Men, Women & The Gospel

Q&A

In the final episode of the Men, Women & Gospel series, pastors Ashley Mathews and Isaiah DeVyldere respond to five questions submitted by listeners:  1. What is the relationship between this view of women leading in the church and human sexuality?  2. How were maleness and femaleness understood in Genesis? And should that inform how we understand it today?  3. What are the implications of Paul's call to mutual submission for marriages today?  4. Why were Paul's requirements for elders and deacons gender normative? Or were they?  5. If they were women leading in the early church after Pentecost, why do we not see a continuation of women leading in the church historically? BIBLICAL REFERENCES * Genesis 2 * Ephesians 5:21 * 1 Timothy 2:5, 6; 3:4 OTHER WORKS REFERENCED * Click HERE [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nzhBVvleAPD6k6Q6LIg3BYJEoWkKLvu8/view] for a visual illustration of how male “headship” is taught in some Christian contexts (in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:5, 6). * Two Views on Women in Ministry by Linda L. Belleville, chapter 1, published by Zondervan * The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire by Alan Kreider * The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries by Rodney Stark * (00:00) - Tempo: 120.0 * (00:00) - Introduction * (01:26) - Question 1: What is the relationship with the view that men and women should be leading side by side in the Church—based on gifting, not gender—and questions about human sexuality? * (06:38) - Question 2: How are maleness and femaleness understood in Genesis, and how should that inform or not inform how we understand it today? * (10:16) - Question 3: What are the implications of Paul's call to mutual submission in Ephesians 5 for marriages today? * (23:10) - Question 4: Why were Paul's requirements for elders and deacons gender normative, or were they? * (31:41) - Question 5: If there were such amazing women leading in the early Church after Pentecost and throughout the New Testament, why do we not see a continuation of women leading in the Church? * (42:18) - Conclusion

Paul & The Church (Part 2)

Pastors Ashley Mathews and Isaiah DeVyldere continue their discussion regarding the Apostle Paul's instructions for the 1st century Church regarding the relationship between men and women and leadership means for the 21st century Church. BIBLICAL REFERENCES * Ephesians 5:21-6:9 * Philemon 1 * 1 Timothy 1, 2:8-3:1a * Acts 19, 20:17-38  OTHER WORKS REFERENCED * Trinity Without Hierarchy: Reclaiming Nicene Orthodoxy in Evangelical Theology, edited by Michael Bird and Scott Harrower * Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination by William G. Witt, p. 113, 108 (Dr. Keener quote) * Nobody's Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament by Dr. Sandra Glahn * (00:00) - Tempo: 120.0 * (00:00) - Introduction * (00:59) - Point 3: As a missionary strategist, Paul assumed existing societal norms even while purposely subverting them by calling Christians to embody the gospel in their daily lives. * (01:16:20) - Conclusion

Paul & The Church (Part 1)

Pastors Ashley Mathews and Isaiah DeVyldere discuss what the Apostle Paul's instructions for the 1st century Church regarding the relationship between men and women and leadership means for the 21st century Church. BIBLICAL REFERENCES * John 20:1-18 * Acts 2:17-18 * Romans 16 * Galatians 3:26-28 Some examples of women leading in the New Testament church  * Prophet - Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:9), Corinthian Women (1 Cor. 11:5, 14:26-28) * Teacher/Evangelist - Euodia and Syntyche (Phil. 4:2-3), Priscilla (Acts 18:24-26, Romans 16:3) * Deacon - Phoebe (Romans 16:2) * Patrons - Phoebe (Romans 16:2), Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna (Luke 8:2-3) * House Church Leaders - Nympha (Col. 4:15), Lydia (Acts 16:14), Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12), Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:3-5)  * Apostle - Junia (Romans 16:7) OTHER WORKS REFERENCED * Junia quote from Linda L. Belleville in chapter one of her book, Two Views on Women in Ministry, published by Zondervan * (00:00) - Tempo: 120.0 * (00:00) - Introduction * (06:55) - Point 1: Female disciples of Jesus are annointed by him and comissioned by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost alongside men in a redeemed partnership to continue the ministry of Jesus. * (13:46) - Point 2: Spiritual authority in the early Church is exercised as a gifts-based, not a gender-based model of leadership. * (36:00) - Conclusion

Jesus & The Gospel

Pastors Ashley Mathews and Isaiah Devyldere discuss what Jesus and his gospel reveals about the roles of men and women. BIBLICAL REFERENCES * Deuteronomy 32:11-12, 18 * Isaiah 66:13; 49:15; 42:14 * Hosea 11:3-4; 13:8 * Matthew 23:37  * 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 * Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28 * John 20:1-18 OTHER WORKS REFERENCED * Quotes from Ben Sirach are from Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey, p. 189 * (00:00) - Tempo: 120.0 * (00:00) - Introduction * (02:41) - Point 1: The Bible reflects patriarchal cultures and attitudes while also redemptively challenging and subverting them. * (30:45) - Point 2: Jesus and the Apostles being sexually male does not reflect the superiority of maleness any more than their Jewish ethnicity reflects the superiority of Jewishness. * (38:46) - Point 3: The ministry of Jesus challenged the dominant cultural norms and attitudes of his day by including and elevating women as disciples. * (58:47) - Conclusion

Creation & Sin

Pastors Ashley Mathews and Isaiah DeVyldere begin their discussion of what the Bible has to say about the roles of men, women and the Gospel with an exploration of creation and sin in Genesis 1-3. SHOW NOTES * The drone vs. go-pro analogy for the different perspectives of creation in Genesis 1 and 2 is from Nijay Gupta in chapter 2 of his book Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church * The language of the “vandalism of Shalom” is from Cornelius Plantinga in his book Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin [https://www.amazon.com/Not-Way-Its-Supposed-Be/dp/0802842186] * More from Tim Mackie and BibleProject on “pain in childbirth” in Genesis 3:16: Does God Punish Women with Pain in Childbirth? [https://youtu.be/h_zIJt0Kpes?si=jajLh-kkFzLk30QR] BIBLICAL REFERENCES * Genesis 1-3, 4:7 * Romans 5:14, 15 OTHER WORKS REFERENCED * Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination  //  William G. Witt [https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=William+G.+Witt&text=William+G.+Witt&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books] * Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters  //  Iain Provan [https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Iain+Provan&text=Iain+Provan&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books] * (00:00) - Tempo: 120.0 * (00:00) - Introduction * (04:39) - Point 1: God creates humanity, male and female, in his own image, and then he blesses them with the mutual responsibility of ruling and stewarding creation together. * (23:45) - Point 2: God creates woman as a distinct and yet corrosponding partner for man. This is a partnership centered on sameness rather than difference. * (30:41) - Point 3: Genesis chapter 3 describes the consequences of humanity's sin rather than prescribes God's original design. Sin is making wrong what God made right. * (49:26) - Conclusion