John Piper - 50 Crucial Questions: An Overview of Central Concerns about Manhood and Womanhood

Contents

Complementarity

The issue we face in this book is how men and women should relate to each other according to the Bible. We are concerned especially with how they relate in the home and in the church. The position we take affirms the complementary differences between men and women and spells out the implications of those differences for the way men and women relate to each other in the most fulfilling way.

We defend what Larry Crabb calls enjoying the difference, namely, that the sexes are distinct in what they were fundamentally designed to give and in what brings them the greatest joy in relationship.... At the deepest level, a man serves a woman differently than a woman serves a man.

We resonate with Chuck Colson when he laments the destructive tendencies of gender blending throughout our culture. We stand with him when he says, God created two distinct types of peoplemale and female, masculine and femininewith different roles and abilities for the propagation and nurturing of the race. We agree that it assaults a basic truth of creation when a female reporter demands access to a male locker room, when homosexual men adopt babies and use surrogate nursing bras, when female prison guards do body searches on male inmates, and when popular rock stars reverse every sexual distinction.

This is why we call ourselves complementarians . Our vision of manhood and womanhood is shaped by a passion for realitythe beautiful reality of complementary differentiation that God designed for our joy in the beginning when God created us male and female equally in his image.

If one word must be used to describe our position, therefore, we prefer the term complementarian , since it suggests both equality and beneficial differences between men and women. We are uncomfortable with the term traditionalist because it implies an unwillingness to let Scripture challenge traditional patterns of behavior, and we certainly reject the term hierarchicalist because it overemphasizes structured authority while giving no suggestion of either equality or the beauty of mutual interdependence.

Lengthy volumes have been written on this issue, including our own Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood . But most people do not have time to read several books on each of the pressing issues of modern life. Often what we need are concise answers to particular questions. That is what this book is meant to offer.

From the beginning we have insisted at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that the complementarian position is firmly rooted in the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Here you will find answers to key questions in a concise format from two of the evangelical communitys finest minds. May God use this book to encourage heartfelt obedience to his good and wise design.

Randy Stinson, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Administration, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

To borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis, theres a kind of Deep Magic about the way God created man and womanan ancient wonder that few of us postmoderns appreciate. Through a pragmatic arrangement of 50 Crucial Questions , Piper and Grudem bring out passage after passage of Scripture to awaken our minds and hearts to the wonder of what our Creator has done. This concise treatment of the major questions surrounding our roles in the church and home will catapult readers straight into Gods Word to see what is really there.

Gloria Furman, pastors wife, Redeemer Church of Dubai; author, The Pastors Wife and Missional Motherhood

The core content of this book was tremendously needed and helpful when it was first published almost a quarter century ago. In our current generation, where there is breathtaking confusion and distortion regarding gender and marriage, it is needed more than ever. There is a desperate need for leaders of the evangelical church to speak with a wise, clear, and uncompromising biblical clarity. Piper and Grudem provide that clear voice, and I pray their answers will be heard and practiced so that Gods glory will be more powerfully displayed through his grand design for men and women.

Erik Thoennes, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Chair, Biblical and Theological Studies Theology Department, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; Pastor, Grace Evangelical Free Church, La Mirada, California

50 Crucial Questions: An Overview of Central Concerns about Manhood and Womanhood

Copyright 2016 by The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

First published on its own as 50 Crucial Questions about Manhood and Womanhood , copyright 1992 by The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Published earlier as An Overview of Central Concerns: Questions and Answers, chapter 2 in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism , edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem (Crossway), copyright 1991, 2006 by The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Cover design: Dual Identity, inc.

First printing of Crossway edition 2016

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible . Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture references marked RSV are from The Revised Standard Version . Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-5181-9
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5184-0
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5182-6
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5183-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Piper, John, 1946 | Grudem, Wayne A.

Title: 50 crucial questions : an overview of central concerns about manhood and womanhood / John Piper and Wayne Grudem.

Other titles: Fifty crucial questions

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2016. | First published as An Overview of Central Concerns: Questions and Answers, chapter 2 in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem (Crossway), copyright 1991, 2006 by The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015018527 (print) | LCCN 2016004234 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433551819 (tp) | ISBN 9781433551826 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433551833 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433551840 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Sex roleReligious aspectsChristianityMiscellanea.

Classification: LCC BT708 .P495 2016 (print) | LCC BT708 (ebook) | DDC 233/.5081dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015018527

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2020-03-26 10:40:48 AM

The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood