We oftentimes hear that ideas have consequences. And that is obvious with regard to the downplaying of gender distinctions among Christians in America and the suggestion from the Department of Defense that women be required to register for Selective Service. It is also very interesting that so many things regarding gender happened this month.
This month both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America discussed females as pastors in their denominations. To be clear, neither denomination changed their stance. Both understand women to not be able to hold the office of pastor/elder. And the PCA solidified their stance while the SBC remained the same. But these two denominations hold views that are shrinking among professing Christians in America. This had to be discussed because so many Christians have forgotten that God created two distinct genders. And because of this society and the American Military has forgotten as well.
It is not surprising to me that in the same month that we had to have this discussion, the United States military proposed an amendment to the Selective Service act to require the registration of women for Selective Service. In our modern lingo that is a proposal that women should be made to register for the Draft, just as men do.
Here is a clipped and highlighted pic of the proposal.
The Church is to stand above culture and not be confused where the culture is confused. And herein lies the difficulty. Because Christians are confused there is no part of the populace attempting to steer the country in the right direction. No one is there to show our country that this is folly. In fact, much of the Church in America has given up the idea of different gender roles and made this possible. Confusion within the church aided the confusion outside.
If I may put it another way. The same Christian man who may one day be forced by a gun to see his daughter drafted and sent to war is the person who is at fault here. He may lament when that day comes, but he should have been speaking clearly about gender roles in the past. He should not have been advocating for the blurring of gender distinctions that eventually led to his daughter being drafted. Just because you can’t see the consequences of your actions does not mean that you are not responsible for them. And in this case, his approval and happiness at the blurring of gender distinctions will end in there being no gender distinctions as his daughter goes to war.
You can’t approve and laugh while the driver drives the car at 120 miles per hour and then gripe at the driver for crashing the car. Your laughing approval was, at least in part, to blame for the car being driven at the speed it was when it crashed. In fact, your laughing approval likely pushed the driver to continue driving fast or to go even faster. Likewise, we can’t just approve of doing away with gender roles and be surprised when that car crashes and our daughters go to war.
You can’t write posts on Social Media right now that mash the roles of men and women together and not realize that when they are mashed together they are really mashed together. You can’t encourage your wife in her writing of these posts either, and think that the end result is not going to be ugly.
You can’t ignore every passage of Scripture that discusses the different roles for men and women and think that there won’t be a cost at the end.
You can’t write off every passage of Scripture that deals with gender roles by saying, “that’s the way it was back then but this is today” and not think that this will lead somewhere. It does go somewhere. And the reality is that it leads to a future where your daughters are wearing fatigues and carrying weapons.
You disregard what nature and Scripture teaches about gender roles and the American military will as well. If that is what American Christians are going to do then what keeps them from sending our daughters to war?
Another way of saying this is that ideas have consequences. And the day women are forced to enroll in the draft a whole lot of men that mashed the roles of women together are going to yell, “Over my dead body!”, not realizing that they advocated for this with their healthy body.
Men and Women Are Different
God created two genders. He created man and He created woman (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2). That is not one but two genders. And they are different.
Blogging is a format much too small to give a thorough discussion of the difference between men and women. But I will say that Scripture teaches that men and women are profoundly different and are to be treated that way.
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Peter 3:7 ESV)
We easily observe in nature that woman is different from man. She is generally smaller. She generally has less muscle tone. Her appearance is far more aesthetically pleasing. Her vision is different, being able to spot differences in color but not being able to see fast movements from a distance as well. And she generally thinks about things in a different way than men, as any married couple will tell you. And she is able to grow a baby in her womb then feed that baby for a few years with her body.
The fact is that we can observe from the world around us that men and women are different. And we see in Scripture that men and women were created for different roles. There are some things that men are supposed to do and some things women are supposed to do, which leads us to pastors and the military.
Women Cannot Be Pastors (1 Timothy 2:12, 3:1-7, Titus 1:6)
I want to zero in on 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and then glance at the other texts listed above. One of the qualifications for being a pastor is that the person be a male. And you can’t really argue with that fact, if God’s Word is your guide on the matter.
“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:1-7 ESV)
The pesky phrase is “husband of one wife”. In the Greek it is μιᾶς(one) γυναικoς (woman) ἄνδρα (man). It’s literal translation is “one woman man”. So, no matter how you slice it, Paul was writing about a man. And the same exact phrase is used in Titus 1:6.
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you– if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. (Titus 1:5-6 ESV)
And all of this makes plain what Paul meant when he wrote 1 Timothy 2:12.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (1 Timothy 2:12 ESV)
Simply put, women are not to be pastors. And this is not something that changes if society changes. It’s not something that we can just ignore because it’s part of a bygone era.
