Friday, June 10, 2005
Women in Leadership Roles in the Church
Women in Leadership Roles in the Church
By
Phoenix Mary Grace Hocking
Let me begin by submitting for your prayerful consideration a few of the basic premises from which I proceed. First, that Paul was just as influenced by the cultural biases of his time as we are influenced by the cultural biases of our own time. Next, that if we allow the cultural biases of the Middle East of two thousand years ago to deny women the ability to use their God-given gifts and talents of administration and leadership, then we are rather effectively making null and void the freedom that Jesus Himself bestows on all people.
Women have held leadership roles in the church from Biblical times up to the present day. Which of us would deny that Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a leader? Even the Catholic Church, which is not known for its overly compassionate view of women, saw the folly of denying what was to become her life’s work. Is Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, not considered a leader and teacher?
But, I proceed into the present too quickly. Let us examine the women of the Bible and the women of the early church who held roles of leadership, shall we?
Let us look first at Genesis 1:26,27 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” So, all humans are created in the image of God.
Moving on: James 2 and Acts 10:34 state that God shows no favoritism for one group of people over another. Acts 10:34 – “Then Peter opened his mouth and said, ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” James 2:1 – “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” James 2:8 – “If you really fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well, but if you show partiality, you commit sin.”
How much more clear can it be than Galatians 3:26-28: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
What about 1 Peter 2:5? “…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And 1 Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Is Peter only speaking to men?
I quote here from “Gender Equality and the Bible” by Rebecca Merrill Groothuis: In speaking of the Galatians 3:26-28 text: “Traditionalists say this text states only that men and women are equally saved, so it has no bearing at all on role differences between men and women. But the context here has to do with the differences wrought by the replacement of the old covenant with the new covenant. It would be superfluous and redundant for Paul to say that women and men, slave and free, Gentile and Jew are now equally saved under the new covenanat, when the fact was that salvation was available to members of all these groups under the old covenant. The point of this text is that something has changed with the coming of the new covenant. What is this change? Under the old covenant, free Jewish men were granted a number of religious privileges that women, slaves, and Gentiles were denied (for example, the priesthood was reserved for men), and it is this inequality in religious status that has been rendered obsolete under the new covenant.” (This article is available online at www.cbeinternational.org. The title of the article is “Gender Equality and the Bible” by Rebecca Merrill Groothuis.)
Okay, so what do we do with 1 Timothy 2:11? “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” I submit to you that this was spoken to a particular church, at a particular time, about a particular issue. If a woman is not supposed to teach, then whey would Paul commend Lois and Eunice for teaching Timothy the gospel? (2 Timothy 1:5). If a woman is not supposed to lead, then why does Paul particularly single out female leaders of house churches such as Nympha, Junia (who is called an apostle in Romans 16:7), Phoebe and Priscilla for special honor? Obviously, he cannot have meant his injunction against all women teaching and leading for all time in 1st Timothy when he praises them for doing so in many other places!!
The Greek word, “diakonon” (translated today as “deacon”) used to describe Phoebe, by the way, is the exact same word that is used to describe Philip and Steven. If Philip and Steven were seen as deacons, then why is Phoebe not allowed the same honor, when the same word is used to describe her?
Let us go back to the Old Testament for a few minutes and explore the women who held positions of leadership back then.
“For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.” Miriam was a prophetess; does that make her any less a leader? Especially when she is listed in this passage from Micah 6:4 as being on equal footing with Moses and Aaron. If she was not to be considered an equal, wouldn’t she have been listed differently?
“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (Numbers 12:1,2)
Other women leaders in Old Testament days include Deborah (see Judges, chapter 4), Athaliah (a wicked queen, but a queen nonetheless, see 2 Kings 11), and Esther.
Let us look now at the Biblical position of women in leadership roles in the New Testament. The Bible teaches that, in the New Testament economy, women as well as men exercise the prophetic, priestly and royal functions.
Acts 2:17,18: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” (Also see Joel 2:28,29, which is virtually the same passage.)
