Mutuality & Praiseworthy Women
- James Collazo
- May 20, 2022
- 12 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
Introduction
Christian theology confronts the question of gender roles with three dominant perspectives: complementarianism, mutualism, and egalitarianism. Complementarianism asserts that men and women complement one another through distinct—and often hierarchical—roles and responsibilities. Mutualism, a modified form of egalitarianism, teaches that men and women share mutual roles and responsibilities, united in purpose though not always in function. Egalitarianism boldly declares men and women equal (French: égalitaire) in every role and responsibility. This article ignites a close examination of the scriptural foundation for mutualism. The table below illuminates the striking differences among complementarianism, mutualism, and egalitarianism:
Context | Complementarian | Mutualist | Egalitarian |
Value | Men and women are equal in value and dignity. | Men and women are equal in value and dignity. | Men and women are equal in value and dignity. |
Church | Men and women have separate roles in the church. Women cannot be leaders. | Men and women have mutual yet separate roles in church leadership. | Men and women have fully interchangeable roles in church leadership. |
Home | Men and women have distinctly ordered roles in the home. | Men and women have distinct yet mutual roles in the home. | Men and women have interchangeable roles in the home. |
Creation | Gender roles are God's intent in creation; salvation is a return to that intent. | Gender roles are a result of creation, and salvation restores mutuality. | Gender roles are a result of the fall, and salvation is deliverance from them. |
The mutualist view proclaims the inherent equality of men and women as co-heirs in Christ, echoing this biblical truth: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). This perspective upholds the value and dignity of every individual, regardless of gender, and champions collaboration and shared leadership within the church and society. It celebrates the diverse gifts and callings of both men and women, encouraging full participation in every aspect of ministry and service. Embracing mutualism cultivates a vibrant, dignified community where the gifts and contributions of all members are honored, amplified, and empowered for the glory of God.
Made in God's Image
Many readers assume that the consequence God gave to Eve for her sin in the Garden of Eden indicates that he always intended women to be submissive to men (Gen. 3:16). Yet long before sin entered the world, God declared that he "created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27; see "Humankind & Ancestral Sin"). Subjugation of women is therefore a consequence of evil, not part of God's perfect design. When God removed one of Adam's ribs to form Eve, he chose a symbol of mutuality, not oppression. The Hebrew noun tzela (H6763), translated "rib" in Genesis 2:21–22, literally means "side." Even today, "by your side" conveys a sense of solidarity and equality. Had God wanted to signify inferiority, he could have used the foot, which in ancient Near Eastern culture symbolized filth and subjugation—a connection we can infer from the practice of foot-washing at the Last Supper (John 13:8).
Moreover, God never commanded Adam to dominate Eve but to care for her. She was to be his "suitable helper" (Hebrew: ezer kenegdo; H5828; H5048), a companion at his side (Gen. 2:18). Just as God calls men to find rest and avoid the weariness, pain, and hardship that come from relentless toil (Matt. 11:28–29; Heb. 4:9–10), he calls women to share equality, free from the struggle for power or domination (Gen. 3:16–17; Luke 7:44, 50). God's design for male and female reflects mutuality, dignity, and partnership in every sphere of life.
Women in the Old Testament
In the Hebrew Bible, women often appear as homemakers, mothers, and caregivers. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, exemplified this role so fully that the apostle Peter writes, "They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear" (1 Pet. 3:5–6). In our modern culture, fear often dominates, especially in literal battles of the sexes. As women increasingly work outside the home, homemakers must defend their values and dignity. Yet this tension is hardly new. In ancient Greece, philosophers such as Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) and Plato (428/27–348/47 BC) urged men and women to entrust the city-state with the care and upbringing of children while pursuing success and knowledge (cf. Republic 5). This ancient Greek custom was certainly not a form of proto-feminism—women were still expected to be available as potential sex partners to the men in their community outside of marriage. To Jewish ears, such ideas were deeply pagan and contrary to God's law. Nevertheless, many modern beliefs about public education and cultural attitudes toward homemakers can be traced back more to Plato than to the Bible. There is no inherent conflict between choosing to remain at home with one's children and striving to be a corporate executive; yet cultural and ecclesial pressures often judge one path while condemning the other.
The scriptures offer both "Sarah" and "Deborah" models. Deborah served as a judge of Israel during a national crisis (Jdg. 4–5). In antiquity, a judge held authority comparable to a modern president, constrained by the legal code. The Israelites trusted Deborah to administer justice under the Law of Moses, rather than relying on inheritance or dynastic privilege. Deborah executed the law God had given at Mount Sinai (Exod. 34:32), demonstrating that women could exercise authority faithfully. The Law of Moses also provides the framework for the "Proverbs 31 woman" that complementarians often cite in arguments for female submission.
Proverbs 31:10–31 naturally concludes this section of the Old Testament references. It begins with a "wife of noble character" who strengthens and supports her husband. This ode contrasts the manipulative adulteress at the start of Proverbs (e.g., Prov. 2:16), leaving male readers with a robust vision of a capable woman. King Solomon, who sometimes embodied both the faithful husband and the foolish adulterer, presents a nuanced portrait. In verses 13–16, the woman is a skilled breadwinner, adept in domestic and international business. She supervises younger women on her estate and even purchases land herself, demonstrating initiative and autonomy. She exercises to maintain fitness, handles business affairs, and faces hardships head-on. Her leadership enhances her husband's reputation—not as a trophy wife, but as a godly partner. She shows generosity to the poor and provides her family and customers with the best resources. The Proverbs 31 woman defies the stereotype of being "barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen." She is a familial, socioeconomic, political, and, most importantly, spiritual force (vv. 17–31). Anyone who reads Proverbs 31 and reduces it to a message of subservient homemaking misses its whole meaning.
