Why Is The Gospel Coalition Complementarian?

a question that all of us are asked on the council from time to time in different parts of the world is this you claim to be the gospel coalition why have you included in your statement of faith and Theological vision of ministry a clause that is specifically several clauses that are explicitly complementarian why must the gospel be tied to a complementarian confessional stance why not open it up as we've opened it up to let's say a diversity of opinion on baptism or some other issues forms of church government why not on this issue in 25 words or less yeah that's unfair that you get to ask the question maybe I shouldn't cut could we go back to start and I ask the question I I think I would ordinarily I do get asked this all the time myself and I would say no I don't believe I don't believe anyone here in the gospel coalition feels that your understanding of the gender roles and the role of women directly is part of the gospel and I think that means for example if I'm sharing the gospel with somebody I'm not talking about that in fact even if I start to talk to people about well if I become a Christian they say what will that mean to how I live I'm not going to talk about it even at that point because that would certainly muddy the waters and give people the impression that what it means become a Christian is to is to adopt these various position so directly no it is not a gospel issue because I don't have to tell people about this in order to teach the gospel but but on the other hand it's we think it's indirectly affects the way we understand the scripture and that understa way in which we understand the gospel so I would say I would say I haven't seen this in all cases but most of us in the gospel coalition feel that many people in order to make room for an egalitarian position have to do something with the way in which they read scripture that so I would put it this way it loosens it loosens your understanding of how you understand the force of scriptural teaching and I there are plenty i say of people who you loosen it only there and then they're tight they keep it tight everywhere else but some people who loosens across the board so we would say there's a number of things in our in our statements their theological statement our philosophy ministry statement that aren't directly involved with the heart of what it means to teach the gospel but we think our entailments they they they are associated with people who believe in gospel doctrine rather than direct causes so I wouldn't say if you're complementarian that causes you to believe the gospel but we think that there's there's a loose Association of a way of reading the scripture that brings you to a complementary conclusion and a way of reading the script that same way of reading scripture helps you understand you know the what the gospel what the Bible's teaching of the gospel is - so it's an indirect relationship I don't know and you all may not agree with me with that those terms but that's how I've been explaining it well John you and I have talked about this on other occasions at great length where where we've talked about how complementarianism is in some ways a microcosm of the much bigger issue of men and women and family and structure why don't you share some of that was yeah I think we know we needed to find complementarianism because frankly as I hear it's talked about they they dump all the old traditional baggage into it and the Galit Aryans have good news we have bad news that's not the case complementarianism means God created male and female different and he designed roles for which they are gloriously suited not simply biologically but in their very personhood and disposition and demeanor as male and female in marriage it means men will be sacrificial taking responsibility leaders that most women love they flourish when a man is a humble godly spiritual leader as head and she as submitting endorser of that leadership in the church it means the elders of the church distinct from the Deacons have the governing and teach roll and thus also exert that kind of spiritual humble Christ like when these things are being done in a beautiful way which is what complementarian means we want to rescue the old abuses into something beautiful so that the dance really is a beautiful ballet to watch between a man at all so that's that's what we mean by compliment complementarianism must not be confused with traditionalism right and at the risk of becoming a book peddler there's a new book out by a friend of mine in Australia called God's good design which has got your thought exactly right it's by Clare Smith and will be very helpful to many people so it would be one thing to talk to you about why it's a good thing to be a comp interion but the question specifically is why gospel coalition and my answer is is threefold one the gospel coalition wants to say things that protect the gospel put safeguards around it this is one of them we can talk about why the gospel once coalition wants to say things that display the gospel and we can talk about that and the third is we want to say things that release the gospel for maximum human flourishing and I think under each of those there are reasons why complementarianism does that so to pick up on on the one you raised we live in a culture where for the last 30 or 40 years the collapse of the meaning of biblical masculinity has not produced a beautiful egalitarian society it has produced a brutal masculine society because I heard dr. more also more say this few weeks ago at the Gospel together for the gospel he said if you leave men sinful men untalked about what godly humble leadership is they don't default to Galit aryan kindness they default to passivity which flares up in moments of rage or brutality and it's a confusion of masculinity throughout our culture that also is relating to the whole homosexual thing the abuse of women the neglect of children the absent fathers that this issue is simply huge when it comes to the flourishing of what what culture is and when we were over in Europe just a few weeks ago and they were saying it's not the same here I said you just haven't you haven't gone where we've gone as a culture in thinking through what happens when fathers disappear what happens when men become hostile and they don't have any vision men are wired to lead they'll lead badly or they'll lead godly in humble ways which is why merely talking about gallant arianism fifty-fifty doesn't doesn't work I read recently a woman's description of why she loved the masculinity of her husband and when I was done there wasn't a single thing said that couldn't have been said about a woman that's a mistake that's a mistake we do it all the time we think we're saying things about masculinity when we're saying humility and kindness and generosity and respect I say that's just godly humaneness what is it about manhood it's the last thing I'd say on this point is I need an answer we the church needs an answer for what you say to an eight-year-old boy or girl who asked his mommy mummy what does it mean to grow up and be a man and not a woman not a woman not just a man just don't talk to me at generic human virtues tell me what it means to be a man and not a woman or the girl mommy what does it mean to grow up and be a woman and not a man a gala Terry uns can't answer it I've never heard them answer my question just what are you going to say to this eight-year-old boy about what is distinct about masculinity that's not true of godly femininity what do you say when people ask why we put complementarianism in the gospel coalition doctrinal statements well the kinds of things that John and you have said I say both of those things I think there are other factors as well that is and that includes for example in any doctrinal statement in part you focus on certain things precisely because they are issues in your time in your society so there were times when Baptists and paedo back - we're very impatient with each other