1 Corinthians 11_ 8-12 Changing Sex-Roles

Rev. David Holwick Q MOTHERS' DAY

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

May 9, 1993

1 Corinthians 11:8-12

MOM - IN A FOXHOLE??

I. The changing roles of women.

A. Combat aircraft open to women.

1) Most likely they are skillful enough.

a) Enjoy challenge of warfare? Napalm? Tailhook conventions?

2) Cartoon - grandmotherly type is cross-stitching:

"A woman's place is in - the cockpit, foxhole, or

wherever else she #*@#! pleases."

B. Confusion over sex roles among Christians.

1) Magazine survey: 86% Christian women, 90% men, confused.

2) Feminism acts like there should be no differences at all.

a) Sexes are seen almost in total isolation.

1> Total equality of women sought, with dramatic changes.

2> Males are the enemy.

b) Many Christians feel threatened.

C. Bible should be our standard, but what does it really teach?

II. Is it the Bible, or prejudice?

A. Traditional view of gender roles.

1) Husband is the domineering head.

a) He provides material resources. (money, food)

b) He protects from danger.

c) He leads and makes decisions.

2) Wife is meek supporter.

a) She takes care of kids, at home.

b) She is submissive at home, quiet in church.

1> Chain of command.

2> Some exceptions: ((Men's Bible study conversation,

Mark Noyes jumps at wife's command))

B. Past assessments have often been warped.

1) In 1830's, higher education was seen as a threat.

2) In 1920's, voting was seen as dangerous.

"The new woman has cast the church aside, because it

teaches subordination of the wife to the husband.

The church also encourages domestic duties from which

the 'taste' of the new woman revolts.

The new woman hates children, and is madly exerting her

ingenuity in frustrating the intent of marriage."

LUTHERAN WITNESS, 1898

3) Current standards are often read into Bible.

C. There are 3 spiritual realities behind gender roles. #2509

1) Gender roles affected by each standpoint.

2) Christians have to take in all 3.

a) God's original intent.

b) The effects of the Fall.

c) The changes redemption in Christ brings.

III. God's original intentions. #2509

A. Both are made in image of God. Gen 1:27

1) Interrelationship, just as Trinity is interrelated.

a) Father has headship, but is not tyrant.

2) Alone, we are lacking and lonely. Gen 2:18

a) Together, we complement and contribute.

b) Each different, but each complements other.

1> Eve helped Adam where he lacked, and vice-versa.

2> One man, one woman, committed for life.

c) Companions, not combat.

B. Both share in dominion over creation. Gen 1:26

1) Adam was not in charge all by himself.

2) Leadership was shared.

C. When confronted by modern realities (need for divorce), Jesus

went straight back to God's original intentions. Matt 19:3-8

IV. The effects of the Fall from Eden. #2509

A. Adam and Eve sinned differently, and were affected differently.

1) Eve sought dominion, got unfulfilled desire. Gen 3:16

a) She wanted control over something God reserved for Himself.

b) Her curse concerned desire and control.

1> She would seek intimacy from men, and not get it.

2> Rather than getting control, she would be controlled.

A> By children.

B> By husband.

Professor Bilezikian writes:

"The woman wants a mate and she gets a master;

she wants a lover and she gets a lord;

she wants a husband and she gets a hierarch."

2) Adam sought relationship, got drudgery. Gen 3:17

a) He valued his relationship with Eve over that with God.

b) His dominion over creation became a burden.

1> Relationships became secondary to work.

2> One universal truth in all cultures: What men do is

always seen as more important than what women do.

3) Specific gender roles are only vaguely given in Bible.

a) Women not limited to home, or purely domestic duties.

b) Women were even leaders - in military!

B. What many Christians view as proper gender roles are actually

result of Fall. They are shaped by culture, not God.

1) "Baby X" experiments. (Leeuwen)

Small infants were dressed neutrally.

They are given to adults and told its a boy or girl.

After some time with the baby, they describe them.

Girls are described as more friendly, sociable, feminine,

physically "fragile," and easily upset.

Boys are described as more independent, masculine, tough,

and secure.

There's only one problem - the researchers lied about the

child's sex!

