ReFocused or not, here I come. . .

Introduction 

            Among the issues which periodically inflame the church, few surpass the subject of the equality of men and women in the area of ministerial service for its ability to raise the ecclesiastical temperature. Sometimes the opponents are coy and discreet. At other times the opposite reaction may ensue bringing forth a torrent of invective and abuse upon any and all who claim to find scriptural sanction for a feminine hand upon the chalice and Psalter. In the former category we find no less a person than that eminent Christian apologist, C. S. Lewis, quietly but persistently maintaining his disapproval of a female clergy in the book ‘God in the Dock’.[1]  In the latter are radical preachers such as the late John R. Rice in his book entitled, ‘Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives, & Women Preachers’.

            There is, of course, a third response. Sarcasm. This reaction is illustrated in the dismissive humor of Dr. Samuel Johnson who is reputed to have once remarked that “[a] woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all (quoted in a letter to the editor of the New York Times on January 1, 1985[2]).” For many people, now engaged in promoting the progress of society and advancing the elements of equality among humans, there is little humor in such comments.

 Scriptural Basis 

            Christians have almost universally and fairly consistently held the canon of Scripture to be the basis of their belief and practice. The Bible does, in fact, have somewhat to say about the subject of gender as it relates to ministry. But it should not surprise the reader to discover that personal biases and presuppositions often color various believers’ interpretations and understanding of the biblical text. These biases may even serve to dictate which portions of Scripture the individual believer gives greatest credence when evaluating the Bible’s teaching on this issue. Although at their spiritual “core” most believers would claim to be unbiased seekers of truth, it is clear that the individual’s own understanding and personal ethos, conditioned by life experiences, innate personality, and training, are responsible for much that is held to be true. The greatest challenge lies in freeing one’s self from the “Bible” created by the training, preferences and experiences of one’s own life. One must be liberated from this unwritten and fallible “Bible” in order to hear the Word of God as freshly in our time as when it was first spoken.

            Still, until that day when we no longer “see through a glass darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV), differences of understanding will inevitably result. On the issue of women in ministry there are two main camps. Not surprisingly, these camps are divided into those “for” the ministry of women and those “against”. While accepting all Scripture as given by divine inspiration these two factions nonetheless give varying emphases to those Scriptures which favor their own view. Sometimes both sides point to the same Scripture but have differing interpretations of what that text means. We will attempt to provide brief examples of both cases in the following paragraphs.

 “Anti” Women in Ministry Texts 

            Among the scripture passages which the opponents of female clergy utilize are the following:

 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

34 ¶  Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

35  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

 1 Timothy 2:11-12

11  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

12  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

            In addition, those who reject a woman’s co-equal right to minister the Word and sacrament frequently turn to such verses as 1 Corinthians 11:3 (which they take to indicate a woman’s inferior status in relation to her husband) and 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:8, and Titus 1:6 (which all mention that a “bishop” is to be the husband of one wife thus indicating, according to their understanding, that only males qualify for leadership in the church).

            Yet each of these troubling passages has an “answer”. The difficulties may be resolved by recalling that what is condemned is “chatter” – a thing unfit for a service of worship in any age. The “women” being spoken to appear to have been wives since they are told to ask their “husbands” any questions they may have when they return home. The point clearly seems to be the preservation of order and decorum in Christian worship.

            But if anyone wishes to insist that “silence” means silence (and is not merely a caution against disruptive chatter) then one must ask how extensive that silence is and who gets to determine that extent. If one wishes to be literal in applying this and thus to deprive women of the right of speaking and teaching then, to be consistent, must one not also forbid them to speak in greeting? in singing? even in teaching little ones? Must they not also be excluded from writing Sunday School materials used in Men’s classes and must not we cease to sing their hymns? Or what does it mean, for a literalist, when Scripture says “I suffer not a woman…to teach?”

            Hopefully, plain reason is sufficient to convince us that such a draconian interpretation is unwholesome, unnecessary, unbiblical and wholly unsuited to the life and experience of the church. And it is illogical, as well. Would the God who chose and used women in leadership and ministry at the same time forbid them to do it? Do women disobey His command by responding to His call? If it is evil for women to “speak” in the church or to “teach a man” then did not God “lead into evil” all those women who, from the earliest days of the church, have answered His summons to ministry?

            No. God is not divided. His Word does not contradict itself. His promise of the Spirit (which is to all) is not invalid and null. His sons and His daughters are both being called and sent.

“Pro” Women in Ministry Texts

            Those who favor the full equality of women and men to minister have an excellent arsenal of texts from which to choose. Among the most favored are these:

 Joel 2:28 (KJV)

28 ¶  And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

 Acts 2:17-18 (KJV)

17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of 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:

18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

 Galatians 3:28 (KJV)

28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

            In addition, proponents of female ordination and ministry frequently point to such passages as Acts 18:24-26 (which describes Priscilla helping her husband, Aquila, to train the young preacher Apollos); Romans 16:1 (which speaks of a certain Phoebe who is there called a deacon (Greek, diakonos); and Philippians 4:2 (where two women, Euodia and Syntyche, are reported as being equal with Paul’s male helpers in labor and ministerial stature as together they evangelized the heathen).

