God’s Word governs the entire world, including the roles of men and women. This government extends to the roles of men and women in the family, church, and civil spheres. God’s creatures do not assign to themselves their value or their function. He is the one who establishes the boundaries and sets the terms of their relationship to him and to one another in a fallen world.

Our first parents were created to correspond to each other, implying that they are functionally different. Males and females are not mirror images. The Bible presents to us a complementary view of the sexes which the created order attests.

Neutered sexuality

The contention of modern society is that men and women are interchangeable puzzle pieces. Each sex is said to be perfectly capable of performing the tasks of the other, whether the sphere of activity is familial, ecclesiastical, or civil. The culture’s attempt to flatten sexual distinctions has led to much confusion about how men and women live out their respective callings as divine image-bearers.

God’s good design is under assault again in our day as arguments are advanced that deny innate differences between the sexes. The poison of feminism has swept through the major cultural institutions, and transgender ideology has only served to blur the lines even further.

The evangelical church has not been exempt from the encroachment of these anti-Christian worldviews. Many Americans would offer little protest to the idea of a woman occupying the office of a pastor in a local congregation, a phenomenon that transcends denominations. The Word of God expressly forbids such appointments, highlighting the order of creation in Genesis and the established apostolic practices of the church without exception (1 Timothy 2:11-14, 1 Corinthians 14:33-35).

The culture’s attempt to flatten sexual distinctions has led to much confusion about how men and women live out their respective callings as divine image-bearers.

Unfortunately, this has not stopped churches in rebellion to the clear teaching of Scripture from installing women into such positions. Meanwhile, those who hold to the sufficiency of the Bible for all matters pertaining to the ordering of God’s household have been right in opposing this and standing firm, regardless of how culturally acceptable the egalitarian practice has become.

However, the fact that principled stands have been made to stave off acquiescence to the world does not automatically mean obedient believers have thought through all the issues. Many would refer to their view of the sexes as traditional complementarians, believing that men and women are equal in value but have roles defined by God.

This is good as far as it goes. But when pressed for further explanation, their answers tend to reveal that they hold a view where the good and necessary distinctions between men and women are arbitrary designations. It is believed that a theologically astute woman could lead a church as well, if not better than a man were it not for the command of God prohibiting the action. In other words, they remove the reason for male rulership by disconnecting it from the nature of maleness and femaleness.

Gendered purpose

The problem with this assumption is that God did not decide at random that men ought to rule instead of women. His assignment of their roles is not arbitrary. He has woven the glories of maleness and femaleness into the fabric of his cosmos. In his infinite wisdom, he has determined the best way for his creatures to bring glory to his name. Human beings do not live out our divine callings merely as “persons,” but uniquely as men and women.

This truth has implications for unbelievers and believers. When God saves a person, they become more male and more female as they are progressively renovated by the work of the Spirit in sanctification. Men and women were made to reflect the infinite worth of their Creator in different ways, down to their biology. Even the intricate design of their bodies preaches about their purpose in God’s world.

Their roles are not severed from their natures. Men were made to be masculine and women were made to be feminine. Men were made to initiate and women were made to respond. Man came from the earth to work it and woman came from man to support the mission of dominion alongside him as a joint heir of life. It is in the nature of a man to lead, provide, protect, and execute the priestly function of representing his people before God in submission to Christ. It is in the nature of a woman to be fruitful, dignified, and modest as she cares for and nurtures life in the service of a productive Christian household.

When God saves a person, they become more male and more female as they are progressively renovated by the work of the Spirit in sanctification.

The differences between the sexes are not only physical, but intellectual and temperamental. They are good and glorious.

Applied to the issue of female-led churches, men alone are called to exercise the authority of the pastoral office and wield that same authority in proclaiming the Word to the gathered congregation. Faithful Bible preaching is not just exegeting Scripture, but calling upon the saints to obey what God is showing his people through the text. Furthermore, authoritative instruction in the Word is not just exhortation or even rebuke, but a call for the saints to join in the warfare of worship as they gather and go forth from the pews to bring the gospel into contact with the unregenerate world.

We should find the idea of having our daughters rouse the congregation to spiritual warfare as abhorrent as sending them onto the field of battle to fight in physical combat. In both cases, they are adorning what is inappropriate for their station and acting contrary to their ontology. A woman attempting to preach to the gathered church is tantamount to spiritual crossdressing (Deuteronomy 22:5). It should come as no surprise that the majority of churches who heralded lady pastors have ended up going soft on lesbian ministers and drag queens as well. This is a fatal consequence of denying the sufficiency of Scripture.

Applied to the issue of female-led churches, men alone are called to exercise the authority of the pastoral office and wield that same authority in proclaiming the Word to the gathered congregation.

A man’s authority as an officer in the church does not end at the pulpit. It also extends to the discipline that undershepherds are called to apply in the context of their local bodies (1 Peter 5:1).

Again, this is a question of authority. To whom has God given the right to guard the purity of his Son’s bride? Adam was called to be a priest. He was given the duty of guarding the worship of God’s throne from corruption and outside intrusion (Genesis 2:15). These are tasks unfit for a woman not simply because God says, but because he has tied his decree to the way that he made the sexes. It is unfit for a woman to perform these functions because she was not made for the task any more than a wrench was made to hammer in a nail.

A call for complementarians

A chief principle in creation is that God draws clear lines as he brings order from chaos. Orderly worship follows the same pattern because God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). If complementarians expect to hold the line against the onslaught of cultural conformity, they must firm up their commitments to the inherent goodness of maleness and femaleness.

This cannot be done apart from the kind of order that arises from affirming what is true of men and women by nature. It is good when men act like men and assume the masculine assignments they are given. It is good when women act like women and do likewise.

Blurring the lines between the sexes may be popular practice, but it is not biblical. Now more than ever, society is in need of the kind of men and women who are unashamed to live out their roles to the glory of God.