It’s been several days of thinking on “If a man is told not to exercise his spiritual gifts, he is to obey God rather than humans, even those in authority… but a woman is told she must obey her husband rather than God, or is even told that she really does not have her spiritual gift. When does a man ever have the right to trump God?” as I’ve tried to get down to the bottom of the problem.
At first glance my reaction is to agree with how utterly dead wrong the church is to make such as assertion but it behoves me to think through the associated reasioning as to why it’s wrong. As I am progressing through VLI I’m increasingly aware of having influence with people. How I exert that influence will either perpetuate or change the system, so I have to ask myself, am I perpetuating a flawed system or am I seeking to change a system in a way that’s unhealthy?
Telling a woman “she must obey her husband rather than God or “even that she really does not have her spiritual gift” is plainly wrong! The question I am asking is whether this is wrong in isolation or whether it’s merely the logical outgrowth of a fundamentally flawed system. I really question a system that asserts a man should “obey God rather than humans, even those in authority” - given that it encourages a rugged individualism that seems to run counter to the teaching of mutual submission & Paul’s teaching on the body; it fans the fires of arrogance and pride inherent in sinful man.
Paul asserts that at the cross there is no slave or free, Jew or Gentile or male or female - were are all sinful human beings, loved by an infinite Saviour. Spiritual gifts are from the very same God who communicated this truth to Paul, so it follows that giftsa re available to all. It seems similarly logical that the rules of fair use of spiritual gifts would be applicable to all, irrespective of gender? I’m a firm believer in the Reformation principle of “The priesthood of all believers” which logically requires the exercise of spiritual gifts of all believers, both men and women. Whereas we used to be in submission to Rome / the priest prior to the Reformation, today we are all called to be in submission to the Body of Christ and other priests (that is, other believers).