#2509

2) Mrs. Layman and women on wagon train stories.

One story she didn't share: the Donner Party.

It was the greatest disaster of the West.

The whole train was caught at the top of the Sierra Nevadas

during the worst winter on record.

Starvation led to murder and insanity.

One small group was chosen to go for help.

They were called the "snowshoe party."

10 men, 2 boys and 5 young women began the trek.

They fought through twelve foot snowdrifts, subzero weather,

snow blindness, and had absolutely no food.

Unable to sleep, they huddled over small fires as the snow

fell around them.

Those who did not survive, sustained those who did.

Thirty one days later, they stumbled into a small camp.

Of the ten men who started, 5 died and 2 were killed.

One boy died.

But not one of the women.

#2507

V. Redemption in Christ. #2509

A. Jesus treated the sexes differently - than others of his day.

1) He balanced male and female images in his parables.

2) He insisted on monogamy and eliminated divorce.

3) He allowed women to be first witnesses of resurrection.

4) Out of 633 verses on women in the gospels, almost none of

them is negative in tone.

#1186

B. Jesus Christ makes a decisive difference in our relationships.

1) Effects of Fall remain, but can be reversed through faith

in Christ.

2) We are called to live a new life together, not to worship

old patterns.

(Missionaries and elevation of women from pack animals to

companions.)

C. Instead of domination & revolt, there is mutual submission. Eph 5:21

1) Pentecost and equal gift of Spirit. Acts 2:17-18

2) The sexes have full equality in Christ. Gal 3:28

3) Shared worship and service. 1 Cor 12:1-31

4) Joint heirs. 1 Pet 3:7

D. Leadership imagery is used in the Bible, but is radically

transformed in Jesus Christ.

1) The principle of headship is reinterpreted as servanthood.

2) Subordination is now seen as loving support rather than

servile submission. It does not imply inferiority.

3) Christ's love for his church is the new model of the

man-woman relationship within marriage.

E. Interdependence is key once again. 1 Cor 11:11-12

1) Women can be fighter pilots - but don't have to.

2) Don't be railroaded by shifting cultural expectations.

3) Find your gifts and use them as God leads.

------------------------- Notes ------------------------------

"Gender & Grace," Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, CT, 8/19/91, p. 55.

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I. Basic gender questions:

A. Which gender differences are intended by God in Genesis?

B. How do gender differences come about?

C. Which differences are genetically inevitable and which are more cultural?

D. What are the costs of the current gender distinctions?

II. Adam and Eve sinned differently.

A. Each overstepped the bounds of part of God's cultural mandate.

B. Each got a differentiated curse.

C. Much that we see as "natural" is not what God originally intended.

III. Gender complementarity is just as important as gender equality.

A. Differences are usually not black and white, but tendencies

and averages.

1) We are more alike than different.

B. Environment plays a big role.

1) "Baby X" experiments with mislabeled babies.

C. Actual differences are slight.

1) In perception, thinking, and personality.

2) Even differences in brain use have been exaggerated.

D. Cultural universals.

1) What men do is seen as more important than what women do.

2) Ironic since the NT describes becoming a Christian in childlike

and feminine terms.

IV. Natural but fallen.

A. Gender roles are shaped by culture, and influenced by the Fall.

1) Distortions of the differences become the norm.

2) Yet Christians use them to support status quo.

B. Myths among Christians.

1) The nuclear family is primary.

a) Healthy families? Next to alcoholic families, incest

and abuse is most common in highly religious homes.

2) People were content with their roles before feminism started.

V. Headship and Servanthood.

A. Traditional families are not necessarily healthy families.

B. There is more concern over who is in control than on whether

family is healthy.

"Traditional Roles Defended," Stephen E. Clark, CT, 4/24/81, p. 56.

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I. There is a biblical basis for traditional patriarchy.

A. Husband is supposed to be the ruler and provider-protector.

B. Wife is organizer and maintainer of household.

II. Men and women differ significantly in emotional, intellectual,

and social responses.

A. Subordination principle in Bible cannot be denied.

B. Feminism is a danger to the family.

III. Drawbacks.

A. Patriarchalism can be an obstacle to the spiritual unity of a

family as well as to Christian unity.

