Egalitartian Vs. Complimentarian

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Egalitarian vs. Complimentarian: Women in the Church One of the most controversial topics I have run into at Arizona Christian University is whether holding a complimentarian view is better or worse than holding an egalitarian view. It mainly applies to women’s roles in the church and within a marriage. A popular definition of egalitarian within Christianity, “is a movement based on the theological view that not only are all people equal before God in their personhood, but there are no gender-based limitations of what functions or roles each can fulfill in the home, the church, and the society”. Complimentarian can be defined as the “theological view that although men and women are created equal in their being and personhood, they are created to complement each other via different roles and responsibilities as manifested in marriage, family life, and religious leadership”. An argument in favor of complementarianism can be made from 1 Timothy 2:9-15. The popular verse that argues against the egalitarian view is 1 Timothy 2:12, which reads: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” (NASB) Paul makes a similar argument in 1 Corinthians 14 where he writes, “the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says” (1 Corinthians 14:34) (NASB). Paul makes the argument that women are not allowed to teach and or exercise authority over men within the church setting. Passages such as 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9 seem to limit church leadership "offices" to men as well. Egalitarians view 1 Corinthians 14 as Paul talking about the problem of false teachers in Ephesus, and warning them against falling into the trap of false teachers. Dr. Rick McClatchy talks about this further by saying, “Now I believe these false teachers had made

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