Women in Leadership - Part 12: Conclusion

Conclusion

Prev - Part 11: Lucy Peppiatt Rebuttal

So I must now sum up my thoughts, beliefs and understanding of the subject of female leadership in scripture. But first let me say that although a substantial volume of study, this document really only scratches the surface. Each of my main sections could have been full studies in their own right, such is the scale of the subject.

Please accept that this is my personal understanding of what the Holy Spirit is teaching us in God’s word - I am more than willing to accept that there are gaps in my understanding and that I still have much to learn from God and from others. 

1. The Bible gives us a clear understanding of God’s original plan for the relationship between men and women as one of the husband providing loving, protective headship and the wife as the willing helper. The fall perverted this relationship into an ongoing struggle between the sexes, with women seeking to usurp control and men seeking dominance over women.
2. The New Testament clearly supports this pre-fall model as being the goal for Christian husbands and wives and reiterates male headship in numerous scriptures. The teachings regarding church leadership also follow this same model.
3. Women have played a crucial role throughout scripture and continue to do so. The kingdom of God is reliant on both men AND women adopting their God given roles and responsibilities. Women have both equal access to spiritual gifts and ministry. However in no scriptures do we find women with spiritual authority over men.
4. Although some might argue that the lack of women in leadership is a result of culture overriding God’s will, there is no evidence that this is the case in either the Gospels or the epistles. It is simply wishful thinking.
5. The current vogue for female leadership has more to do with modern thinking than it does doctrine. Man has employed his intellect, emotions and experience to justify unbiblical practices and has attempted to twist and pervert scripture to back it up. It has come about as a result of promoting people’s opinions above God’s word. Ultimately the blame for this can be clearly seen in the mission of the enemy and is enacted through the influence of the spirit of this age.
6. Two millennia of Christian orthodoxy is apparently viewed with derision and scepticism and rejected on the grounds that we simply “know better now.”
7. Although there are apparent difficult sections of scripture in both the New and the Old Testament, these fall neatly into place when viewed through the prism of other scriptures - specifically the divine order as outlined in Genesis 2.
8. The primary reason for male headship is to preserve and protect both marriage and the Church from the results of the fall. Specifically spiritual vulnerability with regards to deception, combined with the sinful desire of women to usurp male authority.
9. Lucy Peppiatt’s attempt to redefine Christian doctrine is a prime example of the spirit of this present age at work. If successful it would lead those churches and believers who adopt her teaching into danger of placing both themselves and their church in grave peril.

My final word on this subject  - The Bible is abundantly clear in it’s plain reading, that headship is always male. That this role should be both loving and protective and that women too have a God-given role to support and nurture their husbands and to serve the Church in like manner. There are no scriptures anywhere in the Bible that can be used to conclusively demonstrate that anything else is true. A church that ignores this Godly divine order, will at best become vulnerable to spiritual seduction and at worst place itself in the path of God’s righteous judgement.