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Women in Ministry by Gary Matsdorf
WOMEN IN MINISTRY - Part 1:
“To begin, it should be made clear that when talking about women and ministry we are not even dealing with the question, ‘Can a woman have a ministry?’
The question is, ’To what levels of matured ministry and leadership in the Body of Christ may a woman develop?’
Nor when dealing with this area are we dealing with the question, ‘Should every woman become a leader in the body of Christ?’
“Obviously, as with the majority of believers in this present age, proportionately few will rise to prominence.” (Jack Hayford, “On The Question of a Woman’s Place in Church Leadership,” unpublished manuscript, pg. 1)
Our first study established that before looking at women and ministry, we need to affirm the Bible’s view that humankind needs both males and females to be complete; the female person is of equal quality and capacity before God, the differences in family, church and societal responsibilities due to God’s sovereign choice of order (stemming back to Creation (I Timothy 2:13), not her inherent limitations.
In terms of spiritual, psychological or intellectual abilities, a female is clearly a co-equal with a male.
What Marriage Does To A Woman
The next area to tackle is what marriage does to a woman. Not only does marriage mean she’s now “concerned about the affairs of this world — how she can please her husband” (I Corinthians 7:34), but it brings in another level of authority that a single woman does not have — “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord” Ephesians 5:22).
(NOTE: Much could be said on the flip side to husbands/men; but, our study is concerned with women who should never assume they find ministry by making sure men understand their responsibilities as well. Women don’t win with the attitude, “We’re out to set the record straight.” Ignorant men need to be taught, not fought.
“Biblical confusion exists when no distinction is made between a woman as a female person and the role a woman assumes as a wife and mother. The problem is additionally compounded in that the same Greek word in the NT means both woman and wife” (Don Pickerill, “The Role Of Women In The Bible & In The Church”).
When a woman chooses to marry, she brings herself under her husband’s authority, and is commanded to live in reverential submission to him. Therefore, all ministry aspirations have to be worked out first with him. If there are problems here, she should proceed no farther until they are worked out, realizing the incredible impact her life has on him, especially if he’s carnal or not even a believer. (I Peter 3:1-6)
Ministry at the sacrifice of marriage is out of order for either sex. If there’s any wrong choices to be made here, let the “unbelieving spouse” make them. (I Corinthians 7:15)
A married woman looking at ministry also needs to know the Bible makes it clear that marriage and family life are to be her first concerns (Ephesians 5:22-23; I Peter 3:1-7; I Corinthians 11:2-16)
If she is not fulfilled as a wife and mother, she should not look for that primary fulfillment in ministry; surrogate fulfillment only breeds confusion. Furthermore, any church system that does not emphasize that married women are “to love their husbands and children, to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands” (Titus 2:4-5) is out-of-order, especially if it allows women to minister without modeling these basics. Paul says such discredits the word of God.
The reason for all this is so that “marital oneness” may be achieved; there cannot be such oneness without order as husband/wife roles are lived out as God created them. “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither woman created for woman, but woman for man.” (I Corinthians 11:8-9)
It’s my experience that grave confusion is created by women in ministry whose marital role is out of order in the home.
Manipulation Of Authority
It is important also that women non-defensively realize a particular susceptibility to manipulation/usurping authority. This does not mean this is exclusively a “female sin” (see Diotrephes, 3 John 9-10 and 2 Thessalonians 3:11), but the Bible does specifically warn women in this area.
The young widows who strayed after Satan in Timothy’s church did so in part because they were “busy-bodies.” (I Timothy 5:13, 15)
The Greek word here literally means “working around.” It has the idea of trying to run things behind the scenes. In Acts 19:19 it’s translated “magic”. Today we’d term them “manipulators.” That this is a particular temptation to women is seen in the “fall” account. “Your desire shall be for your husband.” (Genesis 3:16).