The Southern Baptist Convention and the Presbyterian Church in America both see the differences in gender. But as a pastor in the SBC, I can tell you there’s a lot of people within our ranks that want to mash the gender roles together and ignore these Scriptures. And by doing so, they’ve allowed the rest of the world to think that there’s no difference between men and women.
The Department of Defense now has no reason to keep our daughters from going to war. They don’t see the difference in gender that Christians have ignored. So why not make them sign up for the draft?
Women in Combat
And this gets us to the question of women in the military.
Modern translations have done modern American Christians no favor here. But Deuteronomy 22:5 rather obviously prohibits women from being in the military. Older commentators understood it this way and were willing to say so.
When I was looking into this, I decided to do a side by side of newer translations compared to older ones and then I threw in Young’s Literal Translation for kicks and giggles. Look at the result.
“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5 ESV)
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. (Deuteronomy 22:5 NIV)
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 22:5 KJV)
‘The habiliments of a man are not on a woman, nor doth a man put on the garment of a woman, for the abomination of Jehovah thy God [is] any one doing these. (Deuteronomy 22:5 YLT)
Our modern translations want to translate both of these as pertaining to clothing. And so, modern people read this and get the idea that this is only about cross dressing. But the problem is that the two phrases used are not parallel.
The woman is not to put on the “keli” of a man. The “keli” is articles or equipment that pertains to whatever the word is linked to. So, “that which pertaineth to a man” is a much better translation than “garments” or “clothing”. That is also why Young’s Literal Translation used the word “habiliments”, which is clothing associated with a specific office or job. And the man is not to put on the “simla” of a woman. “Simla” simply means clothing or garments.
This is not just a discussion about clothing. This is about gender differences and gender distinctions. God created both men and women and the two have different roles in their families and in society. We are not mush the two together and pretend the differences are not there.
Older commentators picked upon this and did not brush past these texts. Notice what John Gill stated in his comments over this passage,
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man….It being very unseemly and imprudent, and contrary to the modesty of her sex, or there shall not be upon her any “instrument of a man”, any utensil of his which he makes use of in his trade and business; as if she was employed in it, when her business was not to do the work of men, but to take care of her house and family; and so this law may be opposed to the customs of the Egyptians…and so here forbids women putting on a military habit and going with men to war, as was usual among eastern women;…and in like manner Josephus explains it, “take heed, especially in war, that a woman do not make use of the habit of a man, or a man that of a woman;” (John Gill’s comments from Deuteronomy 22:5)
Likewise, Keil and Delitzch writes,
As the property of a neighbour was to be sacred in the estimation of an Israelite, so also the divine distinction of the sexes, which was kept sacred in civil life by the clothing peculiar to each sex, was to be not less but even more sacredly observed. “There shall not be man’s things upon a woman, and a man shall not put on a woman’s clothes.” כּלי does not signify clothing merely, nor arms only, but includes every kind of domestic and other utensils (as in Exodus 22:6; Leviticus 11:32; Leviticus 13:49). The immediate design of this prohibition was not to prevent licentiousness, or to oppose idolatrous practices (the proofs which Spencer has adduced of the existence of such usages among heathen nations are very far-fetched); but to maintain the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes which was established by the creation of man and woman, and in relation to which Israel was not to sin. Every violation or wiping out of this distinction – such even, for example, as the emancipation of a woman – was unnatural, and therefore an abomination in the sight of God. (Keil and Delitzch comments from Deuteronomy 22:5)
In eras where gender roles were not being blurred, the meaning of this text was obvious to everyone that considered it. There is a difference between men and women. They have different roles in the Church and in society.
I don’t want to imply that women should not work outside of the home. It seems obvious enough that the Proverbs 31 woman did work outside the home. But I do want to emphasize that there are different roles for men and women. And today there is a strong desire to ignore that.
Why Write This?
If someone reads this, they are very likely to be unhappy with what I wrote. So, why write it?
Here is the point and my reason for writing.
There are repercussions to your actions. There are repercussions to ignoring parts of the Bible because you consider yourself “more enlightened”. Your enlightenment could result in your daughter fighting wars for the United States Military.
As Christians we are not called upon to sanctify the direction society is headed. We are called to follow Christ and that will often mean headed the exact opposite direction of society. And in a country that, for the most part, claims to believe be Christian this should not even be discussed.
And in this case, the Scriptures plainly teach that men and women are different and they have different roles within society. Men and women are not the same. And they are not to be treated the same. And as Christians forgot this fact, so did the Department of Defense.
R. Dwain Minor
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