Round the Sphere Again: Complementarianism
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at 8:28PM 
The complementarian/egalitarian debate is not my favorite subject. If I had my way, I’d completely avoid reading/talking/posting about it. But it’s an important issue and people keep bringing it up, so I’ve collected some worthwhile links for you.
For Listening
Last week I listened to this two-part interview with Dr. Jim Hamilton, a complementarian, in which he responds to the egalitarian arguments of Dr. Philip Payne (Theopologetics):
Each podcast is about an hour long, so it’s a big time commitment, but I promise you won’t be bored.
For Reading
Don Carson defends the use of the term complementarian (The Gospel Coalition Blog). I think I agree with him: We should leave the term patriarchy in the dust heap.
Also at The Gospel Coalition Blog, Kathleen Nielson gives a few reasons we can’t ignore the complementarian/egalitarian debate.
Tell me what you think.
- Do you ever use the term patriarchy to describe the Biblical ideal for the church and the home? Do you think complementarianism is better? Why or why not?
- What priority do you put on the complementarian/egalitarian issue? How important is it to you?
- Do you keep up with the debate? Do you know the arguments made on each side?
Reader Comments (10)
Rebecca, I can't answer all your questions right now but I'm glad you wrote this and I'm grateful for the links to Dr. Hamilton's talks. Thank you.
Like Luma, I can't answer everything, but I can say that the young women in my circles don't understand biblical roles, and that's alarming, considering protecting Christian families must take marriage roles into consideration. Thanks for the links. I hope to listen to both of them.
I don't like the term "patriarchy" because of the negative (IMO) baggage associated with it and prefer complementarian. I'm involved in the women's ministry in my church, so I'm concerned when the gender issue becomes moralistic and behavior driven rather than word and gospel-driven. I would agree with Dr. Bob Yarbrough from his talk at the EFCA conference that the church needs a redo in this area. Maybe I'm being naive, but if we truly believed the gospel and found our identify in Christ, would this really be that big of an issue any longer? I, for one, am tired of pitting men vs. women in the church.
Thanks for the link to Dr. Hamilton's talks.
I'm with you that the subject just plain bugs me. I'm from the old school - just read the Bible and believe it already! Eesh! But I agree with Kim and Persis. It's a bigger problem today because the world view has so infused the church and "Christian" literature (and blogs) that young Christian women need more schoolin' now. I also think patriarchy isn't the best term to use in our culture - makes us have to do even more explaining.
We can get the point across without sounding like Mormons.
I dislike debates, but I agree with you all. This issue is big and is growing viral faster than I thought. And I do think it is important to know our Bibles and stand firm on the historical-Bible-based faith and teach our children what the Bible teaches about our biblical roles. The implications of egalitarianism are more dangerous and more extensive than just a simple difference among believers.
I have had to keep up with the debate and it breaks my heart to see the distortion of God's Word in this matter, which as Diane said, is plain clear in the Bible.
Monergism Books just announced this book, and I already ordered it. I am sure it will be good
http://www.monergismbooks.com/Women-Slaves-and-the-Gender-Debate-A-Complementarian-Response-to-the-Redemptive-Movement-p-20905.html
Thanks for the links to the talks. I will listen to them.
Blessings!
Thank you all for your responses.
Even growing up when I did, my default position would be egalitarian. If there were ANY biblical warrant for it, that's where I'd be, and I've have gone there a long time ago. But there isn't and so I'm not.
So I think I understand why so many younger people have egalitarian sympathies. Egalitarianism seems so commonsensical, given our cultural presuppositions, that its where people start out, and it doesn't take GOOD arguments to keep them there.
But the arguments for it are so BAD. Granted, there are lots and lots of different ways to argue for egalitarianism, but millions of weak arguments still don't make much of a case.
I think you've hit the nail on the head, Becky, when you comment that the cultural presupposition makes egalitarianism a default position. Did you listen to the discussion by Tim Keller, John Piper and Don Carson about why The Gospel Coalition is complementarian? It was a good video; about 20 mins, I think.
I watched that a while ago, I think. I see it is now newly linked from the Gospel Coalition Blog. Yes, it was good, too.
Just gotta say: The captchas on the comments this morning have been unreadable. I gave up and signed into my squarespace account so I could comment.
I feel the same about the captcha thingies, too! They're awful today!!
Diane's comment "We can get the point across without sounding like Mormons" is priceless. LOL.
I find the whole argument draining, personally. But egalitarianism requires too much explaining away of Scripture to work. That should be enough in itself, but once people start tossing out Scripture about gender roles, they tend to keep going.