It was epitomized in Queen Jezebel. “Biblical strength never expresses itself in domineering behavior, harshness, coercion or control of others.” (Barbara Cook, Ordinary Women Extraordinary Strength)
Hence, asking the questions —
“What’s a married woman’s home role like?”
“Does she (married or single) tend to manipulate?”
“What’s her relationship to male authority?”
These are far more important questions relative to ministry aspirations than —
“Can she really teach the church?” — “On a Sunday morning?”
Women Under Cover
A key passage here is I Corinthians 11:2-16. Note particularly vs. 5 — “but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head — it is the same as if her head were shaven.”
For a woman to go bare-headed in public indicated prostitution. This is why the reference to shaving, one of the judgments against prostitution (Numbers 5:18). Hence, using a passing cultural custom (literally wearing a veil. The only near equivalent we have is the wedding ring), Paul teaches a timeless principle — women were created to be “under cover”. This does not give men the right to dominate or abuse (vv. 11-12), but neither does it give women the right to usurp.
“Does not nature itself teach you that. . .if a woman has long hair, it is her pride?” (vs. 15) is Paul’s way of saying that the picture of a woman’s hair beautifully covering her head illustrates the fact she’s most natural when “Covered”.
To throw off the veil in Corinth also meant to be unsubmissive and rebellious and it left a sinful impression on society. This is doubly bad when the rebellion is against a woman’s husband. Such rebellion is as disgraceful as literally shaving her head, hence admitting prostitution — even to watching angels (vs. 6).
Paul’s conclusion? “If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God” (vs. 16). He has no place for manipulation or usurped authority by women.
Women In Public Ministry
The reason there’s so much confusion over women in public ministry in the church stems basically from two NT passages — I Corinthians 14:33-36 and I Timothy 2:11-15 — which loom over all other biblical evidence.
Statements such as:
“Euodia and Syntyche. . . have labored side by side with me in the gospel” (Philippians 4:2-3), or
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a minister of the church at Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1) pale next to —
“I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men’ (I Timothy 2:12), or
“It is shameful for a woman to speak in church” (I Corinthians 14:35).
Furthermore, we tend not to do our biblical homework, or we do it with a bias. In no way will this study solve the major Church differences. Furthermore, it’s virtually impossible to come to a biblical text totally neutral.
“When examining the question of women in significant, publicly acknowledged leadership roles within the Body of Christ, we want to search the Scriptures, examine our situation and our practice so that we may be taught, reproved, corrected and trained to be wholly prepared for every good work. Only as we submit to Scripture in this way does Scripture become profitable for us. It is not so much that we use Scripture to criticize others, but that we must bring our own
beliefs and practices under its scrutiny. Difficulties abound, however, when we do this. People tend to see different things in the same materials. There lurks always the tendency and danger of seeing only what we expect and want to see.” (Roberta Hestenes, op. cit., pg. 7)
Is It Shameful For A Woman To Speak In Church? (I Corinthians 14:33-36)
The real problem here is ‘it is shameful for a woman to speak in church” (vs. 35). Taken out of context or without the totality of Scripture in focus, this seems quite conclusive. But just a few chapters back Paul talks about the proper way for a woman to speak in church (11:5)! Therefore, he is referring to a particular type of shameful speaking, not a mandate for total silence in public gatherings. The first thing we must admit is the Corinthians knew his specific reference and we don’t. (2 Thessalonians 2:5-6)
“The problem is sometimes explained by the imagined seating arrange-ment where women were separated from men. But this is uncertain and it hardly fits the dignity of the Bible to deal only with an ‘ushering problem’ in a single local church.’” (Pickerill, op. cit., pg. 3)
A more likely answer is that again we’re dealing with order, submission and respect (vs. 34). “For a woman to usurp the role of instructor would have been to discredit Christianity in the eyes of most people.” (Leon Morris, I Corinthians, pg. 201)
This is especially true if she’s usurping her husband’s authority (vs. 35), hence shaming him publicly. “The problem centered more on a husband—wife conflict than a man—woman one. Remember the same Greek word can be translated either wife or woman.” (Pickerill, iii.).
