Women and Church Leadership ML508 LESSON 4 of 13 Dr. Alice Matthews Academic Dean- Christian University GlobalNet Introduction In our first course segment, we talked about some hermeneutical principles coming out of the case study on religious attitudes toward 19th-century slavery in the United States. One principle was that, in any case, the full testimony of Scripture must be heard. So as we now move directly into the question of women and church leadership in New Testament teachings, we must abide by that principle: we must listen to the full testimony of Scripture. So here s the problem that poses. On the one hand, we read Paul s word to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:8-15: Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. In course lecture-segments 5, 6 and 7, we will work closely with this passage of Scripture from Paul s letter to Timothy. The text seems very clear. But our dilemma is that when we turn to the Scriptures themselves, we also find texts that describe women who were exercising one or another form of church leadership. How do we know whether one approach is more biblical than the other? All texts need to be read within their historical and cultural context as well as within the specific church context being addressed by the apostle. So if we ask, Why bother with all that contextualization when the texts seem so straightforward and 1 of 6
clear? the answer is that we have to deal with contrary evidence of women in leadership roles in the New Testament church. That s also part of the full testimony of Scripture. This is why the science of hermeneutics is important. Some of the principles we establish are germane to resolving our dilemma. But even with those principles, we always have to wrestle with what are merely descriptive statements in the Bible and which are prescriptive statements. In other words, which statements hold timeless authority over our lives and which statements had cultural relevance in a specific situation but are not prescriptive for all Christians in all places at all times. In this course lecture-segment (4), we want to look at texts on the affirming female leadership side of the question, then return to 1 Timothy 2 in the following segments. The single most impressive source of information on women as leaders in New Testament churches is found in a passage often overlooked the final chapter of Paul s letter to the Romans. It is in his greetings to many of the church leaders in Rome that we find significant information about women leaders. I. Women as deacons and church leaders (Romans 16:1-2) Pause this lecture-segment and read these two verses (Romans 16:1-2) in at least three different translations of the Bible, then note your observations in your Blog/Journal. If you have difficulty accessing several translations, return to the introduction to this course, which will point you to www.biblos. com, a free online resource with multiple Bible translations available. A. Romans 16:1 Phoebe as diakonos What we discover is that Bible translations sometimes differ significantly, and translators bring their own bias to their work. In Romans 16:1, depending on the translation, you may have found Phoebe being called a servant of the church in Cenchrea or a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. The Greek word translated servant or deacon is actually diakonos. It is used by the apostle Paul to describe his own ministry (Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23) and that of four other people with whom he had worked: Tychicus (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7), Epaphras (Colossians 1:7), Timothy (1 Thessalonians 3:2; 1 Timothy 4:6), and Phoebe in Romans 16:1. The translators of the King James Version (KJV) 2 of 6
translated diakonos as minister in every case for the four men, but chose to translate the same word as servant in Phoebe s case What does that imply? While we do not know the particular tasks deacons carried out in the New Testament churches, we know that whatever Paul and his co-workers were about, Phoebe also must have been doing, or Paul would not have introduced her to the church in Rome as diakonos. Note that Paul did not call her diakonesse = a female deacon, but assigns her the same descriptive title that Paul used of himself, Tychicus, Epaphras, and Timothy. B. Romans 16:2 Phoebe as prostatis Translators coming to prostatis in the Greek text again backed away from its implications. Some said that she had been a great help to many people; others that she had been a patron of many or a benefactor of many or a succorer of many. According to Thayer (the lexicographer), the first meaning of the Greek word is a woman set over others. It is the feminine form of a noun designating a leader. In the early second century, Justin Martyr used the masculine form, prostates, to describe the president or presiding officer of a local church, one who preaches, teaches, presides at the Lord s Table. The apostle Paul used cognate terms from the same Greek root in Romans 12:8 where the word is translated leadership. When it appears in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, it is usually translated are over you, have charge of you. In 1 Timothy 3:5 and 12, it is translated manage... well. So what was Phoebe s ministry? Was it as a helper or a benefactor, or was it in some kind of church leadership? We don t know the specifics, but we must be alert to more possibilities than many translations offer. Some scholars suggest that she was a businesswoman in some kind of leadership in the church at Cenchrea (a suburb of Corinth), and that she carried Paul s letter to the Romans from Corinth to Rome while on a business trip. This is speculative but may lend some context to the reason that Paul leads off his greetings to the Christians in Rome with this high introduction of Phoebe to them. II. Women as fellow-workers with Paul (Romans 16:3-5) Pause this lecture-segment and read these three verses (Romans 16:3-5) in at least three different translations of the Bible, then note your observations in your Blog/Journal. 3 of 6
