Dec 8 - Romans 16:1-2

I commend to you our sister Pheobe,

a minister of the church at Cenchreae,

so that you may welcome her in the Lord

as is fitting for the saints

Romans 16:1-2

The end of the traditional church in the West occurred when the church began ordaining women.

WAIT!!!

Wait ... wait ... wait!!! Ultimately, the long-term problem for the church was not with women in the pulpit, but with the sloppy Biblical work behind approving this decision.  

Biblically, there is a hard passage for many faithful Christians to transcend when considering this issue. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, the Apostle Paul says, "women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says." Many very faithful Christians start and end with that passage. That is one prominent conviction in Christianity.

A second prominent faith conviction revolves around fairness and justice. Scripture, indeed, talks repeatedly about God being fair and just. Therefore, at a time when the equal rights banner was flying, many churches started asking the fairness and justice question regarding women in ministry. It's a good question! An important question. Unfortunately, too many pastors, churches, and individual Christians couldn't provide a solid Biblical argument to counter 1 Corinthians 14:34. Therefore, many resorted to an either/or -- it's either fairness and justice or the traditional understanding of the scriptures. For many, their good and noble sense of fairness and justice trumped the traditional understanding of the scriptures. What this led to, however, was the beginning of the end for the traditional, mainline church. Pastor Fran and I have both heard it said, "Scripture didn't support the ordination of women; therefore, why would anyone say we need scripture to support _______ [X, Y, or Z]?" It's been a very slippery slope.

There is a third way. 1 Corinthians 14:34 is so pointed and clear that we must wrestle with it. Nevertheless, this passage is not the majority sentiment of the New Testament regarding women. Indeed, majority themes, rather than minority reports, are the best way to determine the core of our theology. Here, therefore, are examples of women in ministry ...

• In Romans 16, "ministers"/"deacons" like Pheobe are mentioned as prominent leaders in the church.
  
• When Paul tells the Romans to greet Prisca and Aquila, Romans 16:3, he does the culturally unthinkable ... he mentions the woman (Priscilla) first. This again reflects the prominent ministry role of this woman in particular and his understanding of the role of women in general.
  
• In this sixteentj chapter of Romans, Paul greets other women by name, like Mary and Julia.
  
• Jesus himself lifted the role, place, and status of women with his consistent care for individual women, especially in a notably patriarchal age. (Although a case could be made that Jesus did choose twelve males as Apostles, in his individual encounters, he repeatedly treated women -- like the woman at the well -- as genuinely, as intelligently, and as valuably as men.)
  
• At his resurrection, he appear first to women, which means the first heralds of the resurrection were his female followers. 
  
• Furthermore, as the church began to take shape in Acts, there were several prominent women like Tabitha and Lydia leading the charge and promoting the faith. 
  
• In the Old Testament we find God working through women, like Deborah who was one of the Judges over Israel.
  
• And most of all, if we're concerned with placing the sacraments in a woman's hand, we need to remember that God literally placed the body of Christ in a woman's hands -- in fact, in Mary's very womb.

I can absolutely celebrate a church, an individual, or a tradition which does not allow ordination for scriptural reasons. There's integrity there.

I have a hard time, however, embracing a tradition which rejects scripture to support a worldly theme -- even if the theme (justice) is good and noble and is otherwise cloaked in Biblical undertones itself. 

As for me, however, I vote with what I see as the majority report in the New Testament. I will gladly admit that I have a hard time explaining away 1 Corinthians 14, but rather than calling Paul anti-feminist (which was the explanation I grew up hearing), I look and I see continual fingerprints of God's call to women all over the Bible. 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who

commends to you our sister Fran,

a minister of the church at Weddington