Background: In the March, 1998, issue of CBMW NEWS (the precursor to Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood), I published a short article called “An Open Letter to Egalitarians: Six Questions That Have Never Been Answered.” Then in 2001, Linda Belleville replied to these six questions in her chapter in Two Views on Women in Ministry.1
In this article, I first reprint each section of my original article as it was originally published in 1988, then I give Belleville’s response to the question I posed in that section, followed by my evaluation of her response. At the end, I conclude that my six questions remain unanswered.
We know that many of you within the evangelical world hold your views because you have been convinced that egalitarianism is what the Bible teaches. You tell us that our differences on male and female roles are just differences in interpretation, and that Bible-believing Christians can honestly and fairly interpret the Bible to support complete equality in most or all roles for men and women in the family and the church. You say that you are sincere in adopting your views not because of modern cultural pressures but because you think that the Bible itself supports your position. In response to this, we want to say that we appreciate your sincerity in these matters and we believe that you are telling us the truth about your motives.
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Author: Wayne Grudem
Keywords: head covering, Covering one's head, Female head covering, Headship, Male headship, Kephale, Philip Payne, Authority over, Subjection, Submission, Wives subject to husbands, Wives subject to their husbands, Wifely submission, submit, wives submit, wives submissions, wife submit, Female teachers, Female elders, Church leaders, Church government, False teaching, False teacher, Paul prohibits female teaching, Paul prohibits women from teaching, Women teaching men, Egalitarian, Egalitarianism, Evangelical feminism, Women, Feminism, Female equality, Equality of sexes, Complementarian, Complementarianism, wives submit yourselves, submitting, subordination, equality, equality of the sexes, Gender equality, gender, gender roles, men and women
Bible reference(s): Gen 2:20, Gen 2:24, Gen 3:16, 1Co 11:3-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Ephesians 5:22-24, Eph 5:33, Col 3:18-19, 1 Timothy 2:9-15, 1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Timothy 5:13, 1 Timothy 5:17, Titus 2:4, 1 Peter 3:1, 1 Peter 3:5-6
Source: “An Open Letter to Egalitarians (Revised 2003),” Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, October 1, 2003.
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