Ronald Reagan is famous for standing at the Berlin Wall and demanding, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down your wall!”

Within a few years, the hated symbol of the Cold War tyranny of the Communists in Europe was torn down. Tens of millions of people in Eastern Europe could say at last “Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!”

In the Universal Church, it is time to demand, “Males, tear down your wall!”

What wall? The wall that denies females a full role in the Church.

God revealed as early as Genesis Chapter One that males and females are created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27).

The Apostle Paul affirmed this Truth when he wrote the churches in Galatia: “[I]n Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28).

Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Southern Baptist Conference forbid females from playing a full role in their churches.

And so I demand, “Males, tear down your wall!”

You are ignoring the insights of the Universal Church Council in Acts Chapter 15.

At that Universal Church Council, some believers wanted to limit the role of non-Jews in their churches.

Fortunately, the views of Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and James (the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ) prevailed. The Universal Church’s abiding principle is “Do not make it difficult for people who are turning to God.” (Acts 15:19).

Similarly, we should not make it difficult for females who are trying to serve God as clergy and in other positions of authority.

The Jerusalem Council debated the application of various Scriptures to the issues they were considering. But the decisive argument was that God had already chosen to include non-Jews in the Church.

As Peter explained, “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. . . . [I]t is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:8-11).

“The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.” (Acts 15:12).

Think about all the signs and wonders God has done through females, including the females who met the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ before any males did! (Matthew 28:8-10; John 20:11-18).

Accordingly, there is neither male nor female when God gives roles and gifts that serve the Universal Church.

So stop making it difficult for females who want to serve the Universal Church as clergy and in other positions of authority, including authority over males.

Males who strain to erect roadblocks to females serving the Universal Church as clergy and in positions of authority over males, remind me of the lawyer who tried to justify himself by asking Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37).

As you may recall, Jesus had just affirmed that we should love the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul and all our strength and with all our mind; and that we should love our neighbor as ourself.

The lawyer wanted to define “neighbor” to include as few people as possible.

But Jesus pushed back against any effort to limit the scope of what he was teaching. He told the story of the Good Samaritan to show that everyone is my neighbor—that we should define the word “neighbor” to include as many people as imaginable.

So males, don’t look for excuses to limit the roles of females in the Universal Church.

Males, tear down your wall! It’s a wall that YOU created. Not God! Not Jesus!

In the same hypocritical way as those who Jesus condemned, these males are letting go of the commands of God and of Jesus, and are holding onto human traditions. (Mark 7:6-9).

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you believe that females can be clergy? Can hold positions of authority over males in churches? In families? In businesses? In governments? Why? Why not?

Do you disagree with the positions of the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Southern Baptist Convention forbidding females from being clergy and from holding positions of authority over males in churches? Why? Why not?

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For related ideas, please read “My Mother’s Preaching and Teaching” and “The 250th Birthday of the United States: Susan B. Anthony”.

For the need to be divisive within the church when necessary to help others, please read my blog “Grace and Peace—Titus”.

For the role of women in the church, please read the updated version of Lighting the World that contains the updated version of the chapter “Paul Blesses People Despite Sin’s Curses”, and includes an Appendix A “2019 Note by Tim Harner for 3rd Edition” and an Appendix B “Biblical Support for Female Equality and In Many Instances Superiority—It is time to destroy the fake and false narrative that a woman is subservient to a man. By Heidi Scholtz, a friend and colleague of Tim Harner. Copyright 2019 by Heidi Scholtz. All rights reserved. Used by permission.”