(A Bible Study by Kim Thoday)

Women in Ministry (A Bible Study by Kim Thoday)

The following study is in a format suitable and user-friendly for Bible study, small group discussions or lectures. I have designed and developed the text over a number of years in such contexts. It is by no means an exhaustive or higher critical study. It is meant to be an introduction to the important and complex study of women in ministry in the New Testament. It only focuses upon the ministry of Jesus, the Gospels and the Pauline material. I begin with Jesus because his example for Christian praxis is the most authoritative.

A) Jesus and women in the Gospels

1. One of the most striking things about Jesus’ earthly ministry was his incredible openness to women. He was as inclusive of women as he was of men in first century Jewish culture; a culture that largely held women in subservient roles.

2. Jesus allowed women to minister.

For instance: Mark 15:41 – “These used to follow him (ekolouthos) and provided (diakonos) for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.” (Scripture quotes from the NRSV).

Mark uses two very important and technical words here. Important at this point is ‘diakonos’ = to minister or to serve. This becomes a title for specialist ministers in Paul’s churches. This Greek word: ‘diakonos’ is what we translate as Deacon. (The word ‘deaconess’ has no scriptural basis). Mark would have realised the significance of this role of ‘diakonos’ when he later wrote his Gospel around AD70, (about the time of the fall of Jerusalem). Paul, of course, wrote his Epistles during the 50s.

3. Jesus included women within his movement of disciples.

Again Mark 15:41 is a useful text. The technical word for discipleship is used here of the women. See particularly how Mark uses this word ‘follow’ (ekolouthos) in his discipleship stories in (1:16-20) and (2: 13-14). We know that on many occasions in the Gospel accounts Jesus had women gathered around him along with the inner male circle. An extremely telling account of Jesus’ inclusion of women in his private circle is reported in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 7:36-50). The woman in this story has the audacity to barge in on the men’s meeting and is used by Jesus to define what discipleship is all about.

Luke offers another window upon women as prominent disciples: Luke 8: 1-3 “Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for (diakonos) them out of their resources.” Luke also uses the technical word ‘diakonos’ for ministry in regards to the women disciples.

Some have argued that because Jesus appointed men only as part of the inner circle of the Twelve, that women cannot be formally leaders or ordained ministers of the Church. Well the problem is that we are rarely consistent with this kind of argument. For if you are going to draw the line of interpretation on a gender basis then you also have to draw it on a racial basis – for Jesus only appointed Jewish men as the members of the Twelve. Obviously, if we interpret the text racially, that is going to nullify most of the leaders of the Christian Church throughout the world. This is where legalistic interpretations of the Bible come unstuck. You only have to start applying them consistently and eventually they unravel and cancel themselves out. Anyway, one of Jesus’ main emphases in his earthly ministry was to point people beyond legalism when it had the affect of preventing persons and communities from realising their God-breathed potential, (See for instance, Mark 2:27-28).

Though it does appear that the Twelve were all men, all four Gospels show quite clearly that a number of women were prominent amongst his wider group of disciples who worked alongside him and the Twelve. This itself speaks volumes about Jesus’ spirit of gender inclusiveness in an ancient eastern culture where it was taboo for women to be involved in such social interaction as individuals. Certainly, women would not have been received readily, if at all, as missionaries or teachers within a predominantly Jewish environment. This may be one factor for their absence in representation within the Twelve. Notwithstanding this, Jesus’ radical inclusion of women in some of his endeavours would have been viewed with deep suspicion. In the context of the culture of the day, Jesus was already ‘sailing close to the wind.’

4. Jesus used women as examples of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus often showed in his ministry that the oppressed in themselves were expressions of God’s Kingly reign on earth. Women and children were an oppressed majority in the time of Jesus. The story about the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7: 24-30), the woman living with a debilitating hemorhage (Mark 5:21-34) and the Samarian woman at the well (John 4: 1-45) are classics. There is also the wonderful story of the poor widow who gives to God all she has (Luke 21: 1-4). A lovely parable only found in Luke’s Gospel concerns a woman who loses a coin (15: 8-10).

5. Jesus corrected situations where women were treated unequally.

Jesus breaks with Mosaic Law concerning men’s rights to dismiss (legally separate from) their wives is of great significance. Jesus squarely takes on the Mosaic Law because men only, in his day, had the legal authority to dismiss their partners:

Mark 10: 1-10 “He [Jesus] left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them. Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife?” He answered them, What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” (Compare Jesus’ teaching in this text to the text of Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

In this amazing teaching of Jesus, he reinterprets the Mosaic Law so that women are not to be oppressed by a law biased against them – a law that must have caused untold sufferings for ‘dismissed’ women. This new teaching gives clear insight into Jesus’ understanding of men and women created as complimentary beings; equals under God’s authority.

