More on women in ministry

So yesterday I talked about the passage in 1 Corinthians 11. But another seemingly less ambiguous passage occurs in 1 Timothy 2:9-15, specifically the part where Paul says, "I do not allow a woman to teach or have authority over a man, she must be silent." Now, there are those who use the same argument here - that it is really husband and wife, not man and woman. But there is an even more important thing we need to know here. Once again, we must go back to the original Greek. This passage can be translated either "I do not allow," or "I am not allowing." The difference is between a commandment meant for all times and places and a comment on a current practice that does not necessarily have any long-term or wide-spread application. The reason I believe that the latter is Paul's intention is twofold. First, there was a "new teaching" that was just becoming popular in the area around Ephesus that taught that rather than sinning, Eve, by eating the fruit, brought special knowledge into the world, which knowledge only women could communicate to men. I believe that this is the teaching Paul had in mind here and explains a temporary ban on women in the pulpit. The reason I believe this is that he justifies his statement by saying that Eve actually did sin, and was actually deceived by the evil one. And secondly, Paul himself, in Romans 16 greets and commends several women in ministry positions. Romans was written just before 1 Timothy and sheds light on Paul's normal attitude towards women in ministry, and it was positive. He had nothing negative to say to the Romans about these women in ministry; rather he commended them.

What is most interesting is the most Christian movements have been open to women in ministry in the early years when there was a lot of pioneering of churches going on, but when the movement becomes more stable and ministry positions pay better, it is common for women to be banned from those positions. But in Christ there is no male and female. It is a distinction without a difference in ministry.

Pastor Ken