Critique of Complementarianism and Authority Structures

For years, I’ve refused to answer the question about women in ministry. Because I worried I might be wrong, and was fearful of how big of an impact my teaching can have in the life of another. I take that issue very seriously.

I spent the last few months doing an in-depth research project on women in ministry. My goal was to read the best egalitarian scholars on the topic and see if I might change my position. To be totally open with you, I actually WANTED to become egalitarian. That may sound strange to some, but I’m just being honest about my own motivations. Now that my research is close to done, I’m going to present you with the “Women in Ministry” series; a thorough and systematic study of the topic, looking at all relevant biblical passages, historical research, linguistic studies, and philosophical concerns, interacting with the most recent scholarship on the issue (and there is a lot of it). This will be a somewhat exhaustive series to go over everything the Bible teaches on the topic and engage in all the important debates you will want to know about. Each video will cover different issues/passages of Scripture, and I’ll try to present the content in a way that helps you make informed decisions for yourself, and not just to parrot me.

But I’m not interested being one of those people who pretends they don’t have their own opinions on the topic. So, after months of focused research, here are my general conclusions, which I will go on to support with great detail over the next 10 videos. I think egalitarian views (which hold there are simply no role differences related to authority between men and women in the government of the church) are obviously false. I mean that I went into this study hoping I’d see really strong and thoughtful cases for egalitarian views from top scholars and I saw, over and over again, insufficient evidence, poor reasoning, inconsistent positions, and bad Bible study practices. I don’t say ANY of that as a way of slapping at the sincerity or good will of those scholars. I think many of these scholars are strongly committed to Jesus and are my genuine brothers and sisters in Christ. But, as a result of studying this topic in detail, hoping to change my own mind and focusing on the work of egalitarian scholars, I am actually far more confidently complementarian than I was before.

However, I have changed my mind on some important issues, and would consider my self a “soft complementarian” who holds that the biblical role of “elder” is reserved for men but that women have been FAR too restricted in other ways because of clumsy and incomplete views of complementarians, and sometimes simply because Christians aren’t quite sure where to draw the lines so they are overly cautious and unnecessarily limiting to women (and often to themselves). What I’m saying here is that I agree with many egalitarian complaints about abuses, restrictions, and general disrespect toward women that has been too common in complementarian circles. I’ve seen it firsthand many times, and I think Scripture offers us needed correction.

So, I am rather firm in saying egalitarian interpretations are generally flawed, but that complementarians have much to refine and even remove from their own views, though the biblical core remains quite sound. I offer the above explanation as I introduce this series simply because I respect your intelligence and want to be as open as possible with you all.

In today’s video, I’ll walk through the biggest reason why I’m not egalitarian as I discuss philosophical beliefs that egalitarians often bring into the debate which make it impossible for them to be open to following the Bible if it leads toward complementarian views. I’ll try to apply this standard fairly on both sides and set a tone for the debate that refuses to use polemics, ethics, or philosophy in a way that taints our opinions before we approach the biblical text and ask “what should I think about this?”

My website:
https://BibleThinker.org