Women in Ministry‏

Shalom,

 

    Please begin by reading Gal 3:26-28.

 

    There's an awful lot of controversy over whether or not women should be allowed as pastors or in other leadership positions in the Church.  A lot of that stems from some disputed meanings of only a couple of verses.  I believe there's a view that is much more balanced, where we find Yahweh waiting for us.  One of the problems we face in properly dealing with this issue is a thing called "selective literalism."  When we use this thought process we pick and choose the Bible passages we want to apply literally, loudly proclaiming certain verses while ignoring the ones we don't like or that don't fit our theology.

    I've personally struggled over this issue myself.  My early teaching was by those who deny women any opportunity to be in ministry.  I never fully agreed with this position, but the teaching still biased my viewpoint.  But now after many hours of study, many years of Christianity, and persistent seeking after Yahweh's will I believe I've found his mind on this divisive issue.  We'll search the scriptures and see what we find.  Hopefully, we'll also let our Lord God Almighty speak to our hearts and minds if what we see isn't in alignment with what we currently understand or have been taught.

 

    Let's look at the three main passages used to keep women out of leadership.  In 1 Tim 2:11-12 we find, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.  I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man."  Those are pretty strong words, but if we read them in the full context of the passage they speak to a slightly different issue.

    Women were most often the leaders of the pagan, mystery religions at that time.  The culture thought of women in this way.  Paul is warning them not to use the world's way of teaching religion, sex appeal and the thought that women are more spiritually minded.  The confusion that exists about this rather practical issue has been brought about by a misunderstanding of this passage of scripture and also by unfamiliarity with the Roman world of Paul's day.

    The words actual meanings can also help us see the context.  Quietness means lack of disturbance.  It didn't just mean for the women to be totally quiet, but that they didn't disrupt or interrupt the teachings.  Have authority means to be master.  The women weren't to exercise authority over the men, but to be rightly submissive to Yahweh's appointed authority structure.

    Another thing to look at is this is a personal letter to Timothy, not to a church or even a city.  These are instructions from the master to the pupil, guidance to help Timothy in serving as an elder.  Reading through the rest of the letter we also find that Paul warned Timothy about gossipy, busy-body women.  I believe this is the kind of woman that shouldn't be allowed to lead or teach.

    1 Cor 14:34-36 says women should keep silent in church.  Again we need to look at the historical and cultural context.  At that time men and women sat in different sections of their churches.  Paul doesn't want the women asking questions during worship because of the disruption it would cause.  He was basically advising husbands and wives to deal with questions after they got home instead of during the teaching.  Remember, this whole chapter deals with proper order in worship services.

    1 Cor 11:5 says, "Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head - it is just as if her head were shaved."  Notice it says a woman who prays or prophesies, so there wasn't a prohibition against them speaking in public.

    This verse had a particular application at the time.  The unveiled woman was a prostitute, and many of them had their heads shaved.  For example, the vestal virgins in the temple of Aphrodite had their heads shaved.  And the veil wasn't meant as a sign of subjection to men, but to Yahweh.  Again we see Paul speaking against the use of sex appeal to get a message across.  The adornments they wore were not to be flashy or sexy or in accordance with pagan symbolism for that reason.  It's really very simple.  Women should dress modestly when they come to church reflecting their submission to their Lord Jesus.

 

    This subject isn't about women's liberation.  Yahweh set them free long a go.  He made all people one in Jesus.  Without distinction, the Holy Spirit dwells in men and women, distributing spiritual gifts without preference to gender.  There aren't separate lists of gifts for male and female.  The distinctions are removed when we become Christians according to Gal 3:28, which was also written by Paul who many insist is the one who prohibits women in any sort of leadership role.  Look at the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  There were men and women involved in this miraculous event, both were blessed and used.

    In Acts 16 we have the story of the beginning of the Church of Philippi.  Paul was directed there by a vision from Yahweh.  He usually began his evangelizing in the local synagogue, but there wasn't one in this town.  To have a synagogue required 10 Jewish men, sorry but women and children didn't count.  So without his normal method being available he prayed and asked around for information.

    Paul heard there was a prayer meeting along the river on the Sabbath, so he went there.  He found a group of women praying, apparently without men leading them.  He began telling them about Jesus, and Lydia opened her heart to Jesus as did others in her household.  She opened her home as the first church in town, and was undoubtedly the leader of this new church.  Paul started a church with a bunch of women.  But our bias says Paul taught against doing this sort of thing.

    Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned and commended by Paul eight times in his letters.  This is more often than anyone other than Timothy.  And contrary to the custom of the day Priscilla's name is mentioned first all but two of those times.  Does this mean she was the stronger leader or teacher?  Maybe, but more importantly it shows us Paul respected his female leadership.

    Phoebe is mentioned in Rom 16:1 as a "deaconess."  The word used for deacon here is often translated as servant.  The word used here to describe her is the same one used for Apollos, Tychicus, Epaphras, and Timothy.  Whatever Phoebe did was important and was a great help to Paul in his missionary work.

    There are other illustrations in the New Testament.  Phillip's daughters, the prophetesses is one.  There are ten women mentioned and commended for their Kingdom work in Rom 16.  They're praised as those "who work hard for the Lord."  There are others, but these should be sufficient for us to see that Paul didn't have anything against women, and neither does Yahweh.

 

    There are numerous accounts in the Bible of women who were called and blessed by Yahweh in ministries involving teaching and leadership of both men and women.  If Yahweh had ordained that such roles were strictly masculine and unsuitable for women, there wouldn't be any such women to be found in the Bible.  Why would the perfect and all-knowing God not follow his own rules?

    How about Deborah, found in Judges 4?  She was the leader and judge of all Israel.  If Yahweh doesn't want women leading men, how did she become the judge of Israel?  Again, I think we have to look beyond our personal bias.  What we plainly see in our Bibles is that Yahweh isn't as strict about this issue as we tend to be.  How can we say that women should never be in leadership over men when we see the truth about Deborah?  If we insist on that kind of thing then our box is too small to hold our God.

    Miriam is another example found in the Old Testament concerning female leadership.  Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were recognized as leaders.  Moses was preeminent, but they also "prophesied."  Micah 6:4 says, "I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery.  I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam."  Here we have Yahweh telling us he appointed Miriam to leadership.

 

    I'd like to close with a balancing point for us.  I don't believe women are on a 50-50 level as far as leaderhsip goes.  What I see in the Bible doesn't bring "total equality" in leadership.  Yahweh's design is still primarily for the man to be the head, especially in the home.  This principle is about proper submission to Yahweh.  If the man is in proper submission to Yahweh, he doesn't place his wife, or any other woman, under subjugation.  He's not the dictator, he's the spiritual leader.  It's about mutual submission to Yahweh and one another, with the man as the appointed head.

    If we have such problems with women being teachers in our churches, why are most of our Sunday School teachers women?  They can't teach men, but they can teach all our boys.  They have great influence over our young men during these years.  If we really don't believe they should be teaching or having authority over men, this can't be good.  But this is a rabbit trail, or a challenge to our preconceptions, we don't need to follow it and lose our focus.

    If we could go back and make everything right according to Yahweh's plan and will I believe we'd have a very different situation right now.  Some women would be in positions of leadership, and some men would be removed.  And given the complete picture of Yahweh's Word I believe this: women can be pastors and leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ.  We still have problems with this issue in our modern day society, because we haven't completely aligned ourselves with our Lord's will.  Let's seek the Lord and do things his way.  That will clear up our bias and overcome our problems of being too matriarchal or patriarchal.  We need to be "all one in Christ Jesus."

 

    Blessings & Peace,    Mike