B. Patriarchalism has affinities to fascism.

C. Patriarchal imagery is used in the Bible, but is radically

transformed in Jesus Christ.

1) The principle of headship is reinterpreted in NT as servanthood.

2) Subordination is now seen as loving support rather than

servile submission.

3) Subordination in Biblical sense doesn't denote inferiority.

4) Christ's love for his church is the new paradigm of the

man-woman relationship within marriage.

"Working Mothers," Ruth Tucker, CT, 7/15/88, p. 17.

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I. Equal but different.

A. Hard for us to think in these terms.

B. Differences lie deeper than our social conditioning.

1) Only women can give birth.

C. The Bible speaks of women as nurturing, but also with careers.

1) Lydia, Priscilla, Prov 31 woman.

2) Jesus did not define a woman's place as in the kitchen.

D. Feminist: "Someone who believes women are human." (Alan Alda)

II. "Woman in the home" is a modern adaptation.

A. Years ago, whole family worked out of the home.

"Breaking the Gender Impasse," R. Paul Stevens, CT, 1/13/92, p. 28.

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I. Ambiguity over gender roles may be God-inspired.

A. Both sexes are in the image of God. Gen 1:26-28

B. Side-by-side complementarity is God's intended plan. Gen 2:18-25

C. In Christ, the curse is substantially reversed.

1) Formerly politics of rule and revolt in the home. Gen 3:16

2) Now grace of mutual submission. Eph 5:21-33

D. Full equality in Christ. Gal 3:28

E. Joint heirs of spiritual gifts and co-leaders. 1 Cor 12:1-31;

Rom 12:3-8; Eph 4:11-16; Acts 2:17-18

II. Observations:

A. Great physical differences, incorporated in norms of societies.

B. Male priority is found in creation, not culture. 1 Cor 11:8; 1 Tim 2:13

C. Sexual distinctions must be made in ministry. 1 Cor 11:2-16;

1 Cor 14:34-36; 1 Tim 2:11-15

D. Husband is head of wife, as Christ is head of church. Eph 5:21-33

E. Much feminine imagery of God, but God is not to be called

Mother. God is our Father. Ps. 22:9; 36:8; 123:2

III. Two genders, one image.

A. Gender is a paradox that can only be understood from God's height.

1) Rational stance is inadequate.

B. Creation in God's image is a social metaphor.

1) Cleaving is evocative of life in God.

2) "Sex" means to cut or divide; to be one, we need each other.

3) Sexuality is meant to turn us Godward.

C. Culture reduces sexuality to a physical act.

1) Conservatives reduce sexual identities to roles and

hierarchies that require no faith.

2) Liberals dissolve the mystery into egalitarian togetherness

with no differences except for the genitals.

IV. Two into one.

A. The Trinity is a social being.

B. To Orthodox Christians, spirituality is the participation in the

mutual love, order and interdependence of the Trinity.

1) Becoming a Christian is to be taken by the Spirit into the

actual relationship Jesus has with the Father.

V. Becoming what we worship.

A. Full emancipation of the sexes requires a spiritual solution.

B. Confusion of the sexes.

1) Welcome liberation.

2) Refuse to undermine sexual distinctives. Resist unisexing.

VI. Shared ministry and marriage.

A. Both sexes are needed in church leadership.

B. One NT reference to decision-making in marriage, and it stresses

mutuality. 1 Cor 7:5

C. Scripture is silent on marriage roles.

VII. Male headship.

A. Headship is PRIORITY within a relationship of equals.

1) Not heirarchial, but sacrificial.

B. Submission is not intrinsically bad; neither is headship.

C. Bow and string: sexuality requires both sexes.

"Women's Role in Church and Family," (editorial), CT, 2/20/81, p. 10.

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I. The church should be open to women.

II. Key passages are succinctly dealt with:

A. Gal 3:28. Equality.

B. 1 Cor 11. Women can publicly pray.

C. Acts 18:26. Women can teach men.

D. 1 Cor 14. Women can take part in worship.

E. 1 Tim 2:11-12. Silence should not be universalized.

III. The role of women in the home is more difficult to determine.

A. A parallel is drawn between Christ and husbands.