Excerpted from the "Women In Ministry" document written for Westwinds Community Church.
This is what was spoken by the
prophet Joel:
In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
ACTS 2.16-18, citing Joel 2.28-30
The single most convincing argument that women should be
included in all levels of church leadership is that they were included in all
levels of church leadership in the Bible.
Given the numerous occasions on which women lead, taught (and taught
men), spoke publicly, evangelized, prophesied, and were listed among the elders
and deacons and apostles of the New Testament church it is impossible to
believe that Paul’s limiting passages (1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2) were
meant to negate all that had already (in many cases by Paul himself) been put
into place.
Consider what women actually did in the Bible, the New Testament specifically:
Mary (not Joseph) is the first to
receive the message of Christ’s birth into the world. She is honored and blessed by angels. She is also the first to sing and prophesy
about the Christ child (cf. Luke 1).
The prophetess Anna receives
honorable mention as one who speaks of the Messiah to those who have waited for
Him (Luke 2.36-38).
Mary (the mother of Jesus)
obviously had a tremendous impact on the way in which her son fulfilled his
messianic purpose. Consider that many of
the themes present in Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1.46-55) appear in much the same
way in both Jesus’ teaching and James’ (Jesus’ half-brother) epistle (cf. Luke
4, James 1).
During Christ’s earthly ministry, a
group that Luke calls the Women were
just as well known as the Twelve
(Luke 8.1-3, 23.49 + 55, 22.24). In fact, the twelve male disciples were a
rather pitiful bunch when compared to Christ’s female disciples, who abandon
Jesus in the Garden and are not rehabilitated until much later. Because of this
Tom Wright has light-heartedly referred to these women as “apostles to the
apostles.”
Mary (not Jesus’ mother, but the
sister of Martha) caused near-scandal by avoiding her “women’s work” in the
kitchen and instead sitting at Jesus’ feet. In that world, at that time, to sit
at someone’s feet meant that you were a student and they were the teacher. Receiving this kind of instruction was
strictly the province of men.
Furthermore, you wouldn’t simply learn like this for your own personal
edification, but in order to become a rabbi or teacher yourself. This,
undoubtedly, is what really bothered Martha: her sister was neglecting her
female role and adopting, instead, a male role as a student and
apprentice.
The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet
(traditionally, Mary Magdalene) was performing a priestly action – she was
preparing Jesus’ body for burial – and Jesus recognized the sacramental nature
of her offering (cf. Luke 7.36-50).
The Women were the last ones to
leave the Cross (cf. Luke 24) at Christ’s crucifixion and the first ones to
visit the Tomb after his burial (cf. Luke 24).
Priscilla and her husband, Aquila,
taught Apollos (a Greek scholar) the way of the Lord more fully (Acts 18.26).
This is significant, because in order for them to have taught a scholar,
Prisiclla and Aquilla must have been well-versed (to say the least) in both
Scripture and theology. Furthermore,
four out of the six times this couple is mentioned in the Bible Priscilla’s
name is listed first (Acts 18.18 + 26, Romans 16.3, 2 Timothy 4.19). This is ancient shorthand for signifying that
Priscilla was more spiritually prominent.
The fact that her name appears first when she and her husband instructed
Apollos indicates that she led in that exchange (Acts 18.26 NASB and NIV).
Philip the evangelist had four
daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21.9).
This means they prophesied, which – in the first century – was always
done in and among the church.
In 1 Corinthians 11.4-5, Paul says
that women may both pray and prophesy when the church comes together (cf. 1
Corinthians 11.1-34). The context of
this passage means clear that Paul is referring to public meetings where both
men and women are present).
When Paul wrote to the Christians
in Rome, he honored the following women for their services in the church:
Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, and the sister of
Nereus (cf. Romans 16).
In Romans 16.2, Paul refers to
Phoebe, a deacon (a lesser officer in the church, charged with visiting the
sick, taking care of the poor, and fiscal management of the church’s
resources), a prostatis, which means
“one who stands in front of, superintends, guards, and provides care for
others.” Historically, we know that
Phoebe was the courier for Paul’s letter to the church in Rome and was charged
with the task of explicating it so the Romans could understand the complex
theological reasoning. Clearly, Phoebe
was a minister of the Gospel message and had some authority over – not only
individuals, but entire congregations as a teacher and expositor.
Paul commends Junia for being
outstanding among the apostles (cf. Romans 16.7). This shows that Junia (a woman) was [1] an
apostle, the highest officer in the early church; and [2] therefore obviously
met (at least) the qualifications for the office of elder, which was a lesser
office within the church. Along with her
husband, Andronicus, Junia was recognized as having gifts from God – “gifts”
meaning things like evangelizing, teaching, preaching, establishing leaders,
and leading churches.
In Philippians 4.2-3, Paul makes
special of Euodias and Syntyche who helped him in the Lord’s work.
Paul reminds Titus that the older
women should be “teachers of good things.”
They should teach the younger women (Titus 2.3-5).
Paul commends Timothy’s mother and
grandmother. We can reasonable infer
that these two women taught Timothy the Scriptures since he was a child (2
Timothy 1.5, 3.15).
Clearly, women were active in the ministry of the
first-century church. Because they were
recipients of the Holy Spirit, they were just as much a part of the believing
priesthood as were the men. We find them
prophesying publicly, praying publicly, teaching publicly, leading alongside
Paul (as well as other men), and leading male Christians.
Given these facts, how can we reasonably assume that Paul
meant for us to completely silence women in the higher levels of ecclesial
leadership? Even if he did mean that
women shouldn’t become elders – which, again, I think we’ve established is not
what he meant – Paul obviously felt comfortable appointing and employing women
in the highest levels of leadership whenever he felt it was appropriate.
At best, Paul’s injunctions are flexible. Much more likely, Paul’s injunctions are
merely situational.
He didn’t mean to keep women out of the highest offices of
leadership. He himself put women in
those offices and commended them for their high performance.
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