With the recent release of the ESV Literary Study Bible, our friends at Crossway Books/Good News Publishers have once again provided Christians with a profoundly helpful resource for understanding God's Word.

The work, edited by the renowned father-son team of Leland and Philip Graham Ryken, helps readers to properly interpret God's Word in all its literary richness and beauty by examining in detail the various literary genres of Scripture.

The Rykens provide concise yet substantive introductions to each book of the Bible, tracing theological themes and literary elements and also include brief introductions to each chapter. Thousands of insightful study notes accompany the ESV text.

Best of all, the editors help readers to understand each individual part of the Bible in terms of its dramatic overarching storyline-God's cosmic rescue mission that culminates in the redeeming love of Christ.

Michael Spencer gives 10 reasons to love the ESV Literary Study Bible to which I will add No. 11: The editors take an unapologetically biblical stance on God's gracious plan regarding the complementary roles of men and women. 

In commenting on Ephesians 5:22-6:9, the editors write: "The roles we have in these relationships are not symmetrical. The apostle addresses each person directly, depending on his or her situation in life. In each case, he pinpoints the area of individual responsibility that is most necessary (and perhaps also the most spiritually demanding!) for the total relationship to fulfill its God-given purpose. The instructions to husbands and wives are justifiably famous for their stress on submissive (for wives) and sacrificial (for husbands) love. But marriage itself turns out to reveal a deeper mystery: it is a real-life metaphor for the love relationship between Christ and his church."

Earlier this year, a number of like-minded students at Northwestern College, an evangelical Christian school in St. Paul, Minnesota, formed a complementarian organization called the Gender Matters Task Force.  GMTF holds regular meetings and events that promote the traditional biblical view of gender roles in the home and church. Zach Tarter, a junior who is the starting quarterback on Northwestern's football team, leads the group.  A social studies education major, Tarter plans to attend seminary after college with the aim of serving in local church ministry. Tarter's sister, Courtney Tarter, is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a regular contributor to Genderblog. Courtney was instrumental in the founding of GMTF.  Genderblog interviewed Zach Tarter on the new organization.     

Genderblog: Obviously, complementarianism is not without its opponents on college campuses, so how has the Gender Matters Task Force been received at Northwestern?

Tarter: Last semester we weren't very prominent until Dr. Jim Hamilton spoke in April. We did not get a whole lot of feedback from the students, which we feel is due to the lack of concern about gender issues. On the other hand, the administration has provided more feedback. After Jim Hamilton spoke, we were told of a new policy at Northwestern that no longer allows chapel speakers to address gender issues; nor does it allow outside organizations to promote events regarding the issue that will take place on campus. Fidelis actively promoted an event in February featuring Dr. Russell Moore and planned to do so again with an event next semester, but from our understanding of the policy, they won't be able to do that. (We are not completely clear on this policy yet, so I could be off on the technicalities.) Ultimately, the administration is more concerned with the issues we're raising than the students.

Genderblog: What is the environment at Northwestern with regard to gender issues? Is there any hostility toward the complementarian view?

Tarter: Most students don't view this issue as a big deal. Most of the students on campus probably lean toward the complementarian view, but don't live a complementarian lifestyle. There is a minority of students who are vocal egalitarians and are hostile when the complementarian viewpoint arises. On the other hand, most of the administration seems to lean toward the egalitarian side, with some being neutral, and yet others who are complementarian. Unfortunately, from my understanding, those who are vocally complementarian face quite a bit of persecution.

Genderblog: What types of functions does the organization sponsor? Are you planning to publish a newsletter, e-publication or something else along those lines to promote GMTF and its views?

Tarter: As previously mentioned, we sponsored an event last April when Jim Hamilton came. Courtney and a student set up a women's study on biblical femininity for this whole year and we thought it was such a good idea that we are working on a men's study once a month in which we will bring in a male complementarian to speak on Biblical masculinity. We do not yet have a newsletter or anything like that, but that's a good idea! We will soon have information on facebook, which has become an Internet information center for college students. Yet, I know little about this task because I am out of the Facebook loop. As of right now, we are still brainstorming ideas to promote the truth of Scripture in regards to this issue.

Genderblog: Why do you see gender roles as such a critical issue facing the church?

Tarter: Simply stated, we see gender roles as such a critical issue because the Bible is clear that gender roles are a critical issue. We firmly feel that if Northwestern continues to base their understanding of gender roles on feelings and experience and not the Word of God, then they will do so in all issues of the Bible. The Gospel is at stake any time the Bible is not regarded as the ultimate authority, and unfortunately, it is not the ultimate authority at Northwestern on issues of gender.

