This review focuses on the fundamental issue of "Headship, Submission, and Equality in Scripture," which is examined in chapter 13 of Women in Ministry. The chapter’s author chairs the Old Testament department at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. Over the years I have learned to respect him, not only for his outstanding scholarship but also for his commitment to the Lord. Though I must differ with what he has written in this chapter, I intend no negative reflection on his scholarship as a whole or on his personal character. In several of my books I have quoted extensively from his writings. My review here is limited to the chapter under consideration. It examines exclusively the chapter’s methodology and arguments, with no intent to question its author’s sincerity or integrity.

The Women in Ministry chapter offers a reinterpretation of the biblical data relating to the headship-submission pattern in attempting to provide a biblical justification for the ordination of women. This chapter is fundamental to the whole symposium. The author himself acknowledges that a definition of the biblical teaching on headship-submission is "foundational to determining whether or not women should be ordained as elders and pastors in the church."³

In many ways the whole symposium Women in Ministry stands or falls on this chapter’s interpretation of the biblical teaching on headship and submission in male-female relationships, because the other nineteen chapters are built upon the premises laid down in chapter 13. If the conclusions of this chapter are found to be based on a misinterpretation of the biblical data, then much of the work set forth by the other contributors collapses for the lack of an adequate biblical foundation. In view of the foundational importance of this chapter, we must closely examine the methodology the author used to reach his conclusions.

It may be helpful at the outset to state the Women in Ministry chapter’s conclusions. Fortunately, they are expressed with enviable clarity at the end. "Before the Fall there was full equality with no headship-submission in the relationship between Adam and Eve (Gen 2:24). But after the Fall, according to Genesis 3:16, the husband was given a servant headship role to preserve the harmony of the home, while at the same time the model of equal partnership was still set forth as the ideal. This post-Fall prescription of husband headship and wife submission was limited to the husband-wife relationship. In the divine revelation throughout the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament witness, servant headship and voluntary submission on the part of husband and wife, respectively, are affirmed, but these are never broadened to the covenant community in such a way as to prohibit women from taking positions of leadership, including headship positions over men."⁴

Simply stated, our author believes the Bible to teach that before the Fall there was perfect equality with no functional distinctions between the man and the woman. The role distinctions of husband-headship and wife-submission originated as a result of the Fall (Gen 3:16), and they apply exclusively to the home. Consequently, in the church women can serve even in "headship positions over men" without violating a biblical principle.

Can these conclusions be drawn legitimately from the Bible? Are functional role distinctions between men and women a post-Fall phenomenon, applying exclusively to the home and not to the church? My study shows otherwise. Both male-female equality and role distinctions, properly defined, are part of God’s creational design for the harmonious functioning of humanity. God created the man and the woman perfectly equal in their moral worth and spiritual status but clearly distinct in their biological and functional roles. In the partnership of these two spiritually equal human beings, man and woman, God created man to function in the servant-headship role of husband and father, and woman to function in the submissive role of wife and mother. These distinctive roles apply equally to both the home and the church, because from a biblical perspective the church is an extended spiritual family, often referred to as "the household of God" (Eph 2:19; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 4:17; Gal 6:10).

To determine which of the two paradigms rightly interprets the biblical data, we must begin our investigation with Genesis 1 to 3. The author acknowledges that these Bible chapters are foundational for defining the role relationships of men and women.⁵ The three passages of Genesis which are central for our understanding of the relationships between man and woman are (1) Genesis 1:26-31, the creation of the human race; (2) Genesis 2:18-25, the creation of woman; and (3) Genesis 3:1-24, the story of the Fall and its consequences. Let us examine what each passage says.