In Acts 9:36, Dorcas is called a “disciple.” “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.”
I submit that the few isolated texts that seem to restrict the full redemptive freedom of women must not be interpreted literally and in contradiction to the rest of Scripture.
So, did Jesus think of women? The times in which Jesus lived were difficult times for women. Women were considered little more than chattel and child-bearing machines, easily discarded, and even more easily abused. Jesus, however, rejected the false criteria and double standard of the time, as is evidenced by the many women who followed him. He spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, (gasp!) alone! (John 4:27) He was friends with Martha, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. He first appeared after His resurrection to women. Women stayed with Him at the cross, while the male disciples ran for their lives. Was it less dangerous for the women to stay at the cross? Hardly.
Jesus in every teaching included and affirmed women as equal beneficiaries of His mercy and grace. Let us look at the well-known incident in which Martha is complaining because Mary isn’t helping her. (See Luke 10:39) Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning and soaking up the lessons of the Master. Why? If she is not supposed to teach what she has learned, why bother to teach her at all? When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment, thereby “defiling” Him according to Jewish law, He didn’t condemn her for doing so, but instead told her, “Your faith has saved you!” (Mark 5:25-34) Hardly the response of someone for whom women were second-class citizens!
Let us explore now some women leaders in the early church. In the Roman catacombs women are shown in frescoes as leading worship, even serving communion, acting as priests. The fresco, from the Priscilla catacomb in Rome, dated to the 1st century, clearly show women in positions of leadership in the early church.
The early church considered Mary Magdalene an “apostle to the apostles,” and Luke relied heavily on the testimony of women as he wrote both Luke and Acts. A number of women served as leaders of house churches, including Priscilla, Phoebe, Chloe, Lydia, Apphia, Nympha, the mother of John Mark, and possibly the “elect lady” of John’s second epistle.
In the 2nd century, Clement of Alexandria wrote that women missionaries accompanied male missionaries “that they might be fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord’s teaching penetrated also the women’s quarters without any scandal being aroused. We also know the directions about women deacons which are given by the noble Paul in his letter to Timothy.”
Church leader John Chrysostom wrote of Junia, noted by Paul in Romans 16 as being “of note among the apostles,” “Indeed, to be an apostle at all is a great thing, but to be even amongst those of note; just consider what a great encomium that is…Oh, how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should even be counted worthy of the appellation of apostle.”
In Romans 16 Paul calls Phoebe “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae.” He calls her a prostates or overseer. This term in its masculine form, prostates, was later used by the Apostolic Fathers to designate the one presiding over the Eucharist. Paul uses the same verb, the passive of ginomai (to be or become), as he uses in Colossians 1:23, “I was made a minister.” In the passive, the verb sometimes indicated ordination or appointment to an office. Did Paul ordain Phoebe a minister?
Clement of Alexandra, in referring to Phoebe, writes: This text teaches with the authority of the Apostle that even women are instituted deacons in the Church. This is the function which was exercised in the church of Cenchreae by Phoebe, who was the object of high praise and recommendation by Paul…and thus this text teaches at the same time two things; that there are, as we have already said, women deacons in the church, and that women, who by their good works deserve to be praised by the Apostle, ought to be accepted in the deaconate.”
Crescens and Grapte, male and female ministers, are entrusted to deliver the message of the gospel to Philippi around the year 148 A.D. And in 112 A.D. Pliny the Younger interrogate two women ministrae, two women who apparently were considered deacons in the church at that time.
The list of women leaders in the early church is long. Catherine of Alexandria lived in the 2nd century was seen as a spiritual and intellectual leader of the church. Mary of Cassobelae was overseer of a community of both men and women.
St. Thecla is perhaps more well-known, a contemporary of Paul, who forsook her own wealth and high-standing to go to Asia Minor where she preaches, teaches, heals and baptizes.
Anthusa lived from 330 to 374 A.D. and was the mother of John Chrysostom, one of the greatest preachers in the 40th century church. While we don’t know much about Anthusa, we certainly know about her son.
