Aimee Byrd “speaking” in chapel at the PCA’s Covenant College
4. Feminism in the Reformed Churches: The Tactics, in Church
Feminism is on the march against the Reformed churches. We met its leaders, then considered their tactics online. Then last time we looked at two key books, and saw how they set themselves against honesty, truth, nature, and Scripture. Now we consider how the feminists have already breached the city gates, and are wreaking havoc within the walls of the church itself. Our survey will begin broadly, then descend to life in the local church, and in the Christian home.
Much of the broad influence of feminism upon the church has already been discussed. Carl Trueman, Todd Pruitt, and Aimee Byrd are known throughout the Reformed churches for their podcast Mortification of Spin, which together with their blogs is published by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Rachel Miller’s book Beyond Authority and Submission was published by Presbyterian & Reformed, a well-known purveyor of Reformed theology. Aimee Byrd’s new book was published by Zondervan, and has benefited from their broader reach. It is currently on Amazon the number one new release in Christian Discipleship. If we consider Byrd alone, she is now one of the best-selling authors in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and whether she intended it or not, has become to many broader evangelicals a public face of that denomination.
I wish that were an exaggeration. But Byrd is more influential than most realize. She has a following on Twitter nearly ten thousand strong. She has been featured on numerous podcasts (e.g. here, here, and here). For years now she has traveled far and wide for speaking engagements. She has taught to crowds at well-known conservative churches, e.g. Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, Independent Presbyterian in Savannah, and Christ Church Presbyterian in Charleston. She has been featured at her own denomination’s retreat center, and was sent to speak to one of its churches in Puerto Rico. She often speaks to groups of women, but also to groups of men and women, and sometimes to groups of only men: as she explains here, she has been welcomed to advise a presbytery, to teach seminarians on preaching, and to speak at a pastors’ retreat. Besides her speaking engagements, further evidence that her teaching has been broadly received is found in writing. Byrd has written for Ordained Servant, her denomination’s journal for church officers (here), her book against the “Pence Rule” was given high praise in that journal (here), and in the denominational magazine New Horizons (here). In the latter are other positive reviews of books by Byrd (here and here), a piece about her podcasting (here), and one of Byrd’s own articles on making women better theologians (here). Her influence in writing is also seen in the Presbyterian Church in America’s magazine (here), in the Gospel Coalition (here), and in Ligonier Ministries (here and here). Byrd seems to be by far the most influential figure of the women we have seen, but others have made some waves themselves. Rachel Miller, also in the OPC, has joined Byrd on the conference circuit (here), and has defended women teaching in this manner (here).
Now many interject that all this information is entirely beside the point, for it is no sin for a woman to speak in public, or to write for church magazines. This objection is common, but facile, for two reasons. First, many of the above items testify not merely to a woman speaking or writing, but to a woman speaking or writing harmful error, with the tacit approval of Christ’s church. If any of the grave problems we previously exposed in Byrd and Miller’s thought are true, then all of their spoken and written content should be suspect, as should the faithfulness of those who solicit it and publish it.
Yet errors aside, second, I contend that it is in fact a sin against the word of God to allow any woman, orthodox as she may be, to teach men publicly in the church of Jesus Christ. This is not popular to say. But it is biblical and apostolic. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence (1 Tim. 2:11–12). Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church (1 Cor. 14:34–35). What Byrd, Miller, and other women do, traveling to speak in churches, in presbyteries, and in pulpits, Paul calls a shame. The passages cited cannot be explained away. They are speaking not of office, but of function, to teach, to speak. They are speaking not of a single circumscribed event, such as a Sunday worship service, but of a sphere, a venue, in the churches, in the church. The context of these passages does nothing at all to dull the edges of their prohibitions, but rather makes them cut more deeply: per 1 Timothy 2:8 women also ought not lead in public prayer, just as per 1 Corinthians 14:26 they also ought not prophesy or speak in tongues, at least in public.
