General Principle
The overall guiding principle to keep in mind is the ideal stated in Galatians 3:28: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” There are three social inequalities being addressed in this passage, and each has been the subject of much debate among sincere Christians over the years.
The barrier between Jews and Gentiles was discussed and resolved within the early church, as evidenced by the events related in Acts 10-11 and 15.
Paul addressed the issue of slavery by first laying down rules for the fair treatment of slaves in Ephesians 6:9 and Colossians 4:1. He then went further in his letter to Philemon with strong hints that there was no room for slavery within a Christian community (see especially verses 15-16, 21). This issue was only resolved for the church hundreds of years later and was the partial reason for splits within several denominations in America.
That only leaves the question of the role of women within the church. Some denominations and independent congregations have moved to full equality, others maintain a strict exclusion of women from any substantial leadership role, and many other congregations are still wrestling with the issue. Whatever the final resolution, the following observations from pertinent Scripture passages may help to guide discussion.
Spiritual Gifts
Church leadership appears to be defined in two different ways within the New Testament: (a) by possession of certain spiritual gifts and (b) according to defined church positions. Regarding the former, Peter on the Day of Pentacost (Acts 2) set the stage by quoting from Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” The implication is that spiritual gifts will be given equally to all believers, independent of sex or age.
Paul stresses that all the gifts are needed for the edification of the church, but he holds that prophecy is especially valuable (I Corinthians 14:23-24, 39). It is interesting that the Joel passage specifically mentions women prophesying. To this can be added the prophetess Anna mentioned in Luke 2:36, Philip's four daughters who had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:9), and Paul's own evidence that women regularly prophesied during church gatherings (I Corinthians 11:4-5).
Teaching was (and is) another prominent spiritual gift for the life of the church, but many feel that Paul's prohibition of women having “authority over” men excludes them entirely from this role. In this context, the example of Acts 18:26 should be taken into account. Priscilla, mentioned prominently before her husband, corrected the faulty theology of a noted evangelist and was commended for it.
Whether or not the same spiritual gifts are present today, the fact remains that God relayed his word directly to the early church through the agency of women as well as men.
Positions Within the Church
A case can be made, especially by examining Paul's letters, for the fact that early congregations began to rely more and more with time on specific set leadership positions to give direction to and carry out the duties of the church. Three of these positions are of special interest in regard to women's leadership.
A. Apostles
All of the original twelve apostles were men, but there are additional believers designated by that title in Acts and in Paul's letters. The most interesting example is found in Romans 16:7: “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles...” Up to 100 years ago, the apostle's name in this passage was given as Junia (June): a woman! The King James Version has this translation. Even the noted preacher and reputed woman-hater John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) said, “How great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.”
Most modern translations use the male name “Junias” instead. The problem is that the word occurs in the accusative form Junian, which can refer to a man or a woman. There are different accent marks to distinguish the two, but the oldest texts did not have accent marks. When the scribes did start inserting accent marks, the feminine form was always chosen.
In fact, the male name of Junias appears nowhere in Greek or Roman literature while the female name Junia has been found over 250 times in Rome alone. The male name Junias, however, was chosen for the standard Greek text of 1927 (used as the basis of most modern translations) but changed back to Junia in the 1998 United Bible Society version. The only justification for using an otherwise unattested name is the unsupported supposition that it might be a contraction of the known male name of Junianus.
B. Elders
The primary spiritual leadership in the early church appears to be vested in the elders (presbuteroi), also called bishops or overseers (episkopoi). The former term indicates the maturity of their spiritual experience while the latter term describes the nature of their work. (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). Some denominations such as the Southern Baptists generally, but not always, reserve this role for the ordained male staff.
