A Study of Women in the Ministry
By Rev. Timothy E. Russ
September, 1993
All scriptures quoted in this study will be from the New International Version unless otherwise stated. As much as possible we will begin from the front of the Bible and move toward the back. This should speed up our study if you are checking another version of the scriptures or if you are double checking the scriptures quoted.
Lets begin with Miriam the Prophetess.
EXODUS 15:20
Please note that this is a female reference (prophetess) not a male reference (prophet). This clearly shows that as far back as Exodus the bible teaches that women held spiritually powerful offices.
Moving forward a bit, let's look at Esther.
ESTHER 4:5
Notice that Esther exercised authority over a man.
ESTHER 4:17
Again we see Esther exercising authority over a man. He submitted to her authority and carried out her instructions.
ESTHER 8:2
Esther was the one who appointed Mordecai to oversee the estate of Haman. Her husband could have done so but he gave her the position of authority here.
Esther 9:18-32
The significant thing about this section of scripture is that it was Esther's decree that made this celebration a reality. This signifies some spiritual authority in addition to the legal authority due to her office of being queen.
Judges 4:1-24
In verse 4 we see that Deborah is also a prophetess. She differs from Miriam in that she is clearly a married woman. She is also the legal ruler of Israel.
Notice in verse 6 that Deborah speaks with the spiritual authority of the Lord in COMMANDING Barak to do something. This shows that she not only has legal leadership of the nation but also spiritual leadership!
Barak did not immediately follow Deborah's command from the Lord but made Deborah lead even into battle. She rebukes him later in verse 14 and again instructs him to go into battle.
Clearly the Lord placed this woman in authority over not just men but an entire nation. And he did so not just with legal authority but also with spiritual authority. And he continued to bless Israel under her leadership.
2 Kings 22:14-20
Notice that the prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah were active in the ministry at the time of this account and they consulted neither man. Instead they sought out a prophetess! If no other passage in the Old Testament showed a woman in the position of spiritual authority and on the same level as a man this one does. We also see that this is a married woman and yet there is no mention of her husband leading her ministry.
ISAIAH 8:3
This is just one further reference to prophetesses. Again this prophetess is a wife but she is also a mother. God seems to have placed absolutely no restriction upon women as prophetesses in the Old Testament!
At this point we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament. For now I would like to show you that women truly did minister.
There are two definitions that we are examining. The first is to minister as every Christian does while serving. The second is to minister in the sense of the ministry.
Mark 15:40-41
Here we see that women minister in the first sense of the word by their Christian service to the Master.
Luke 2:36-37
This scripture gives us our first glimpse of the New Testament mention of a female ministry. The Greek word we translate as prophetess is clearly in the feminine gender. If God appointed female prophets before Christ's resurrection then there is no reason that women cannot hold this office after his resurrection. To my knowledge there is no scriptural support to show that this office is no longer held by women after the resurrection. It seems only reasonable that having found scriptural support for something that remains unchanged elsewhere in scripture that it is still in existence.
Luke 8:1-3
The Twelve referred here are without reference to the Twelve what. It is obvious that these are Twelve disciples. When the scripture says "and also" it shows that these women are also disciples. I don't think that anyone would argue that women cannot be disciples.
These scriptures show that female disciples traveled around with Jesus. It does not specifically say that they ministered in the Ministry definition of the word though. Notice that women contributed financially to the ministry of Jesus.
Luke 10:1-20
There are several points to be made about this section of scripture. Let us begin by recognizing that it does not state whether these are men or women or both.
Also we note that although it does not specifically mention the word preach, clearly these people were to share a specific message. That is apparently the ministry of preaching.
We clearly recognize verse 19 as applying to both men and women. If that is the case then the context of verse 9 must apply to women also. This is a clear call for both men and women to preach.
This section of scripture does reference the male gender in that it says "the worker deserves HIS wages". We believe that women in Christ have power over all the power of the enemy, if they are truly in Christ. We must believe that the context of the rest of the chapter applies equally to women!
LUKE 23:49
LUKE 23:55
Notice that in these two scriptures we have reference to women who have followed him from Galilee. We see that these women were disciples right along side of the Twelve.
Luke 24:9-11
Some of these are the same women mentioned in chapter 8 of Luke. These women were loyal to Jesus beyond the end of his death just like the Twelve or any of the men.
Previously everything has preceded the resurrection of Jesus. Now lets turn to the establishment of the New Testament church and see how God deals with women in the ministry.
ACTS 1:14
Note that men and women are side by side. They are not separate but joined in unity of prayer. We know that both men and women received the baptism of the Holy Spirit simultaneously.
ACTS 8:3
Acts 9:1-2
ACTS 22:4
These verses show us that women shared equally in the suffering of persecution for the sake of the gospel.
Acts 16:13-15
Although this section of scripture does not show that women should necessarily be in the ministry it does display that the attitude of God toward women is not secondary. These were the first people in Macedonia to hear the gospel. God did not deliver the gospel first to men and then to women.
There is a clear distinction in the ministry of Paul to deliver the gospel to the Jews first and then the gentiles. In this way he has delivered the message to those on the priority list of God. However, when it comes to men and women there is no priority list.