Candace, queen of Ethiopa and mentioned in Acts 8:27, used her conversion to Christianity to promote the gospel.
Cecilia was a martyr of the 2nd century, refusing to marry and devoting her life in service to God.
Helena, the mother of Constantine, is credited with sponsoring the building of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem as well as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
Marthana, a deaconess, was a ruler over a monastic order of men and women at the shine of St. Thecla. Marcella was a 4th century Christian who taught the gospel from her home.
Perpetua was martyred in 203 A.D. having served the Lord unto death.
The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, a 4th century document, contains a prayer for the ordination of deaconesses: O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and of woman, who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna, and Hulduh; who didst not disdain that Thy only begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of Thy testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be keepers of Thy holy gates – do Thou now also look down upon this Thy servant, who is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Thy Holy Spirit, and “cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her to Thy glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to Thee and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.”
Paula and her friend Principia, 3rd century Christians, opened the first convent for women and devoted themselves to strict asceticism and benevolent service. Olympus was a deaconess of the church at Constantinople.
Let us move on the present day, where women who have called of God to teach and preach are still being denied the right to do so by a misunderstanding of Scripture. The accounts are numerous and saddening. Women are still being denied the right to teach, to preach, to serve the Eucharist. Even Anne Graham Lotz, whom Billy Graham called a better evangelist than himself, had Baptist preachers turn their back on her when she stood up to speak because she was a woman!
As we have seen, then, women have held positions of leadership in both Old Testament and New Testament Biblical times, up to the present day. Paul himself praised women leaders in the church, so his injunction against women speaking and teaching could not have been a blanket statement against all women for all time. Jesus held women in high regard, and it was first to women that He revealed Himself after the resurrection.
I submit, then, that to deny women a leadership role in this community simply on the basis of their gender would be a grave injustice to both the women in this congregation and to the Gospel. We have many women here who would be competent leaders, clear in their thinking, excellent examples to us all, and who love the Lord. Shall we deny these women whom God has called simply because they are anatomically different from men, when Scripture and early church history teaches exactly the opposite?
By
Phoenix Mary Grace Hocking
Let me begin by submitting for your prayerful consideration a few of the basic premises from which I proceed. First, that Paul was just as influenced by the cultural biases of his time as we are influenced by the cultural biases of our own time. Next, that if we allow the cultural biases of the Middle East of two thousand years ago to deny women the ability to use their God-given gifts and talents of administration and leadership, then we are rather effectively making null and void the freedom that Jesus Himself bestows on all people.
Women have held leadership roles in the church from Biblical times up to the present day. Which of us would deny that Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a leader? Even the Catholic Church, which is not known for its overly compassionate view of women, saw the folly of denying what was to become her life’s work. Is Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, not considered a leader and teacher?
But, I proceed into the present too quickly. Let us examine the women of the Bible and the women of the early church who held roles of leadership, shall we?
Let us look first at Genesis 1:26,27 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” So, all humans are created in the image of God.
Moving on: James 2 and Acts 10:34 state that God shows no favoritism for one group of people over another. Acts 10:34 – “Then Peter opened his mouth and said, ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” James 2:1 – “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” James 2:8 – “If you really fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well, but if you show partiality, you commit sin.”
How much more clear can it be than Galatians 3:26-28: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
What about 1 Peter 2:5? “…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And 1 Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Is Peter only speaking to men?
I quote here from “Gender Equality and the Bible” by Rebecca Merrill Groothuis: In speaking of the Galatians 3:26-28 text: “Traditionalists say this text states only that men and women are equally saved, so it has no bearing at all on role differences between men and women. But the context here has to do with the differences wrought by the replacement of the old covenant with the new covenant. It would be superfluous and redundant for Paul to say that women and men, slave and free, Gentile and Jew are now equally saved under the new covenanat, when the fact was that salvation was available to members of all these groups under the old covenant. The point of this text is that something has changed with the coming of the new covenant. What is this change? Under the old covenant, free Jewish men were granted a number of religious privileges that women, slaves, and Gentiles were denied (for example, the priesthood was reserved for men), and it is this inequality in religious status that has been rendered obsolete under the new covenant.” (This article is available online at www.cbeinternational.org. The title of the article is “Gender Equality and the Bible” by Rebecca Merrill Groothuis.)
