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The Role of Women in the Ministry

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Outline

Outline..............................................................................................................................2

The Role of Women in the Ministry..................................................................................2

The Debate about Women Roles in the Ministry..............................................................2

Why There Is a Debate about Women Roles in the Church.........................................3

Various Views on the Role of Women in the Church.......................................................4

Biblical Basis of the Roles of Women in the Ministry.......................................................6

The basis in Jesus’ Ministry..........................................................................................6

The Basis in the Early Church......................................................................................7

The Basis of Creation...................................................................................................9

Examples of Biblical Women and Their Roles in the Ministry

Miriam

Huldar

Junia

Phoebe

Tabitha

Position of the woman in the modern church

Conclusion

Bibliography

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The Role of Women in the Ministry

In the contemporary generation, democracy has matured, such that gender

equality is being practiced in most places. One issue that has troubled democracy for a

long time is the lack of gender equality. Women have been the most unfortunate in this

case whereby have been segregated on various grounds, including their roles in the

church. Segregation of women is an issue that troubled theologians, especially when it

comes to the roles women play in the church. Essentially, women are supposed to have

the same role in the society as men. Even most countries have enacted laws to ensure

women takes up at least a third of the roles available. However, the Bible does not

provide such favors and even early apostles, such as Paul claimed that women must be

quiet in the church. Nevertheless, the word of God is supposed to treat everyone

equally because everyone is considered a child of God. At the same time, the word of

God needs not to be misinterpreted. This means that there is a need for a clear

understanding of the roles of the women based on accurate biblical and historical

interpretation, which is the main focus of this paper.

The Debate about Women Roles in the Ministry

There exist various views about women's roles in the church, which has triggered

various debates on the issue, such that the issue has become secular. The debate

about women's roles in the church comes as a result of failure to make a distinction

between things that matter, based on the word of God. Many people have quoted the

text of Paul in 1Timothy and in 1Corinthians to claim that women are not supposed to

partake in the certain roles in the church. However, this has been done without

considering things that matter and thus the debate has not been productive.

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Why There is a Debate about Women Roles in the Church

The debate on the roles of women in the church has arisen because of confusion

in two areas. In the first place, there is a confusion arising from lack of distinction

between structure and authority in the church on one hand and an outstanding gift of

individuals in the ministry. In the second place, there is a misunderstanding of the

position of woman in the home in relation to the position of women in the church. The

church of the New Testament is not an amorphous mob, but rather an organized

institution founded on a given authority, organized in a hierarchical way. This implies

that the church has differentiated roles that trace its origin on the words of Jesus Christ,

who said “I will build my church.1” This implies that, it is His church, organized based on

His directions. As a result, Jesus Christ Himself trained its leadership consisting of the

twelve disciples, who were all men, and put them in place to represent His authority.

This implies that the first church was birthed on the leadership of only men. Even later,

during the times of the apostles, there was no woman apostle, which raises the question

of the role of women in the ministry.2

It is possible to conclude that during the time of Jesus Christ, women did not

have a high position in the society and thus it would have been prudent for Jesus to

establish His church based on the culture of that time. However, this could not have

been the case because Jesus did not put into considerations the traditions of men

because He did what needed to be done rather than what people were thinking. This

means that it is clear that the authority of the church was founded on the apostles, who

1 Mathew 16;182Batchelor, Doug, God's Role for Women in Ministry, 2010, derived from: http://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/2/t/gods-role-for-women-in-ministry.aspx

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are men. However, women had specific roles they played alongside men in the ministry.

They were gifted in these roles, and this has been misconstrued with the authority of the

apostleship bestowed on men.

Various Views on the Role of Women in the Church

Several authors have offered their views on the roles of women in the ministry,

and most of them seek to erase the confusion arising from the issue. Dr. John

MacArthur claims that women were followers from the beginning. However, Satan

bypassed the authority of a man and told the woman how they were supposed to relate

to one another in carry out the instructions of God. MacArthur claims that the first

ministry was that of obedience to the word of God, in taking care of the creation.3 This

ministry was bestowed upon the first man Adam whereas, the first woman, Eve, was

supposed to be the helper. However, Eve decided to play the headship role whereby

she was explaining their mandate on earth in relation to the commands of God.

