Women have a role in the church. And it’s not *just* to children and women, though God bless those who work in that area.
It starts in Genesis 1. When God created humanity, he created both men AND WOMEN to bear His image. EVEN THE HEBREW differentiates between man (human race) and man (male humans). Blame the English language for it’s limitation in translating the differences.
A WOMAN killed Sisera (a bad dude) in Judges. There’s even a woman judge (hello, Deborah). Women played a VITAL PART in the Messianic lineage, and their stories are told. While they may have had very little role culturally in biblical times, they have a role in the biblical narrative and their names are remembered. They could have been forgotten. They weren’t. They’ve been remembered in the Bible, a holy and sacred text that many revere.
Women have played a role in establishing the church. It was women to whom Jesus first appeared upon resurrection. It was Lydia (that may have been a nickname for her home country) who helped establish the Philippian church. Even in Paul’s letters, women are recognized when he sends his greetings. Even after the Bible’s writing, women have had roles in leadership. Women have a role in church leadership.
So why aren’t they better recognized?
There’s a lot of history here, much of which I don’t know and don’t have the skill set to better learn at the moment, but it essentially comes down to this. We misread the Bible to suit our culture instead of the reading the Bible to change our culture. These many accepted misreadings are a part of the reason that promoting Biblical literacy is so important to me. We can read Paul’s letters to the churches and neglect the context in which they were written. We place our cultural identities into the identities of the Bible. We often don’t take into account the amount of freedom the Bible gives to followers of Christ in that context because we don’t (or won’t) understand it. We look at stories like Esther (whose story is what David Platt called a “series of divine coincidence” and I call it “a divine comedy of errors”) and we see gallows and think of the Old West or of lynching, not as beams to impale others and a predecessor of the Roman crucifixions. We miss the emphasis of Paul’s saying “I don’t permit a woman to have authority” (see 1 Tim. 2:12. this isn’t an exact quote) by using our meager understanding of the English words and not understanding better that word authenteo carries a connotation of belligerent usurping of power (think autocrat) and is only really used… here, in Paul’s first letter to Timothy. But what about the Great Commission in Matthew 28, you ask? I’m glad you asked. Different Greek word… ENTIRELY. That word we translate as “authority” is actually… exousia and also can be translated as “power, jurisdiction, control, claim, domain…” the list goes on. We, men and women, have authority/jurisdiction/power here, but we don’t have the right to have a coup in order to grab power away. Man… I could keep going. I could totally keep going and explain how badly our English translations have messed with us when it comes to understanding what the original writers of the Bible meant or the message God has for His church.
Here’s the thing. We women have been made equal with men. Our strengths and weaknesses may complement each other and not be identical, but God made us equal. In other words, there is no male or female hierarchy in God’s kingdom.
So taking this all into account, what can we do to support women called to ministry? We could keep the status quo and make it more difficult for women to have the leadership roles for which they are more than qualified. We can speak down to women who assert their value in the world. We can even say “you’re out!” when women step on toes. But is that what we should do? I contend that standing in unity is crucial to the well being of the church, but that unity is in recognition of the gifts and diversity within the body (we aren’t all prophets, man). I totally understand there are still cultural norms we need to be aware of as we address this. What I want to see is the church coming along side the women leaders and say “I see you. I value you. You are His image bearer and you have a place here.” We can also call out the misogyny and sexism that continues to pervade the church. But we should also stand together as the church to continue preparing for the King’s return. He is coming, and there is still much to do to prepare, but we already know He’s victorious.
How will you support women leaders in the church?
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