I note with interest that I am certainly not alone in my understanding of the Biblical text regarding women in leadership over men. John Piper, Wayne Grudem, Erwin Lutzer, John Macarthur, J I Packer, and RC Sproul come to mind immediately. I would like to add the apostle Paul, but many would object to that addition...

Recently a sermonaudio listener took offense at my teaching about the female place of ministry in the Body, and informed me that I needed a revelation from God about this. There followed the ever present Galatians 3:28, regarding the fact that in Christ there is no male or female.

As to my need for revelation, is not the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit on the Scriptures God has already revealed, enough? Should I, like Balaam, go back to God for a second opinion, when a Spirit-filled apostle has spoken on the issue?

I know Paul gave merely his opinions from time to time. But in speaking of the role of women, opinion is not on his mind. Rather he quotes from the original writings of the Lord, in Genesis. These also are inspired, to my knowledge... So now we have an apostle and a prophet saying the same thing. Yet I am asked to seek for a "revelation." Hmmm.

I know that we live in a different culture, but Paul spoke from the Spirit and indicated that those who did not wish to listen to him would just have to remain in their ignorance! The Holy Spirit via His apostolic words (in the first century meaning of those words) is our culture.

I know that the Spirit of God counters the law, but Paul was full of the Holy Ghost when he quoted "the law" of Genesis. Is there a "Spirit-filled" man among us today that has credentials greater than Paul? And is it the content of the law or the requirement for perfecting the keeping of the law that has been abrogated?

Why is the church twisted on this issue? Is it not because the culture of our own day, the spirit of feminism and the breaking down of all the ways of God, has entered the church? Would we have dared to introduce feminism if the world had not pressured us? Is this not the reason that Darwinism and homosexuality and permissive sexual behavior are with us also?

Let's look at Galatians 3:28. Very carefully. But first, let's look at Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, and Genesis 1:27. There we read that God made male and female. He seems to have enjoyed this particular piece of work, blessed it, and has over time given us guidelines for its functioning. Has all that changed because Christ has come into our life? There are no gender differences?

Galatians 3:28 says there is no male or female in Christ. Is Paul denying Jesus? That's not very likely!

The context of Paul is that we are all sons of God through faith. Those baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Because of that, in Heaven's eyes, there is no Jew any longer, and no Greek. There is no slave any longer, and no free man. There is no male any longer, and no female. I will get to Heaven regardless of my nation of origin, my social status, or my gender. Christ made that happen. But in the process did he abolish every distinction between us? Are we now neutral robots, clones, with nothing to contribute to anyone else that is any different than what they already have? No teachers any longer, no writers, no mechanics, no bankers?