Saturday, 28 April 2012
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Tiny Arguments: Women in Ministry
By Nic Don at TheopoliticalTiny Arguments is an idea I’ve had for a while now. My aim is to create a repository of tiny arguments, expressing a view in as few words as possible, so that instead of establishing the same common ground in multiple venues, I (and hopefully others) can point others here and five minutes later continue the conversation in more interesting and profitable ways. I will begin with my tiny argument for women in in ministry.
I believe that God calls women to all roles within the church and equips women to both pastor to and teach all members of the church.
Why?
Scriptural argument:
- Scripture shows a general trajectory from women as subservient objects to women as equal participants with men in Christ. The interpretation of any particular passage needs to accord with this trajectory.
- Many passages of scripture come directly from women. Inasmuch as scripture is authoritative over all believers, these are clear examples of God using women to preside over and educate men and women alike.
- The Old Testament records many examples of God using women to lead men and women alike, particularly in the power of the Holy Spirit. Where we see the spirit moving today, we should not doubt that God will do the same.
- The New Testament records several women occupying roles that some churches today would reserve for men: Paul gives equal stature to Priscilla and her husband Aquila in their teaching ministry; Phoebe was a deaconess, Andonicus and Junia are referred to as prominent apostles (the term itself appears in the feminine) and Paul refers to Euodia and Syntyche as “coworkers,” implying they are equal in leadership with Clement and other men mentioned.
- In several places Paul discusses gifts of the spirit and ministry roles and never associates gifts like pastoring, teaching or evangelizing with a specific gender or implies that there are any such restrictions, but says that the Spirit “allots gifts to each one individually as the Spirit chooses.”
Supporting arguments
- The ministry of women has bubbled over in the church from time to time. Often at the beginning of a reform movement women are active in leading and establishing the church in new places and new ways. Then, as the church is institutionalized and seeks more public approval, women are moved to more socially acceptable roles. This is the case for the church movement where I find myself, the Church of God Reform movement (Anderson, IN, 1890s). Likewise, in the early Catholic church women occupied positions of leadership over men and women alike, especially in the role of anchoresses who ruled abbeys but also functioned as bishops over church land and (male) priests in their dioceses. This demonstrates that the church is not bowing to cultural pressure in the ordaining of women ministers, but rather the opposite.
- Experience has shown that many women who are beyond doubt Christians, who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, do feel called to pastoral ministry. In their calling, they show themselves to be equipped for leadership and ministry. As such, they call patriarchal readings of scripture into question, as the same Spirit who inspired scripture empowers ministry today.
Responding to objections
Several passages attributed to Paul seem to clearly prohibit women from teaching or holding authority over men. In fact, applied literally these passages prevent women from speaking within the congregation, and I’ve known churches that enforce this rule. Surely those churches that don’t enforce the silence rule or rules against gold jewelry or braided hair (which come from neighboring sentences to the submission rules) will grant that in principle some of Paul’s admonitions are culturally bound. What makes it clear that Paul’s statements against women speaking are in this category is the list of women Paul approves for doing just that.
Now with those ideas in mind we can exegete individual passages.
- 1 Cor 14: Paul here says women must remain silent. But earlier in the same letter he taught that women could pray or prophesy, so long as they had their heads covered (and of course there are varying positions on what Paul meant by head-coverings as well). So clearly Paul’s statement about silence isn’t universal, but conditional and selective. In particular, the passage “If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home” provides a clue. In synagogues in Corinth, the custom was for men and women to sit on separate sides of the aisle. It would be very disruptive for women to ask their husbands about the teaching during the service. That’s a good short-term solution; the long-term solution is to allow women to learn; then they can not only speak, but teach, as Aquilla and other leaders in the New Testament did.