However, she ended up being confused by the serpent because she did not understand

her role clearly. This resulted in sin entering the world and the situation highlighted the

dangers that results from misplacing roles. MacArthur argues that Satan had used the

proper authority, he could not have convinced the man to sin. This implies that replacing

the position of man in the ministry can be disastrous.

Robert Saucy, a seasoned theologian, claims that women are not to be wholly

above men in the ministry. He claims that the Bible is clear on the authority of man and

the duties of women in the ministry and thus he prohibits running churches on the

supreme authority of women. Saucy claims that women can be pastors or occupy any

3 MacArthur, John, Different By Design,(Chariot Victor Publishing: Colorado Springs, 1994), 48.

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position in the ministry, but they should be accountable to men in some way as the final

authority of the church on earth. For instance, it will be a disaster to have a woman as

the Pope of the Catholic Church. Saucy uses the analogy of marriage whereby

inasmuch as both men and women plays equal parenting roles, but the man remains

the head of the house4.

Tim Bayly and Hugenberger claim that discussing the spiritual commands

relating to the role of women in the ministry can sometimes mislead the church. They

claim that the contemporary church is keen on eradicating any stumbling blocks,

including some unclear spiritual commands likely to bar women from taking up any roles

in the church. However, they claim that such stand is very dangerous and can

destabilize the church. Nevertheless, Bayly and Hugenberger states that as long as a

woman is gifted by God, she should be allowed to perform in the gifted role. This means

that authority and gifts should be the distinguishing factors when discussing the roles of

women in the ministry. Bayly and Hugenberger claims that there is a reason why the

apostolic authority was bestowed on men only, even though were some effective

women at that time5.

Stephen Lowe claims that women should be allowed to serve in any capacity in

the ministry, and this should not be dictated by the culture or the traditions prevailing in

the society. Lowe claims that some section of the text in the Bible written by Paul was

meant to serve the culture of that time. However, the situation has changed and even

4Saucy Robert, Women's Prohibition to Teach Men: An Investigation into Its Meaning and Contemporary Application, Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society,vol. 37, no. 1, 1994, 95.5 Hugenberger, Gordon, Women in Church Office: Hermeneutics or Exegesis? A survey of Approaches to 1 Tim 2:8-16, Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society vol. 35, no. 3, 1992, 342.

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Jesus Christ was not distracted by the cultural circumstances.6 This implies that women

are not bound by any law and they are allowed to serve in the ministry as long as they

are gifted.

Biblical Basis of the Roles of Women in the Ministry

From the foregoing analysis, it is clear that women have special roles in the

ministry, and this can be well understood by considering various Biblical basics. Such

considerations involve women's roles in the time of Jesus, women's roles in the time of

the early church, and women's roles during creation.

The Basis in Jesus’ Ministry

During the time of the ministry of Jesus, women were believed to be inferior and

subordinate in almost every area of life. The home was there place and they were

required to be good mothers and wives, but could not participate in any public activity. A

Jewish historian called Josephus said that the law holds that a woman is inferior to man

in all things. However, through His actions and teachings, Jesus asserted that worth

women are and valuable equally as men within God’s service and love. One area where

Jesus challenged men was on disputes regarding sexual relations. During this time, the

right to divorce belonged to men exclusively who would use any reason to justify

divorce. This grieved Jesus and He never tolerated such male chauvinism. This made

Him recall the concept of one flesh written in Genesis 2:24 about the intention of God in

marriage matters, as well as a mutual partnership. Cases of sexual sin were accounted

to women, but Jesus overturned this by telling the men that looking at a woman lustfully

was equivalent to committing adultery in the heart. Jesus rejected any laws that

6 Lowe, Stephen, Rethinking the Female Status/Function Question: The Jew/Gentile relationship as Paradign, Journal Of The Evangelical Theological Society, vol. 37, no. 1, 1991, 65.

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declared women as unclean as it was in the beginning. For instance, He allowed a

woman who had suffered from menstrual bleeding for twelve years to touch His garment

and he recommended her faith. In this case, Jesus was positioning women to their

rightful roles in the ministry.

