Finally, during my senior year at William Carey, as I struggled to decide what seminary to attend to further my education and prepare for ministry (still assuming I would somehow find acceptance overseas), the Dean of Biblical Studies said, “Leanne, you have a gift to preach. No one can deny that. You can stay in the SB church and be turned away from every pulpit, or you can find a church that will embrace your gift. If you choose to stay, you may make a difference for girls coming after you…maybe. If you choose to leave, you will make a difference for the Kingdom as God uses your gift of exhortation.” At that point, we prayerfully made the decision to withdraw my membership from the Southern Baptist Church and join the United Methodist Church (Cliff belonged to this denomination).
I share all of that just to say that I had a lot of years and teaching and advice (not to mention prayerful study of the Bible) that went into honing the position I hold now regarding women in ministry. The position I hold most simply stated is: When Jesus rose on the first day of the week, New Creation was begun. The curse had been lifted. What God established in Genesis 1-2, what the Prophet promised in Joel 2, and what the Apostles witnessed in Acts 2 is Truth for my life: I (a woman) am created in the image of God, in equal likeness to man. I (a woman) am a recipient of the saving, justifying, sanctifying grace of God. I (a woman) have the Holy Spirit living in me and I am the bearer of His good gifts for ministry. I am a daughter of God who has received the pouring out of God’s Spirit in order to prophesy…I am included in “all flesh.”
My unique gifting is the gift of exhortation as it is described in Romans or the gifts of pastor-teacher and apostle in Ephesians . In these lists, Paul does not designate that some are for men and some are for women. We have not withheld the gifts of service, helps, giving, and, in many cases, teaching from women. Why do we presume to withhold the gifts of leadership, exhortation, or prophecy from women? The Bible makes no indication (in the passages about Spiritual gifts) that some gifts are gender specific. Rather, Paul tells every believer not to “grieve the Spirit” (Ephesians 4) in the same chapter that he begins by talking about the “one body” that each is a member of, and that “each member” was given gifts; he then creates another overlapping list of Spiritual gifts: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastors, and teachers. It grieves the Spirit when I refuse to use the gifts He has graciously given me because of the traditions of man. Again, in yet another “listing”: “To each believer is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation (1 Corinthians 12: 7,11) I really believe that if Paul wanted the churches to understand that women could not receive certain gifts because of gender and God’s plan for women, any one of these passages would have been an appropriate place to explain that. But instead, he uses language like “each believer”. So, unless we believe that women aren't included in the group called “believers”, then we have to assume that the gifts are “equal opportunity.”
Many people ask for Scripture passages that reference women in leadership positions in the church. I am listing women God used throughout the ages to lead God’s people by the gifting of God’s Spirit. (That is my definition of a pastor).
1. Miriam as prophet in Exodus 15:20 and Micah 6:4
2. Deborah as a judge/prophet in Judges 4:4-5 and a mother in 5:7
3. Isaiah’s wife as a prophet in Isaiah 8:3
4. Huldah as a prophet in 2 Kings 22:14
5. Daughters of Israel as worship leaders (mourners) in 2 Samuel 1:24
6. Female Levites in Exodus 38:8 (they guarded the door of the Tabernacle)
7. Paul’s greeting to the Roman churches include greetings to female leadership in 1 of every 3 specific references. Here are some examples:
8. Romans 16:7 (the Apostle Junia),
9. Acts 21:9 (Philip’s Daughters the Prophets),
10. 1 Corinthians 11:5 (Paul gives instructions to the women who will pray and prophesy in the Corinthian assembly),
11. Philippians 4:2-3 (Euodia and Synthyche as co-laborers with Paul),
12. Romans 16:1-2(Phoebe as Deacon),
13. Romans 16:4 (Mary and Persis who serve in the church),
14. Romans 16:3 & Acts 18:24-26 (Prisca and Aquila receive high regard from Paul as co-pastors),
15. Titus 2:3-5 (male and female leadership is addressed equally),
16. 1 Timothy 3:11(this is a passage about Deacons. When I was in the SBC, it was the primary passage used to defend the church against female leadership. Interesting to note that Paul write specifically in the middle of the instructional paragraph “women also”. In other words, women are included in the instructions about deacons.)
17. Acts 12:12 (House of Mary where the Christians gathered)
18. Acts 16: 14-15 (House of Lydia where Christians gathered)
19. Colossians 4:15 (House Church of Nympha)
The most telling thing for me however, is Jesus’ behavior toward women. As a gender, we were chosen to bear the Son of God in order to reverse the curse (Mary). Jesus is welcomed into the Temple for the first time by the Prophet Anna, probably in the lineage of the Levites mentioned in Exodus 38:8. Jesus had female disciples (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus gave some of our most profound theological truths first to women (John 4, John 20). It is a cultural fact in the time of the New Testament that relatively few women were teachers in public. That is because, for the most part, education was withheld from them. Within Judiaism especially, women teachers (and learners) were a rarity—which makes Jesus’ instruction and inclusion of women within the circle of disciples particularly noteworthy. Jesus did not exclude women from following him for theological reasons. If there is any “smoking gun” in the New Testament that solidly affirms my calling to preach and teach the word of God, it is my Lord’s inclusion of women right next to Peter, John, and the rest.
I guess we all wish we could find a single passage to counter the passage from Corinthians and Timothy that says “women are not allowed to speak or teach in the assembly”…a real smoking gun passage like, “I permit any woman properly trained in the Lord to exercise her gifts according the grace given her by the Spirit for the building up of the Church of Jesus Christ our Savior.” Rather, that type of verse (really verses…so many times we are exhorted this way) is addressed to all believers, whether male or female. With the host of evidence that Paul absolutely allowed and blessed female leadership in multiple church settings, it becomes self-evident that men and women are expected to serve/lead the church. Paul had to call out a few situations of improper worship, and that resulted in some “problem passages.” But I believe we do a disservice to the whole of Christian tradition when we ignore the bulk of Christian teaching and build a theology on 2 unrelated verses of Scripture.
The following website has a wealth of information, articles, and videos that offer a biblically sound interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:12 “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” And 1 Corinthians 14:33 “As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the church. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” The least I can say is, Paul doesn't really seem to tell women not to preach. He seems to tell them not to utter a single word. Do we really believe Paul meant for women to be mute in the church in all seasons, at all times, for all generations? Or do we see this through the lens of cultural interpretation? See more here: http://seedbed.com/feed/resource-post-women-in-ministry
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