- In 1 Timothy, Paul restricts leadership offices (overseers, deacons, etc) to men, and tells Timothy he doesn’t permit women to have authority over men. Again this is at odds with the practice of churches Paul approves, so let’s dig a little deeper. There are obvious cultural reasons why Timothy, in Ephesus, should want to discourage women as leaders in the church. Ephesus was the home of the cult of Diana, which was a priestess-centered religion. But Paul doesn’t mention Diana; he mentions Adam and Eve, saying that “Adam was formed first, then Eve” and saying “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was.” This is odd logic to apply across the board, as animals were created first, and then humans, yet we do not give animals authority over humans. And elsewhere (Rom 5), Paul places the entire responsibility not on Eve, but on Adam. This puzzle is elegantly solved, however, if we read Genesis the way Paul and other rabbis of his time did. In the rabbinic understanding, Eve was deceived because Adam did not instruct her fully on God’s instructions for living in the garden. Again, the short-term solution is not to allow uneducated women to teach in the church; the long-term solution is to educate women so that they are in a position to teach.
So that leaves us with a groundwork for discussion. What do you think?
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Comments (15)
My position is the same. Excellently reasoned.
I won't attend a church if a woman is the senior pastor. I don't mind if there's a woman as an assistant pastor as long as there is a man over her, but not comfortable with a woman senior pastor.
I honor and respect women - and even more my sisters in Christ. Women and men who are genuinely called to pastoral offices are God's gift to the church....Personally, I still feel more comfortable under the teaching of a man; but I ask the Lord not only to bless them but to give me ears to hear what women pastors have to say.
When it comes to other denominations I've never had an issue with listening to what they have to say. I absolutely love Joyce Meyers! But I also understand and respect the beliefs of my own denomination on women not being pastors.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28
An excellent turn of phrase that did it for me many moons ago in regard to shedding race, nation, class and gender, or indeed, future species once the aliens start getting converted, in regard to Christianity and Christians.
I was converted during a great debate over women priests and this phrase is one of those that is all I needed to accept or reject some notion or other. I remember listening to a radio discussion where a bishop was asked why he was against the idea of women priests. I perked up thinking "now this should be interesting".He merely said "Jesus didn't have any women amongst his inner circle of disciples." He meant the twelve. I thought "well, he didn't have any Irishmen or Negroes either. He only had a class mixture of Jews." I've been all for the shedding of all physical differences in ministry ever since.
That was so deflating and it is from there I shed any propensity I may have had to "take their word for it". I mean, to listen to the Pharisaic arguers over jots and tittles rather than look at the text for myself and take it from there. The heart of my approach to scripture is to take what I think of as "the golden thread" that runs through scripture as available to the least capable of us. To jump analogies, one has to peel away the layers of an onion to get to its heart.
I'm digressing to some extent, as is my wont, so I'll move on now.
Yep. Looks right to me.
I'm a Catholic and I think the reason for having male priests and bishops is because of the example set by Jesus.
He was male and only picked male Apostles.
But as our understanding of the Gospel has matured so has the role of the laity.
The duties of the priests are mainly sacramental and magisterial. And that leaves an entire universe of things for both men and women to do in the Church.
Priests who try to manage all the worldly aspects of parish existence usually make nervous wrecks of themselves.
Question: you say that you believe that God calls women to all "roles within the church" and there is no restriction in gifting. I would agree. But is there a difference between a role/gifting and an office?
By the way, I like the "Tiny Arguments" idea. I've been doing the same thing--minus the "as few words as possible" clause--simply because I hate repeating myself. So I have several stock posts I link people to for recurring issues which come up in the middle of other conversations.
In Galatia, while Paul was there pissing off the women, it was part of the culture for women to not speak in public, so when he allowed them to be present when he spoke, it was only natural that while they were speaking one with another, catching up, so to speak, he would tell them they couldn't speak. The only women with shorn hair were prostitutes, so, culturally the women were disallowed from even trimming their hair, or showing it in public. We take these texts and literally assume that women cannot be pastors. He tells the women they cannot teach, but all our Christian churches have women teaching, so what's the issue about pastors? We've come along way with our civil rights movement, with our feminist movement, and with basic care for children in our culture, so why would we not come forward with women in ministry? And push the boundaries even further while reacting towards the Greek meaning of wording concerning homosexuals in the Old Testament? The literal Greek meanings? I really think the fundamentalist groups enjoy keeping women down under in their place, where it was never intended to be.
