Jesus and john wayne table of contents
Yes, Jesus was willing to challenge culture on certain points, but we cannot assume that he agreed with everything that he let stand.
Instead, he used slaves in some of his parables without even a hint that such a custom was anything less than what God wanted. He did not attack the Roman government, nor the custom of slavery. However, Jesus did not challenge all the imperfect social customs of his day. Some egalitarians have answered that Jesus was limited by his culture, but as Borland noted, it seems unlikely that Jesus, who broke many religious conventions, was that limited by his culture. There are good reasons not to have a Gentile in the Twelve, but why not any women? When Jesus chose only men as apostles, was he reflecting a permanent restriction on leadership within the church, or was it due to a temporary need? Jesus was willing to teach women in public and in private, and women were among his disciples, but he did not include them in the Twelve. Second, unlike the all-Jewish leadership, “male leadership was perpetuated by those whom Christ initially taught, trained, and to whom He committed the future leadership of His church.” Twelve Jewish men Christ’s followers were both male and female from the beginning,” and yet women were not chosen as leaders.
However, Borland points out an important fact: “The church did not start as all male and then later become both male and female. The Bible shows that the church began as all Jewish it is no surprise that the leaders were all Jewish. 15:24), and we have good biblical reasons for understanding that to be a temporary limitation. The Jewishness of the disciples was necessitated by a theological fact: Jesus was sent only to the Jews ( Matt. Jesus did not pick any Samaritan men to be apostles, either, because of the cultural limitations he worked in. However, egalitarians respond that not only were the apostles all men, they were also all Jewish, and that indicates a cultural limitation that does not apply to church leadership today. “Even though many women have excellent leadership qualities, God still has clear role distinctions in mind when apostleship and eldership are considered.” Since Jesus was willing to break social customs, and Jewish culture sometimes allowed female leaders, Jesus must have had a good reason to choose only men-and that reason, Borland argues, is because church leaders should all be men. The fact that an occasional judge (Deborah, Judges 4-5), or ruler (Athaliah, 2 Kings 11:3) was a woman also demonstrates that female leadership was possible. Just three decades before Herod the Great took over as king, Israel was ruled for years by Queen Alexandra. Jewish culture did accept women into positions of leadership.