Genderblog: Regarding your own passion for complementarianism, when and through what means did you become convinced of the crucial nature of God's teaching on gender?

Tarter: I always knew that women shouldn't be pastors because of my parents' biblical teaching. But I did not really look into it until Northwestern stated that they did not take a stand on the issue during chapel in 2005. After that, I did a speech on women in ministry in my speech class, but I don't think I grasped what it meant to be a man and truly lead. It wasn't until right before my wedding that I understood what it meant to lead. My wife became aware of sinful aspects of my life only days before our wedding. Through multiple conversations with my dad and pleading with Christ did I realize how to truly lead in our relationship. Since then, I firmly feel that the Lord has been teaching me what it means to be a man through my marriage more than any other aspect of my life.

If Gabriele Pauli (who is running to become head of the Bavarian conservative Christian Social Union) has her way, German civil marriages will amount to seven-year contracts. Then the so-called seven-year itch (the time period during which some say involves a heightened dissatisfaction in marriage) would be formalized and codified and presumably would decrease the "financial and emotional costs of divorces."  The initial contracts would be seven years and "after that initial period each partner would have to say ‘yes' again in order to prolong the marriage.  If they do, there is no reason why marriage should not end up as a lifelong partnership . . ."

God's design for marriage is vastly different.  It is a picture of Christ and the church (Eph 5) where Christ has a relationship with the church that cannot be broken.  The husband pictures Christ as he loves, nourishes, and cherishes his wife.  The wife pictures the church as she submits to and respects her husband.  Both are equally important in picturing this gospel message.

This is why divorce and planned separations are so devastating.  Not only will there always be emotional pain and fallout, but it portrays a lie about Christ and his church.  Let's be truth-tellers not only with our speech, but also with the structure, content, and commitment to our marriages.

Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel hosted the Straight Up Ministry Leadership Conference this week in a suburb on the western side of Chicago.  At the conference Dr. Randy Stinson, president of CBMW, addressed a group of pastors, elders and men's and women's ministry leaders on the subject, "What Every Pastor Needs to Know about the Evangelical Gender Battle."

Stinson said, "What is at stake in the Gender Battle is much more than who can preach on a Sunday morning.  This issue has spread its tentacles throughout many aspects of the Church."  He went on to describe how errors in our biblical understanding of gender threaten the health of the home and the local church.  Even how we address God in worship and our ability to accurately represent the Gospel are affected by our understanding of biblical manhood and womanhood.

He encouraged pastors to:

1. Pray for courage to take a biblical stand even when it is unpopular or costly,

2. Preach regularly on this subject, and frequently use illustrations that demonstrate biblical manhood and womanhood in action,

3. Ensure that they are personally equipped to speak to this issue through the many resources available at the CBMW website,

4. Accurately teach gender roles through all ministries of the church, and especially in marital and premarital counseling, and

5. Host an area conference to gather complementarian pastors for equipping and mutual encouragement.

The team at CBMW stands ready to help pastors throughout the country put these recommendations into practice.  We hope to hear from you or see you at a conference in the near future.

Newsweek magazine recently reported on a growing revolution that is sending a decidedly counter-cultural message to women: beauty and virtue are found in modesty. 

The movement is gaining momentum largely through Wendy Shalit's book Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good and her corresponding website.  Eliza, a recently launched modesty fashion magazine published by model and actress Summer Bellessa, is also contributing to the movement.

Penna Dexter recently touted the movement as a welcome backlash:  "The modesty movement is about much more than clothing, although dress is a sort of bellwether. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:9, instructs women to dress in ‘modest clothing, with decency and good sense,'" Dexter writes. "It's unrealistic to minimize the impact and importance of fashion. The truth is most females love clothes. The ‘mild' girls are not rejecting the trampy look in favor of the drab denim jumper. Modesty and glamour are not mutually exclusive."

Likewise, 1 Peter 3:3-4 instructs women that clothing should mirror a pure heart. "Your adornment must not be merely external-braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God." 

As Mary Mohler and Carolyn Mahaney have pointed out, the twenty-first century hookup culture has deemed such calls for modesty as an oppressive return to a puritanical age. Penna Dexter agrees, "Some feminists call this modesty revival a new kind of oppression. The mild girls will tell you it's liberating."

I am encouraged to see the backlash against "Girls Gone Wild." An exclusively external view of women undermines their dignity as valuable human beings made in the image of God. May God give believers the wisdom and the grace to uphold Scripture's call to holiness in every aspect of life so that we will adorn the gospel well.