Biblical Gender Views and Biblical Inerrancy

[Mike Seaver is a pastor at CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina and posts regularly at Role Calling.]

A few months ago, I did a post on Semigalitarianism. This is a view where conservative Christians have claimed to believe in Biblical inerrancy, but functionally believe that a women can teach God's Word to men if she is "under the senior pastor and her husband's authority." In my post I told you of a Southern Baptist friend who encountered Semigalitarianism at his church and how he was struggling with this teaching. He saw the inconsistency that was taking place. Since my post, my friend has gone to the Senior Pastor of this mega church and has pleaded to have pastor change his mind. He briefly explained how Biblical Inerrancy and Egalitarianism cannot hold hands. They are mutually exclusive.

The pastor listened, but his mind was not changed. However, another man in the church also came to him and this man is seminary trained and knows Greek and Hebrew. He explained to the pastor that he was not doing proper exegesis to passages to justify his semigalitarian position because that position cannot be biblically justified. The Pastor humbly decided to reconsider his thoughts on this topic. He said that he did not originally think that having a woman teach was that big of a deal, but now he sees the importance how it ties to other beliefs about the bible. The church staff has decided to pull back and study their beliefs on these "gender passages" and to not allow another woman to teach men until they thoroughly study the topic.

I am thankful for my friend and other lay leaders in churches who are willing to come forward and stand for the bible even when others will not. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to specifically tell your Senior Pastor that he is not being biblical. This must be done humbly and with an ear to hearing out the pastor. We never want to bring a charge against a pastor, but pastors are sinners just like everyone else. I know, I am one. We all have blindspots and all need others to speak into our lives. I have been adjusted by godly men for my teaching before and now I wholeheartedly disagree with what I once taught. I am praying for this senior pastor to do the same.