Women's roles in the church revisited

In the church are there certain roles reserved for men?

Our evidence has to be from scripture. We will need to look at the created order in scripture and examine the scriptures that imply there are roles in the church reserved for men.

My position is that of an evangelical Christian who is skeptical of the evidence from the scriptures that there are gender reserved gifts, but believes that the elders of a church are free within the bounds of scripture to make decisions about propriety in worship and teaching. My inclination is to believe that such an office of leadership is male.

The created order is described in Genesis. Genesis 1:26-27 shows that in the creation of mankind, there is absolute equality; “Let us make Man in our own image…male and female he created them”. In the second story of creation we learn that the first man Adam was formed first to work the land; God then formed the animals which Adam named. There was no helper among them for Adam so while he slept, a rib was taken from him and formed in to a woman, a wife for Adam. Adam said of the woman in Genesis 2:23,

"This at last is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man."

Into this story we can read much. The man takes as his personal name the name assigned by God for humanity. Adam the first man could not have filled the Earth without the woman. The woman was his helper and formed from his rib, close to his heart. Adam and the woman were created equal before God but the woman was taken from the man. In Gen 2:24 we learn that ever after the order is that man is taken from woman, that is given birth to by a woman. Man must detach himself or leave his mother and father and hold fast to his wife or cleave to his wife when they become one. In this way the creation order is preserved. Also it is Adam who names the Woman not God showing his authority.

The fall was caused by Eve’s deception by the serpent, but Adam took the blame for sin as God held him responsible. Adam watched as Eve was deceived. Their eyes were opened not when Eve ate the fruit but when Adam ate the fruit they felt shame. As a result God would act in the lives of Adam and his wife so that child bearing would be painful, as Cain and Abel proved to be, and Adam’s work would be toil. Adam is punished because he listened to the woman rather than God. God said that the husband would seek to dominate his wife and the wife would either devote herself to her husband or, as some read it, seek to control him. However this is read it is not good.

The breakdown of Adam and Eve’s relationship leads to a situation in the world where men carry their domineering beyond their wives, women becoming objects of pleasure, even for angels, and bring down kings. It’s a sorry mess, utterly futile and meaningless. Men and women sometimes triumph but more often than not fail.

Jesus restores meaning and hope in many ways. He cuts through the legalism of the scribes and Pharisees including gender expectations. He offends the accepted cultural norms in the way he accepts women. However he does not choose women as his apostles. Matt 10:24 confirms this. If this is significant it is because in his life, death and resurrection women are involved and prominent. The disciples were chosen to go out in pairs to heal, deliver from demons and preach. They were to rely on the people who heard the message and responded. Practically speaking, at that time it could be said; only men could have done this. But still Jesus did not choose a woman to be one of the apostles, one of the twelve who were close to him, he chose Simon first, and renamed him Peter showing his authority to do this. Jesus did not change the creation order, he came to restore it and so women are seen as helpers and men as leaders, the women regaining their creation status.

After the resurrection, at Pentecost the Church was born. What Jesus instigated bore fruit. The apostles taught and signs and wonders attended their words. Peter spoke for the church and men were sent out by the Church to spread the good news. In the church men and women were active and gifted and male Elders and leaders were appointed as necessary.

What is significant to me is how the gospels, written then, recorded Jesus life and included the details about Jesus relationship with women. Paul for example recounts the resurrection without mentioning the women involved in 1 Corinthians 15:5 which is what would have been culturally normal. Jesus relationship to women must have had an impact and it was obviously important to those who knew Jesus because their role was faithfully recorded. Jesus’ relationships with women must have been very empowering to women in the church and the facts recorded testify that the story of Jesus is not complete without them. However, only men were appointed as Elders.

