“Gender and the Church”
2003 Hot Topics Series
Galatians 3:26-29 & I Corinthians 14:34-35
August 24, 2003
Purpose: God has used and wants to use any person who will come to him asking forgiveness and looking for the Spirit’s leadership in their lives, regardless of a person’s gender or calling in Him. Although tradition, experience, and practice, have often left women excluded in light of certain passages attributed to Paul, he was also one who commended women who served as leaders in the church and often relied on them to continue what he had started.
Introduction –
One of the major controversies that separate churches to this day is the role women play in ministry. Much of the debate stems from Paul’s writings and how they are interpreted, and we’ll look at those today. But, for me, this topic, more than any other, has been a challenge.
It’s been a challenge in that for a majority of my life, I’ve been taught to believe that women and men have separate roles within the life of a congregation. My father preached it that way. For the most part, I experienced it that way. In many of the churches I’ve become a part of, it was tradition that kept them that way. Even Wakelee has told its district superintendent and bishop that it would rather have a male preacher over a female one.
And I would not be surprised that how we approach this topic this morning may be new to you. In fact, it was new to me. It first hit me when I was asked not to join a local ministerial group because of our denomination’s belief that women can preach.
Outwardly, I held the denomination line, and gave the defense as it had been given to me. But inwardly, deep down in there somewhere, I felt a tug on my spirit. (Do you ever get those?) Did I actually believe that women had the right to be in the pulpit and lead congregations as much as men did?
Through this experience, I began to study the role gender plays in ministry. I turned to Paul’s writings, and I found some interesting things that I want to share with you today.
It seems that people who know very little about the Bible have heard about Paul. He was undoubtedly the greatest evangelist in New Testament times. Without his passion for the Gospel, the New Testament church might not have gotten very far. His dramatic conversion experience and subsequent missionary travels are well documented and studied within our Judeo-Christian heritage.
I. A little background…
But before we get to Paul’s letters, I invite you to take your Bible or the Bible that’s in the pew in front of you and open it to Genesis. In my study, I found something here that just reached up and bit me. Please turn to Genesis 1, verses 26-28…
The God said, “ Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living created that moves on the ground.”
Notice the pronouns….and let “them” rule over the fish of the sea…male and female he created “them”
and God blessed “them” and said to “them.” From the very beginning, God knew that humankind would not be complete unless both male and female were a part of it.
In fact, since humankind was made in the very image of God, then doesn’t it make sense to say that God too could have masculine and feminine traits? Could this what Jesus showed when he prayed over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37 when he compared God’s love for that city “as a hen that gathers her chicks under her wings…” or in the 113th Psalm (v. 9) where God is compared to “a joyful mother of children”?
Within God’s own nature, we find both genders represented. I believe that’s why God, when asked by Moses to reveal his name, said simply, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14). Doing so not be coy or evasive, but simply to say that I am all that I created, I am all that you see, hear, and do, I am all that you know or will ever know, I am unique.
(If appropriate, joke about the two little boys (one black, one white) who were wondering what race God was…went to ask a priest…he told them about Ex. 3…punch-line…God must be white because if he were black he would have said, “I be what I be.”)
II. Paul vs. Paul…
How does this lead up to speaking of gender in the church? Well, if we find that God, within his own nature has both sets of traits, then it becomes more difficult to lift one gender up above another.
But yet, there are those Scriptures that are often quoted to hold women back in the church.
We heard I Corinthians 14:34, but there’s also Ephesians 5:22 where it says, “Wives, be subject to your husbands as unto the Lord.” and the one most frequently quoted, I Timothy 2:12, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man.”
Now, before we get any further, I believe in God’s Word, and I believe that in it, is everything necessary for a full and complete life in relationship with Christ. Amen?
But what do we do if two thoughts or passages seem to conflict? This is where the heart of the gender debate begins…
On one hand, we have those who say, “well if the Bible says to do it, then we ought to do it.” To them, I would reply…really….Lev. 19 says that “You shall not put on a garment made of two kinds of materials.” If you’re wearing a cotton polyester blend or any other blend for that matter, you’re disobeying Biblical command this morning.
Well, you may be saying that’s an obscure Old Testament command. And you’d be right. But five times, Paul and Peter tell Christians to “Greet one another with holy kisses.” Done any kissing in church lately?
The point I’m trying to make here is that the clothes we wear, our hairstyle, the kind of house we live in, the books we read, everything in our lives is directly affected by the culture in which we live. The same was true in Bible times.
With this understanding then, we can go back to Paul’s words and maybe see them a little differently. Instead of talking about women generally, Paul may have been talking about some particular women specifically.
In fact, according many theologians, historians, and scholars, it’s believed that many outside religions were attacking the house churches in their infancy. One in particular, faced by Timothy, was a group of women who worshipped the priestess Diana. These priestesses promoted blasphemous ideas about sex and spirituality, and they performed rituals in which they pronounced curses on men and declared female superiority.