“It is proper. . .that a woman conduct herself in public with respect toward man.”
( H. Ridderbos, Paul, pg. 462)
The passage then is not muffling women in public ministry, but does prohibit women ‘‘taking over.” Culturally he may have had in mind Aristophanes’ Ecclesiazusae, a play in which the women of Athens take over the city’s public assembly.
“The speaking that was forbidden to women was the contentious, arrogant, usurping authority kind that disgraced and humiliated their husbands.” (C. H. Pridgeon, “The Ministries of Women)
Here’s a legitimate paraphrase —
“As in all the churches of the saints, the women should not openly contest men in the church. They are not permitted to speak in a disrespectful manner, but they should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything especially that wives desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it brings shame to the gospel and a husband if a wife openly contests him in the church and acts as though she were not under his authority.”
WOMEN IN MINISTRY - Part 2
Generally, Paul’s understanding of the place of women in the church exhibits the same two viewpoints. We observe in his precepts for marriage —
On the one hand the woman shares fully in the salvation given in Christ, and there is complete equality between man and woman in that respect, just as between Jew and Greek, master and slave, etc. (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11).
On the other hand, fellowship in Christ does not remove the natural distinction between man and woman, and man’s position of leadership with regard to woman. Considering the place women occupied in Paul’s day, both in antiquity in general and in Judaism in particular, the first point of view certainly meant nothing less than a revolution for the position of women in the church.
The gift of prophecy for the benefit of the church he attributes to women as much as to men (I Cor. 11:5), just as praying, by which what is intended in this context is certainly not only personal, private prayer, but prayer in the presence and to the edification of others.
Along with that such women are to be pointed to —
Priscilla, whom with her husband Paul calls his fellow-worker (Acts 18:2);
Mary (Rom. 16:6), of whom he testifies, with a word that specifically denotes work in the gospel and in the church (kopian), that she ‘worked’ hard.
The same applies to Tryphena and Tryphosa and Persis. (Romans 16:12)
(H. Ridderbos, Paul, pp. 460-461)
A Woman’s Official Role In The Church
As mentioned in our previous study, I Corinthians 14:33-36 and I Timothy 2:8-15 are the two NT texts that create difficulty regarding a woman’s official role in the church. Having examined Corinthians, let’s look at the Timothy passage.
Timothy was the pastor of the church in Ephesus, having been placed in charge by Paul when he visited there about 63 AD. The primary purpose of the epistle is to encourage Timothy in his difficult task of dealing with doctrinal errors and practical problems in the church. The RSV begins this paragraph with vs.8 and rightfully so, for the main thrust of the paragraph is one of contrast of primary responsibilities.
“I desire then that in every place the men should pray” is a call for men to realize they’re to take the primary role in public church services (“in every place”). White translates “the men should pray” as “the men should conduct public worship.” (Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 4, pg. 107)
In other words, men are the ones primarily responsible for carrying out public worship.
In contrast to this, “woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty” (vs. 15).
Harkening back to Genesis 3:16, Paul’s stating that woman’s normal and natural first duty is childbearing and rearing. “Childbearing, rather than public teaching or the direction of (church) affairs, is woman’s primary function, duty, privilege, and dignity. . .and in the discharge of our normal and natural duties we all, men and women alike, as far as our individual efforts can contribute to it, work out our own salvation.” (White, op. cit., pg. 110).
It’s also a word to mothers to never look to church leadership as a means to “escape from those pesky little brats.” If she’d just as soon kill them as look at them, she’ll end up someday killing the church!
In both these instances the word PRIMARY is crucial. Just as men do more than lead public services, so the Bible allows for women to do more than effectively raise children; if, however, she’s a wife/mother, she should look for her first line of fulfillment in the home. Well see next week how this PRIMARY distinction comes to bear upon women in the role of elder or pastor.