However, the word presbuteros can merely refer to those of advanced age. This is what causes some ambiguity in understanding Paul's words in I Timothy 5 referring to the qualifications for eldership. Paul appears to apply the term to older men in general in verse 1 but switches to the more technical term for church leadership in verses 17-20. The feminine form of presbuteros appears in verse 2 introducing the topic of older widows in the church. By verse 5, it becomes obvious that certain of these godly women may be enrolled “on the list” if they qualify. By analogy with Paul's usage of the word presbuteros, it is possible to read this passage to say that there a specific office of female elder in the church, but it is restricted to widows only. This argument may be easier to follow by looking at the symmetry in the outline below
Figure 1: The Structure of I Timothy 5
A. Respect your church family (5:1-2)
1. Do not rebuke an older man (5:1a)
2. Treat others in the church with respect (5:1b-2)
B. Elder women (5:3-5)
C. Self-indulgent widows (5:6)
D. Command: Provide for your relatives (5:7-8)
B'. Enrolled widows (5:9-10)
C'. Younger widows (5:11-15)
D'. Command: Provide for widowed relatives (5:16)
A’. Honor the elders (5:17-22)
1. Honor the elders, especially those who preach and teach (5:17-20)
2. Do not show partiality in the church (5:21-22)
C. Deacons
In Philippians 1:1 and I Timothy 3, diakonos appears as a more or less technical term for a church office distinguished from the eldership. The qualifications are laid out in the latter passage, where they are virtually indistinguishable from those of the elders. The difference between the two offices seems to be in their respective roles within the church. The deacons, from the Greek meaning of the word as “servant,” were more involved with day-to-day church matters while the elders were concerned with overall spiritual oversight. The appointment of seven men in Acts 6 to administer the widow's fund is sometimes pointed to as the beginning of this office, but the term deacon is never applied to this group.
I Timothy 3 outlines qualifications for elders and deacons. Verse 11 is the bone of contention. The
Greek word for “woman” appears here, which has been understood as referring to either deacon's
wives or deaconesses. Weighing heavily against the first interpretation is the fact that the word “wives”
(which appears in the following verse) or the phrase “their women.” would have been used if that were
the group being referred to. The early Church Fathers took 1 Timothy 3:11 as qualifications for
deaconesses.
Modern translations either skirt the issue by sticking with the literal “women,” go ahead and translate it
as “deacon's wives,” or mention both options in a footnote. Of a random survey of ten modern,
evangelical commentaries on this passage, two stated that the passage was ambiguous, two felt it
applied to deacon's wives who were also involved in their husband's ministry, and six felt that it
definitely referred to the office of deaconess.
The symmetrical structure proposed below for this passage can be used as additional evidence for
reading verse 11 as applying to deaconesses.
Figure 2: Structure of I Timothy 2:1-3:13
A. Men–all (2:1-8)
B. Women–all (2:9-15)
A'. Men–bishops and deacons (3:1-10)
B'. Women–deaconesses (3:11)
A''.Men–deacons (3:12-13)
Romans 16:1 mentions one Phoebe, a deaconess (NIV prefers “servant”) of the church. The phrase “of
the church” denotes a more or less official position. In 112 AD Pliny reported to Emperor Trajan that
he had tortured two deaconesses of the church to see if they would reveal any secrets about the
Christian’s religious rites. By the 3rd century, deaconesses were a well established order of helper in
the church.
Regarding more modern practices, deaconesses were even common in the Southern Baptist churches in
the nineteenth century. R. B. C. Howell, the second president of the SBC, wrote a book defending
the place of deaconesses in the church. B. H. Carroll, the founder and first president of Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary ordained deaconesses in the First Baptist Church of Waco when he was
its pastor. The 2000 SBC Faith and Message is silent on the issue, leaving it up to each congregation.
Paul's Restrictions on Women's Role in the Church
These teachings are pretty much confined to two Scriptures: I Corinthians 14:34-35 and I Timothy
2:11-12. The most restrictive interpretation of these passages, held by very few churches, is that all
women are to maintain strict silence in a church setting. This view holds that Paul's teachings,
especially the I Timothy passage, are timeless since Paul's arguments are based on the creation of man
and woman in Genesis. This argument is weakened somewhat by Paul's culturally-determined
statements in the same passage regarding details of clothing for a woman and their main role as child-
bearers. Many other evangelical commentators, however, feel that these teachings have no authority in
today's setting or, at best, should be applied very narrowly. Some caveats brought up by this latter
group of interpreters are summarized below:
I Corinthians 14:34-35
This passage possesses textual problems in that these verses are found in several variations and in
several different locations within the early manuscripts. These factors are usually tip-offs that they
were added by a later author, as Gordon Fee argues extensively (eleven pages) in his commentary on I
Corinthians. He additionally notes that these teachings contradict I Corinthians 11:2-16 which assume
women are praying and prophesying in church, and they do not fit the general argument of chapters
12-14 or the immediate context of 14:26-40. The notes in NRSV echo these arguments.
