The debate continues as to whether Scripture endorses, or at least permits, or rather forbids women from certain roles within the Body of Christ. May women be deacons? May women be elders? May women be pastors? May women be bishops? May women teach or lead in church?
At stake, of course, is how to live rightly before God, how to do what God has in mind, and to live within the space and the design God has laid out for humankind. And, questions of women’s roles—whatever they may be—within the Body of Christ, as experienced in church life and among believers, also touches more broadly on what God may have in mind for women and men in marriages, in families, in communities, in the socioeconomic sphere, and in the political sphere.
Years ago, I found a site that gives a basic overview of the various ways Christians have been trying to navigate these questions. These are my summary thoughts based upon that site, Adrian Warnock’s article on “Gender: Complementarian Vs Egalitarian Spectrum,” posted on Patheos.
This all is by way of an introduction to my four-part series on what I discovered in the Gospel of John about Jesus’s call on women to discipleship and apostolic mission.
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Biblical exegesis from an equalitarian point of view
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