I was speaking with someone this last week regarding roles of men and women in church. This is always a dicey subject. If we just wanted to cherry pick verses and assume that the authors meant exactly what we would mean, writing the same thing in 2021, then you hit verses like "women, submit to your husbands" (Eph 5:22) and "women should be silent in church" (1 Cor 14:34). If you wanted to read the Bible just to prove a point, but not necessarily to learn, you could easily end the conversation there.
That, however, would be a very, very bad read of the Bible. I could go into an in-depth discussion on how the audience for these letters addressed specific issues in their communities and how Paul clearly encourages and empowers the actions and leadership of women in the early church (not the least of which is Phoebe whom my daughter is named after - Rom 16:1-2). but that's a lesson for another time. Instead, I want to focus on the fact that we often take things in the Bible we understand only partially, or maybe only understand because of our religious "tradition", and we assume that's simply the way things are supposed to be.
Make no mistake about it: God's truth is not confined to a specific culture, time period, or generation. God's grace and truth is good and sufficient for all people at all times. Why is it, then, that we insist on Christianity or "church" existing in only one way? I have a distant family member who scowls every Christmas because he feels it irreverent that people would clap for a musical performance inside the sanctuary. A friend was telling me recently of another family member who thought it was inappropriate for women to preach. Still yet another individual spoke to me just a few days ago telling me how at their church they have individuals who suggested that any church not meeting in a proper, purpose built sanctuary was somehow "leading people away from church". The list goes on and on of different persnickety cultural rules we (western society) have induced onto the church.
Sometimes, it's almost like we're holding up our culture with the same reverence we uphold God' covenant.
Specifically regarding the issue of gender in the church, I was reading today from this excerpt...
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. 3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:2-8)
There is something fascinatingly simple in this. If you have the gift of prophecy, then prophecy according to your faith. The same goes for service, teaching, etc. Basically, if God has given you a gift and you have the opportunity to use it to glorify the kingdom, then do it. Clean, simple, and direct. Far more important than our conventions and cultural hang-ups is the covenant that we have with Jesus Christ... a covenant of grace, compassion, and renewal. That is what truly matters in this life and the next. Anything we do to magnify the glory of that covenant has some goodness to it.
So, should we totally throw out anything that is tradition? Culture? Convention? These things often exist because it's how we help communicate our love and devotion to God... we shouldn't abandon traditional things just for the sake of being different! Some of these things are good, but we must remember that it isn't the point. The point is glorifying God. As long as we set that first, we can still enjoy our culture and tradition. Just don't let the gospel suffer because it has to be communicated in a different way than you are accustomed.
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