ROMANS 16:1
This was the key scripture in my study of this issue. It was the first scripture that I simply could not refute. The word translated as servant here is the identical word translated as deacon elsewhere. The Greek word is DIAKONOS. It is inconsistent to translate that word as deacon when referring to men and servant when referring to women. The true meaning of the word DIAKONOS is servant. Its usage in this passage is identical with its usage in other passages where the translation is deacon. Here we have a clear example of a woman holding a spiritual office that began in the New Testament.
Romans 16:3-5
Just a few verses down we find a reference to a husband and wife pastoral team. It was customary to refer to the man first during these times. Reversing the order of the names implies that Priscilla had the higher position in this ministry team. But whether that is truly the case is not relevant in this situation. The important thing to notice is that these two people are copastors of the church that met at their home. So we have a New Testament example of female Pastors!
ROMANS 16:6
Mary's identity is not clear. Clearly she worked for them. She is serving them in some capacity, probably spiritually.
ROMANS 16:7
It is impossible to establish the gender of Junias because the name occurs in the accusative form in the Greek. Some think that the name refers to a woman because it appears with Andronicus and means a person named Junias, wife of Andronicus.
Also the Greek word for kinsmen (ASV & KJV) (SUNGENES) is more accurately translated in the NIV as relatives. The translation as kinsmen in ASV & KJV does not indicate that these are men.
Outstanding among the apostles could mean that this husband & wife team were great apostles. At the very least it could show that this husband & wife team were highly respected by the apostles.
It is very possible that we are looking at a reference to a female apostle.
1Corinthians 11:5-16
1 Corinthians 14:33-35
If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
Many have taken 1 Cor 14:33-35 to mean that women cannot preach. After all it clearly says that women should be silent in the church.
We cannot take one section of scripture and interpret it separately from the rest of the scripture. If we are to follow the context of the book of 1 Corinthians we must look back to chapter 11. We see a clear instruction for women to follow during their prophesying.
It is obvious that women cannot prophesy without speaking in the church and yet this is an apparent contradiction in chapter 14 where scripture forbids women to speak in church.
During this period it was customary for the churches to meet in the synagogues. The men sat on one side of the building and the women sat on the other side. The Corinthian church had women yelling across the church to their husbands and asking what the preacher was explaining. This created much confusion and completely disrupted the service. This section of scripture is simply saying that the service should not be interrupted by women shouting across the church.
COLOSSIANS 4:15
The NIV is the only translation that clearly speaks of Nympha as a woman. The ASV says their house and the KJV says his house.
PHILIPPIANS 4:3
Possibly these women are not apostles but they received commendation by Paul as fellow workers contending for the gospel with Paul. Can we give these women any less of a position of Silas, Barnabus, Timothy, Titus and many other notable men in the ministry? Paul made no such distinction.
1 Timothy 2:9-15
This section of scripture is apparently the main problem in the entire bible as to women in the ministry. It appears that women are not to teach men. If this is the case we clearly have direction that women are not to be in the ministry. Also, women are not to have authority over men. So women would be completely rejected for ministry purposes.
We have already cited many examples of the scriptures portraying women in ministry roles. Do we finally have a contradiction in the scriptures? Absolutely not!
The context of the scriptures shows that we are talking about a marital relationship. We learned in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that women were to learn in silence and to talk with their husbands at home to clarify what they had heard at church. This is simply a continuation of that doctrine.
In a husband and wife relationship this scripture clearly states that there is one head. If a man is a pastor and his wife is part of the congregation their relationship is one of pastor to parishioner. The same thing can be applied to a woman pastor who's husband is part of the congregation. This is not a contradiction of scripture but
a distinction between two different relationships. One is marital and the other is pastoral.
Any other interpretation of this scripture rejects the context of entire bible up to this point and the context of the bible after this point. Again, we cannot take an isolated section of scripture and reject everything else we have learned about a subject in the entire bible to come up with a doctrine.
ACTS 18:26
This verse shows that a woman (Priscilla) working
with her husband (Aquilla) TAUGHT a man (Apollos) in the knowledge about God. This is a clear New Testament illustration of a woman TEACHING a man. So the context of
1 Timothy chapter 2 MUST be that of a husband and wife or the scripture would be inaccurate (and we know that isn't so).
1 PETER 3:7
The scriptures plainly teach that we are to respect wives with equality. If we do not, our prayers will be hindered. The work "weaker" here is speaking of physical strength not spiritual.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Salvation comes equally to men & women.
2. Men & women equally suffer for Christ.
3. Men & women equally receive their reward in heaven.
4. Our prayers will suffer if we don't treat wives equally.
5. Christ had men & women disciples.
6. Clearly women hold some offices mentioned in Eph 4:11.
7. The culture of the new testament times was extremely male dominated.
8. The new testament reflects the male authority perspective.
9. There are many references in the new testament that say men but mean the body of Christ.
A. Rom 12:1-8 is a prime example of this.
B. Rom 12:1 says brothers but refers to the body of Christ.
10. It does not dishonor God for men to accept women as equals or to place ourselves (as men) under their authority except in the marital relationship.
11. Husbands are the designated heads of the home. Their requirement is to treat their wives as equals and to submit to them. Eph 5:21-33
12. There is no distinction in the scriptures between women in ministry and women elders.
