Let’s begin with some basic principles on which I trust all of us agree.

(1) I trust that we can all agree that men and women are equally created in the image of God, and that neither is more or less the image of God than the other.

(2) I trust that we can all agree that men and women are equal in personal dignity, that neither is more or less worthy or of more or less value as human beings.

(3) I trust that we can all agree that men and women should treat each other with kindness and compassion and love, and that any and all forms of abuse or disrespect or dishonor must be denounced as sin and resisted.

(4) I trust that we can all agree that functional differences between men and women in church and home, as expressed in the biblical terms “headship” and “submission”, do not diminish or jeopardize their ontological equality.

(5) I trust that we can all agree that submission to rightful authority is a noble and virtuous thing, that it is a privilege, a joy, something good and desirable and consistent with true freedom, and above all honoring and glorifying to God.

Biblical submission is appropriate in several relational spheres: (1) the wife to her husband (Eph. 5:22-24); (2) children to their parents (Eph. 6:1); (3) believers to the elders of the church (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12); (4) citizens to the state (Rom. 13); (5) servants (employees) to their masters (employers) (1 Pt. 2:18); (6) each believer to every other believer in humble service (Eph. 5:21). 

In none of these relationships is the responsibility to submit grounded in or justified by an appeal to the alleged inferiority of one to the other.

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