is whether Scripture is sufficient,” Dorothy Patterson, a theology professor in women’s studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a founding member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, noted to the Southern Baptist TEXAN, newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
Patterson boiled the debate down to a simple question: “Did God mean what He said [about gender roles], and if He did, did He give any way that we can live that way when it’s obviously not popular [and] it doesn’t seem workable because of the circumstances?”
Complementarian vs. egalitarian
In many ways, churches are continuing to work out the implications of a movement started three decades ago. Concerned by what they described as “the spread of unbiblical teaching,” a group of evangelical leaders met in December 1987 and drafted the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
Before adjourning that night, the group voted to incorporate as the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) — an organization that continues to be a key voice on the subject of gender issues today. The next day the newly established council — consisting of Dorothy Patterson, Bill Mounce, Wayne House, John Piper, Jim Borland, Tom Edgar, Wayne Grudem, Lane Dennis, Ken Sarels and Gleason Archer — voted to adopt the Danvers Statement, which can be accessed online at cbmw.org/uncategorized/the-danvers-statement.
Grudem wrote in his 2006 book, “Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism,” that the Danvers Statement introduced the term “complementarian” in discussions of male-female equality and roles.
Mary Kassian, whom the council added as a member in 1990, wrote an article on The Gospel Coalition’s website on Sept. 4, 2012, to clarify the definition of complementarianism in a post titled “Complementarianism for Dummies.”
“Though the concept of male-female complementarity can be seen from Genesis through Revelation, the label ‘complementarian’ has only been in use for about 25 years,” Kassian wrote. “The need for such a label arose in response to the proposition that equality means role-interchangeability (egalitarianism) — a concept first forwarded and popularized in evangelical circles in the 1970s and 1980s by ‘Biblical Feminists.’”
Kassian debunked the myth that complementarians consider women inferior to men.
“Essentially, a complementarian is a person who believes that God created male and female to reflect complementary truths about Jesus,” Kassian wrote. “That’s the bottom-line meaning of the word.
“Complementarians believe that males were designed to shine the spotlight on Christ’s relationship to the church (and the Lord God’s relationship to Christ) in a way that females cannot, and that females were designed to shine the spotlight on the church’s relationship to Christ (and Christ’s relationship to the Lord God) in a way that males cannot,” Kassian wrote.
“Who we are as male and female is ultimately not about us. It’s about testifying to the story of Jesus. We do not get to dictate what manhood and womanhood are all about. Our Creator does.”
Alexander Strauch, in his book “Men and Women, Equal Yet Different: A Brief Study of the Biblical Passages on Gender,” described the disparate views on gender within Christendom as an “emotionally charged controversy that divides churches and denominations worldwide.” Still, Strauch wrote, the gender roles debate is an issue from which no one can hide and one which no one should try to avoid.
Strauch pointed out that each view is represented by a major organization — complementarianism by CBMW and egalitarianism by Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE).
CBE’s mission, as noted on its website, is “to promote biblical justice and community by educating Christians that the Bible calls women and men to share authority equally in service and leadership in the home, church and world.” The group formed on Jan. 2, 1988, led by Gilbert Bilezikian, W. Ward Gasque, Stanley Gundry, Gretchen Gaebelein Hull, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Jo Anne Lyon and Roger Nicole.
Interpreting Scripture
Complementarians draw their convictions on role distinctions from the “plain, literal, straightforward teaching of the Bible on gender,” Strauch argues in his book, with Patterson echoing that view, saying a natural reading of Scripture is the most appropriate hermeneutical approach to understanding what the Bible says and means.
“If you read [1 Timothy with a] natural reading of the text, there is no way to get around what it’s saying,” Patterson said.
Complementarian scholars typically cite five key Scripture passages that define gender roles in the home and in the church:
• Genesis 2 describes a pre-fall design for male headship in the home and the designation of the wife as a helper to her husband.
• Genesis 3 describes the post-fall curse that women would have a desire for their husbands, which some interpret as a desire to rule over or overcome.
• Ephesians 5 instructs wives to submit to their husbands and charges husbands with the responsibility of leading and loving their wives — both in emulation of the relationship between Christ and His church.
• 1 Timothy 2 prohibits women from teaching men or exercising authority over them within the context of the church.
• 1 Timothy 3 presents qualifications for overseers (commonly known today as pastors or elders) and deacons, indicating they are offices reserved for men (though some complementarians differ on whether women can serve as deacons).
Egalitarians argue that the institution of gender roles followed the fall and therefore are not what God called good. They propose that Christians should seek to overcome the distortion of roles, equating submission with inferiority.
CBE claims that “the Bible, properly interpreted, teaches the fundamental equality of men and women of all ethnic groups, all economic classes, and all age groups, based on the teachings of Scriptures such as Galatians 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’”
Complementarians, however, interpret Galatians 3:28 as pertaining to salvation being available to all people and not role interchangeability.
The egalitarian view that roles are interchangeable is essential to their belief that God calls women to the pastorate, a primary goal of the organization Women in Ministry, founded in 1983 by disenchanted Southern Baptist women at the encouragement of leaders with Woman’s Missionary Union, Christian Life Commission and several Southern Baptist seminaries at the time.
The group changed its name to Baptist Women in Ministry in 1995 and continues to promote women as pastors. Funding schools and churches include Truett Seminary at Baylor University, First Baptist in Austin, Texas, Wilshire Baptist in Dallas, Willow Meadows Baptist in Houston and Calvary Baptist in Waco, Texas.