            Some other passages are less clear but seem to point in the direction of women heading up the work of the churches held in their homes and a certain Junia, mentioned in Romans 16:7, is thought to be referred to as an apostle.

            One disturbing tendency among some sectors of the pro-female ordination group is an alarmingly low view of Scripture and a propensity to dismiss seemingly adverse texts as not being reliable or authoritative. (For an example of this view, please visit http://www.religioustolerance.org/ord_bibl1.htm where the canonicity of 1 and 2 Timothy is called into question.) Carried to its logical conclusion such a position would soon undercut itself as all that we hope to prove about this matter must be proven from the same Scriptures and, if the Scriptures are unreliable in one place, might they not also be unreliable in those passages we approve? Besides, such a tactic is completely unnecessary. The contentious references are fully amenable to proper interpretation and will establish the scriptural validity of our view.

            Still, each side of this debate is able to make a credible case to support its assumptions and conclusions. Neither simple bigotry nor a gullible liberalism is sufficient to explain the seeming contradiction. Good and reasonable people can and do find themselves on opposing sides of the question. Yet, both sides cannot be right at the same time. The conversation must, therefore, continue in a genuine spirit of harmony and respect coupled with an overarching desire for the truth. In such an atmosphere in time the Holy Spirit will infallibly guide His church into that truth for which it continually pants and hungers.

 Theological Arguments Original Design: The Symbiotic Male/Female Relationship 

            The purpose of God from the Creation seems to have been to form a symbiotic relationship between man and woman resulting in a mutuality of love, help and unity The grand purpose of the God’s grace is to restore what sin and The Fall have destroyed. This is implied in the term “help meet” in Genesis 2:18. As the woman was there created to be the helper of the man we see them as co-workers, as equals serving together to accomplish the task God has given them to do.

            Even the bodies of men and women are designed for each to supply what the other lacks. One might even say that although each is a complete unit of itself, together they achieve a purpose greater than their individual constituent abilities.

            A pamphlet published by the Wesleyan Church’s Department of Education and the Ministry entitled Why Wesleyans Favor Women in Ministry also presents a coherent argument for woman’s right to minister on the basis of the original design which God revealed in their creation.[3]

 The Nature of Grace and the Reversal of The Fall 

            Before the Fall – the Great Collapse – both man and woman are designed to provide mutual help and assistance in carrying out God’s commands. Man is neither woman’s “lord” nor is woman portrayed as his inferior in any regard. Rather they are both charged with duties pertinent to their surroundings and design. Only in the aftermath of the catastrophic damage inflicted by their mutual sin do we begin to trace the outline of an emerging antagonism.

It is in the nature of sin to divide; the response of grace is in healing and restoration that division.

 The Authority and Promise of Scripture 

            Having now lived among the awful wreckage of the Fall all humanity cries out for meaning, purpose, and true relationship. Perhaps all of the sins that humans commit are but futile attempts to produce the kind of mutuality, the genuine comradeship (or an effort to so deaden the heart that one no longer feels its loss) that is portrayed as existing in those sweet, brief days before humans turned away from their God. What humans seek and cannot reproduce grace can provide. Through eyes of the Gospels we witness a Jesus who is reconstructing the family of God, the church and the world. There we see Him calling the excluded, the outsider to come to Him and find a family open to any and all who “do the will of my Father in heaven (Matthew 12:50).” It is a call without gender or nationality. In John chapter 4 Jesus offers this satisfaction and (using the familial term) “the Father” indicates that even a Samaritan woman, whose family life has been less than stellar and who has been living on a particularly ragged edge of the shattered remains of the Great Collapse, is the target of heaven’s search. This woman is eventually used by God to reach her entire village.

            Always God is healing what sin has wounded. Always He is at work repairing what we have undone. Even the grand mission statement of Jesus’ ministry (Isaiah 61:1-3) describes His work in undoing what sin and Satan have done in His world. A powerful reversal is in the works! Just how powerful remains to be seen as “the best is yet to be!”

            But among the signals Heaven has given to indicate the plan of the Father for the world is one found right at the turning of the ugliness of bloody cross into the beauty of the empty tomb. There, in the oft-quoted Matthew 28:10 Jesus commanded the women at the empty tomb to “go tell my brethren” that He had risen. Thus, the very first people to tell the life-changing story of Christ’s resurrection were all female! And Jesus specifically chose them!

