Women in church leadership?

The recent vote in the General Synod of the Church of England on women bishops has thrown the issue of how Christians view the roles of men and women into the public arena.

It has suddenly become much more likely that we will be asked what we think by friends and relatives. Our response, even when we are trying to be biblical, can too often sound as if deep down we wish the Bible said something different to what it does! It seems to me we can do better than that.

God’s gospel commands

All God’s commands, though they sound like bad news when non-Christians first hear them, are really good news. The commands not to lie and not to be sexually immoral sound like bad news to non-Christians, but, as every Christian knows, once we are forgiven by Christ for having broken them, they are a far better way to live. In the same way, if different roles for men and women are consistently modelled and commanded in Scripture (a position I am not going to argue here — that has been done perfectly well by others), that is part of the good news of the gospel. It shows us a better way for male-female relationships than the world has to offer; part of the wonderful design according to which God, through Christ, is remaking people in his church.