Pauline Doctrine of Male Headship

It's clear that Bordwine has no sympathy for the feminist approach to the topic, because he regards it as simply not Biblical. He makes the case that the Bible is quite clear that men and women are equally God`s image bearers and therefore equal before God and in relationship with one another, and also that they are fellow heirs in the Christian life, equal in their spiritual standing before God (1 Pet 3:7; Gal 3:28). The Bible is also clear that men and women, who are equal with respect to creation and redemption and therefore share many things in common, are called to different and equally important roles in marriage and the church. It is God himself who has determined distinctive roles for men and women in order that thereby they may fulfill the creation mandate that he has given to mankind.

God has called men to serve as leaders in marriage and the church, and women to submit themselves willingly to that leadership, as they labor together in their distinctive roles (Eph 5:23-24; 1 Pet 3:1-6; 1 Tim 2:12; 3:1-13). In defining how men and women are to relate to one another in fulfilling their respective roles, God has called men to exercise a headship that is loving, gentle, and considerate and He has called women to submit to that headship in a willing, gentle, and respectful way (Eph 5:24, 33; 1 Pet 3:1-2). But this is not a Pauline Doctrine. It is the Biblical doctrine all throughout.

In the Foreword, Knight comments about the differences in cultures as a result of following (or not) the Biblical method of leadership. He says that the curse of the woman's desire to rule over man and the man's will to dominate women as the result of the Fall would have seen horrible results in all the cultures where there were no effects of the gospel.

"In contrast, in cultures and nations where the gospel has had strong influence, the joint-heir status of men and women has emerged as a wonderful by-product. But now we see in those same cultures and nations where secularization is replacing the effects of the gospel that a by-product of equality remains, while at the same time the society is giving expression to the sinful side of the curse pronouncement—women desiring to remove themselves from any distinctive role in their relationship to men and to be as much leaders in the home and church as men are, while men become increasingly passive or abusive in relation to women."

That feminists are against the teachings of the Bible is not astonishing, rather that there is a Biblical feminism. The authors deplore the loss of understanding God`s creation order. Sexual equality covers the relationship of God to Christ and of Christ to the Church, therewith an important part of his plan of his creation.
—adapted from a 2010 review by Roman Nies on Amazon.com