Okay, so what do we do with 1 Timothy 2:11? “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” I submit to you that this was spoken to a particular church, at a particular time, about a particular issue. If a woman is not supposed to teach, then whey would Paul commend Lois and Eunice for teaching Timothy the gospel? (2 Timothy 1:5). If a woman is not supposed to lead, then why does Paul particularly single out female leaders of house churches such as Nympha, Junia (who is called an apostle in Romans 16:7), Phoebe and Priscilla for special honor? Obviously, he cannot have meant his injunction against all women teaching and leading for all time in 1st Timothy when he praises them for doing so in many other places!!
The Greek word, “diakonon” (translated today as “deacon”) used to describe Phoebe, by the way, is the exact same word that is used to describe Philip and Steven. If Philip and Steven were seen as deacons, then why is Phoebe not allowed the same honor, when the same word is used to describe her?
Let us go back to the Old Testament for a few minutes and explore the women who held positions of leadership back then.
“For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.” Miriam was a prophetess; does that make her any less a leader? Especially when she is listed in this passage from Micah 6:4 as being on equal footing with Moses and Aaron. If she was not to be considered an equal, wouldn’t she have been listed differently?
“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (Numbers 12:1,2)
Other women leaders in Old Testament days include Deborah (see Judges, chapter 4), Athaliah (a wicked queen, but a queen nonetheless, see 2 Kings 11), and Esther.
Let us look now at the Biblical position of women in leadership roles in the New Testament. The Bible teaches that, in the New Testament economy, women as well as men exercise the prophetic, priestly and royal functions.
Acts 2:17,18: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” (Also see Joel 2:28,29, which is virtually the same passage.)
In Acts 9:36, Dorcas is called a “disciple.” “At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.”
I submit that the few isolated texts that seem to restrict the full redemptive freedom of women must not be interpreted literally and in contradiction to the rest of Scripture.
So, did Jesus think of women? The times in which Jesus lived were difficult times for women. Women were considered little more than chattel and child-bearing machines, easily discarded, and even more easily abused. Jesus, however, rejected the false criteria and double standard of the time, as is evidenced by the many women who followed him. He spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, (gasp!) alone! (John 4:27) He was friends with Martha, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. He first appeared after His resurrection to women. Women stayed with Him at the cross, while the male disciples ran for their lives. Was it less dangerous for the women to stay at the cross? Hardly.
Jesus in every teaching included and affirmed women as equal beneficiaries of His mercy and grace. Let us look at the well-known incident in which Martha is complaining because Mary isn’t helping her. (See Luke 10:39) Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning and soaking up the lessons of the Master. Why? If she is not supposed to teach what she has learned, why bother to teach her at all? When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment, thereby “defiling” Him according to Jewish law, He didn’t condemn her for doing so, but instead told her, “Your faith has saved you!” (Mark 5:25-34) Hardly the response of someone for whom women were second-class citizens!
Let us explore now some women leaders in the early church. In the Roman catacombs women are shown in frescoes as leading worship, even serving communion, acting as priests. The fresco, from the Priscilla catacomb in Rome, dated to the 1st century, clearly show women in positions of leadership in the early church.
The early church considered Mary Magdalene an “apostle to the apostles,” and Luke relied heavily on the testimony of women as he wrote both Luke and Acts. A number of women served as leaders of house churches, including Priscilla, Phoebe, Chloe, Lydia, Apphia, Nympha, the mother of John Mark, and possibly the “elect lady” of John’s second epistle.
In the 2nd century, Clement of Alexandria wrote that women missionaries accompanied male missionaries “that they might be fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord’s teaching penetrated also the women’s quarters without any scandal being aroused. We also know the directions about women deacons which are given by the noble Paul in his letter to Timothy.”
