Women: A Biblical Perspective
11/16/1997 - Women in the New Testament
Not long ago I was talking with woman about this upcoming series I was planning to teach at Valley View on women. She was glad to hear that we were going to address the issue from a biblical perspective. And as we discussed the series she shared with me a few experiences that she had as a college student that really left her angry and confused about God's view of women.
One incident occurred when she heard an older Christian woman, a woman she really admired, tell a group of women students that, "You should be very careful in your decision about whom to marry, because it will be the last major decision you will ever make in your life." At first she couldn't believe her ears. Then she wondered if God felt the same way about a wife's decision-making abilities. Would that mean that every major decision after marriage would be made by her husband? That she'd have no input? She'd have no say? For months afterward she said she had nightmares about the choice to marry or to remain a whole person.
Later on in her college experience she heard a conversation between a male ministry director and a female student leader who had helped to lead a successful summer evangelism project. The ministry director said, "You've done a great job this summer because you really supported Randy and helped him do the best job he could. That's what makes a good woman leader." Again she felt disturbed and confused by that comment. Was the role of a woman leader simply to make the man in charge look good? Would God agree with that? Where do women fit in when it comes to marriage and ministry?
Today we continue our series on Women: A Biblical Perspective by looking at Women in the New Testament . We began this series by looking at Woman in the Beginning . And from Genesis 1-2 we concluded that God created the woman equal to the man. But unfortunately, because of sin, woman became subject to man.
The next week we looked at Women in the Old Testament and saw that God's original intent for marriage as one man partnering with one woman degenerated into one man ruling one woman, to one man ruling many women, and finally to one man owning many women. And God hated it! In fact, the Mosaic Law was God's attempt to curb some of these abuses of women.
To show the value that God placed on women in the Old Testament he raised some of them up to positions of spiritual leadership in the nation of Israel. Women like Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah served with God's blessing as prophets, judges, military and civil leaders.
But by the time Jesus emerged on the scene the fate of women had sunk to an all-time low. For centuries the nation of Israel had not been following the written Word of God, instead they had been taking their religious cues from the oral tradition of the rabbi's. And the teaching of the rabbi's oppressed women. They treated women like property, not like people. Women were owned by their husbands like sheep and goats. Women couldn't learn the Scriptures, had no rights, could make no decisions, could express no opinions, and weren't even talked to in public.
Yet Jesus came to change all that! He came to change it by treating women as equals, as persons created in the image of God. So he healed them. He taught them. He ministered to them and ministered with them. Women were numbered among his disciples. Women flocked to Jesus because they felt so safe and secure in his presence. Jesus was a liberator of women long before there was a feminist movement.
Jesus came to reverse the effects of the fall in Genesis 3. Some immediately, others eventually. He came to give life where sin had brought death. He came to bring love where sin had brought hate. He came to establish a new community of men and women who would relate to one another with the dignity and equality that they were created to enjoy before the fall.
The church is that new community where men and women partner together as co-equals in ministry to a sin cursed world where men strive to dominate women in every other arena. Jesus defined his relationship to women by Genesis 1and 2, not by Genesis 3. And he wants the church that he founded to do the same.
I believe the Scriptures teach that Christ's church is meant to be a place where women are given every opportunity to minister shoulder to shoulder with men. And I'm convinced that's the way it was in the church we read about in the New Testament. And today I hope to support that conclusion from a few texts and a few examples of how women functioned in the early church. We need to look at these passages before we tackle some of the tough texts in the New Testament that seem to limit the role of women in the church.
And again, let me say that many of us are in process in our understanding of this issue. And we need to respect one another's process. You may not agree with everything I say. That's okay as long as you're committed to seeking God's truth on the matter. And that's what I'm working hard to present week after week. The Bible has to be our final authority! Not someone's opinion.
The first two passages that I believe free women to minister at all levels in the church flow from the pen of the apostle Paul who many contend wrote other passages that seem to limit a woman's ministry. We'll look at some of those passages next time. If you have a Bible turn with me to Galatians 3:26-29. This passage was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Galatia, a region in what is now known as central Turkey.
Many believe that Galatians was the very first letter Paul wrote and date it around AD 50. His point is simple. Salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. And in the midst of this potent letter he writes these words in 3:26-29, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Some scholars believe that verse 28 served as an early Christian creed that believers would recite at their baptism. They would repeat, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. But what does that mean? It means that we are all equal in the body of Christ. In a world that draws ethnic lines and racial lines and class lines and gender lines, in the church those lines are erased. As believers we are fused together into the one body of Jesus Christ. Any discrimination, any oppression in that body is a monstrous denial of the oneness we have in Christ. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
Racial distinctions are irrelevant in the body of Christ. We still remain Jew or Gentile, black or white, but that doesn't limit our equal participation in the church. Class distinctions are irrelevant in the body of Christ. In that culture slaves still remained slaves and owners still remained owners, but those lines were erased in the church. White collar, blue collar, no collars are to be on equal footing ministering together for the kingdom of God. Gender distinctions are irrelevant in the church. Men are still men and women are still women. But the inequality that exists between them outside the church is not to be brought into the church.
The church is to be a place where all men and women stand on equal footing with equal opportunity to express their spiritual gifts in ministry. No passage in Scripture limits Gentiles from fully using their gifts or slaves from fully using their gifts. So why should women be limited from fully using their gifts?