In Galatians 3:28-29 Paul writes of the new order in Christ as; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” It was nearly 1700 years before this truth in Christ was realised for slaves in society. In fact the scriptures actually direct slaves on how to be good slaves and masters likewise. But it was never not true that they were one in Christ Jesus. In Christ there is no distinction. In most of the world, especially where Christianity has no heritage the lot of women is appalling. How many more years must we wait for women to attain to the promise of scripture worldwide? We must acknowledge that there is latent bigotry in our society still and some of it exists in the name of the church. In Jesus the creation order is properly restored.

Jesus’ legacy to the early church did cause problems and had to be worked out practically in a society where it cut right across what was acceptable. Paul taught hard about there being no distinction between Jew and Gentile. Before the destruction of the temple the issue was circumcision and after the dispersion, whether Christians also needed to be Jews. We learn of this through Acts and the letters. The problems they addressed speak to us of the struggles of the early church.

What is first noticed is the liberty there seems to be. Peter and Paul often have to contend with the church. It appears that the practice was to preach and live the life with those they were reaching. There do not appear to be many regulations and the Holy Spirit was relied upon to work amongst the Elders and leaders of each church dealing with the culture as they found it.
Looking at problems to do with gender there does appear to be an underlying problem and a clear response. How we respond to this approach is what causes the church to fall in to two camps today. For one leadership is male and the other leadership can be female. Both camps look at the scriptural evidence and come up with different answers. The latter interprets scripture taking into account the culture of the time and seeks to find the message which may be obscured by the cultural bias.

Those who believe leadership to be male do not disregard the cultural bias but see the principle of male leadership to be an unswerving teaching of the scriptures. In Ephesians 5 we are enjoined to submit to one another. In marriage, Ephesians 5:22;23 teaches,

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church …For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

In this and in subsequent matters of gender Paul refers back to Genesis as the standard. This is the pattern of his teaching; he looks at the creation order. Is the order in marriage also the order between men and women in the church? The role that is usually reserved for men in churches is to lead and to take primacy in teaching. Men are given responsibility as Elders. Some people in support of male only leadership would say that it could be argued from nature that men should lead. If this was the case then Timothy would be discounted and most of God’s choices in the Old Testament would be wrong. One of God’s judges for Israel was Deborah, God made a habit of not choosing the natural heir and Nehemiah was a eunuch. Our only evidence must be scripture. In the marriage, the wife certainly does complement the husband and though, as individuals, they are equal before God, in their marriage the husband has leadership. Should this complementarity be mirrored in male and female relationships in the church?

If the evidence we set out above is accepted, it is clear that in creation the man was first and in Jesus’ choice of his apostles only men were included, with women having an elevated status amongst the disciples compared to their accepted roles in Judaism. It could be argued that God wrote Genesis for a patriarchal period and that Jesus was choosing men in a time when women could not have fulfilled the role of an Apostle or Elder. Scripture does not allow us to think like this as the creation order was said by God to be very good and Jesus said he did not come to change this but to fulfil it.

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Timothy suggest that in the church there are roles set aside for men which have cultural contexts but strikingly they throw light on the freedoms women enjoyed in the church. The society of the time would have emphasised the differences between men and women in their religions. It was the freedoms that women enjoyed in Christian worship that caused problems. These were among many problems that Paul dictated answers to in his letters. Of the problems two related to gender; head coverings and keeping women in order during worship.

The head coverings answer is pertinent to our question about limiting women to certain roles in the church though it appears to be about worship. The passage is 1 Corinthians 11:2;16, the first part in a discourse on orderly worship. The problem was that in Jewish worship the men had to wear head coverings; should Christian men wear head coverings? Paul begins by commending them for maintaining the traditions he had passed on to them though men wearing head coverings was not one of them. Paul then appears to play with the word head using it in terms of authority and of the physical head. Firstly he clarifies relationships of authority, each person under God, each wife’s authority is through her husband and Christ’s authority is God.

