âMankind fell from grace because Adam did not lead, permitting his wife to lead and be deceived by the serpent.â
âMen and women have equal value and dignity in the eyes of God from Creation, but they have been created to occupy different leadership roles.â
It has to be observed, in my familyâs quarter century of being a part of the Messianic movement (since 1995), that there is one huge issue which Messianic people, congregational leaders, and teachers of note are seldom willing to discuss or evaluate. In fact, this issue is often considered to be off-limits, if not completely verboten. In spite of there being a range of issues that Messianic people feel free to discussâincluding at times strongly questioning the Divinity of Yeshuaâit is odd that contemporary discussions over men and women in the Body of Messiah, and specifically women in ministry, cannot frequently be brought up.
To many people in todayâs broad Messianic movement, the issues involving the place of husbands and wives in the family, as well as men and women in the local assembly, is a done deal. Husbands lead the family, and wives abide by their husbandsâ decisions. Men lead the congregation, and women are there to help facilitate congregational functions. Any position about men and women in the Body of Messiah which might invoke terms such as co-equal, shared responsibility, and mutual submission are often viewed as compromise with the prevailing culture at best, or capitulation to liberal theology at worst. You do not just throw around the term âegalitarianâ in the Messianic movement, unless you really are willing to experience some blowback.
âAs obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, âYOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLYâ [Leviticus 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7]â (NASU).
âDo not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eatâ (NASU).
Hebrews 9:8-10: âWere the Kosher Laws Only in Place âuntil a time of reformationâ?â – Kosher
âThe Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformationâ (NASU).
â[N]ot paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deedâ (NASU).
âBut the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayerâ (NASU).
âTherefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath dayâthings which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Messiah. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Messiah to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, âDo not handle, do not taste, do not touch!â (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)âin accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgenceâ (NASU).
