Women and Man are Equal in Gods Eyes

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Women and Man are Equal in Gods Eyes

        The role of women is arguably a sensitive subject in today’s society.  The subject becomes even more critical when the question of what is a women’s role in ministry, and are they even allowed to teach, preach and be spiritual leaders in church and in the community that they live in.  In order to understand the discussion over women’s role in a church, I will discuss the predominant positions held when it comes to women in the church, its history, and other writings that may have influenced the view of women.  

        In considering the history of the early Church, we must address the issue of whether or not women were ever present in leadership roles.  As we look back to the history of the early Church, we do se that “women served together with men in the early years until institutionalization of the church transformed leadership into the sole prerogative of men.”  We see in the second and third centuries how women ministered and baptized, and how they cared for the congregation and needs of their people, even far from the second century show women performing ministry functions.  The history of women performing ministry functions presets a fact that women were exercising some type of leadership function in the early church.  The question must arise whether this type of leadership is arguable for the leadership and role of women in church today or not?

        Hassey gives three examples of women involved in history of the early Church as well as men who support women in ministry:

 Mabel C. Thomas, a 1913 Moody Bible Institute graduate, was called to pastor a Kansas church where she preached and taught weekly bible lessons.  Her ministry was published in 1927 in Moody’s “Alumni News” for the outstanding work she accomplished through the work of the Holly Spirit there.

At the time of Thomas’s publication in the “Alumni News”, D.L. Moody, the founder of Moody Bible Institute was dead and so, therefore, we are unaware of his thoughts on the matter.  Hassey does state that, “Although Moody bible Institute leaders may not have always explicitly encouraged women to preach, pastor, or seek ordination, their implicit endorsement of women in those roles for over forty years cannot be denied”  It could be assumed based on the leaders to follow that this practice possibly was never encouraged.

In 1889 a pastor A.J. Gordon opened what is now called Gordon Bible college.  He claimed that his “training prepared women to “answer any cal of the Spirit.” Yearbooks clearly document the wide ministry of women graduates serving as preachers, pastors, and bible teachers”

Through a comment such as Gordon’s may seem pointless for debate, it is unaware if his statement indeed was in support of ordination of women and what type of role they could hold in the church or rather if he simply believed in the power of the Holy Spirit to call women as well as men to service appropriate to gender.  Gordon did however write a rebutting article in 1894 called, “The Ministry of Women,” because of a convention he attended did not allow a women missionary to speak.    This type of reaction could conclude that he was in favor of the preaching of women.  

Frederick Franson wrote “Prophesying Daughters” in 1889 due to the negative response women were receiving.  He supported women saying that scripture overwhelmingly supports women in public ministry.

These are just a few examples of women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that preached, pastured and taught God’s word to others.  The leadership of women and authority were clearly present during these times.  In today’s society there are churches that allow women to hold leadership positions others don’t in the fallowing paragraphs I will discuss the different perspectives held about women and their place in a congregation.

        Traditionalists which are also known as complementarians believe that men and women must always exist in a hierarchical relationship in which men have authority over women.  On this view, male headship is god’s plan in both the home and the church; therefore, women must not occupy positions of authority over men or preach to men.  It is important to note that contemporary traditionalists affirm that the distinction among men and women is one of function or role not of inequality in ones value.  In other words, both men and women are created equal in God’s image.  Men and women’s roles differ at home in the church and in there daily life’s, yet they compliment one another.  This is why some that hold this position refer to themselves as complementarianist or congruent creationist view.

        Another view held is Biblical Equalitarianism, which affirms that men and women are both created in the image of God and are gifted by God to serve the whole community.  This view maintains men and women are to serve according to their giftedness and can, according to giftedness, carry out leadership roles in the church.  This view does not stop gifted women from teaching or leading men.  Biblical Equalitarians hold the same high view of Scripture as Traditionalists when it comes to holding the same high view of the scripture and essential Christian beliefs and doctrines.  Furthermore they believe that hierarchy can be maintained based upon superior qualifications and experience.

        Evangelical Feminists maintain Christian orthodoxy on most essential Christians beliefs, yet hold that the Bible may be incorrect in what it teaches on the issue of female, church leadership.  For example, in Paul’s teaching on this issue is either contradictory, or reflects his earlier rabbinic training stating that women should be subordinate to men.  A major difference between some Evangelical Feminist and Biblical equalitarians is that the former deem it necessary to criticize or revise the Bible in order to defend their positions about women’s roles instead of seeking to make sense of the disagreements that they find in the Bible.

        The last but not leas is the  Anti-Evangelical Feminist which say that even though the Bible contains God’s words, it should not be identified as the Word of God.  Those who hold to this view usually offer their own version of Christianity.  However popular believe thinks that Anti-Evangelical Feminism is outside the realm of the evangelical perimeter.  

        The main text tradionally seen, as forbidding a woman from teaching men is I Timothy 2:11-15.  The main issues involved with this text involve the meaning and application of: “be silent”; Belleville says that “women” can also be translated as “wife”; and if we look at specific historical situation or better understood as referring to a general, universal principle or rule. 

Because of Paul’s teachings in I Timothy 2:11-15 traditionally women were forbidden from teaching man because of the application of this text.  Paul writes, “Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.” (I Timothy 2:11)  Did Paul mean forever quiet when writing this text or did he mean silent while one is learning.  According to Craig Keener, Paul is telling the women to “learn the basics before challenging your teacher.”  There is also a possibility that the admonishment of “silence” is representative of the spirit of quiet submission that was normally appropriate during the time that Paul lived. According to Keener silence was and appropriate way to learn, at the time that Paul was preaching, and was used as a form of discipline while one was in the process of learning.

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Paul may be asking the women to not disrupt the assembly with uneducated questions or with a disruptive attitude but rather to learn with the proper attitude.  This fits well with the context described in I Timothy 5:13 where young women were going around talking foolishly about things they didn’t really understand.  In my perspective women were not told that they should be quiet because they were women, but because they were not educated in the matters which they were talking about, there lack of knowledge was disruptive to the learning environment.  In this case Paul is not restricting teaching ...

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