Good post. I would add that the first 300 years of the church it was very evident that women did play some leadership roles including teaching as most of the early churches had a lot of women in them to the male ratio. This was largely due to a practice of society of the people throwing out babies that the father's would not want as a child was not accepted until this happened. Particularly in families that were becoming large they would throw out more female babies. As a practice the church would go to the trash yards (where they would leave unwanted babies) and try and rescue the babies that were thrown out.
Question: "Women pastors / preachers? What does the Bible say about women in
ministry?" Answer: There is perhaps no more hotly debated issue in the church
today than the issue of women serving as pastors/preachers. As a result, it is
very important to not see this issue as men versus women. There are women who
believe women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions
on the ministry of women, and there are men who believe women can serve as
preachers and that there are no restrictions on women in ministry. This is not
an issue of chauvinism or discrimination. It is an issue of biblical
interpretation. The Word of God proclaims, “A woman should learn in quietness
and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over
a man; she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:11-12 ). In the church, God assigns
different roles to men and women. This is a result of the way mankind was
created and the way in which sin entered the world (1 Timothy 2:13-14 ). God,
through the apostle Paul, restricts women from serving in roles of teaching
and/or having spiritual authority over men. This precludes women from serving as
pastors, which definitely includes preaching to, teaching, and having spiritual
authority over men. There are many “objections” to this view of women in
ministry. A common one is that Paul restricts women from teaching because in the
first century, women were typically uneducated. However, 1 Timothy 2:11-14
nowhere mentions educational status. If education were a qualification for
ministry, the majority of Jesus' disciples would not have been qualified. A
second common objection is that Paul only restricted the women of Ephesus from
teaching (1 Timothy was written to Timothy, who was the pastor of the church in
Ephesus). The city of Ephesus was known for its temple to Artemis, a false
Greek/Roman goddess. Women were the authority in the worship of Artemis.
However, the book of 1 Timothy nowhere mentions Artemis, nor does Paul mention
Artemis worship as a reason for the restrictions in 1 Timothy 2:11-12. A third
common objection is that Paul is only referring to husbands and wives, not men
and women in general. The Greek words in the passage could refer to husbands and
wives; however, the basic meaning of the words refers to men and women. Further,
the same Greek words are used in verses 8-10. Are only husbands to lift up holy
hands in prayer without anger and disputing (verse 8 )? Are only wives to dress
modestly, have good deeds, and worship God (verses 9-10 )? Of course not. Verses
8-10 clearly refer to all men and women, not only husbands and wives. There is
nothing in the context that would indicate a switch to husbands and wives in
verses 11-14.
Yet another frequent objection to this interpretation of women in ministry is in
relation to women who held positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically
Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament. This objection fails to note
some significant factors. First, Deborah was the only female judge among 13 male
judges. Huldah was the only female prophet among dozens of male prophets
mentioned in the Bible. Miriam's only connection to leadership was being the
sister of Moses and Aaron. The two most prominent women in the times of the
Kings were Athaliah and Jezebel—hardly examples of godly female leadership. Most
significantly, though, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not
relevant to the issue.
The book of 1 Timothy and the other Pastoral
Epistles present a new paradigm for the church—the body of Christ—and that
paradigm involves the authority structure for the church, not for the nation of
Israel or any other Old Testament entity. Similar arguments are made using
Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament. In Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are
presented as faithful ministers for Christ. Priscilla's name is mentioned first,
perhaps indicating that she was more “prominent” in ministry than her husband.
However, Priscilla is nowhere described as participating in a ministry activity
that is in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:11-14. Priscilla and Aquila brought
Apollos into their home and they both discipled him, explaining the Word of God
to him more accurately (Acts 18:26).
In Romans 16:1, even if Phoebe is
considered a “deaconess” instead of a “servant,” that does not indicate that
Phoebe was a teacher in the church. “Able to teach” is given as a qualification
for elders, but not deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9).
