FellowshipHall SS Class

Roleof Women in Church

RobertC. Newman Response 5/5/91

 

 

Authorityand Personhood

 

Common claim in feminist literature thatif women do not have equal authority with men, then they are reallysecond-class citizens, not fully human, etc.

 

Thisis not biblical outlook on authority and personhood:

 

            1)Lay Israelites were no less God's people tho they could not be king, priest orprophet.

 

            (2)Jesus no less God for submitting himself to his heavenly Father, to his earthlymother and adoptive father, and to government authorities.

 

            (3)God humbles himself to help us; Jesus humbled himself to save us; foot-washingincident.

 

            4)Christian exercise of authority is to be loving, serv­ing,self-sacrificing, even if one under our authority is not what he/she should be.

 

            5)Christian obedience is to be voluntary, enthusiastic, as though renderingobedience unto the Lord, even tho one over us is not what he/she should be.

 

If male/femaleequality of personhood requires that females be elders, what does this do tothe personhood of those (male or female) who lack the gifts to be elders?  Feminist argumentation carries us intothe sinful attitudes rebuked by Paul in his treatment of gifts in 1 Cor12:14-30.

 

New Creation (2 Cor 5:17) Has Begun

 

            Exampleof "already but not yet"

            Newcreation has begun with regeneration

                        butnot completed until glorification

            Stillhave "marrying and giving in marriage" until res­ur­rection,so still fami­ly au­thor­ity stru­c­ture; the church is a sortof family.

            Jew/Gentiledistinction continued re/ temple access as long as temple stood; slave/freedistinction as long as slavery continued; male/female distinction as long asmar­riage continues?

            Contextof Gal 3:8 is not church office, but rather in­heri­tance (sons of God,seed of Abra­ham); though Gentile, slave and woman previously excluded frominheritance, now included.

 


Original Creation (Gen 1-3) Continuesto New Heaven & Earth

 

            Paulargues a male/female authority structure in church and home from the order ofcreation: 1 Tim 2:12-13; 1 Cor 11:8-9; probably also in 1 Cor 14:34, "Lawsays"

            Thisfits Gen 2:

                        withEve created aftercommission given to Adam

                        withAdam naming Eve"woman"

                                    thisis indeed a generic rather than personal name, but so (presumably) he gaveanimals generic names (dog and cat, rather than Fido and Garfield)

            Thisauthority structure in creation carried on by Paul into church as well as intofamily

            "Manleaves father and mother" probably indicates who takes initiative toestablish new family; in biblical ex­am­ples, it is not emphasis thatman joins wom­an's family.

 

Dimunitive Names Longer?

 

            Someare, some aren't

            Nicknamesshorter for 

                        Silvanus--> Silas, Epaphroditus --> Epaphr­as,

                        sowhy not Junianus --> Junias?

 

Some New Testament Titles Not Given toWomen

 

            Notethese basic terms for public authority:

 

            Elder (presbuteros)

                        noevidence of women elders

                        onlyfeminine occurrence of word is in 1 Tim 5:2,

                                    wherecontext is older/younger men/women

                        Presbutis (old woman) is used in Titus 2:3 in away that might indicate an authority position, but it involvesteaching/authority over younger women, which fits our view of 1 Tim 2:11-12.

 

            Overseer,Bishop (episkopos)

                        noevidence for women overseers

                                    bothpassages on requirements (1 Tim 3:1-7 and Tit 1:5-9) indicate overseer is amale; this is espe­cial­ly­ significant given that re­quirementsfor deacon in 1 Tim 3:8-13 explicitly include a place for women.

 

            Shepherd,Pastor (poimen)

                        noindication of women shepherding God's flock

 

            Teacher (didaskalos)

                        termnot used for women

                        verb"to teach" (didasko)used twice:

                                    1Tim 2:12: don't allow women to teach (men)

                                    Rev2:20 Jezebel teaches and leads astray

                        similarword Tit 2:3-5: older women teaching younger

 

            Herald,Preacher (kerux)

                        notused of women

                        verb"to preach/proclaim" (kerusso) has no examples of women doing so

 

Surrounding Culture

 

            AlthoughGreco-Roman cultural somewhat patriarchal by current (late 20th cen)standards, not so one-sided as often pictured:

                        --Some religions at that time had women priests.

                        --Gnostic gospels have much more outspoken, authoritative women than do canonicalGospels.

 

Biblical Imagery

 

The husband/wiferelation is used frequently as a picture of the relation between God/humans,with God represented by husband, mankind by wife; it is never used with Godrepresented by the wife and mankind by the husband.  This may be the picture Paul has in mind in 1 Cor 11:7 (manas image and glory of God, woman as glory of man).  It does not favor the idea of equal authority in themarriage relationship.

