Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 03:2 (Fall 2021)
Article: Men And Women In The Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction
Author: Matt Damico

Eikon 3.2 (Fall 2021) p. 97

Men And Women In The Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction

REVIEWED BY

Matt Damico

Matt Damico is the pastor of worship at Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.

Kevin DeYoung. Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021.

Kevin DeYoung’s Men and Women in the Church lives up to each adjective in its subtitle: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction. Because of those three features — clocking in around 150 pages, faithfully addressing the relevant portions of Scripture, and giving readers guidance for how to respond to the Bible’s teaching — DeYoung’s book deserves to be a go-to resource for anyone wanting an introduction to the complementarian position and the debates that surround it.

The book is divided into two parts; the first is “Biblical Exploration” and goes through different portions and passages of Scripture, from Genesis through the Old Testament, to the teaching of Jesus and the crucial epistolary passages. Part two, called “Questions and Applications,” is shorter and discusses more practical matters.

Eikon 3.2 (Fall 2021) p. 98

The book is excellent with much to commend it. For one, DeYoung writes with characteristic clarity and level-headedness; it would be difficult to find evidence that the author lacks a grasp of the subject or that he writes with a shrill pen. Second, there are chapters that would serve as helpful standalone resources. I would highlight the chapter on marriage, which consists of a brief explanation of Ephesians 5:22–33 and some on-the-ground exhortation for husbands and wives. Chapters 4 and 8 stand out in the way they address difficult matters head on — the former addressing questions arising from Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14, the latter responding to common objections to complementarian teaching. Rather than just presenting his case in these chapters, DeYoung does the reader a favor by naming the common objections and questions and answering them.

Maybe the most unique contribution DeYoung makes is his consistent willingness to affirm not only the distinct roles that God assigns to men and women, but that these distinctions are rooted in the way men and women are made. There can be a tendency among some complementarians to affirm the distinct roles in a way that makes the distinctions seem arbitrary, as though something like a divine coin flip determined whether it was men or women whom Go...