            As that celebrated South Carolinian (and woman), who proved her courage in the struggle for the abolition of slavery and the promotion of Women’s Rights, once wrote:

“Had the wife of Pilate sat upon that judgment seat, what would have been the result of the trial of [Jesus]? And who hung round the cross of Jesus on the mountain of Golgotha? Who first visited the sepulcher early in the morning on the first day of the week, carrying sweet spice to embalm His precious body, not knowing that it was incorruptible and could not be held by the hands of death? These were women! To whom did he first appear after His resurrection? It was to a woman!”[4]

 Examples from Scripture 

            But as abundant as are these heavenly indications of the truth that God’s plan includes the use of women in leadership roles within His church, there is a still more explicit statement to which we may turn. This statement, found in a passage mentioned earlier in this paper, should remove all doubt as to God’s intention to speak to earth through women and men. It is the declaration found in both the book of Joel and the book of Acts. There (in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17-1 we read that God is going to pour out His Spirit upon both women and men and both women and men will prophesy.

            What is more, what God promised, He delivered! No sooner had the Holy Spirit been outpoured upon the church than we begin to see women taking an active role. From Priscilla to Phoebe, from Euodia to Syntyche, from Tryphena to Tryphosa, the prophetess daughters of Philip, again and again we witness the spectacle of women in positions of leadership and ministry within the church.

            Even before the advent of the age of the church we have numerous examples of women in various leadership roles in the Bible. Before the Gospel era we read of women such as Huldah (a prophetess recorded in 2 Kings 22:14-20), Miriam (Moses’ sister and called a “leader” in Micah 6:4), Deborah (who is shown to be a great judge and military leader in Israel in Judges 4), and even Anna, (the elderly prophetess in the Jerusalem Temple who acclaimed Jesus’ arrival there in Luke 2:36-38).

Examples from Early & Medieval Christianity

            Aside from the references already made to prominent women leaders and ministers within the New Testament church, for much of the history of the church women may be found, in one place or another, proclaiming the Word, administering the sacraments, and leading the flock of God. Deaconesses persisted in the Eastern church for centuries after they had been eliminated by the Roman Church.

According to Karen Jo Torjesen in her controversial book entitled, When Women Were Priests,[5] there exists in a basilica in Rome a mosaic portraying four female figures: two female saints, Mary, and fourth figure whose veiled face is identified in the mosaic as “Theodora Episcopa”…meaning Bishop Theodora. Likewise she traces the burial sites and other archaeological evidence documenting the presence of women priests throughout the early church.

            The influence of such women as Madam Guyon has provided ongoing proof that the spiritual leadership of women has never ceased to be a force within the church. Their existence is proof of God’s fulfillment of His promise to fill and use women as well as men. Their rarity is a rebuke to a church that far too often has been more influenced by cultural norms and views of “a woman’s place” rather than influencing the societies in which they lived with a powerful and redeeming Gospel.

            In A History of Women (Vol. II) it is stated that even into the tenth century, in Frankish territory, monasteries were to be found which were for the explicit use of female monks and “religious”.[6] But the story of these female clergy is muted and attenuated; more often than not it is left untold.

 Examples from the Modern Era 

            The Quakers form a kind of bridge between medieval times and the modern age. Almost from their beginning they had believed and openly welcomed the move of the Holy Spirit in ministry through their women parishioners. But as they frequently held opinions that were out of the mainstream, (though they were used of God to speak to a slumbering, complacent church-world), still they exercised but little influence on the religious culture of the day.

            As the modern age began to dawn and Methodism had begun to emerge as a shaper of the culture and a force for God and the Gospel, perhaps it was only natural that God would use John Wesley, that most convinced supporter of lay ministry, to begin to promote the role of women in positions of leadership and ministerial service. Maybe because his own much-loved mother, Susanna, had been an effective lay minister (although strongly opposed in that ministry by her husband) Wesley early seems to have recognized the hand of God’s blessing upon these daughters of the Lord.

            Their names are very familiar to those well-briefed in Wesleyan history: Hester Ann Rogers, Mary Fletcher, Sarah Cox, Ann Cutler, Ann Gilbert, Mary Gilbert, Sarah Lawrence, Sarah Mallet, Dorothy Ripley, Mary Sewell, and a host of others. All these shared in the ministry of early Wesleyanism and helped to determine the shape and mission of that godly people.

 Conclusion

            From the days of the first century until our own, women have preached Christ as ably as men and have been used by God to bring light to millions in ignorance and heathen darkness. Our own (Wesleyan) denomination has helped to lead the way in this matter. And yet, so much more remains to be done. We still have far too many who are ignorant of the Word of the Lord on this matter and worse, many more who out of embarrassment and timidity in the presence of those who are hostile to female ministry are willing to sacrifice one-half of the ministers Jesus has called. We must no longer pray one way and live another. If we pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth His reapers then let us take care not to turn fully half of them away (or shunt them off to the back rooms) when He answers our prayer!

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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