and and could not have fellowship with one in fact the paedo BAP has managed to drown a few Baptists as I recall but that's another part of church history at the moment that that's not the issue that we're primarily dividing over we can disagree about it but it's not the issue that is addressing our culture quite so strongly this issue is crucial in part because there are so many people denying it or taking it apart or destroying it and the outflow in our society not least in our inner cities is so huge that not to say something about it in a confessional statement and a vision of ministry is simply irresponsible you there are so many things that that flow out of it which is part of what you were saying John but not to deal with it in our culture is is simply not on it's it's it's ducking what is is just too close to the heartbeat of what's wrong with our culture picking up on your hermeneutical argument that's where you started that's probably where we'd all start their trajectories hermeneutical trajectories when you handle first Timothy 2:13 in a way as to dodge that or even worse when you handle Ephesians five in a way that dodges headship and Submission you are handling the Bible in a way that bodes ill for gospel texts so that's the hermeneutical argument I would say that that culturally and this is really offensive okay so I've said anyway culturally if you aren't willing to stand against the tide on this issue you're probably going to cave on some other important ones that may be closer to the gospel this there is a there is an issue of the kind of person who is willing to take the hits I mean to be called obscene to be called a sexist who doesn't give a rip about justice for women can you can you stand in those return good for evil and keep giving a positive vision to your church that's a kind of person that I think is is showing there they're not that way if they just if they go away from this issue so there's besides the her medical issue there's this there's this courage issue that I think bodes ill for standing on on other issues that's right we're often using hermeneutics today as a way of sidestepping what Scripture unambiguously repeatedly and clearly says by trying to locate the rationale in some alleged reconstruction of the background of first Timothy or whatever it is instead of listening to what the scripture actually says in its own terms and that is finally I want to say it carefully because I I don't mean to be cruel to those who disagree with me but it's it's finally not listening to what God says to to these people will I look those of our contrite spirit and who tremble at my word this does not feel like trembling at the Word of God it feels like ways of domesticating it and that on the long haul has massive repercussions down the road I think it's that serious now there's I think to two ways actually that that the Gospel Coalition in the way in which we talk about this and of course we're we're not in we're a pretty large group so I'm not saying but I think I perceive this on the part of most of us that there's a way of talking about complementarianism in a gracious way you I began by saying that we I think at the Gospel Coalition do not never each earch and every culture exactly specifically how the principle of male headship plays out there we go out of our way to say it's possible that if for example your ecclesiology with where you have actually where someplace here's you've got elders other places you don't have elders parts of the world you say Paul is forbidding Authority women having authorities forbidding something he's talking about headship how that plays out I usually say inside of your marriage depending on the temperament and personality of the people how it plays out in particular cultures how it plays out in different ecclesiology will look somewhat different and that's the reason why we can't pull all our understanding of what it means that means is the the husband headship means the husband controls the checkbook and we have not done that we have not poured all that in sometimes in caricatured as if we did but we actually are saying here's what the Bible says and it leaves a lot of specifics up to time and place the other thing is I hope our attitude to people to disagree with us if we're really a gospel coalition I do think that there's a there's a tendency for people on both sides of divide to treat the it to disdain you know Henry this place where Henry the fifth actually says even though we're going through as a Shakespeare course we're going through the French countryside conquering them I will not have the French operated with disdainful language you know he said ie say you're not going to do that I do not want you verbally to be talking to stained --fill ways these people even though we're conquering them and I'm hoping the gospel Coalition will go with that and we will not I'm sure that there's both complementarian Zandi Algerians who very often do upgrade the other side with very disdainful language and I think that we can't do that and that to me means we're gospel complement Aryans yes to which I'd also want to add what you said about not providing a whole set of rules the two things that John mentioned are right that is the Bible makes a distinction in role in the whole the Bible makes a distinction in role in the church recognized teaching authority over men and how that plays out in a variety of different cultures we can live with all kinds of diversity but it seems to me that those two things are pretty non-negotiable in the text and instead of being quiet over them we should be rejoicing over them as part of God's good design this is for the good of men and women and at the end of the day that man-woman relationship in marriage is tied in Scripture to Christ and the church and and Yahweh and Israel and ultimately to the marriage supper of the lamb and so on these things are tied together not merely at the horizontal sociological level but are tied to massive movements so that ultimately were to think of apostasy as a kind of spiritual adultery which says something both about apostasy and adultery and and and so far there's just so many things that tie together so strongly in this that if we miss this one we begin to unravel a whole lot of other things even if it's only by keeping silent about them but but when a whole culture is running in a certain direction if we remain silent about them we are finally on however unwittingly acquiescing and that's why it really is important for the coalition to stand up to directions that are just so dangerous and so painfully unbiblical at so many levels it might be worth it to say one other thing about the practice of trying to be both and on this I've seen it done in colleges I've seen it done in churches and and in groups and what happens is egalitarianism deep wins by default because as soon as you try to be both in the advocates in the group church or school will say well it's time to have a woman preach and the other say but we don't think that's right well you just have to tolerate that and once you've done that the group is an egalitarian group it's it's saying we will now feature this act of disobedience and offend the conscience is of the others you it's not the kind of thing where we don't force anybody to do infant baptism at a conference where as if that pressure were on us to have women authoritative lis teaching men because that's fair then you've already given the house away it doesn't work practically to try to have a gospel renewal Reformation movement like this be a both/and movement

Channel: The Gospel Coalition

Views: 99,900

Rating: 4.5962262 out of 5

Keywords: Christian, evangelical, teaching, reformed, pastors, ministry, biblical, Holy Spirit, God, Christianity, minister, Jesus, churches, pastor, reformation, gospel, spirit, the gospel coalition, coalition, spiritual, preacher, bible, preaching, church, faith, Christ

Id: jnq-19yoRC4

Length: 17min 5sec (1025 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 24 2014