A
friend of mine wrote down three topics which I was told, “I must blog about.” It’s taken me awhile to get around to it, but
here is the first. All three of the
topics are incredibly deep and nuanced theological issues, so I won’t pretend that
these blogs even come close to exhausting all that could be said about
them. They won’t be overly academic or
as detailed and in depth as many available sources on the topics would be. They are just some of my thoughts and ideas
reflecting my own research biblically and otherwise into the importance of
these ideas and how they affect our lives.
The
first blog request is about egalitarianism and why it is biblical. Egalitarianism is the view that women and men
are equal partners in marriage as well as in the functioning of the Church. I won’t spend time laying out the opposing
views of egalitarianism, there are plenty of resources available if you’re
interested. Let me just say right off
the bat, that I am fully onboard with egalitarianism. I believe women can and should be pastors,
elders, and church leaders of all sorts and I fully intend on an equal
partnership in my future marriage. All right, now that that’s out on the table,
let’s talk.
Just
within the last few weeks the Church of England voted against ordaining women
as bishops within their denomination. I
watched my Twitter feed carefully, hoping it would be a landmark day in women’s
rights within the Church. I was sad when
the vote narrowly went against women bishops, but some of the writing that has
come out of the debate has been great.
NT Wright, one of my favorite New Testament scholars wrote about why he
believes women can and should be ordained.
The
crux of Wright’s argument isn’t based on refuting famous passages used to
silence and exclude women in the church (1 Corinthians 4:34-35, 1 Timothy
2:11-14). There are fantastic arguments
for how these passages should be interpreted from an egalitarian point of view
(see Craig Keener’s Paul, Wives and
Women), but Wright’s point comes from somewhere else. He argues, and I agree, that the beginning of
all Christian ministry is declaring the resurrection of Jesus from the
dead. The primary job of Christian
ministers and leaders is to declare that Christ is risen, and to teach people
to view every aspect of their lives in light of such. And who did the risen Jesus first appoint to
declare his resurrection?
John
20:11-18, but especially verse 17 tells us that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene
and told her to tell his disciples he had risen. Mathew 28:10 records that Jesus gave the same
task to Mary Magdalene as well as “the other Mary.” Mark 16:9 and Luke 24:9-12 have similar
accounts. So, first and foremost in each
of the four canonical gospels we have a woman or women being commissioned to declare
the good news that Jesus is alive. I
think this is critically important because Jesus himself instructed the women
to do so and thought them capable and worthy of the task. At some point we have to be okay with reading
Paul in light of Jesus, and not always the other way around.
Paul
himself adds weight to the egalitarian position though. Just a few examples: in Romans 16:7 Paul greets
a female friend named Junia. He calls
Junia an apostle which was the highest office of teaching in the early
church. The letter to the Romans was
delivered by a female deacon named Phoebe.
Typically an epistle was read and taught by the one who delivered it. This means Paul entrusted Phoebe with
delivering and teaching some of his richest theological writing to the most
important city in the world at that time.
The New Testament also speaks often (Acts 18:2-3, 18-19, 26, Romans
16:3-4, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19) of Paul’s friends Priscilla and
Aquila, a married couple. Many scholars
believe that because Priscilla is typically mentioned first she may
have been the primary teacher over her husband.
Acts 18:26 records that they instructed Apollos-one of the church’s most
articulate teachers-how to better understand the word of God. Luke has no problem recording that a woman
taught a man from the Scriptures; and the argument that she did so under her
husband’s authority, like so many others against egalitarianism, is an argument
from silence.
This
is already kind of long. There are many
writers and scholars who are much smarter than me who have a lot to say on this
issue. This blog is focused primarily on
women in ministry, which the early church was full of .until the rise of the
office of bishop in the 2nd century. There is still much that could
be said about wives and husbands, as well as a great deal more on women serving
in the same ministry positions as men.
So here it is. I welcome your
thoughts, feedback and disagreements. I’ll
just end with Paul’s words from Galatians which I believe are talking about the
launch of new creation in Christ. In him
all ethnic, class and gender distinctions are made null and we find equal
footing before the throne of God’s grace.
So in
Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you
are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians
3:26-29, NIV)