This is also Paul’s point in vs. 9-10. There was apparently a problem at Ephesus with the women having wrong priorities expressed through “braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire.”
Culture says “clothes make the woman”; the Bible says it’s a proper spirit and good deeds that “befit women who profess religion.” (vs. 10)
Paul’s reference is obviously Proverbs 31:25, 30, “Strength and dignity are her clothing. . . Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Such a woman is no shrinking violet, blending into the wallpaper; she merely understands values.
“We should hold valuable, not the things on which price tags are so readily placed, but those things which are eternal. To adorn ourselves with good works is the best fashion advice ever given.” (G. Demarest, The Communicator’s Commentary, VL2, pg. 179)
Can you begin then to see why in vs. 11 and 12B, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness,” she is to keep silent?
It’s another call to maintaining proper respect for God’s order, especially among husbands and wives. The NRSV marginal reading says, “Let a wife learn in silence... I permit no wife.. .to have authority over her husband.” “Silence/silent” here (esuchios) is the word for quietness or tranquility and has the same idea as I Corinthians 14:34. “Women who profess religion” are to listen in church with respect and never desire to usurp male authority. They’re to remain tranquil with a peaceful, receptive spirit.
Realizing the liberty Christianity brought to a woman’s personhood, “It may be that Paul’s present stricture was designed to curb the tendencies of newly emancipated Christian women to abuse their new-found freedom by indecorously lording it over men’s.” (D. Guthrie, The Pastoral, pg. 75)
Women Teaching In The Church
Now to the Achilles’ heel — vs. 12-14. Again, Demarest, “It’s my guess that these verses will continue to be a source of disagreement among Christians for a long time to come. Our convictions and traditions in the matter of women in leadership in the church are deeply imbedded and strongly felt. I have some Christian friends who will have nothing to do with a church that ordains women to leadership positions. I have other
Christian friends who would have nothing to do with a church that doesn’t!”
(pp. 179-180) May God be with us!
‘I permit no woman to teach” (vs. 12) cannot be an absolute prohibition for Titus 2:34 says, “Bid the older women to teach what is good, and so train the young women...”
Women, then, can obviously teach women and by extension of vs. 15, children. Before glossing over this by saying, “Everybody knows that,” consider its import. Women and children are as valuable in the Body of Christ as adult males (Acts 2:17-18). Paul, therefore, establishes the fact that women are fully capable of giving significant, authoritative instruction to valuable people for a valuable purpose; the purpose of their teaching and training the young women is the hope that they’ll respond so “that the Word of God may not be discredited.” (Titus 2:5)
If vs. 12 then is not an absolute prohibition, Paul obviously means, “I permit no woman to teach men.” But that’s not what the text says. “Men” clearly goes with “to have authority over” as noted in its editorial punctuation in the UBS Greek NT. Furthermore, Acts 18:26 notes that “when Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos, they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately.” At the very least then, a woman can teach with her husband in private.
The greatest clue to Paul’s statement seems to be found in “or to have authority over men.” “To have authority” translates an interesting Greek word (authentein) used to describe people who act on their own authority. The tense behind “to teach” indicates someone in an office of doctrinal authority. In other words, Paul does not allow for women to take it upon themselves to become self-appointed doctrinal authorities. Neither does God allow this for men, by the way, as seen in John’s notation that “Diotrephes . . .likes to put himself first, (and) does not acknowledge my authority.” (3 John 9)
The beauty of Priscilla is that she did it right, even if it was only in private! Paul backs up his understanding of a woman’s teaching position and authority over men by harkening back to Genesis (“for” vs. 13). Contrary to the view of some, (“The woman taught once, and ruined all” —2nd century church father), Paul’s not stating that women are more prone to sin and therefore should not be in any “substantial” teaching roles. What he is saying is that the Creation order shows God’s intended order of authority. Eve’s deception is seen by Paul as tied into making a significant decision independent of her husband — “the woman was deceived.”