6. Jesus advocated on behalf of women as well as men.

During Jesus’ ministry, time and again, he stood up for the ‘underdog.’ He seemed to have a bias towards those who were undermined by the religious, social and political system. A classic example is when the male disciples reprimand the woman who anoints Jesus at Bethany.

Mark 14: 3-9 “While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (My emphasis).

How often, when we preach the Gospel, do we recall what this woman did? Do we obey Jesus word to us when we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ? I wonder how legal the legalists would be on this one? It certainly mattered to Jesus. A woman (read: a social and religious outcast, for she comes unaccompanied and interacts in male space in a very intimate way with another male – Jesus) in this story is given the greatest honour by Jesus! She understands the essential nature of Jesus’ mission while apparently the male disciples do not.

7. Women remained faithful to Jesus up until the end of his earthly ministry.

According to Mark’s presentation it is precisely the male disciples who increasingly misunderstand the nature of Jesus’ mission in the world. Even after all his private teaching to them they seem to muck things up. They don’t understand about the loaves (8: 14-21). They argue about whom is the greatest among them (9:33-37). They try to keep the children away from Jesus (10:13-16). James and John think they are going to sit on thrones next to Jesus (10: 35-45). They fall asleep on Jesus in his hour of greatest need (14:32-42). One of the Twelve betrays Jesus (14:43-46). When Jesus needs them to stand by him they all desert him and flee (14:50). To add insult to injury, Peter, the spokesman so often, later denies Jesus three times in public (14:66-72).

In contrast, the women disciples are characterised by Mark, as remaining faithful to the end (or should it be: to the beginning?) When Jesus is on the Cross, hanging there for the salvation of the world, who is there with him – not the Twelve. They are nowhere to be seen. It is the women disciples (15:40-41).

8. God allowed women to be the very first evangelists after Jesus Resurrection.

Fittingly, it is also the women ministers who continue their ministry even after Jesus’ burial. All four Gospels bear witness to the miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection. All four Gospels depict the women disciples as the first evangelists – the conveyors of the Gospel: that Jesus had been raised from the dead. (Mark 16: 1-8 cf: Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 23:50-56 & John 19:38-42). Many commentators have in fact rightly argued that the womens’ testimony to Jesus’ Resurrection gives much weight to the authenticity of the Resurrection. Why? Because under Jewish law the witness or testimony of women was not valid. If one were going to concoct a resurrection account, male witnesses would be the way to gain acceptance. Jewish law required the witness of at least two males. Yet, it was to be the women disciples who would first encounter the risen Jesus because of their faithfulness. From the very outset therefore, the Gospel of the risen Jesus requires a new way of viewing the world. The new wine does indeed require fresh wineskins.

B) Women as Paul’s Co-workers

The Apostle Paul has not always received good press concerning the place of women. Some have even seen him as the enemy of women. The opposite is in fact the case. The Apostle Paul was convicted by the Spirit of the living Jesus (Christ). His ministry, therefore, reflected and developed Jesus’ stance regarding women.

1. Acts testifies to the importance of women in Paul’s ministry. The most obvious example is Lydia of Thyatira. She is Paul’s first convert in Europe (Acts 16:14-15). She offers hospitality; her house became centre of Christian community in Philippi (vs 40). Lydia is an early example of a woman of means and prominence acting as patron for early Christian movement.

2. Paul’s letters show that women also had a share in his mobile missionary work. Some were leaders in their own right.

3. Evodia & Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3) These women were of some prominence and significance in this community of faith. Their estrangement may have posed serious disruption for the body of the believers in Philippi. The appeal to a ‘companion’ or ‘yokefellow’ suggests that they had a wide role. Paul says they, “struggled beside me…” (synathletein – as of athletes in the arena) in the work of the Gospel. They rank alongside with Clement and co-workers (synergoi). Their role is similar to Paul’s and his Apostolic band in the missionary propagation of the Gospel. As such these women may have been the representatives of the Philippian community, which appears to have entered into formal partnership with Paul and his missionary work.

