In honor of “Women’s History Month,” I am
here presenting a sampling of women in the Bible who functioned in all kinds of
leadership roles. My motive in presenting this is two-fold: First of all, I
pray that it will affirm those women who sense a call of God but are hampered
by doctrinal questions about the validity of such a call because of their
gender. Secondly, I hope to influence others to rethink their theology that would put restraints on the ministry of women in the church. I am convinced that we
will not see the great, Spiritual awakening for which many are praying apart
from the full participation of the female members of Christ’s body.
Deborah
– Prophetess and Judge
Before the institution of the monarchy beginning
with Saul, Israel was ruled by a series of judges. Perhaps the most celebrated
of these judges was a woman named Deborah, who is referred to as both a
prophetess and a judge. In other words, she exercised both spiritual and civil
authority. She had such respect from the people that even the military
commander, Barak, refused to go out to battle unless she accompanied him. She
accompanied him to battle and God gave them a great victory over the
Canaanites.
Deborah had a husband named Lapiodoth, but
he is mentioned only in passing. She was obviously the one called of God to be
the out-front leader and deliverer of Israel at that time in history. There is
not the slightest hint that her example was out of order or even exceptional. The
Assemblies of God are, therefore, correct when, in their official position paper
on women, they say, “The instances of women filling leadership roles in the
Bible should be taken as divinely approved pattern, not as exceptions to divine
decrees.”
Miriam
– God-Sent Leader to Israel
In Micah 6:3, God speaks through the
prophet and says, I sent before you, Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam. Of the three leaders God sent to bring Israel out of
Egypt, one of them was a woman. Note that in this passage God says, I sent . . .. The word “apostle”
literally means “sent one,” which means that Miriam, along with Moses and
Aaron, were the “apostles” sent by God to bring deliverance to Israel.
This is confirmed by the Septuagint, which
uses the word ekapisteila, the verb
form of apostolos with the prefix ek, meaning “out.” It literally means
“sent out.” Miriam was “sent out” by God along with Moses and Aaron. Could it
be that that God is still calling and “sending out” women today? Will the
church be open to receiving these women?
Mary
Magdalene – Apostle to the Apostles
Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene
after His resurrection. The emphasis that the Gospel writers give to this fact
make it clear that this was no chance or accidental appearance, but that Jesus
appeared first to Mary in order to make a statement.
We must remember that in the first century
neither Roman or Jewish courts of law would allow the testimony of a woman as
evidence. Jesus confronts this cultural bias head-on by appearing first to Mary
and sending her to bear testimony to the most significant event of human
history. He could have just as easily appeared first to the men, but he
required that they hear the news of His resurrection for the first time from
the lips of a woman.
His words to Mary, Go and tell . . . identify her as a “sent one” who receives the
first apostolic commission from the risen Lord to go and proclaim the Good News
of His resurrection. This is why, throughout history, Mary has often been
referred to as “the Apostle to the Apostles.”
My father was converted as a result of a
young “Mary” (her actual name) responding to the voice of the Lord to “go and
tell” and then conducting powerful revival meetings in SE Oklahoma and NE Texas. I have
no doubt that there are a host of Marys in the world today who are hearing the
voice the Lord instructing them to “go and tell.”
Phoebe
– Minister & Church Leader
In Romans 16:1, Paul refers to Phoebe as a
servant of the church in Cenchrea. The word “servant” in this passage is
translated from the Greek word diakonos, which
literally means “servant,” but was used as a general designation for Christian
leaders. For example, in I Corinthians 5:5 where Paul says, Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed,
“ministers” is a translation of diakonos.
Where diakonos was used of men, the
translators chose to translate it as “ministers,” but where it was used of a
woman, they chose to translate it as “servant.” Phoebe was, therefore, a
“minister” and leader in the church in Cenchrea.
Paul also said that Phoebe had been a
“helper” to many and of myself also.
It is unfortunate that the translators of the KJV and NKJV have translated the
Greek word prostatis as “helper,” for
it appears to be another case of translator bias. The word is feminine and
literally means “to stand before.” Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon defines a prostatis
as “a woman set over others; a female guardian, protectress, patroness, caring
for the affairs of others and aiding them with her resources.” In other words,
a prostatis had all the
characteristics that we would expect in a modern day pastor.
This word prostatis identifies Phoebe as a leader from the church in Cenchrea
who has Paul’s respect. Not only does he refer to her as a diakonos and a prostatis but he instructs the church in Rome to receive her with
respect and to assist her in whatever business she has with them.
Does the church today show respect to the
Phoebes that are in her midst?
Priscilla
– Pastor & Co-Worker with Paul
When Paul mentions Priscilla and Aquilla,
he always mentions them together and they were obviously a husband-wife team. Paul
had lived, worked and ministered with them while in Corinth and when he
departed, they departed with him (Acts 18:1-3, 18). He always uses plural
pronouns—“they” and “them”--when referring to them.
In Romans 16:3-5 Paul sends greetings to
Priscilla and Aquilla and the church that
is in their house. Because Paul here
goes against the normal cultural convention of always mentioning the man first,
and mentions Priscilla first, many believe that Priscilla was the out-front one
in the relationship—like Deborah—and the host and pastor of the church that met
in their home. Paul obviously thinks very highly of them both saying that they
had risked their own necks for my
life.
Junia
– An Apostle
In Romans 16:7 Paul greets Andronicus and
Junia whom he says, are of note among the
apostles. Junia is a feminine name and was recognized as a female apostle
for the first several centuries of the church’s existence. The famous church
father of the 4th century, John Chrysostom, declared of Junia, “O
how great is the devotion of this woman that she should even be counted worthy
of the appellation of apostle.”