She became a transgressor (vs. 14) — obviously because of her independent action, Paul’s whole point here. This also seems to be why the curse mentions she must watch this tendency, “yet your desire shall be for your husband” (Genesis 3:16). Adam acted by deliberate choice and is noted elsewhere as being responsible for the Fall (Romans 5:l2). It seems that Adam becomes primarily responsible because he obeyed his wife’s disobedient request (Genesis 3:6); as the established head — “For Adam was formed first” (I Timothy 2:13), he should have known better. “The one who sins against light may be morally inferior to him who stumbles in the dusk.” (White, op. cit., pg. 109)
Another view is that this means she can teach, but not in any official public setting in which men are present. Again, we’ll leave this for next week. Also, we’ll establish then whether or not this passage gives a timeless, universal principle or addresses only a local, first century problem, hence allowing for women in general to teach men publicly, just not the “out of order women” in Ephesus.
WOMEN IN MINISTRY - Part 3
In concluding our look at this subject, this study will deal specifically with what official positions can a woman hold in the church. Our study will be confined to the NT with only passing reference to Huldah in the OT. The first thing that should be noted is the nature of the NT epistles from which we get most of our information.
“They are not first of all theological treatises; they are not compendia of Paul’s or Peter’s theology. There is theology implied, but it is always ‘task theology,’ theology being written for or brought to bear on the task at hand...it is always theology at the service of a particular need.” (Fee/Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth, pg. 46)
This means it’s not going to address every issue and question we have. We have to “paste” it together. The second thing that should be noted is the NT data is sketchy. No church apparently asked, “Can a woman be an elder or a pastor?” so the issue is not dealt with head on.
We have to get our data from references to the function of women. Note Cohn Brown, “We should not ask whether there is a formal precedent but whether there is a gift of the Spirit and a need. With regard to the ministry of women we should not try to reproduce their role in the first-century milieu. We should rather ask what is their status in Christ, and what gifts and opportunities has the Spirit given to women in the church today.” (Dictionary of NT Theology, Vol. 3, pg. 1,067)
1. PHOEBE
Paul calls Phoebe “a diakonon of the church at Cenchreae” (Romans 16:1). The general consensus is that diakonon should be translated “deaconess” (RSV) and not “servant” (NIV). “Diakonon points to a recognized ministry or position of responsibility within the congregation.” (James Dunn, Romans 9-16, pg. 886).
“Paul’s use of the masculine term diakonos not only suggests the existence of an order of women deacons but also that the women were included in the same order as male deacons.” (C. Brown, op. cit., pg. 1,065)
This latter statement seems to be supported by I Timothy 3:11, where in the midst of describing the qualifications of members of the diaconate, Paul says, “The women . . .“, the reference here being not to deacons’ wives , but to women in the office of deacon addressed in vs. 8-10.
The importance of this office is seen in Phil. 1:1 where Paul addresses the “deacons” (a generic term) and the “bishops.” They shared joint responsibility for the flock at Philippi for “the deacon is not to be viewed merely as an assistant elder, or as a subordinate of the overseers, but as an office-bearer to whom a peculiar task was assigned in the proper functioning of the life of the church as the body of Christ and that he was to be acknowledged as such.” (Ridderbos, Paul, pg. 460).
The Philippian church, interestingly, was started in a woman’s home. (Acts 16:15, 40)
Deacons/deaconesses then are mature men and women in official office whose primary tasks include administration and practical service (cf. I Cor. 12:28). If the Seven in Acts 6 are forerunners to this later developed office, we see that deacons can take their place among the evangelists and apostles in disputing, preaching and baptizing. The fact that Phoebe was in an officially recognized role is further supported by Paul’s statement that “she has been a helper of many and of myself as well.” (vs. 2) “Helper” (prostatis) means patron, protector, leader or ruler, Paul himself somehow benefiting from her leadership.