4. Romans 6 fleshes out the picture more clearly. Pheobe often translated incorrectly as “deaconess” – non-ordained female church workers. Diaknonos – which he regularly employs to describe his own ministry (1Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 3:1-11). This Greek word is used of an officer commissioned by a superior for some particular task. Then Pheobe is comissioned by the Roman Christians as a “deacon of the church at Cenchrae (the twin city of Corinth). Therefore, she had an authoritative teaching role in that church. Also Greek: Prostatis (“benefactor of many and myself”) = patronage given by women of high station or office. Her commendation to the Roman Christians possibly means she too is an itinerant missionary like Paul.

5. Prisca and Aquilla are a married couple. These people were friends of Paul. There are a number of references to them in Acts. This is likely indicative of their widespread ministry. They, like Paul, shared in a “tent-making ministry.” In Acts 18:1-3, they left Corinth with Paul and came to Ephesus, stayed there awhile while Paul and returned to Caesara and Antioch (Acts 18: 18-21). Vs 26 they took fuller instruction to the formidable Apollos, who later also became a co-worker. They both exercised Apostolic teaching to Apollos, and yet he was already well versed in the Scriptures. Note here also that Prisca is mentioned first. This was very uncommon. In 1 Cor 16:19 the couple are still in Ephesus. By the time Paul writes to the Roman Christians during his third and final stay in Corinth, they have returned to Rome where there is again a church in their house (Rom. 16:3-5). Paul again speaks to them as ‘synergoi.’ They also risk their necks like Paul and are owed a huge debt by all the Gentile churches. This can only mean they worked alongside Paul in his ministry. It seems that Prisca and Aquilla were involved in house church ministry as well as itinerant Apostolic work.

6. Andronicus and Junia are related to Paul. It seems that they were converted before Paul had been. They are persons of repute amongst the Apostles. In the Greek we have the accusitive of the feminine name, Iounia (Junia – which can be translated in English as Julia). Church fathers such as Chrysostom understood this to be a woman’s name; and Chrysostom praised the woman. Here we have a woman Apostle and an outstanding one at that! The designation Apostle, must not be understood here in the sense of the Twelve. In Paul’s usage, Apostle designated a special group who had both “seen the Lord” and had been commissioned by him to preach and found churches. It denotes the foundational and leading identity of those responsible for the Christian mission (1Cor 12:28). Considering the high esteem Paul has for this role and his vigorous defence of his own part in it, the tribute paid to these two is very high indeed.

7. Mary, Tyrphaena and Tryphosa (1 Cor 15:10) Mary – verse 6 “who has worked hard among you” and verse 12 “those workers in the Lord”. The Greek word here for worked, ‘kopainis’ is precisely the same verb Paul employs to describe his own Apostolic labours.

8. As mentioned earlier this study is by no means exhaustive; it is introductory in intention. Furthermore, it is likely that there were many other women ministers and leaders not mentioned in Paul’s correspondence. Paul did not necessarily initiate such ministries – it seems that many women were in various positions of ministry and leadership in different settings before Paul. However, the language of Paul is suggestive of his willingness to work with them in a spirit of encouragement, warmth and appreciation as co-workers.

C) The main texts that subordinate women.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-35

“As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

1 Corinthians 11: 3-8

“But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head–it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.”

1 Timothy 2: 11-15

“Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.”

Not included in this study are other texts that are more ambiguous such as: Colossians 3:18; Ephesians 5: 21-33; 1 Timothy 3:11; 5:3-16; 2 Timothy 3;6-7; Titus 2:3-6. These texts appear to either be concerned mainly with females as wives rather than women in general or they are extremely specific e.g. concerning morality or widows or ‘silly’ women.

We have established that women were co-workers with Paul. Some we have seen had some of the most important leadership positions in the Pauline churches. How then can we have these texts that would seem to indicate an opposite view. Was Paul schizophrenic? I think not and surely such a view would indeed be heretical when as Christians we believe that Paul was inspired – one of the greatest Apostles!

1. One response has been that Paul was writing here to specific situations – to troublesome women only. His writings, after all, were written as epistles to specific churches. This is one plausible response. Although, it does not quite work for 1 Cor 14ff: ‘As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches.’ Here the writer is suggesting that this should be a general ruling.

2. Another response is that these texts are the result of the churches towards the end of the first century when some of the churches were becoming more hierarichal and male dominated. Certainly, the Pastorals (1&2 Timothy and Titus) reflect far more structure and control than the earlier epistles such as Romans, I&2 Corinthians, Galatians and so on. Bishops and elders are now mentioned. There are many rules and regulations in the Pastorals. Some argue that the Pastorals in fact sow the seeds of very early catholicism. Indeed, it is not many years later that we know from the early Christian historian Eusebius, that the first Apostolic Bishop emerges – Ignatius of Antioch – very early in the second century.

