OK, a short Tweet-Primer-Essay on why women shouldn't be in combat, in hopes of increasing my boomer creds:

Let's start with that great champion of women, the Apostle Paul, who insisted that women not be preachers or exercise authority over men (1Tim. 2:12). While this text is not about women in combat, he argues that the reason for his prohibition is the order of creation (1Tim. 2:13)

Women should not preach or have authority over men because man was created first, then Eve. Paul is arguing that the order of creation has practical, moral implications. It makes no sense to say that order could only apply to one, specific application. So what is the principle?

How does this "is" lead to this "ought?" The order of creation shows that God made man first so that woman could be made from the man (1 Cor. 11:8). More specifically, the man was cut/wounded in order to make the woman. The lesson: men were made to lay their lives down for women.

If Paul can apply that principle to the spiritual warfare of preaching how much more so does it apply to physical warfare & violence? If you object to that reasoning you will need to provide a different explanation from Paul's appeal to the order of creation & not merely deny it.

An argument can also be made from the OT law itself, "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk" (Dt. 14:21). The principle of justice here is that what God created to give life should not be used as an instrument of death. God created women to give life not take it.

To those objecting to my use of an obscure OT law, I appeal to Paul who argued that the prohibition against muzzling an ox while threshing grain (Dt. 25:4) is a good basis for requiring that pastors be paid (1 Tim. 5:18). If your hermeneutic forbids this, you're doing it wrong.

Another OT law is even more explicit: "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God" (Dt. 22:5).

The word for "anything" literally means tools/weapons/gear of a man.

Dt. 22:5 prohibits crossdressing and all gender bending & blending, but this includes women embracing the sexual confusion of vocational combat whether in law enforcement or the military. If your hermeneutic does not allow this, you have no argument against Drag Queen story hour.

To those preparing to ask about shellfish & mixed fabrics, I refer you to God's clear message to Peter in Acts 10. The ceremonial laws of separation between Jews/Gentiles were fulfilled in Christ, but Acts 15 makes clear that the laws governing sexual morality are still in force.

But the clearest NT passage that requires men to protect women from the front lines of war is Ephesians 5. There, Paul requires husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her and to nourish and cherish their wives as Christ does the Church.

How did Christ do this? He did this by going to war for His bride, by taking responsibility for her, by defending her from her enemies. He did not send her to war. Christ died so she might be saved from her enemies. The gospel itself is a standing condemnation of women in combat.

Husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies: nourishing/cherishing/feeding/keeping warm, but this includes defense & safety. Physical violence in the home is a violation of this passage, but so is allowing wives (and daughters) to be subjected to the violence of war.

Some wiseacre will come along & say that Paul is only addressing *married* women, but what about unmarried women in combat? To which I reply, if a husband is required to protect his own wife from all violence, anyone who makes exceptions for other women is not to be trusted.

Likewise, and the egalitarians should get their breathing bags ready, the Bible teaches that women are to be honored as weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7). Celebrating the fact that they are being shot & blown up is not honoring. And women in the military is military weakness. [gasp]

Finally: man is the head of woman & woman is the glory of man (1 Cor. 11:3). Glory is to be protected not sent into battle. In the OT sacrifices, hands were laid on the head of the animal & it went on the altar & into the fire first. Being the head means going into the fire first

God made men to take responsibility for the safety & provision of the women & children closest to them, loving them & protecting them like their own bodies. God made men, like Adam, like Jesus, to bleed first, to go into the fire first. The world calls us crazy. We call it love.