In Romans 16:3, Paul first greets Priscilla and Aquila, remarking that they were his fellow workers who had risked their necks for him; he also notes that they host a church now meeting in their house in Rome. Paul goes back in history with this ministry couple. The apostle and this couple first met and began working together (in both tent making and in ministry) in Corinth (Acts 18:2). They had previously been working in Rome. But as Jews, they were expelled by the emperor Claudius, so they had settled in Corinth. Clearly the working relationship was so positive that when Paul left Corinth after 18 months planting the Corinthian church, he took Priscilla and Aquila with him to Ephesus (Acts 18:18). There, the husband/ wife team heard Apollos preach and, recognizing his ignorance, took the mighty preacher aside and explained to him the way of God more adequately (Acts 18:26). Paul had good reason to call Priscilla and Aquila fellow workers. Few had labored with him in ministry more than they. The Greek word sunergon, translated fellow-workers, always designated those who were prominent in ministry in the Pauline churches. In his letters, Paul used it of eleven people: Philemon (Philemon 1:1) Timothy (1 Thessalonians 3:2) Aristarchus, Mary, and Justus (Colossians 4:11) Titus (2 Corinthians 8:23) Urbanus (Romans 16:9) Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3) Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:3) Note that 4 of these 12 people are women: Mary, Euodia, Syntyche, and Priscilla. We don t know in every case precisely how each one served with Paul, but we can assume that as fellow-workers they worked alongside Paul, doing whatever he was doing in ministry. III. Women as hard workers in the Lord (Romans 16:6, 12) Pause this lecture-segment and read these two verses (Romans 16:6, 12) in at least three different translations of the Bible, then note your observations in your Blog/Journal. Four women are singled out as hard workers (polla ekopiasen) or as hard workers in the Lord (kopiosas en kurio): Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis. What does that mean? In a sense, it could mean just about anything, but the word Paul 4 of 6
used of these women is the same word he used to describe his own work of preaching and evangelism in 1 Timothy 5:17 (kopiontes). In 1 Corinthians 16:16, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians to submit to those in the ministry of service (diakonian: Phoebe) and to the hard workers and fellow workers (sunergounti kai kopionti: Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Priscilla, Euodia, and Syntyche). Whatever the nature of these women s ministries, it was worthy of honor from the Corinthian Christians who were told to submit to such people. IV. A woman as an apostle (Romans 16:7) Pause this lecture-segment and read this verse (Romans 16:7) in at least three different translations of the Bible, then note your observations in your Blog/Journal. What name have your translators given to the person with Andronicus? Junias or Junia? The early church fathers (Chrysostom, Origen, Jerome) assumed that Junia was a woman. Chrysostom wrote, O how great is the devotion of this woman that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle! It was Aegidius of Rome (1245 1316) who first referred to Andronicus and Junia as men, after which churchmen assumed that Junia was male. When scholars have searched first-century Roman name lists for Junias, they have found nothing. Junia was a common Roman woman s name; the male counterpart of that is Junius. The form Junias has not yet been found in extrabiblical sources. Traditional scholars have now, for the most part, conceded that Junia was a woman, but they suggest that the text means that she was admired by or well-known to the apostles, but not prominent among the apostles. However, to support that interpretation it is necessary to use different prepositions in Greek (para or pros). But the Greek text uses en with the plural, which always have the sense of within or among the apostles. Conclusion As the apostle Paul moved across the Roman Empire starting new churches, women as well as men were important co-workers with him. But Paul faced serious problems in some of those churches. We gather our information about those churches from two major sources: the book of Acts telling the story of the beginning of 5 of 6
various churches in places as diverse as Jerusalem, Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus; the other source is the letters written by Paul, Peter, and John, but principally by Paul. Taken together, we can get insight into the circumstances, problems, and challenges these churches encountered. As you well know, the church was born at Pentecost as the Spirit of God came upon the followers of Jesus, filling them for ministry. As Peter preached his first sermon in the open air (Acts 2:17-18), he quoted the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-29) who had said, 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. Something new had happened: Women as well as men would exercise the gifts of the Spirit in the new churches. This would become the normative model for most of the early churches. But when we read Romans 16 alongside 1 Timothy 2, we face a problem. The problem is the fact of women in what appear to be leadership positions in Romans 16, but the contradicting fact that women were forbidden to teach or exercise authority over a man in 1 Timothy 2. These are both part of the data we must consider if we are to listen to the whole testimony of Scripture. Why bother dealing with such picky details? It s a crucial issue, because if we conclude that Scripture forbids women to be in positions of leadership in the church, then it is a sin if a woman does lead. On the other hand, if Scripture allows women to be in positions of leadership in the church and we forbid this, the church is deprived of the spiritual gifts God gave women for its benefit. God s intended workforce is cut in half and God s kingdom suffers. This also would be sin. Blog/Journal time: Segment 4 has dealt only with positive images of women in church leadership in the New Testament. Segment 5 will begin the study of biblical texts that restrict women from leadership positions in the New Testament church. At this point in your Online Blog/Journal, explore your own questions, feelings, and inclinations, noting what you ve found in your study that may challenge or support your personal beliefs at this time about women in church leadership. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 6 of 6