NO MALE NOR FEMALE

Text: Galatians 3:15-29

I. GALATIANS 3:26-29 ADDRESSES THE MOSAIC LAW IN ITS DISCRIMINATORY CAPACITY

A. The Mosaic Law discriminated between circumcised and uncircumcised (Leviticus 20:24). Gentiles had their own special court in the Temple.

B The Mosaic Law contained laws that discriminated between women and men (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-33)

1. According to tradition women were not allowed to go as far into the Temple as men.

2. Jewish inheritance laws favored males (Num.27:1–11; Deut.25:5–10; Prov.13:22).

C. The Mosaic Law also discriminated between slaves and free men (Leviticus 25:39-46; cf. Joel 2:28-29).

D. There is a Jewish prayer dating back to about the 2^nd century AD in which a man thanked God for “not making me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.”

1. This prayer may or may not originally been meant to belittle Gentiles and women.

2. According to modern day Jews, this prayer celebrated that Jewish males have full responsibilities and commandments that were not available to Gentiles or Jewish women.

i. Later Judaism taught that God gave the Mosaic Laws to draw Israel closer to Himself.

ii. Gentiles only had 7 Laws while the Jews had 613!

iii. According to this tradition, male Jews had the most opportunities to draw closer to God. The more laws the better!

3. In Galatians 3, Paul is arguing that all (Jew, Gentile, slave) have access before God on the basis of faith.

II. WHAT ABOUT FEMALE PASTORS? IS THE CHURCH CONTRADICTING THE FACT THAT WE ARE ALL “SONS” THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS? (Galatians 3:28)

A. Galatians 3:28 is probably the most influential text of Scripture for the ordination of women to the pastorate. This verse has been called:

1. The “Magna Carta of Humanity.”

2. “the most socially explosive text in the Bible.”

3. “the fundamental Pauline theological basis for the inclusion of women and men as equal and mutual partners in all of the ministries of the church.”

B. Galatians 3:28 has become for many liberals and evangelicals the trump card of Paul’s view of women in the ministry. Every other biblical text about women is subordinated or reinterpreted in light of Galatians 3:28 (1 Corinthians 11:3-16; 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12; 3:15; cf. Eph.5:22,24; Colossians 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5,7,9,13; 3:1-2).

“No more restriction is implied in Paul’s equalizing of the status of male and female in Christ than in his equalizing of the status of Jew and Gentile, or of slave and free person. If in ordinary life existence in Christ is manifested openly in church fellowship, then, if a Gentile may exercise spiritual leadership in church as freely as Jew, or a slave as freely as a citizen, why not a woman as freely as a man?... “Paul states the basic principle here [Galatians 3:28]; if restrictions on it are found elsewhere in the Pauline corpus, as in 1 Corinthians 14:34f… or 1 Timothy 2:11f., they are to be understood in relation to Galatians 3:28, and not vice versa.”” (F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A commentary on the Greek text, p.190)

III. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF USING GALATIANS 3:28 FOR THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN TO THE PASTORATE/ELDERSHIP?

A. The ordination of women has implications for the church.

1. When women are ordained to the eldership, the inerrancy of God’s Word is often questioned because other New Testament passages teach the subordination of women (1 Corinthians 11:1-16; 1 Cor.14:26-36; 1 Tim.2:11-15; cf. Eph.5:22,24; Colossians 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5,7,9,13; 3:1-2).

“So far as he [Paul] thought in terms of his Jewish background, he thought of the woman as subordinate to the man for whose sake she was created (1 Cor. 11:9). But so far as he thought in terms of the new insight he had gained through the revelation of God in Christ, he thought of the woman as equal to the man in all things, the two having been made one in Christ, in whom there is neither male nor female (Gal. 3:28).” (Paul Jewett, Man as Male and Female, p.112)

2. The ordination of women to the eldership has implications for the doctrine of the Trinity.

a. It is sometimes argued by feminists that subordination and equality are mutually exclusive.

i. If this is the case, then the deity of Jesus will be called into question, since He was subordinate to the Father and yet equal with Him.

ii. “equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood” (Athanasian Creed; see also John 14:28).

b. Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s will does not negate His equality with the Father.

3. The ordination of women to the eldership has implications for Bible translations.

B. The ordination of women to the eldership has implications for relationships of the husband and wife in marriage (Ephesians 5:22,24; Colossians 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 2:5,7,9,13; 3:1-2).

1. You cannot be an unsubmissive spouse and a submissive Christian.

2. To interpret Galatians 3:28 to mean that there is no difference between the husband and wife in marriage misses out on the relationship between Jesus Christ and His bride the church (Ephesians 5:21-33).

3. Note to husbands: the Bible does not command you to subject your wives. God commands you to love your wives just as Jesus loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25).

The 17^th century Puritan preacher and author, Richard Baxter lamented the fact that most people enter into marriage for what they can gain from it, lacking “any sense of the duty of their relation.” All they think about, Baxter says, is “what they shall have, but not what they shall be and do.” He asserts that this is the wrong place to begin. Instead, “our first care should be to know and perform the duties of our relations, and please God in them, and then look for his blessing by way of encouraging reward. Study and do your parts, and God will certainly do his” (quoted by Tim Beougher, “The Puritan View of Marriage…”; Trinity Journal Volume 10:131).

C. The ordination of women to the eldership has implications for society.

1. A survey of denominations that approved women’s ordination from the 1950s to 1970s shows that several are now endorsing homosexuality.

2. What is the connection between the ordination of women to the pastorate and homosexuality?

a. Galatians 3:28 literally reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is not/no male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

b. For the last 75 years, churches have been saying that Galatians 3:28 trumps Paul’s other teaching about the ordination of women to the pastorate. Now the argument is that Galatians 3:28 also trumps other New Testament teaching about homosexuality.

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

Take what you have learned this morning and make it into a prayer.

What is the context of Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither/no male nor female”?

How might Galatians 3:28 have reflected a Jewish prayer about being a Jewish male?

What is the “butterfly effect” and why is the context of a passage in Scripture so important?

By disallowing women from the eldership, is the RPCNA maintaining a Mosaic law of discrimination which contradicts the fact that we are all one in Christ Jesus?

“Those eligible to be called as ruling elders must… Be male communicant members in good standing of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.” (RPCNA Directory for Church Government, Chapter 3; IA1).

“The permanent officers to be set apart by ordination are elders and deacons. Women as well as men may hold the office of deacon. Ordination is a solemn setting apart to a specific office by the laying on of the hands of a court of the Church and is not to be repeated. Installation is the official constitution of a relationship between one who is ordained and the congregation” (Testimony of the RPCNA, 25:8).

What are the implications of using Galatians 3:28 for the ordination of women to the pastorate/eldership?

What is the connection between the ordination of women to the pastorate and homosexuality?