Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Male Leadership

hated. Pastor and author John Piper, who is one of the editors of the landmark work Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, clearly expresses his wonder over the marvelous, God-created differences of manhood and womanhood. He writes: “Over the years I have come to see from Scripture and from life that manhood and womanhood are the beautiful handiwork of a good and loving God. He designed our differences and they are profound. They are not mere physi ological prerequisites for sexual union. They go to the root of our personhood.”l Yet untold numbers of women today are unaware of these marvel ous differences. They have no clue what it means to be a woman as distinct from a man. In the name of justice and fairness for women, goals we all would gladly work together to accomplish, women are being deceived about their female identity and God’s holy Word. Women are again being exploited, but this time it is by false, feminist philosophers who demean godly femininity and motherhood and who are anti-child, anti-family, and ultimately anti-woman. To restrict women from the church eldership would be unjust and discriminatory if it were done arbitrarily by males for their own self ish ends, but if such restriction was part of the Creator’s wise plan, then it is not discrimination—it is just and good for the welfare of the family, the local church, and the whole human race. As Christians, we would not accuse Jesus Christ of discrimination. He alone is perfect; we are imperfect. Yet Jesus Christ appointed only males to the founda tional office of the Church, the apostolate. Although the feminist spirit of the age recoils at such a thought, Jesus is Founder and Lord of the Church, and we must follow His example and teaching.

THE MODEL OF MALE LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE APOSTOLATE

For the Bible-believing Christian, the primary example of male lead ership is found in the person of Jesus Christ. The most obvious point is that Christ came into the world as the Son of God, not the daughter of God. His maleness was not an arbitrary matter. It was a theological necessity, absolutely essential to his person and work. Jesus was and had to be a first-bom male, “holy to the Lord” (Luke 2:23). As the “last Adam” and “the second man,” He was the antitype of Adam, not

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