Nor do these passages give any cover for conferences (e.g. here and here). If a woman speaks to a large mixed audience, if she stands in a lineup with male ministers, if like them she gives words of exhortation from the Bible, her behavior cannot withstand the scrutiny of Scripture. I suffer not a woman to teach. The question of women writing would take more time to answer fully, but honest readers should honestly ask, in what way does a woman publishing words of spiritual instruction in an authorized denominational magazine not fall under the apostolic ban? I suffer not a woman to teach. Those who aren’t convinced from exegesis ought still to be convinced from propriety and witness. If my neighbors see my wife taking out the trash, they’ll think I’m traveling or sick. If our people, or the world, see our women teaching Scripture to the church, they will ask, “Where are the men?”
There is yet more evidence of the forward march of feminism, which though not directly linked to the women we have mentioned above, is nonetheless troubling. Reformed seminaries, the training grounds for our ministers, are more and more producing female graduates, and employing female teachers, including Aimee Byrd (mentioned here; discussed more fully in Recovering, 144–145). This shift is not unintentional: just watch the marketing (e.g. here).
Another evidence of influence is more subtle, but no less serious, and that is in our churches’ speech. Reformed publishers have across the board adopted style guides requiring “gender-inclusive” language, and Reformed preachers have largely followed suit. The human race is no more called “mankind” or “man,” as if Adam were no longer head of his posterity. The unknown or generic “person” is discussed as “he or she,” or as the vague colloquial “they,” pronoun usages all but unknown in classic English, yet required by law in our transgender age. Addressing all the congregation as “brethren,” or as “brothers,” may be allowed for Paul, but not for modern ministers. “Men and women” is preferred when speaking of a group of “human beings,” so much so that our women, when they see in the Nicene Creed that Christ came down from heaven “for us men, and for our salvation,” feel excluded.
Other evidences of feminism in the Reformed churches are less subtle. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church allow the ordination of female deacons, though the winds of change seem to be blowing in a good direction. But it is an open secret that many congregations in the Presbyterian Church in America, against their own church order, are appointing deaconesses, and even shepherdesses (e.g. here and here). Yet in that denomination looms a larger and more sinister threat to godly sexuality. The Revoice conference, hosted in 2018 by a PCA church with an openly gay minister, exists to promote the flourishing of those in our churches who are “same-sex attracted,” that is, who are sodomites, but only in their hearts. This outright sexual confusion is but a late stage of the feminism we have diagnosed. If you doubt this connection, note that the first day of Revoice20 will feature evening worship with woman’s homily. The ungodly logic of gender-bending is inevitable: Aimee Byrd is but a few steps from Greg Johnson, and beyond. For if a woman can play the man in the pulpit, why can’t a man play the woman in the bedroom?
I wish I could stop there. But we need to bring these things home to the local church. Feminism is not just a problem on the conference circuit. It is preached from pulpits as if it were the word of God. Take a recent sermon by OPC minister Todd Bordow, Rachel Miller’s pastor, on 1 Peter 3:5–6. In it he labors to untie some difficulties in the text, and goes on at length to explain what a wife’s submission must not mean, giving some sound and necessary warnings about abuse. But near the beginning of the sermon, when it comes to explaining what submission actually is, he leaves very much to be desired. Again, he tells us what it’s not: “The word submit does not mean that a husband is the master and you’re the slave. Not the way you would submit to a military commander.” And later, on Sarah’s calling Abraham her lord, “Again, like the word submit, the word lord in the Old Testament does not mean ‘master,’ but ‘sir.’” Citing Genesis 24:18 and John 20:15, he argues that lord is “a term of respect often from women to men.” So what, according to Bordow, does submit actually mean? He says, “The idea of submission we see used in Ephesians, where it says, ‘Submit to one another,’ is to seek to serve, seek to put their needs before your needs, to defer to their needs. And so it’s not a blind obedience of a master, but a servant seeking to help.”