Women in the New Testament
Complementarians often cite Paul's words in Ephesians 5:21–33 to support the idea of female submission to male authority. If readers focus only on verse 22 ("Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord"), they might assume a universal command. Yet examining the grammar and the first-century cultural and household context clarifies that Paul was addressing specific situations in the early church, not prescribing an eternal rule for all women. Paul declares, "This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband" (Eph. 5:32–33). Submission, then, is not domination—it is a sacred, reciprocal covenant of love and respect, mirroring the dynamic of Christ and the church. Moreover, the writer warns against reading this passage as a mandate to subjugate women; it serves instead as an analogy for the hypostatic union between God the Father and Jesus in the Trinity (see "Trinity: Jewish & Gentile Views"). In God's eyes, members of Christ's church are first-class citizens of his kingdom. Likewise, a husband should regard his wife as a first-class partner in the household, not an indentured servant. Just as Jesus cherishes the church as his inheritance and gave his life to redeem her, God calls men to be selfless, loving, and sacrificial toward the women they marry. This passage sets the stage for interpreting Scripture with a profound mutualist lens—far richer than complementarians often acknowledge—attuned to the practical realities of the local church in Paul's time. However, Paul also writes:
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord's people. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? (1 Cor. 14:33–36).
Yet, Paul was also friends with the woman Priscilla, who certainly did not remain silent in the churches. She was the wife of Aquila and fled Rome when the Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC–AD 54) banished the Jews from the city (Acts 18:2). Priscilla was a teacher—a teacher of men, no less. Luke testifies, "[Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately" (Acts 18:26). The Greek verb proslambanō (G4355), correctly rendered in the New International Version (NIV) as "invited to their home," shows that Priscilla and Aquila led a house church of their own. At first glance, this seems to contradict Paul's instruction to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet" (1 Tim. 2:12). The reconciliation lies in context: Paul addressed a local issue with specific women, while Priscilla, a Jewish woman versed in the Law of Moses, was a praiseworthy "Proverbs 31 woman." In contrast, the women of Corinth were recent Gentile converts, still emerging from pagan cults such as those dedicated to Artemis or Aphrodite.
The first-century church included many women in leadership. Yet let us be clear: the earliest decades of Christianity knew no formal ordination. The Greek verb diatassō (G1299), meaning "to thoroughly command" and sometimes translated as "to ordain," does not describe the ordination of people in Scripture; it primarily refers to God the Father and Jesus (e.g., Matt. 11:1, 1 Cor. 9:14). When Paul warned Timothy, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others" (1 Tim. 5:22), he referred to a commissioning rite for appointing leaders (dating to AD 64 when Paul wrote to Timothy), not ordination as understood today. Local churches selected elders from within, who held responsibility rather than office. Thus, women were not "ordained" in the early church—but neither were men.
In addition to elders, there were deacons. Paul greets a female deacon, Phoebe of Cenchreae, in his letter to the Romans, calling her a diakonos (G1249, "servant") for her ministry in the local church (Rom. 16:1). The early church later appointed women to the diaconate once they reached sixty (cf. Acts 6:1–6; 1 Tim. 3:11, 5:9), with Canon 15 of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 lowering the minimum age to forty. Other notable women leaders include Chloe of Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11), Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:11, 14, 40), Nympha of Laodicea (Col. 4:15), and Euodia and Syntyche of Philippi (Phil. 4:2), who led house churches and exercised significant influence. Several women actively supported Jesus, providing the funds that sustained his ministry (Luke 8:1–3).
Conclusion
In our paradisal state in the Garden of Eden, men and women stood equal in God's image. The gender roles that complementarians observe in Scripture are not part of God's original design but are consequences of humanity's fallen nature. Yes, complementarians are correct that the Bible presents gender roles, yet they misinterpret why they exist. A strictly literal reading—treating nearly every passage as prescriptive or exemplary—overlooks essential metanarratives. For instance, Paul writes, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). This served as a baptismal formula, instructing early Christians that God evaluates us not by ethnoreligious, socioeconomic, or gender categories but by our relationship with Jesus (see "Equal Opportunity in Galatia"). Through baptism, the old boundaries of discrimination and culture dissolve, replaced by God's grace. Likewise, God created men not for hard labor but to dwell in his Sabbath rest (Mark 2:27–28). Jesus' resurrection is the defining claim that sets Christianity apart from all other religions. Remarkably, our witness to this historical event comes from a woman: Mary Magdalene (John 20:11–19). For this reason, the early church honored her as the "apostle to the apostles," the first to see the risen Christ and the one commissioned to proclaim the good news. Paul also recognized female apostles, referring to Andronicus and Junia as "outstanding among the apostles" (Rom. 16:7). While many complementarians today interpret this as Junia merely being respected by the apostles, church history shows that late-antique and medieval theologians consistently understood Junia as a woman. Some modern translations, such as The Living Bible (TLB), render the name as Junias, a masculine form, reflecting discomfort with the theological implications of a female apostle (see here). Yet even the Greek archbishop John Chrysostom (AD 347–407) affirmed her gender: "Indeed, how great was the wisdom of this woman that she was thought worthy of being called an apostle!" (On Paul's Epistle to the Romans 31). These examples reveal the lengths some have gone to preserve a complementarian agenda. Today, the church must reclaim the early teaching: to recognize gender mutuality as the mark of praiseworthy women, just as the apostles themselves witnessed and affirmed.
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of heaven and earth! You made us male and female, each reflecting your image in unique ways. Please help us honor one another, valuing the gifts and callings you place in each of us. Teach us to serve with humility, to listen with care, and to act in love, so that our lives together reflect your goodness. Unite us in faith, that we may worship you fully and joyfully, celebrating your creation and your presence among all people. We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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