Paul says, “the head of every man is Christ,” but this must be inclusive of women and children as otherwise it has no other authority in scripture. The next part needs to be taken in the context of the whole passage, Gentiles are not bound by Jewish traditions, it dishonours the authority they have in Christ and so a man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonours Christ, just as a wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her husband. Both these a cultural requirements and the latter the Corinthian tradition not the Jewish tradition. It would not be helpful to the gospel to offend local propriety, another theme of Paul’s. It would be like playing western Kids’ Club games involving wasting food in a country where overindulgence is frowned upon.

I think Paul is saying, “Men, you know how offended you would be if your wife spoke in the church with her head uncovered; she would appear to the locals to be a whore! Well the same goes for you and Christ, it would offend against him if you wore head coverings.”
In verse 7 he says, “For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.” and so the difference in the rule. One is because the men would be upholding a jewish tradition they were freed from and the women because they would be breaking a local tradition which would bring the church into disrepute. Now Paul cannot here imply that women are not the glory of God because that would contradict Genesis 1:26 and in the following verses; “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.” I think is saying, “Guys your wife is your glory; in the beginning the woman was made from the man, the woman was made for the man and it is right and fitting that she should have honour in the assembly otherwise people coming into your meetings are going to think foul things of her and bring a bad report of the Church. And it's your responsibility."

And then in verses 11;12 comes, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.” In Chapter 10 he has had to press home the theme that giving up a freedom to bring God glory, does not undermine the truth and despite everything he has just said this is the truth, men and women are equal before God. And then he throws it back into their court, “Judge for yourselves;” men should be men and women should be women, equal before God, but this freedom should not allow women to be disgraced, or insist on doing something that will bring disgrace, and that is the rule in the church.

And today this is still true; men can have long hair, some women have very short hair and women do not cover their heads as a mark of authority but they do take their husband’s name and wear a wedding band and so no one is disgraced, even though this is a pagan tradition. I have some personal experience of this. I was part of a church where no one wore jewelry, not even a wedding band as wedding bands were not scriptural. It became clear to me that when we went to stay at a hotel and I signed a cheque which showed I had a wife but the woman I was with had no band they thought I was being unfaithful. I was very upset for my wife and the disgrace it implied.

Paul is directing women in how they should conduct themselves in the church in Corinth.
Does Paul then contradict himself? He has given us a rule for the Corinthians about how a women is to conduct herself in the church when praying and prophesying and then In 1 Corinthians 14: 33-35 he writes,

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

The whole section has been about decency and order and it has to be right that Paul has not changed his mind half way through the letter about women speaking. Corinth was the byword for excess and sexual licence. We are talking about disorder here and something that is quite close to the Corinthian’s hearts, “Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? …But all things should be done decently and in order.” It can only be assumed that Paul is talking about something that is not prophecy or prayer which disrupts the meeting and Paul says it is not allowed anywhere! In the context this scripture appears Paul is talking about those in authority in the church judging what has been brought prophetically. This is a function of leadership; Paul is warning that in the church it is wrong for women to take the authority of the men in bringing order to the meeting. He is not saying they are not to judge prophecy as that would be wrong but he is reaffirming the role of the men in taking leadership in the meeting.The next scripture will help us understand this better.

The next piece of scriptural evidence comes from Ephesus where Timothy taught. Ephesus was one of John’s seven churches in Revelation. Both the Corinthian and Ephesians Churches were largely gentile churches. The letters to Timothy were written towards the end of Paul’s life. There were problems in Ephesus and Timothy had been left by Paul to sort them out. Paul strengthened him with strong teaching.

The problems Timothy faced can be gauged from the text. 1 Timothy 1:7; says people were, “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.” and of young widows (1 Timothy 5:13-15), “…they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan.”

2 Timothy 3:6-7 gives us the chilling picture of the people, “..among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” This tells us that false teachers were particularly targeting women. In John’s Revelation tells us that in the church of Thyatera in this region (Revelation 2:2), “...you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” Notice John does not condemn her for teaching, but the content of her message. These teachings (1 Timothy 1:4) cause them “…to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.” The false teachers are effectively targeting the women. 2 Peter 2:14 says, “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!”