And that brings us to the second passage I want to look at. A passage, again written by the apostle Paul, on spiritual gifts. Turn to Romans 12:4-8, Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift (the word "man" and the pronouns "him" and "his" are not found in the Greek text) is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Again, Paul picks up this theme that we are all members of one body in Christ. Yet each one of us has different spiritual gifts. The gifts he lists in Romans 12 include prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy. And in this passage, as in every passage on spiritual gifts, there's no restriction placed on race, class, or gender. The gifts weren't just for Jewish believers, or free believers, or male believers. Spiritual gifts are given to all believers. Women can have the gift of teaching, the gift of prophesying, the gift of leading as well as men. And that gift is to be used, as all gifts, for building up the body of Christ. Would God give the gift of leadership and teaching to women and yet not allow them to fully use those gifts in the church? They used them in the Old Testament.
Galatians 3 and Romans 12, along with the other texts on spiritual gifts, have to be taken seriously in any discussion of the role of women in the church. And they'll serve as a backdrop when we look at some of the other New Testament passages that seem to restrict a woman's role in ministry. Now let's turn our attention to a few examples in the New Testament where we see women ministering shoulder to shoulder with men.
Turn to Acts 1. Jesus has just been taken up into heaven, forty days after his resurrection. He had instructed his followers to go to the city of Jerusalem and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Together about 120 of his disciples waited and prayed for the promised Holy Spirit. And among those 120 were women. Women waiting and praying together shoulder to shoulder with men. Look at verse 14, They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
When the Holy Spirit finally came on the day of Pentecost he fell on both men and women. Both men and women were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. And Peter, the leader of the apostles, sees that as a fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet Joel. So he says in Acts 2:14-18, "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 "'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. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
Again, like in Galatians 3, we see God's desire to bring about a community of oneness. God's Spirit poured out on all people, not just Jewish people, on women, not just on men, on the young, not just on the old, on servants, not just on masters. The Holy Spirit brought the dawn of a new age that bonds a community of people together in relationships of equality and mutuality that transcends race, gender, age, and class.
And so we see women prophesying in the New Testament, communicating the truth of God in authoritative ways. Paul lists prophecy as one of the most desirable spiritual gifts. And in Acts 21:8-9 we read that Philip the evangelist had four daughters who were prophets in the church.
We see women teaching in the New Testament. The most noted example is a woman by the name of Priscilla. She and her husband, Aquila, instructed a very gifted teacher named Apollos in Acts 18:24-26, Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned seven times in the New Testament and in all but two instances Priscilla is named first. In that culture it was the custom to name the husband first. The naming of Priscilla first seems to indicate that she was the leader of the pair. So this passage suggests that Priscilla was probably the primary teacher. And her teaching must have been quite profound because Apollos was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
Apparently Apollos wasn't the only one she taught. Turn to Romans 16. When we read what Paul has to say about this couple we get the impression that she taught a lot. In Romans 16:3-5 we read,Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.
In this passage, Paul calls Priscilla a fellow worker, who shared the same work of ministry that Paul did. And she did it repeatedly in other churches as well. In fact, Priscilla and Aquila co-pastored a church that met in their own home.
Romans 16 has other examples of women in significant ministry roles. In fact 10 of the 29 people Paul commends for loyal service are women. In Romans 16:1, Paul commends Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. The word "servant" is the Greek word diakonos, which also means minister. Phoebe was a minister in the church in Cenchrea.
Paul goes on to say in verse 2, I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Apparently it was Phoebe who delivered the letter to the church at Rome. Along with that came the responsibility to explain to those in the church anything not clear in the letter. How would you like to explain anything not clear in the book of Romans? That's the job Phoebe had. One scholar writes, "Its quite clear that Phoebe was one gifted by the Holy Spirit for publishing the glad tidings, or preaching the gospel. Why is it that the translators, when interpreting diakonos for men use the word 'minister,' but when translating it for women, use the word 'servant'?" Phoebe was a minister capable of teaching the book of Romans.
In Romans 16:7 we read, Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. In this verse Junias, a woman, is said to be outstanding among the apostles. She wasn't one of the twelve apostles. Here Paul uses the term more broadly to mean "messenger." Apparently Junias was an outstanding messenger of the gospel and Paul commends her for it.
So what can we conclude from this study of Women in the New Testament? Let me suggest three things. First, we can conclude from passages like Galatians 3 and Acts 2 that there are to be no distinctions in the church. The lines that divide people outside the church are not to exist inside the body of Christ. The church is to be a community of oneness with no racial, ethnic, class, or gender discrimination. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That's the oneness we want at Valley View .
Second, we can conclude that the spiritual gifts are given to all believers without distinction. Men and women alike possess the gift of prophecy, teaching, and leadership. And those gifts, like all the gifts, are meant to be expressed in the church by men and women.
Third, we can conclude that in the early church those gifts were expressed by women like the four daughters of Philip, Priscilla, Phoebe, and Junias. They are the Miriam's, the Deborah's and the Huldah's of the early church. Paul ministered shoulder to shoulder with women, counted on them, and commended them for it.
So why does he say in 1 Timothy 2:12, a passage we will look at next week, I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. How does that fit with what we've learned today? That's one of the tough texts we'll tackle in two weeks. I hope I can figure it out by then!