Elders/bishops/deacons are described as the “husband of one wife,” “a man whose
children believe,” and “men worthy of respect.” Clearly the indication is that
these qualifications refer to men. In addition, in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus
1:6-9, masculine pronouns are used exclusively to refer to
elders/bishops/deacons. The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11-14 makes the “reason”
perfectly clear. Verse 13 begins with “for” and gives the “cause” of Paul’s
statement in verses 11-12. Why should women not teach or have authority over
men? Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one
deceived; it was the woman who was deceived.” God created Adam first and then
created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam. This order of creation has universal
application in the family (Ephesians 5:22-33) and the church. The fact that Eve
was deceived is also given as a reason for women not serving as pastors or
having spiritual authority over men. This leads some to believe that women
should not teach because they are more easily deceived. That concept is
debatable, but if women are more easily deceived, why should they be allowed to
teach children (who are easily deceived) and other women (who are supposedly
more easily deceived)? That is not what the text says. Women are not to teach
men or have spiritual authority over men because Eve was deceived. As a result,
God has given men the primary teaching authority in the church. Many women
excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, and helps. Much of the ministry
of the local church depends on women. Women in the church are not restricted
from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5), only from having
spiritual teaching authority over men.
The Bible nowhere restricts women
from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). Women, just as
much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the fruit of the
Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and to proclaim the gospel to the lost (Matthew
28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15). God has ordained that only men are to serve
in positions of spiritual teaching authority in the church. This is not because
men are necessarily better teachers, or because women are inferior or less
intelligent (which is not the case). It is simply the way God designed the
church to function. Men are to set the example in spiritual leadership—in their
lives and through their words. Women are to take a less authoritative role.
Women are encouraged to teach other women (Titus 2:3-5). The Bible also does not
restrict women from teaching children. The only activity women are restricted
from is teaching men or having spiritual authority over them. This logically
would preclude women from serving as pastors/preachers. This does not make women
less important, by any means, but rather gives them a ministry focus more in
agreement with God’s plan and His gifting of them.
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I think the word of God should not be debated, changed or argued, it should be taken for exactly what it speaks. The scriptures are there for us to understand the way in which God expects us to live our lives, just because the culture and rules long ago have changed over time, that shouldn't be a reason to apply such reason as an arguable debate over the text, times always change, customs always change, Jesus never changes, nor does His word. All text in the bible was driven by the spirit, what it says is truth, no more no less. I see no issue with women not being allowed to Pastor a church, because that is what is written, I do however have an issue with how some in leadership positions pick and chose the rules they wish to keep and those they let slide based on how our word and customs have evolved. If God wanted us to change His word according to ancient times and current times, to suit those who are uncomfortable with certain parts of the scriptures, I believe He would have made that known, to think otherwise is to say God has made an error, how absurd is that? The bible does not and should not change according to the times in which we live in. All need to stick to what is written and take it for what it is Gods word. It is not a punishment that women should not Pastor in churches, nor is it a punishment for us to to be silent. We can teach in many other settings, God has given us gifts and roles we should be thankful and grateful for. We teach our children, we are advisers to friends and family, a help mate to our husbands. Please remember this verse when dissecting which part of scripture we should abide and which we should not, as we should abide all. Timothy 2:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
I think the word of God should not be debated, changed or argued, it should be taken for exactly what it speaks. The scriptures are there for us to understand the way in which God expects us to live our lives, just because the culture and rules long ago have changed over time, that shouldn't be a reason to apply such reason as an arguable debate over the text, times always change, customs always change, Jesus never changes, nor does His word. All text in the bible was driven by the spirit, what it says is truth, no more no less. I see no issue with women not being allowed to Pastor a church, because that is what is written, I do however have an issue with how some in leadership positions pick and chose the rules they wish to keep and those they let slide based on how our word and customs have evolved. If God wanted us to change His word according to ancient times and current times, to suit those who are uncomfortable with certain parts of the scriptures, I believe He would have made that known, to think otherwise is to say God has made an error, how absurd is that? The bible does not and should not change according to the times in which we live in. All need to stick to what is written and take it for what it is Gods word. It is not a punishment that women should not Pastor in churches, nor is it a punishment for us to to be silent. We can teach in many other settings, God has given us gifts and roles we should be thankful and grateful for. We teach our children, we are advisers to friends and family, a help mate to our husbands. Please remember this verse when dissecting which part of scripture we should abide and which we should not, as we should abide all. Timothy 2:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.