The protection of Jesus is not enough???

You would think Christ's protection would be enough for anyone, but apparently that is not the teaching we have heard in many churches.

Let's say that the red umbrella represents the protection of Jesus. Here we see all people under the umbrella of Jesus. All equal and protected under Christ. Compare that to what is taught in many churches today. It is not enough for the wife to be under the protection of Christ, but also under the authority and protection of her husband:

What is wrong with this picture? Everything!

There is one mediator 1 Timothy 2:5

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.

Mankind includes women and children in addition to men. There is only one mediator — Jesus Christ. We all—men, women, and children alike—have direct access to God and His protection!

The reformers realized this truth

The Reformation was founded upon the following truths:

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood…

Romans 1:17 The righteous will live by faith.

Men had direct access to God and no longer needed a priest as a mediator between them and God.

Somehow this did not apply to women In general, the Reformation is considered by evangelical Christians a story of triumph.

Yet for women, it is a story of loss.

Though not as free as men, before the Reformation women were able to find several avenues to exercise their spiritual gifts, even preaching. The Reformation stripped women from using their gifts in ministry and restricted them to domestic duties at home. The Reformation theology denied women's spiritual equality with men and argued for women’s exclusion from ecclesiastical leadership. Why? Because they believed the female body was “inferior" and women were to keep silent in church.

The Reformation now emphasized a woman’s place as a helper or a servant; for example,

John Calvin wrote “like a cook’s helper” by Genesis 2:18. Since they believed no woman could be an apostle, Martin Luther even changed Junia’s name to masculine by adding the masculine article in front of her name in his German translation of the New Testament. Martin Luther praised Martha and elevated her model as a homemaker; yet Jesus praised Mary who sat at his feet as a disciple. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Yet that is exactly what the Reformers did; they limited women’s role in ministry!

Mapping Scripture to secular structure

In her book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, Beth Allison Barr concludes. “So instead of

Scripture transforming society, the emphasis on Paul’s writings by the Reformers were

used to promote gender hierarchy. Rather than the Protestant reformers reviving a

biblical model, they were simply mapping Scripture onto a preceding secular

structure”…By insisting that Paul told women to be silent, evangelicals have capitulated

patriarchal culture once again.”

In the end...

"Complementarianism is patriarchy, and patriarchy is about power. Neither have ever been about Jesus. Jesus set women free a long time ago. Isn’t it time we do the same?"-Beth Allison Barr

By Divine Dissident contributor,

Sandy Bittrick

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