Proper Understanding of Woman in the Bible

[bound]

I'm interested in discussing the 'proper' understanding of Women in the Bible. Conservatives appear to relegate women to second-class citizenship and servant-hood within the household under the 'lordship' of the husband and man in general within society. Liberals appear to throw off these bonds with reckless abandon.

Can we discuss the 'proper' understanding of Women in the Bible?

Thanks!

 

[Tom Butler]

I don't consider my wife or anybody else's wife a second-class citizen. This is not a quesiton of class; it's a question of roles and responsibilities.

It was the same in my secular job. My boss didn't not consider me a second-class citizen because he was the boss. Nor did I consider those who worked for me that way. It was not superiority or inferiority. It was roles and responsibilities, with the commensurate authority.

My boss would never assign me a responsibility without giving me the authority I needed to get it done. Nor would God assign men a role and responsibility without the authority.

It is true, however, that in the OT cultures, women were in fact relegated to subservient roles. We ought not to use those situations as models for us. They were wrong back then.

Oops, I'm conservative. Did I really say that?

 

[Baptist_Pastor/Theologian]

I'm interested in discussing the 'proper' understanding of Women in the Bible. Conservatives appear to relegate women to second-class citizenship and servant-hood within the household under the 'lordship' of the husband and man in general within society. Liberals appear to throw off these bonds with reckless abandon.

Can we discuss the 'proper' understanding of Women in the Bible?

Thanks!

This thread has a tell tell sign of failure. As my grandfather once said, 'you are not supposed to understand your wife, you are just supposed to love her.' I do not think there is a man alive nor one other than Jesus that has ever lived that understands women. So with that said I do not think we can have a proper understanding of women. What we can have is a correct understanding of what the Bible teaches about the proper roles of women in ministry. Now if that is what you are wanting to discuss then I would be happy to through in my two bits worth.

In 1 Timothy 3 the qualifications for pastor and deacon are given to a man and while women are certainly called to serve in the church they are not given the responsibility of spiritual leadership over the church. The offices of deacon and pastor are reserved for men only. Both men and women have important roles yet distinct in terms of the way each functions within the family and church. Therefore, I hold to what is called a Complementation view of men’s and women’s roles in ministry.