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Resources for further study of complementarianism and related issues:
BOOKS
1. Biblical Womanhood in the Home edited by Nancy DeMoss (Crossway, 2002). This book calls women to return to godly womanhood with insight from Nancy DeMoss, Susan Hunt, Mary Kassian, Carolyn Mahaney, Barbara Hughes, P. Bunny Wilson and Dorothy Patterson,
2. Divine Design: An Eight-Week Study on Biblical Womanhood by Nancy DeMoss and Mary Kassian (Moody, 2012). This study-style book encourages and challenges women to understand and embrace the design for who God created them to be.
3. Mixed Ministry by Sue Edwards, Kelley Mathews and Henry J. Rogers (Kregel, 2008). Two Dallas Theological Seminary professors team up with a corporate chaplain to explore common and thorny issues, advising how staff and lay leaders can develop healthy working partnerships in their ministries.
4. Womanhood Revisited: A Fresh Look at the Role of Women in Society by Anne Graham (Christian Focus Publications, 2002). With consideration of how expectations of women have changed throughout history, the author considers current challenges to living in cooperation and not competition with men, equal in value, yet different in purpose.
5. Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood edited by Wayne Grudem (Crossway, 2002. This laypersons-focused guide provides understanding of gender role differences.
6. 50 Crucial Questions: An Overview of Central Concerns about Manhood and Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. This booklet is available as a free PDF download online (cbmw.org/topics/complementarianism/50-crucial-questions), covering main points of the popular and lengthy volume, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
7. Ministry in the New Marriage Culture edited by Jeff Iorg (B&H, 2015). Worth the introduction alone, Iorg pulls together experienced ministers to address biblical and theological foundations for marriage and sexual ethics, with models and methods to guide pastors and laity to address problems they face in a today’s culture.
8. Women in the Church: Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 edited by Andreas Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner (Crossway, 2016). This book relays a definitive statement of the complementarian interpretation of the passage on the role of women in the church.
9. Jesus and the Feminists: Who Do They Say That He Is? by Margaret Köstenberger (Crossway, 2008). This survey of feminist scholars reveals how they interpret Scripture related to Jesus and His view of women.
10. God’s Design for Man and Woman: A Biblical-Theological Survey by Andreas and Margaret Köstenberger (Crossway, 2014). With an academic approach and practical application, the authors tackle current issues and accompanying hermeneutical fallacies.
11. Women Leading Women, the Biblical Model for the Church by Jaye Martin and Terri Stovall (B&H, 2009). The book addresses the biblical paradigm for women’s leadership in the church and encourages women as they lead and train other women, engage the culture and involve other women in ministry.
12. Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World by Carolyn McCulley (Moody Press, 2008). Drawing from her experience in the feminist world, the author explains the three waves of feminism to show how they hindered God’s vision for women.
13. Women on Life edited by Trillia Newbell (Leland House Press, 2016). In chapters by women from all walks of life, many of them Southern Baptists, the contributing writers make personal application of complementarian principles in their daily lives as mothers, wives of pastors, and activists in the pro-life movement.
14. Women’s Evangelical Commentary on the Old Testament and Women’s Evangelical Commentary on the New Testament both edited by Dorothy Kelley Patterson and Rhonda Harrington Kelley (B&H, 2011 and 2006). These comprehensive foundational commentaries on every book of the Bible are written and edited by women for women, with practical explanation of the complementarian view to equip lay teachers and Bible learners.
15. The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God’s Good Design by Courtney Reissig (Crossway, 2015). This book recounts the journey of a wife, mom and writer from “accidental feminism” to a biblical view of womanhood.
16. The Role of Women in the Church by Charles Ryrie (B&H, 2001). This revised edition of a classic resource combines background on the status of women in early times and offers biblical exegesis related to marriage, celibacy, divorce and ministry in the local church.
17. The Grand Design by Owen Strachan and Gavin Peacock (Christian Focus Publications, 2016). In a culture where confusion about what it means to be a man or a woman abounds, Strachan and Peacock explore the Scriptures to help readers understand God’s grand design for manhood and womanhood.
18. Men and Women, Equal Yet Different, A Brief Study of the Biblical Passages on Gender by Alexander Strauch (Lewis & Roth Publishers, 1999). This short book was written with those in mind who would like to know more about biblical teachings on gender roles but don’t have time to read lengthy volumes on the subject.
19. Fierce Women: The Power of a Soft Warrior (True Woman) by Kimberly Wagner (Moody, 2012). The author explains how women can use their strength to honor the Lord by honoring their husbands and cautions against the temptation to use strength destructively.
JOURNALS
1. cbmw.org/journal. Produced semi-annually by CBMW, The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is an academic journal that facilitates scholarly conversation on a variety of issues surrounding gender, family and church as they relate to aspects of Christian faith from church history and biblical study to systematic and practical theology.
2. 9marks.org/journal/complementarianism-the-local-church. For its Winter 2015 issue, the 9Marks Journal focused on ‘Complementarianism and the Local Church.’ The issue, which is 75 pages in length, can be found online in PDF, Mobi or ePub formats.
WEBSITES
1. biblicalwoman.com. Biblical Woman, the online home of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s women’s programs, offers a blog and a host of resources and information about education and events pertaining to women.
2. flourish.me, home of the North American Mission Board’s equipping community for ministry wives. The website is a blog that focuses on family, ministry and spiritual growth through the lenses of a variety of writers.
3. womenslife.sebts.edu. Women’s Life is the online home for all things woman at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The website includes blog articles as well as information about education, events and mentoring.
4. cbmw.org. The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is the flagship organization for the complementarian movement. Its website helps guide individuals and churches in understanding God’s design for gender, family, marriage and church.
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Sharayah Colter is a writer for the Southern Baptist TEXAN; Tammmi Ledbetter is the paper’s news editor.