Are women's gifts secondary?
John MacArthur tells us that the woman gets her knowledge from the man. Listen to clip #1 here.
So according to John MacArthur the man gets his spiritual gifts directly from God.
However the woman is different in that she gets her direction and her significance through the direction of the man. Listen to clip #2 here.
John MacArthur says that the woman is not the glory of God. Instead she is only the glory of the man and she then is under the man’s direction. In this way she manifests the man’s authority not God’s authority. Listen to clip #3.
This view makes it clear that men are needed in the church and they are the ones gifted by God to use their gifts for the common good of the body of Christ.
However this same view shows that women’s gifts are not given for the church. They are not for the common good. They are to be used outside the church.
Listen here to clip #4 as Pastor John MacArthur limits women’s prayers and women’s gifts to outside the church building.
So then are women allowed to use their spiritual gifts on the mission field? Well, no, they cannot use their gifts of teaching on the mission field either if there are unsaved men present according to leading complementarians. Listen to clip #5.
Last year CBMW was asked a question about women’s teaching of the bible. Can a woman give her insight on scriptures to a man? According to the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood she can teach a man privately but her teaching is subject to man’s original authorship. This means that if man has originated the teaching, then she can learn from the man and teach women and children and she can also teach a single man in private. However if her insight has not first originated from a man, then her insight is invalid. God apparently does not speak through a woman directly, but only through a man. John MacArthur concurs with this view and he shares that the greatest spiritual source for a woman will always be a man. Listen to clip #6 here.
So although one might think that complementarians give full freedom for women to minister to other women, it appears that even teaching other women, women teachers are second class citizens because a woman is only a secondary spiritual source for other women. A man is always the greatest spiritual source for a woman according to leading complementarians.
So what does this really mean?
It means that women really are not needed and their spiritual gifts are so secondary that they are not even the best spiritual mentors for women. This also explains why CBMW has completely ignored and has refused to refute the teaching in “Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free?” The teaching in the DVD set has been considered by many to be a fresh understanding of the hard passages of scripture in their proper context. But since I have taken this understanding from scripture alone and not from another man’s writings, my exegesis is considered invalid by these men. My explanation of the phrase “because of the angels” in 1 Corinthians 11:10 as a reference back to 1 Corinthians 6:3 is considered by some as the most straightforward understanding of the passage, yet the fact that commentaries written by men take a more complex view of the phrase in their guessing what Paul could have meant and none before me have apparently seen such a simple explanation from the context already established by Paul, then my view is considered invalid. Huh?
Let’s think this through. If this is God’s view of women’s secondary gifts, then why did God place both men and women together in one place at Pentecost? Why were women not segregated away from the men when they were filled with the Holy Spirit? Why were both men and women speaking in tongues and both were inspired to speak forth the praises of God to all gathered around them? What do you think? I would love to hear your views and more of my thoughts in the next post.
Documentation:
Clip #1
The woman is the vice regent who rules in the stead or who carries out man’s wish, as man is the vice regent who carries out God’s wish. That’s why, you see, I Corinthians 14 says, “If a woman needs to know something, tell her to go–” Where? Ask whom? Her husband, because man is the sun, and woman is the moon. “She shines not so much with the direct light of God but that derived from man.”
From “The Role of the godly woman” by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermons/1845
Clip #2
She demonstrates her significance in the world in response to the direction of men who are given divine dominion. That’s a general truth. That’s a truth that goes beyond the walls of Christianity and the church. It’s just in general.
From “The Role of the godly woman” by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermons/1845
Clip #3
Man, then, according to verse 7, “is the image and glory of God,” but look at verse 7 again. Here comes the other part. “But the woman is–” not the glory of God but what? “The glory of man.” Not even a definite article there. “Woman is glory of man.” In other words–listen to this–in other words, the woman was made to manifest man’s authority and man’s will as man was made to manifest God’s authority.
From “The Role of the godly woman” by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermons/1845
Clip #4
If it says here a woman praying or prophesying, there’s one place where she won’t do it. Where’s that? In the church. There are other places where she will do it. She will pray in many different places, with other people, with other women, with her family, with close friends.
There are places where she will speak and proclaim the Gospel to unsaved friends and neighbors and to other women and whatever, but the one place where she will not preach, where she will not lead, is in the church.
From “The subordination and equality of women” by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1844
Clip #5
And somebody else says, “Well, what about missions? What about missions? We need missionaries, what would we do without women missionaries?” God bless women missionaries, but I don’t think women being on the mission field necessarily have the right to violate the Word of God.
From “God’s high calling for women part 4″ by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gtycanada.org/resources/sermons/54-17/gods-high-calling-for-women-part-4
Clip #6
Listen, men, that is a grave responsibility. A woman’s deepest and greatest spiritual resource is a man. A man. Vital.
From “The role of the godly woman” by John MacArthur, transcript and audio found here http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/1845/the-role-of-the-godly-woman