Recently, I have been pressed by different people as to my stance on two hot-button issues within the larger fellowship of the churches of Christ: the role of the women in the church and instrumental music. I decided to write about my positions for the next two days. Today, it’s the role of women in the church; tomorrow, instrumental music.

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul admonishes the Christians in Corinth to follow his example and to hold fast to the things he had taught them. In verse 3, he shares with them this very important insight as it relates to role definition within the church: “But I want you to understand this: the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.” It is clear that Paul draws a line back to the very foundation of creation to distinguish a role definition within the very fabric of creation. In descending order, God the Father is the head of Christ the Son, Christ the Son is the head of man, and man is the head of woman.

Now does that mean that as the ladder descends, worth descends with it? Absolutely not! What Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 11.3 is not a statement about the intrinsic worth of Christ compared to God, or of man compared to Christ, or of woman compared to man. As it relates to male and female, Paul would elsewhere write that “in Christ, there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3.28).

There is no distinction in the intrinsic worth of human beings created in the image of God. Male and female are equally valuable to God because each gender bares within their makeup and creation the very image of God; an image God longs to redeem through the work of Jesus and transform through the work of the Holy Spirit.

But to say there is no differentiation on the basis of worth does not mean God hasn’t prescribed role differentiation within the church for male and female. For example, it is clear from the language in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 that only males are qualified to serve as Shepherds in the church of God. It is clear from Ephesians 5 that in the home, God has clearly defined roles for the husband/father that differs from the roles designed for the wife/mother.

Does one’s role of headship or leadership undermine the worth of the other? In no way! Rather, God in His sovereignty has determined a distinction of role in the home and in the church and one of those distinctions is that male believers are charged with the spiritual leadership within the home and the church. Just as in the perfect unity of God in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit there is role distinction in creation and redemption, so also in homes and churches ruled by God, united in God’s love, there is role distinction between male and female.

Here are the words of Dr. Everett Ferguson from a presentation made to the Harding University Institute for Church and Family: “The limitations on women’s public role in the church are based on the created order. Adam was created first and Eve was deceived first (1 Timothy 2.13-14). Women have a function that men do not have, the bearing of children (1 Timothy 2.15). This refers to a capacity, not a requirement; not every woman in fact has children. Neither does every man lead in prayer or teach in the church. But as there is a function peculiar to women, so it seems there is a function reserved for men alone. The unique female function of childbearing is obvious and is a matter of nature. Men’s leadership in church is not something determined biologically, but 1 Timothy (2.11-15) does seem to indicate that the instructions, which may appear to us to be arbitrary, are somehow founded on a distinction that goes back to creation and the natural order instituted by God. Moreover, as a consequence of the fall into sin, certain relationships between men and women have been imposed. This, of course, does not mean that women do not have the capacity to fill the public leadership role in the church; they may do it as well or better than men. That is not the question. As there is a function reserved for women, so there is a function that God for some reason has chosen to reserve for men. Salvation comes from respecting these distinct female and male roles” (The Eye of the Storm: Critical Issues Today, January 26-27, 2001, session 5, page 10).

I realize as I write this position statement on the role distinction between male and female in the home and in the church, it smacks as “old fashioned” in a world that values progressive thinking. But progress, spiritually-speaking, is never earned on the altar of sacrificing the truth of God’s Word!

If God’s Word says it, that settles it…whether I believe it or not. And one of the truths God’s Word has settled is the role distinction inherent within the very fabric of creation for males and females in the home and in the church.