Some have tried to argue that the name
should be “Junias,” which is a male name. The problem with this claim is that,
first of all, every ancient Greek manuscript, without exception, has the
feminine form of “Junia.” Secondly, the name “Junias” is unknown in the ancient
world while “Junia” is a common name. “Junias,” therefore, is a hypothetical
name created by those who cannot accept that Paul would recognize a female
apostle.
Commenting on why some translations have
used “Junias,” Dr. N. Clayton Croy, Professor of New Testament at Trinity
Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, says, “It is hard to see any reason other
than the translators’ bias against the possibility that a woman could be an
apostle.” Faced with such overwhelming evidence, the NIV translators changed
the word from “Junias” (1984 edition) to “Junia” in the 2011 edition.
Lydia
and the Women Who Labored with Paul in Philippi
Paul began the church in Philippi with a
group of praying women. His base of operations and the church’s meeting place
was in the home of one of these women whose name was Lydia (Acts 16:13-15, 40).
Jewish law required a quorum of ten Jewish men, who were heads of households,
for establishing a synagogue in any community. Paul, however, had no problem
beginning a Christian congregation with a group of praying women. As far as we
know, this was the first church in Europe.
These women obviously functioned in
leadership alongside Paul. This is borne out by the fact that in 4:3 of his
letter to the Philippian church, he exhorted, Help these women who labored
with me in the gospel. Gerald F. Hawthorne, in the Word Biblical Commentary, says that Paul, in this passage, uses a
metaphor which means "to fight together side by side with," clearly
indicating that Paul sees these women, not as peons under him, but as highly
esteemed members of his team who have labored at his side in the cause of
Christ.
This reminds me of the words of the noted,
British New Testament scholar, F.F, Bruce, who said;
He [Paul] delighted in the company of his
fellows, both men and women. The most incredible feature in the Paul of popular
mythology is his alleged misogyny. He treated women as persons. The mainstream
churches of Christendom, as they inch along towards a worthier recognition of
the ministry of women, have some way to go yet before they come abreast of
Paul.
Paul’s
Spiritual Mother
Paul never mentions a spiritual father, but
he does mention a spiritual mother. In Romans 16:13 he sends greetings to
Rufus, and his mother and mine. This
is obviously not Paul’s biological mother, but a woman who has been a spiritual
mother to him. We know little about this woman but at some point in Paul’s
spiritual journey she had offered encouragement and counsel to Paul and been
like a mother to him.
The identity of this woman can perhaps be
identified by comparing Paul’s words in this passage to Mark’s Gospel, which
also mentions an individual named Rufus. Since Paul’s letter and Mark’s gospel
were both written to the same Christian community in Rome, and within a few
years of each other, it is likely that the Rufus mentioned by Paul and the
Rufus mentioned by Mark are the same person.
In his Gospel, which
was originally written to the church in Rome, Mark tells of Simon of Cyrene
being compelled to carry the cross of Jesus. He notes that Simon is the father
of Alexander and Rufus and obviously expects his audience to make the
connection when they hear the names of the two sons. The Rufus of Paul,
therefore, is most likely the Rufus of Mark, the son of Simon of Cyrene who
carried the cross of Jesus.
So, although Paul never mentions a spiritual
father in his writings, he does make a point to send greetings to his spiritual
mother. His spiritual mother was likely an
African woman from Cyrene (Cyrene is located on the north coast of Africa), the
mother of Rufus and the wife of Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of
Jesus.
What
About I Timothy 2:12
Some will surely quote I Timothy 2:12 as a counter
to all the above Biblical passages. It reads, And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man,
but to be in silence. First of all, the above passages about women must be
given equal consideration with this passage. Many have made the error of making
I Timothy 2:12 a canon within the canon when it comes to women, and forcing
every other passage to fit their interpretation of this one passage. That is
not good hermeneutics.
Secondly, it is obvious from I Timothy 1:3
that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy to address the issue of false doctrine
that was being spread in the church in Ephesus. His concern is not women in
leadership per se, but the
propagation of false doctrine by both men and women. I Timothy was not written as
a manual of church order to be observed by all churches at all times, but to address
the unique situation that existed in Ephesus at the time.
This is borne out
by the fact that “authority” in 2:12 is a translation of the Greek word authentein, a word that is found only
here in the entire New Testament. If Paul was addressing the normal exercise of
authority in the church, we would expect him to use exousia, which he and other NT writers use over 100 times. That
Paul uses this strange Greek word that neither he nor any other NT writer ever
use is a clear sign that he is addressing a unique and local situation in
Ephesus, and is not giving instructions for all churches everywhere. (see my
article “Who Says Women Can’t Pastor?”)
Those who would
restrict the role of women in the church, cannot claim Paul as an ally or an authority
for their stance.
An Amazing Word from God
Much of the Church
has refused to recognize the gifts of its female members and has, thereby,
violated Paul's command in I Thessalonians 5:19 not to quench the Spirit.
As a result of this disobedience, many gifts have lain dormant while millions
have perished without Christ and the Church has languished in defeat.
In 2010 I awakened very
early one morning and not wanting to awaken Sue went into an adjoining room
where I sat on a sofa enjoying the solitude and quietly communing with the
Lord. At some point I sensed my heart become very quiet and then I heard, “I
want you to be more identified with Sue and what she is doing,” a reference to
her work for the full acceptance of the gifts and callings of women in the
church and in the home.
There was a moment
of quietness and I then heard the amazing words, “This message has the power to begin a
mass movement from Islam to Christianity, beginning with the women.”
Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is an author, historian and Biblical scholar. His books
are available from Amazon and from his website at www.eddiehyatt.com. He and his wife, Dr. Susan Stubbs Hyatt, are
Executive Directors of God’s Word to Women, Inc. (www.godswordtowomen.org). More articles by
the Hyatts are also available at www.godswordtowomen.blogspot.com.
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