 

WomenÕs Issue and Slavery/Polygamy

 

Is male/femalerole distinction in family and church just an aberration caused by the fall orby patriarchal society, which is to disappear in the church age, just likeslavery and polygamy have (almost) disappeared?

           

Hopefully theabuses often associated with male/female relations will find "substantialhealing" in the church, but Bible makes some important distinctionsbetween slavery, polygamy and marriage:

           

True, polygamy wasnot forbidden in the OT as incest and adultery were, but it was not part of theoriginal creation (i.e., there were no multiple Eves); see comments of Jesus ondivorce, which point to one man/one woman intention for marriage; NT revelationforbids leaders to be polygamists.

           

Slavery also isnot forbidden in the Bible, but is seen to be a curse (Dt 28:36,41,48,64,66),and Israelites were not to enslave one another.  Paul encourages slaves to obtain their freedom if possible,but not to get hung up over it.

           


Marriage, on thecontrary is seen as a great blessing; here, equality of persons does not canceldiversity of roles.  There is moreopenness to a single lifestyle in NT than in OT, but mar­riage neverdowngraded.

 

Submitting to One Another (Eph 5:21)

 

Does this really mean there is to be noauthority structure in marriage or child rearing?

           

"Oneanother" does not always mean "everyone to everyone" so that (asfeminists regularly suppose) this passage must be translated "Everyonesubmit to everyone else."

           

It frequentlymeans "some to others" so that this passage may be translated"Those under authority should submit to those in authority."  Note the following:

            Rev6:4 "some men slay others," not "everyone killed every­  one else"

            Gal6:2 "those more able bear burdens of less able," not "tradeburdens"

            1Cor 11:33 "those who are early wait for those who are late," not"everyone wait for everyone."

            Wivesare several times told to submit to their husbands, but never vice versa.

            Childrenare more than once told to submit to their parents, but never vice versa.

           

Eph 5:21 is thusthe introductory sentence for the series of teachings on authority relationswhich follow.

 

Feminist Argumentation and OT Rebellions

 

Note attitudes and argumentation in:

 

            Ps2:1-3: people find God's commands too restrictive

 

            Num12:2: Miriam and Aaron vs. Moses: "Has the LORD only spoken throughMoses?  Hasn't he spoken thru us aswell?"

 

            Num16:3: Korah, Dathan & Abiram vs Moses & Aaron: "All the congregationis holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exaltyour­selves above the assembly?"

 

            Num16:41: "All the congregation grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying,'You are the ones who have caused the death of the LORD's people."

 

Further Comments on 1 Tim 2:11-15 andContext:

 

The wordtranslated "have authority" (authenteo) does not literally mean"domineer"; it has two ranges of meaning at NT times, "commitmurder/perpetrate a crime" and "have/exercise authority"; thelatter is often used in a positive or neutral sense, and that best fits thecontext here, where we have the paired opposites "learn/teach" andsubmission/authority" in vv 11-12 (see Knight, NTS 30:143-57; Wilshire, NTS34:120-34). 

 

There is no reasonto believe Paul is here limiting his remarks to unlearned women, since hegrounds his argument in creation and the fall, and says nothing about excepting"learned women."

           

Likewise nothingis said in the immediate context that would suggest that it is only false doctrine that he will not allow women toteach.  The natural emphasis of thepassage in its context is the problem of women teaching men.

           

There is no reasonto assume that Paul's use of the present tense in "I do not permit"(v 12) indicates the temporary nature of his command.  The present tense is often used for axiomatic state­ments;for instance, Paul intends no temporary command when he says "I urge you,brothers" in Rom 12:1.

           

There is no needto relativize 1 Tim 2:9-10.  Pauldid not originally intend his remarks to be understood to forbid braids, gold,expensive clothes, but to remind all Xns everywhere that good deeds are theadornment that matters.  Exactlywhat Paul speaks of here has been a frequent problem throughout church historyand still is today.

           

If the clearteaching of vv 11-14 is to be evaporated by the uncertainty of what Paul meantin v 15, we can probably get rid of most NT teaching that displeases us (cp.arguments of those who deny eternal punishment or sinfulness of homosexuality).

           

There is no needto treat 1 Cor 11 re/ women's head covering as completely relativized.  Some Xns still practice this today(Mennonites and Plymouth Brethren), and others see it as a culturalexpression of acontinuing responsibility for wives to be submissive to their husbands.