Teachers of the time of Jesus were not allowed to teach women, but Jesus

taught them and even included them in the groups of the disciples who were committed.

According to in the information in Luke 8:1-3, several women were part of the

bandwagon of Jesus Christ and therefore, they played a role in His ministry together

with the disciples. Women were also present during the crucifixion and burial of Jesus

Christ, as well as on the morning when Jesus resurrected. Jesus asserted the worth of

disciples and being obedient to God, over the natural role of a mother. That is why He

says that His mother and brothers are people who hear the word of God and exercise

it.7 He added that blessed are the people who hearken to God’s word according to Luke

11:28.

Inclusion of women in his activities molded them to be His witnesses as they

recognized Him as the Savior of Mankind and as the risen Lord. It was also the

Samaritan woman who took responsibility to evangelize in her town and the gospels

indicate that the first people to declare Jesus’ resurrection message were women

disciples. It is well known that Jesus had male disciples, but it has not been realized that

women disciples were also devoted to the ministry and these women included Mary the

mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene as well as the “other” Mary, Joanna, Salome,

Susanna, and Mary of Bethany.

7Luke 8:21

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The Basis in the Early Church

It is clear according to the book of Acts that women were present in the first

church and they participated in the church’s growth and expansion. The group of the

disciples who waited for the Holy Spirit filling in Jerusalem also entailed women. Luke

comments that women were part of the number that kept expanding leading to the early

church growth. During the time when Paul persecuted Christians, women were also part

of the church. Women are also mentioned severally in the book of Acts about how they

used to spread the church and some of them include Lystra, the widows in Joppa,

Damaris in Athens, the wives in Tyre, a Berea woman who was prominent, and Priscilla

in Corinth, and many more.8

On top of documenting the increased women's presence in the early church,

three more significant items are presented in the accounts of Acts. The first item is the

fact that when the Holy Spirit came down to fulfill the word of God according to Joel

2:28-32, both women and men were present. In Acts 1-2, Peter’s interpretation of the

events was that the Pentecost symbolized the last days when the Holy Spirit was to be

poured to both women and men and make them prophesy. The events written in Acts 2

have been the key arguments in support of women's ministry throughout the modern

church history.

The second item is the participation of women in establishing the Philippians

church. Paul began the Philippi church with a group of women that met outside the city

gate regularly for prayer. Lydia was one of the leaders of the places of prayer that was

called a synagogue. Together with her family, Lydia played a significant role in the

8Feldmeth, Nathan, and George Ladd,Women in Ministry, 2008, derived from: http://www.fuller.edu/womeninministry/

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establishment of the Philippians church. This shows that women were very active in

ministry during the time of Paul. Third, Priscilla is also indicated as a woman who was

important in ministry. It is under Priscilla’s advice together with her husband Aquila that

Apollo became an excellent teacher in the church.

The Basis of Creation

Basically, the partnership of men and women was founded by God Himself

during the creation time and in the church ministry. To begin with, Adam was created in

God’s own image and it is through His image that God identified human beings as a

male and a female. Moreover, after God’s creation, He gave both women and men the

mandate to take care of all that He had created. Therefore, the genders were created to

be partners, but not to subordinate women and with the men claiming to be superior.

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Bibliography

Batchelor, Doug. "God's Role for Women in Ministry." Amazing Facts. 2010. Web. 13

Jul. 2013.< http://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/2/t/gods-role-for-

women-in-ministry.aspx>.

Feldmeth, Nathan and George Ladd. "Women in Ministry." Fuller Theological Seminary.

2008. Web. 13 Jul. 2013.< http://www.fuller.edu/womeninministry/>.

Hugenberger, Gordon. "Women in Church Office: Hermeneutics or Exegesis? A survey

of Approaches to 1 Tim 2:8-16." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

35.3 (1992): 341-360.

Lowe, Stephen. " Rethinking the Female Status/Function Question: The Jew/Gentile

relationship as a paradigm." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37.1

(1991): 59-75.

MacArthur, John. Different by Design. Colorado : Chariot Victor Publishing, 1994.Print.

Saucy, Robert. "Women's Prohibition to Teach Men: An Investigation into Its Meaning

and Contemporary Application." Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society

37.1 (1994): 79-97.

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