I was in college when a friend explained why the Bible was in favor of women pastors. During an afternoon of flipping to different passages and dipping into original languages, I got a little lost.

“That seems like a lot of acrobatics,” I said.

“No, it isn’t,” she said. She kept going until I was convinced—which, to be honest, wasn’t that long. At 19, I was an easy sell.

I spent the next couple of decades as a firm egalitarian. If you’d asked me why, I couldn’t have told you.

Later, swimming in the waters of the Young, Restless, Reformed movement, I rediscovered complementarianism. It was laid out so clearly in Scripture, and fit so beautifully within God’s big story, that I was immediately and fully convinced. The main emotion I felt was relief—followed by thankfulness to God who designed the world so well.

This debate will probably never go away. So as egalitarians lay out their arguments, I’m grateful for theologians like Tom Schreiner who can carefully and convincingly argue back.