Whatever one decides, it is no good pretending that texts don’t exist that support contrary views about women and leadership. There is, however, much material to show that in general Paul condoned women in ministry; and that meant ministry even in the most influential positions such as Apostle.

If one does decide to argue that the texts subordinating women are the most authoritative, then one has to also find a convincing enough reason to find the other texts in favour of women and men in authority as not, or not as, authoritative. If one does decide that the subordinating texts are authoritative, over the others, then we have also to be consistent. It would mean that women in our churches would have to be silent; that is, completely silent – no reading scripture in church, no worship leading, no Sunday School teaching, no singing, indeed no talking at any church functions whatsoever. It would also mean that women would need to wear the Jewish veils again. It would mean that women could only learn from their husbands at home – too bad if you are not married. It would also mean that women do not need to be saved by Christ’s death and baptism, but rather through child birth as long as they continue in faith and love (see 1 Timothy 2:15). Yes, you can go this way, as long as you are consistent in the approach.

Not only is the command to silence for women a difficulty in relation to the evidence in other epistles it is also at odds with 1 Corinthians itself. 1 Cor 11:5 assumes that women do at least pray and prophesy in church. 1 Timothy goes even further and blames the women for sinning first. More likely indicative of the Apostle Paul, however, is his magnificent treatise upon the relationship between Adam and Christ: Romans 5: 12-21. In this text Paul argues that sin came into the world through Adam. Eve is not mentioned in this context at all.

D) In regard to authority in the Church. (A short discussion)

Authority, in Jesus’ terms, is not being boss, lording it over others, but to be a servant. James and John were two of Jesus’ followers who learned this the hard way. They wanted privileged thrones in Jesus’ kingdom: one of them on the left side and the other on the right.

Christianity is not about one gender having authority over the other in the Church. Jesus said, ‘You know that in the world those who are thought to be “successful” are those who “get to the top”. They have power over others. But it’s not to be like that with you. Whoever wants to be great must be your servant; whoever wants to be number one must be the slave of all. I did not come to be served, but to serve – and to give my life for others.’ (Matthew 20:25-28). (And those on the right and left of the Lord in the moment of his greatest triumph were two crucified political criminals!).

Jesus’ disciples revealed that they were often very slow learners. When they gathered to celebrate the Passover, none of them wanted to do the slave’s chore, and wash the dirty feet of his friends. So Jesus gave them – and us – an object-lesson in greatness. He removed his cloak, took a towel, filled a basin with water, and started to move slowly around the group, washing their feet, and wiping them with the towel. This was unheard of because in Hebrew culture only slaves washed others’ feet.

In the dramatic silence that day only the embarrassed breathing and the trickle of water could be heard. Here is God incarnate, stripping himself to wash the feet of his proud friends!

Ultimately, the Cross itself is the supreme symbol of Jesus’ ministry of humble service. He served by giving his life for his friends (and that includes us!).

As that great hymn summarises: ‘When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride…’

Jesus did not give his followers a blueprint about how the Church should be run; there is no specific organizational model for the institution of the Church in the New Testament. Instead he offers us a dynamic model for authority: servanthood! Greatness in the kingdom of Jesus is to be a servant of others.

E) Some final thoughts

The great teaching of the Apostle Paul to the Galatian Christians:

“Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 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.” (Galatians 3:24-28)

Orthodox Jewish men prayed a prayer regularly: ‘Oh God, thank you that I am a Jew not a Gentile, that I am not a slave but free; not a woman but a man.’ The Apostle himself had been a zealous Jew before his conversion. He would have known this prayer well. But his transformation in Christ, changed him completely. He realised, perhaps, more than most Christians, that the old distinctions, the old laws, were no longer valid. He recognised that race, class and gender distinctions were of the old disciplinarian, and that these problems and issues had been solved at the foot of the Cross.

The Apostle Paul, rightly carried on the Spirit of Christ – not the law. He continued to be radically open to women and men and encouraged them to exercise their God breathed spiritual gifts in the Churches. That is why Paul can say, without reference to male or female, the following things in regards to ministry within the Church:

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.” (1 Cor 12:1-11).

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)

Blessings in Jesus’ Name

KIM THODAY, HEWETT COMMUNITY CHURCH OF CHRIST, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

http://www.hewett.org.au