But assuming that these verses are authentically Pauline, there are other possible objections to
considering them as blanket statements regarding all speaking by all women in church:
1. The emphasis on order in church in this particular letter reflects a local problem only caused at least
partly by some women in Corinth. Therefore the negative statements should not be automatically
generalized to other churches.
2. These teachings are culturally determined just as Paul's teachings on proper clothing for women (v.
9) and “were closely linked to first-century customs regarding the woman's place in the home and in
society.” (Grant Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral) Paul was very sensitive to the fact that any
deviation from the norm regarding women's role in society could reflect badly on the church's
reputation among outsiders. Taking that general principle as the guiding one, any restrictions on
women's role in the church today may actually be perceived by outsiders in a negative way and hinder
evangelistic efforts.
3. Only wives are being addressed in this passage, not all women.
4. The problem being addressed is strictly the disruption of a church service by women asking stupid
questions of a teacher due to their ignorance. This is a time period when women were generally
considered to be ineducable. By contrast, Paul feels that they are capable of being taught, but
preferably by their husbands at home until they are up to speed. But until that happens, they should
maintain a strict listening attitude at church. (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels) Contrast some
Jewish teachings from that time: “Better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman” (New
International Commentary on the New Testament, Timothy and Titus) and “The men came to learn, the
women came to hear.” (Babylonian Talmud)
5. The command to be silent “is probably not meant to apply generally, but specifically to speaking
with tongues...Women are not to push themselves forward in this manner.” (Dictionary of New
Testament Theology) Jacques Ellul (The Subversion of Christianity) adds that since women tend to be
more “inspired” than men, it is important that they restrain their impulse to cry out uncontrollably such
as is practiced in pagan cults.
6. Marital subordination is in mind. A woman shames her husband publicly when she questions
something the teacher has said or speaks excessively during a service. (Anchor Bible, I Corinthians)
7. Titus 2:3 indicates that women could authoritatively teach, although probably limited to household
situations. Under rabbinical Judiasm a woman was not even allowed to teach children. (Donald Guthrie,
The Pastoral Epistles)
8. The meaning of “speak” in verses 34-35 should be translated as “chatter.” (New Bible Commentary)
9. It is possible, but unlikely, that Paul is first quoting rabbinical rules in 34-35 and then showing that
they are wrong in verse 36. (D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies)
I Timothy 2:11-12
The key word authentein appears only here in the NT and can mean both to have authority over and to
domineer. (DNNT) Other possible translations are “teach in such a way as to take authority,” “seize
authority,” “domineer in a murderous way,” or “proclaim oneself originator” Regarding the last
possibility, one of the Gnostic teachings was that Eve was the originator of man. (Dictionary of Jesus
and the Gospels) Other possibilities are “usurp authority” or “lord it over.” (Donald Guthrie, The
Pastoral Epistles)
The probable context of the passage is that certain women in the congregation had come under the
influence of Gnostic teachers. (Guthrie)
Paul's main concerns in this case are (1) that women “are following a dangerous cultural trend” and
that (2) “public perception of church activity is supremely in mind.” The cultural trend may have
consisted in following the lead of rich, liberated Roman women in the congregation who served as role
models in matters of dress and outspokenness. Similarly, they may have been following false teachers
who were teaching a form of realized eschatology in which all gender distinctions were to be
immediately removed. (Philip Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus)
Some hold, probably erroneously, that the phrase “I do not permit” means that Paul is only speaking his
private opinion. It is more likely that the phrase indicates “an ad hoc solution to a newly-encountered
situation.” (Towner)
II Corinthians 9:13 shows that the same requirement to be a submissive listener applied to men as well
as women. (Towner)
I Timothy 3:11 indicates that women took part in some leadership roles, so 2:12 “should be taken as a
safeguard against abuse of authority rather than an exclusion from any leadership function.”
(Dictionary of Later New Testament and its Development)
As an aside, the suggestion that early church services were separated by gender like the synagogues
has been refuted by study of the architecture of synagogues and house churches of the time.
(Dictionary of Paul and His Letters)
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