2. PHILIP’S DAUGHTERS
“Philip the evangelist. . . had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.” (Acts 21:9)
The Greek construction behind “who prophesied” means they have the gift of prophecy. In Acts 15:32 Luke uses the same Greek root and an equivalent construction to describe “Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets.” It seems, then, that these ladies occupied the official office of “prophet” (likely referring to the ongoing office in Eph. 4:11 rather than the unique, founding office in Eph. 2:20).
Anna (Luke 2:36) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:8-20) were both prophetesses.
3. EUODIA AND SYNTYCHE
Paul notes that “these women . . . labored side by side with me in the gospel.”
(Phil. 4:3)
“Labored” implies a united struggle in preaching the gospel, on the one hand, and a sharing in the suffering that results from the struggle, on the other.”
(Hawthorne, Philippians, pg. 180).
They are said to have participated in the same activities as “Clement and the rest of my fellow workers” which it seems safe to say included more than cooking and giving monetary support (cf. Luke 8:3)! They may have even preached!!
4. AQUILA AND PRISCILLA
This husband and wife team together is said to have been Paul’s “fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 16:3)
“Fellow workers” is a favorite Pauline term for an associate, especially one who shared in preaching (cf. I Thess. 3:2). Vs. 5 notes they had a “church in their house’ which historically could mean they oversaw (pastored) its regular meetings (see below). At Ephesus we see them functioning together as a teaching team expounding to Apollos “the way of God more accurately.” (Acts 18:26).
Regarding the fact that Priscilla’s name is most often mentioned first, Dunn notes, “the most obvious deduction is that Prisca was the more dominant of the two or of higher social status, and she may either have provided the financial resources for the business or have been the brains behind it” (op. cit., pg. 892).
5. PHILEMON AND NYMPHA
This final area is presented with some caution because the conclusions are tentative.
Philemon 2 addresses Philemon . . .and the church in your house” —“your” referring to Philemon. Commentators vary as to just what role this assigns to Philemon, but many take it to mean he was the host/pastor of a church that met in his house in Colossae. If this is the case, then Nympha likely functioned in the same capacity in Laodicea for Paul says “Give my greetings.. .to Nympha and the church in her house.” (Col. 4:15) The same would be true then of Aquila and Priscilla above.
Worthy of mention in passing is the appearance of women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1—16), the role of women in the post resurrection appearances (Luke 24:1—12) and the fact that Paul’s statement “Let a widow be enrolled” (I Tim. 5:9) is viewed by most as referring to placement in some official office (see Ridderbos, loc. cit.)
CONCLUSION
Women occupied significant places in the NT churches. Cohn Brown’s quote in the opening section above seems to capture the spirit of the NT well — if all is in order in a woman’s life with reference to her motive, home life and submission to male authority, we need to look at how God’s gifted her and what needs there are she could adequately fill.
“The NT scriptures give evidence for the possibility of a woman holding any office or exercising any ministry in the Church with the exception of the office of an apostle.” (Jack Hayford, On The Question Of A Woman’s Place In Church Leadership)
The office of apostle was excluded by Pastor Jack because of his understanding that the final headship/authority in the Church must be male, even as it’s to be the husband in the home.
As for me, here’s where I (Pastor Gary Matsdorf) am on this issue —
1) A married woman can serve with her pastor-husband in pastoring a local church. As to whether or not she should be called “Pastor Jane” depends upon her personal preference and the congregation involved. If it’s relative, OK; if it’s a divisive issue, drop it (cf. Acts 15:19-21).
2) A single woman could pastor a local church, but would do best to have a team of qualified men serving with her; she would need to be part of a structure system that has male authority over her and to which she’s readily accountable though the men need not be resident at the church.
3) A married woman whose husband is not in pastoral ministry with her can serve on a pastoral team led by a male pastor; as such she can function in all pastoral duties, including occasional public preaching and teaching, but must watch that she never draws attention to her spirituality over his, especially through over-exposure in public proclamation. A married woman should not be the head pastor if her husband is not in ministry with her.
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