Overview

Few topics carry as much passion, confusion, and contention in the modern Western Christian church as the roles of men and women. WELS has been actively producing updated studies and statements that grapple with how best to clearly present the teaching in our day. Each pastor, in both teaching and practice, regularly faces the good yet challenging work of demonstrating what it means to be men and women in God’s church. 

In Jesus & Gender, Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher courageously take up the task of speaking into the confusion from a surprising yet refreshing perspective. They do not begin with complementarian versus egalitarian arguments, specific applications, or the influence of culture. Instead, they first spend ample time laying the foundation of men and women in the church being brothers and sisters in Christ, following their Savior while being devoted to one another. Upon that foundation, then, they build by walking through implications and applications for marriage, parenting, church life, and engaging our culture.  

It is beautiful to see the centrality of Christ and the gospel throughout the book. The authors reiterate this emphasis as essential to a productive discussion about gender differences and similarities. Having a “distinctly gospel-focused lens” (11), they argue, will reshape the paradigm for Christians as they engage with these issues. They point to the example of Jesus—his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection—as the basis for developing the posture that Jesus’ followers want to take. If gender discussions begin to hinge on the question of who gets to be in charge, they maintain, the proper focus has already been lost. By contrast, Jesus, the Son of God, gave up power and put others before himself as the perfect embodiment of authority in action for others. Likewise, “Christic” (Christ-like/Christ-following) men and women will not engage in power struggles between genders, but instead will look for ways to serve and be devoted to one another as Jesus so perfectly is to us. 

This kind of “Christic partnering,” the authors posit, will recognize differences between men and women, while also upholding our shared humanity. They point to Scriptures like the creation account and the joint mandate for men and women together to subdue the earth and rule over it. They also highlight Jesus’ command to his church to jointly proclaim the gospel. Likewise, they show how the Bible uses male and female metaphors like “female sons” and “male brides” (55-59) to underscore gospel truths for both men and women. These emphases are intended to lead to greater appreciation for one another and, by the Spirit’s power, work “humiliation, reciprocal benevolence, and mutual flourishing” (213) among men and women in the church. An entire chapter (chapter seven) covers the biblical directive and guidance for Christian men and women to be devoted to each other’s mutual flourishing. This perspective flows from the Bible’s vocabulary that describes Christians as siblings—brothers and sisters with the same heavenly Father and the same Brother named Jesus. This sibling relationship, they reiterate throughout the book, ought to be one of love and devotion, seeking the other’s prospering, never using or dismissing each other. 

Sin has deeply corrupted people and their ability to live well as siblings in Christ. The authors are honest about the hurt and destruction that often takes place when the proper focus is lost, both on a personal level and corporately as churches. With a tone of grief and a longing for justice, they speak to instances where Christians have sinfully hidden behind a skewed understanding of the roles of men and women with devastatingly hurtful results. They speak with understanding of sin’s ramifications and the urgency to always let God’s clear directives guide and to always make the gospel central.  

There are times throughout the book when a WELS pastor will recognize some arguments as a different way of speaking or even a misguided understanding. On the one hand, the authors’ approach of emphasizing the biblical picture of sibling relationships over endless arguing about complementarian vs. egalitarian is refreshing. It shines a different light on the conversation that is often missing. On the other hand, they never recognize one approach as biblical over the other, opting to be gracious to both sides. For instance, they say that issues like female ordination are ones that each individual congregation needs to wrestle with and then decide for themselves. This minimization of some teachings that are clear in Scripture lead them also to  neglect that there are implications for church fellowship when churches emphatically hold to different teachings (39-40). 

Chapter five discusses the importance of knowing that people were created in the image of God. The definition and understanding of the image of God are much broader than the narrow sense used in our Lutheran confessions. This difference requires discernment to understand the actual argument when terms are used differently than what we may be accustomed to. 

This book makes several unique points (or at least points I hadn’t heard articulated this way before). For instance, men are usually seen as the ones who deal best with pain and blood (on the battlefield, for example). But considering the monthly menstruation women experience along with the pain of childbirth (94-95), women face much pain and blood, perhaps even more and more often than men do! The authors rightly caution against overstating generalities, all while maintaining that men and women are different and their experiences often differ. They are consistent with this perspective when speaking about cultural expectations and the actual guidance God gives for being a boy or girl, man or woman, husband or wife. 

While there are arguments to disagree with and moments when readers will raise an eyebrow at certain points, Jesus & Gender is a thoughtful book with depth and new insights. It is a masterful example of framing the teaching and discussion around the roles of men and women in a way that is Christ-centered and evangelical. It shows how to have deep, thoughtful discussions on a particular doctrine while keeping the gospel the main thing. The authors’ emphasis on brother/sister relationships as siblings in Christ puts the discussion in the right terms. I have benefited greatly from this book and highly recommend it for other pastors. As we seek to grow in our understanding and our modeling of the concepts it covers, we and our congregations will be blessed!