What Paul was most likely saying to the churches was this, “I do not allow a woman to teach these heresies, nor do I allow them to usurp the authority from men by performing those rituals.” and as questions began to rise within the church about this group’s influence, Paul gave the advice, “keep the women silent so as to not disturb the worship, let them talk it out at home.”
How do we know this? Because Paul actually appreciated women in ministry.
III. Women in ministry appreciated by Paul …
If you still have your Bibles available, we’re going to take a quick tour this morning of some these women…
Lydia - In Acts 16:13-15 (have someone read) – Paul went into Philippi looking for a synagogue. When he couldn’t find one, he heard of some women (note: no men to be found here) regularly meeting on the shore to pray. So he went to them and shared with theses ladies…and so began the first house church in Europe!!! There’s no doubt that Lydia started and led what is now known as the Philippian church.
Phoebe – In Romans 16:1-2 (have someone read) – Hear Paul sends Phoebe to lead in the church at Rome. She was already a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea, and Paul commended her as “a sister, a servant, and a great help to many people.” In fact, Paul said she should treated in a way “worthy of the saints.”
Priscilla – In Romans 16:3 (have someone read) – Priscilla and her husband sailed with Paul back in Acts 18 (verses 1-2, 18,26). It was Priscilla and her husband who led the church in Ephesus, and who were responsible for teaching the Gospel to Apollos. In fact, Priscilla is sometimes listed ahead of her husband when their names are mentioned, which have led some to speculate that Priscilla was the primary teacher and her husband oversaw the ministry. At any rate, we see here a woman in a very prominent role of preaching and teaching.
Euodia (yodia) and Syntyche (sign-tich) – In Philippians 4:2-3 (have someone read) – Here we see references of those two women who have been “loyal yoke-fellows…contending at Paul’s side in the cause of the gospel.”
Junia or Junias – Romans 16:7 (have someone read) – Here Paul commends this person who was a “fellow prisoner for the Gospel.” In the orginial Greek, this was a woman’s name. Paul said that she was “outstanding among the apostles” which probably meant that the apostles knew of her service well, although some have taken as far to say that she may have an apostle since she was “among them.” In any case, Paul commended her service.
IV. And the list could go on to those outside of Paul’s comments...
In the second letter of John, we see the letter written to “the chosen lady and her children whom I love in the truth—and not I only—but also all who know the truth—because of the truth which lives in us and will be with us forever.”
And in I Timothy, we hear of Lois and Eunice, who are the Christian grandmother and mother of Timothy respectively.
In John 1, don’t we hear of a Samaritan woman, who led her community to Christ?
And there are other women throughout the Bible in positions of leadership, such as prophets, evangelists, judges, and others. In fact, the baby Jesus was brought to the prophet Anna in the temple to be blessed.
Regardless of the particulars, we can see that not only Paul appreciated women in ministry, but Christ did also.
In fact, in the times where Paul teaches on the fruits of the Spirit, we don’t see some for men and some for women do we?
Conclusion
After much deliberation and study on my part, I feel that it is a fair conclusion that the testimony found in the bulk of Scripture, including the Pauline texts, speak plainly for women to be able to fulfill any ministry or position that the Spirit of God places upon them, whether it be teacher, prophet, pastor, evangelists or apostle.
In conclusion, let me say that it was not my intent this morning to start a debate although I’ll stand for what I’ve said because I believe it to be true and it is Biblical, instead I pray that this teaching will encourage those who believed like I once did, to prayerfully seek the Lord with an open heart on this issue.
God has used and wants to use any person who will come to him asking forgiveness and looking for the Spirit’s leadership in their lives, regardless of a person’s gender or calling in Him.
Hear these words from the prophet Joel, fulfilled at Pentecost, and as we draw closer to Christ’s return, we can expect it to be fulfilled even more fully…
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” – Acts 2:17-18
Will you join me in prayer?
Gracious Heavenly Father,
We give you thanks for the ministries that you have given to each one of us.
We give you thanks for our ability to study your word, to find in it, your will for our lives.
We give you thanks not only for those women who have served you over the centuries, but also for those who serve you in whatever capacity today.
May the lines of gender, race, wealth, and status completely disappear as we are transformed by your Spirit to be the “new creatures” in Christ we are called to be. May your church truly become the place where there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female” for we are indeed all one in the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus our Lord.
In whose name we pray….Amen.
#620 – One Bread, One Body
Benediction
As we leave from this place,
Let us go forth not identified only by our gender,
But by the Spirit-filled, love-giving, attitude of Christ found in each one of us, who call upon in his name.
In the name of the one who Creates, Redeems, and Sustains, may this is our prayer…Amen.
Sources: While no direct quotes were taken, these articles/sermons were helpful in the construction of this sermon.
“Women in Ministry” based on Acts 2:17-21 by Stephen Ward (www.sermoncentral.com)
“Did Paul Practice What We’re Told He Preached?” by Alvera Mickelsen (www.cbeinternational.org/new/free_articles/paul.html)
Note: If for any reason you did not find this sermon helpful, please let me know by contacting me at gb@clergy.net. Your input will help me personally and my congregation as I learn professionally.
