7 Reasons Why We Are Biblical Egalitarians

1. Creation teaches mutuality

• Men and Women each created in the image of God

• “rib” vs. side/half

• Ezer- helper= Savior

• If you get creation wrong, you get it all wrong- Paul and etc.

2. Men ruling over women is a result of the fall and desecration of the world

• If Jesus’ death and resurrection reverses the effects of the “fall” it disproves complementarian roles

3. The idea of gender “roles” is not biblical. “Giftings” is a more biblical approach.

• The Spirit always gives gifts indiscriminately

• God doesn’t show partiality.

4. Authority (rulership) and hierarchy are antithetical to the Kingdom of God.

• Throughout the Bible we see many instances of God’s ideal that that no person have rulership over another, but rather that we rule mutually

• We obey God alone, we submit to each other out of reverence for Christ, our King

• When Paul used head in Col 3 and Eph 5 it’s talking about the thing on top of your shoulders and not authority. Preeminence.

• Considering marriage in 1 Cor 7 everything is applied mutually

5. 1 Tim 2 and 1 Cor 14 were dealing with specific issues, in a specific church, at a specific time. These passages do not prohibit women from speaking, teaching, or leading today.

• These passages are descriptive and not prescriptive.

• The command in 1 Tim 2 is for the woman to learn (This is exciting for the women!)

• Women being commanded to be silent in 1 Cor 14 must be reconciled with all the other instances of women praying and prophesying in 1 Cor 11, 12, and 14 in the same letter.

6. The Bible teaches a priesthood of all believers (not just men)

• Adam and Eve were the original priesthood

• 1 Tim 3 and Titus 2 use neuter (masc/fem) pronouns when referring to the giftings and character of the elders and deacons. (11 he/his pronouns in the NIV and ESV that aren’t in the text)

• There’s lots of evidence of women leading and exercising their mutual priesthood in the Bible… Here’s a few:

o Mariam (led Israel with Moses) o Deborah (Led as a judge)

o Huldah (Prophet who explained the law)

o Mary Magdalene (first to preach the resurrection)

o Percilla (discipler/teacher) o Phoebe (deacon, house church leader, Roman’s letter carrier/reader) o Junia (apostle/church planter)

• Unity and mutuality … All are one in Christ!

7. Biblical Theology and the entire lens of scripture point to God’s ideal of mutuality

• We need to view the bible not as a flat text but as a narrative

• The Bible begins and ends with a picture that looks like Eden

• We see the early church in the Bible living out this ethic of the age to come in the present because it has broken in with the resurrection of Jesus