And so in this context Paul addresses the problem, writing to Timothy to strengthen him. The text we need to look at is 1 Timothy 2:8-15.

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling;” Men in this context is male as Paul wants to add, “likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness: with good works.”

Profess here is not in the sense of professing faith but is a political term meaning carrying the idea, in order to gain support a theme we see that was so important to Paul in Corinthians. Paul wants men and women to be doers of the word not just speakers of the word which ties in very closely with the problems detailed about idle chatter.

Paul has already carefully prepared his listeners for the next part. He has said in 1 Timothy 1:8 that the law is for the lawbreakers and now he lays down the law,

“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

Paul speaks with authority, definitely not allowing a woman to teach or to usurp the authority of men; this is couched in the language of a legal injunction. Quiet is better understood here as "not in a spirit of contentiousness" and "exercise authority" caries the sense of grasping authority which refers to the Genesis curse. A woman is directed to learn without contention in full submission to the men who have responsibility and authority in the church.

The injunction is clear but is it only because of lawlessness or is it an universal decree? Certainly there was lawlessness and tough leadership was needed. Paul continues o reference Genesis to answer this question,

“For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing; if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”

What is Paul trying to say? It cannot be allowed that as a result of Eve’s transgression that the fallen state of woman is to be deceived or that childless women are not part of the church. In Genesis 3:17 we learn, Eve persuaded Adam to sin; God begins his cursing Adam,

"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'…”

It was the persuasiveness of Eve, “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,” which led to Adam’s downfall and a man in authority should be aware of the cleverness of Satan and pride of the eye.
The curse in Gen 3:16 is

“To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.’”

But now childbirth has brought Christ into the world says Paul. In Christ the curse is broken as we are given a new nature and against the faithful and loving, holy and self controlled there is no law. It appears that Paul is saying, the deception of Eve brought the curse but remember, in Christ she is restored which could suggest that what Paul has said is an injunction on a women who is usurping authority. She is manifesting the old nature but if she shows the fruits of the new nature there is no law against her. She will be properly submissive in her contributions in the church.

In summary, if it is accepted that all gifting in the church is God’s sovereign choice then we can see that nowhere in the church are God's gifts and the exercising of them limited to men. Some will aspire to leadership, which is an office in the church, and Paul encourages this, as he does people to aspire to the higher gifts. It can not be argued that part of God’s economy is to limit the gifts by gender. But leadership, is I believe limited because of the goodness of the creation order to men. This God given order is given in the context of a marriage partnership and restated in the New Testament, but I do not feel it is proven that this is a universal injunction in all male and female relationships and that the God given leadership role of the husband extends to all male female relationships in the church or society. But does it extend to the church meeting and organisation. I believe this is what Paul is talking about.

I believe Paul illustrates Godly authority and how Elders are free to exercise discretion so that there is order and propriety in the worship. Any man is a twit if he does not listen to the wisdom of a woman because of some supposed licence for everyman to lord it over women in the church. Any man who believes this is acting under the curse which we have been freed from in Christ.
In a world where women are abused and denied freedoms; mercilessly exploited by men by laws and customs, the church should be a bastion of proper equality. In this world Paul’s words need to be understood and heeded; men need to be men and women need to be women and all should be modest. There should be a creational understanding of relationships in the church which underpins Paul’s teaching, for example in Ephesians 5: 21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”, where each individual submits to the scripture and to God ordained roles in the church and family.

In conclusion, our society is degraded and permissive and marriage and authority are under attack. Elders need to have confidence to exercise authority against all systems that would usurp authority. We need strong leadership that professes Godliness as detailed in 1 Timothy 3. Except where propriety and order are an issue, gender should not matter with regard to gifts of the Spirit. In my analysis, which I believe to be scriptural, leadership in this is male within the context of the eldership of a church. This is a creational value I believe is carried into the new creation.