Do Women Need a Mediator to Come to God?

Edit 5/12 to Add: I love Steve Brown.  Check this out:

I wrote this:

Ah, thank you so much.  You rock.  )  

I came out of a very strict patriarchal background (the Douglas Wilson, ”Reforming Marriage,” Vision Forum sort of type, where we were taught that “Biblically” a husband is the husbandman/farmer, and the wife is his field wherein he decides what to grow and when to grow it, blah blah blah).  What can I say?  We were fundies.  We took Scripture “literally.”  A lot.  (Uh, alot more literally than it was ever meant to be taken).    

 Long story short, the first 8 years of my marriage were in that sort of paradigm and as such, I’m a little sensitive in that area.  Coming out of that sort of bondage was no picnic.   (That particular movement is, unfortunately, growing like a bad weed in the conservative homeschooling world). 

So I really appreciate your response and your perspective—and do see where you are coming from.  Whereas my world had males taking on waaay more authority than any human should take (setting themselves up to be idols, often with good intentions!), your world sounds like it’s got the opposite problem.  That said, I would still (humbly!) ask you to please reconsider the use of the word, “priest” in the future.   It does connotate a sense of mediatorship (the dictionary definition reads as such), and yet, as you know, the NT does not teach us that males mediate for females (or husbands for wives).   It does, however, teach that Christ has made all of us priests.  Which I think is pretty cool, and I know that you do too.  )  

Thank you for everything you do.  You are truly a treasure.  Thank you for being a voice for Him.   

Warmly,
Molly   

To which he responded with this:

    The wife is a field?  You’re kidding, right?

 

    If I were a wife, that would turn me into a serial killer.

 

    Good point on the priest thing.  You’re right that it seems to imply that the “priesthood of all believers” is a male thing. 

 

    Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.

 

   You rock, too!!

 

   Bless,

   Steve

www.keylife.org
www.stevebrownetc.com

 

 

[Edit 5/9 to Add: Steve Brown wrote me, that gracious man, and emphasized that he did not mean anything of the sort with the word priest---that by priest, he meant to encourage the many men who think that spirituality is for women, NOT to encourage the patriarchal model as taught by Vision Forum, et all.  I really appreciated his response and have a feeling we're pretty much on the same page, though I would still request a different word would be better suited to do so, as "priest" carries with it the connotation of mediation].   

[Edit Later in 5/8  to Add:  Thanks to some of the illustrious comments here, it has come to my attention that what I think of when I hear the word, "priest," is not what Zacharius or Brown may be thinking of.  To which I would add, what is a Biblical definition for the word priest?  A typical dictionary definition reads: one authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God.  So, okay, I suppose if folks want to use the word, "priest," so be it, but I admit it is a very confusing word to use if they are not intending to advocate for male mediatorship.  And, yes, EVEN though Steve Brown is a Calvinist, I still like him anyway.  I'm a very gracious person, considering my severe allergy to TULIPs.] 

———————————————

The title of this post is a fair question (though my Protestant leanings are obvious), considering the commonly held notion that the husband is priest of the wife.  I recently listened to a clip where Ravi Zacharius (someone I respect) said that as a man, he was “the priest of his home” (this while also advocating mutual submission). 

That very same day, my favorite Bible teacher, Steve Brown, said, in a podcast I was listening to (in the Scandalous Freedom series, the “Punishing Plagues of Putting People on Pedestals,” to be specific), that as a husband and father, he was “the priest of his home” (while at the same time advocating that no one put an earthy authority in the place of God and that to do so is to be in idolatry).

I enjoy both of these teachers and intend to continue to do so.  But the fact that they both used the word “priests” to describe males (meaning, do they believe and teach that men are priests over women, by virtue of gender) is something that struck me as surprising.  The fact that this concept is pretty mainstream in conservative circles is something I’d like to talk about.  Is this “male priesthood” a Biblical New Testament concept?  If so, then where does the NT specifically say that husbands are priests for their wives? 

I feel pretty comfortable with my Bible, as a student of the Scriptures for some time now, yet I can’t locate any verse that says anything about men being priests for women (please correct me if I’m wrong).  And if the Bible doesn’t say that, how has this idea become so mainstream that even more egalitarian-leaning teachers still believe that men are priests. 

To get more specific, let’s talk about what a priest actually does.  Where does the NT say that a man stands before God as a priest of his wife?  Where does the NT say that a man stands before God on behalf of his wife, or that a man stands before God to hear instruction that God wishes him to pass to his wife?  Where does it say that God wishes to speak to a wife through her husband, or wishes a husband to speak to God on behalf of his wife? 

And what about the implications to the gospel itself?  Are we really okay with saying that one human mediates before God for another in a God-ordained role of priest?  Was the sacrifice of Jesus not enough for us?  Do we still yet need a mediator?  Why do Protestants so quickly revile the priests of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, yet so easily accept an extra-Biblical teaching that husbands are priests over wives?    

“But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God…for by one offering, He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  Hebrews 10:12, 14 NASB

Was the song to the Lamb referring only to men here, when they sang,

“And Thou hast made them to be a kindom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”  Revelation 5:10 NASB

Is the mediation of Christ not enough for me, because I am a women?  Do I need an earthly mediator to make up for what Jesus lacks?

“…And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…”  Hebrews 12:24a NASB