This specious explanation is yet one more example of the same Scripture-wresting Peter condemns in his next epistle (2 Peter 3:16). The first and most obvious response is, in these verses (1 Peter 3:5-6), Peter is not telling the wives just to submit. He is telling them to obey, “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” Bordow says almost nothing about Peter’s choice of verb. Second, Bordow’s own words condemn himself. If indeed lord does not mean “master” but “sir,” what then is gained? Most wives today don’t care to call their husband “sir” either. And if indeed in the Bible this “sir” is a term of respect used by all women toward all men, is that not evidence that godly women recognize the natural inferiority of the female sex? Third, the appeal to Ephesians is disingenuous. “Submit” is used in a generic way in the verse he quoted (5:21), but then immediately after in a specific way, that leaves no doubt that in Ephesians, a wife’s submission certainly includes careful, detailed obedience to her husband’s lawful authority: vv. 22–24, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. … Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
I’m afraid this is but one example of what is heard today in preaching on the theme of men and women. But I’m also afraid of the silence of our pulpits on this subject. I ask the Christian reader, when was the last time your pastor preached on the subjection of women? On the rule of men? On the requirement that church officers be male? How about on Proverbs 31? Or Numbers 30? Or on the passages we saw above, 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2? Ministers, I ask you, if Bordow’s slippery sermon bothers you, when will you preach next on 1 Peter 3? And when you do, will you like Peter encourage wives today like Sara to obey their husbands, and to call them lord? I hope my questions prove a point. No doubt one reason why our churches do not believe in patriarchy is simply because it is not preached.
There are many causes for such silence. I want to point out three. First is that ministers cannot preach against feminism, because they cannot face its advance within their congregation. For example, how can a man discourse on the woman’s headcovering, arguing with Paul from propriety (1 Cor. 11:4–6, 10, 13–16), from universal custom (v. 16), from creation (vv. 7–9), and from Christ and God (v. 3), if not a single lady in his pews has ever worn a hat in church? Or how can he preach the duty of men to lift up holy hands in prayer (1 Tim. 2:8), and of women to be silent (v. 11), when right after the service comes the church’s “popcorn” prayer meeting, led in part by little girls? This is not to excuse ministers from being reformers, but simply to be realistic. In many churches, the cost of preaching repentance is higher than the preacher is able, or willing, to pay.
A second cause is a common problem, occasionally complained about, but then yielded to as if inevitable, that women are put on pastoral search committees. Think about what this means. A member who is not qualified to rule the church (1 Tim. 3:2), who is subject to her own husband (Eph. 5:22), who is more easily deceived (1 Tim. 2:14), and who is required to be busy at home (Prov. 31:27; Titus 2:5), is appointed to oversee a decision more weighty, more public, and more dangerous than most any made by any elder in his lifetime. A woman is expected to help find a candidate, to evaluate his character and gifts, to critique his sermons, to ask him searching questions, and to do all this in close, intense, and often difficult discussion with other men, but not her husband. If a church so readily makes the weaker vessel a gatekeeper for the gospel ministry, it should not wonder if it therefore receives a weaker minister, or none at all.
Α third cause for which our churches lack good teaching on these subjects, is the spiritual condition of the church’s families. The faithful few who preach a wholesome patriarchy will confess, it costs. And it costs, because it cuts, deep into the heart of family sinfulness. Husbands who do not take spiritual responsibility will also not take kindly to a minister who says they must. Wives without a meek and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4) will chafe at calls to feminine humility. Households addicted to dual incomes will see a woman’s full-time homemaking as an existential threat. Young couples persuaded that their youth is not the best time for procreation, that abundant fruitfulness is fearful, or that pets are substitutes for kids, will hate the man who tells them God is seeking godly seed (Mal. 2:15). Our people do not have faithful teaching on these matters, in large part because they do not want it. They will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2 Tim. 4:3).
I rest my case, at least for now. With all we have seen in these articles, of the influence of feminism online, in books, and in the church itself, together with the testimony of all the other resources I have cited, we do not need any more evidence to see that we are at war, and that the enemies are at the gates, and even in the walls. What we need now is courage for the fight. The final installment then will be a plea for the godly to take up arms, and manfully resist these errors that would destroy our churches.