Church leader John Chrysostom wrote of Junia, noted by Paul in Romans 16 as being “of note among the apostles,” “Indeed, to be an apostle at all is a great thing, but to be even amongst those of note; just consider what a great encomium that is…Oh, how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should even be counted worthy of the appellation of apostle.”
In Romans 16 Paul calls Phoebe “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae.” He calls her a prostates or overseer. This term in its masculine form, prostates, was later used by the Apostolic Fathers to designate the one presiding over the Eucharist. Paul uses the same verb, the passive of ginomai (to be or become), as he uses in Colossians 1:23, “I was made a minister.” In the passive, the verb sometimes indicated ordination or appointment to an office. Did Paul ordain Phoebe a minister?
Clement of Alexandra, in referring to Phoebe, writes: This text teaches with the authority of the Apostle that even women are instituted deacons in the Church. This is the function which was exercised in the church of Cenchreae by Phoebe, who was the object of high praise and recommendation by Paul…and thus this text teaches at the same time two things; that there are, as we have already said, women deacons in the church, and that women, who by their good works deserve to be praised by the Apostle, ought to be accepted in the deaconate.”
Crescens and Grapte, male and female ministers, are entrusted to deliver the message of the gospel to Philippi around the year 148 A.D. And in 112 A.D. Pliny the Younger interrogate two women ministrae, two women who apparently were considered deacons in the church at that time.
The list of women leaders in the early church is long. Catherine of Alexandria lived in the 2nd century was seen as a spiritual and intellectual leader of the church. Mary of Cassobelae was overseer of a community of both men and women.
St. Thecla is perhaps more well-known, a contemporary of Paul, who forsook her own wealth and high-standing to go to Asia Minor where she preaches, teaches, heals and baptizes.
Anthusa lived from 330 to 374 A.D. and was the mother of John Chrysostom, one of the greatest preachers in the 40th century church. While we don’t know much about Anthusa, we certainly know about her son.
Candace, queen of Ethiopa and mentioned in Acts 8:27, used her conversion to Christianity to promote the gospel.
Cecilia was a martyr of the 2nd century, refusing to marry and devoting her life in service to God.
Helena, the mother of Constantine, is credited with sponsoring the building of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem as well as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
Marthana, a deaconess, was a ruler over a monastic order of men and women at the shine of St. Thecla. Marcella was a 4th century Christian who taught the gospel from her home.
Perpetua was martyred in 203 A.D. having served the Lord unto death.
The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, a 4th century document, contains a prayer for the ordination of deaconesses: O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and of woman, who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna, and Hulduh; who didst not disdain that Thy only begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of Thy testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be keepers of Thy holy gates – do Thou now also look down upon this Thy servant, who is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Thy Holy Spirit, and “cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her to Thy glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to Thee and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.”
Paula and her friend Principia, 3rd century Christians, opened the first convent for women and devoted themselves to strict asceticism and benevolent service. Olympus was a deaconess of the church at Constantinople.
Let us move on the present day, where women who have called of God to teach and preach are still being denied the right to do so by a misunderstanding of Scripture. The accounts are numerous and saddening. Women are still being denied the right to teach, to preach, to serve the Eucharist. Even Anne Graham Lotz, whom Billy Graham called a better evangelist than himself, had Baptist preachers turn their back on her when she stood up to speak because she was a woman!
As we have seen, then, women have held positions of leadership in both Old Testament and New Testament Biblical times, up to the present day. Paul himself praised women leaders in the church, so his injunction against women speaking and teaching could not have been a blanket statement against all women for all time. Jesus held women in high regard, and it was first to women that He revealed Himself after the resurrection.
I submit, then, that to deny women a leadership role in this community simply on the basis of their gender would be a grave injustice to both the women in this congregation and to the Gospel. We have many women here who would be competent leaders, clear in their thinking, excellent examples to us all, and who love the Lord. Shall we deny these women whom God has called simply because they are anatomically different from men, when Scripture and early church history teaches exactly the opposite?
# posted by Phoenix MaryGrace Hocking : 11:40 AM
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