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Women Ministers According to Scripture
An extremely convincing call for gender equality, not from a secular perspective but from a biblical perspective. A whole-Bible approach to a topic that is typically "settled" on the basis of one or two brief passages.
337 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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June 10, 2024
A FORCEFUL AND PASSIONATE ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN’S ORDINATION
Professor Judy Brown wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “Two things… have grieved my heart to the point of feeling as if this issue has been thrust upon me. First, I have had numbers of ministerial training students, male and female… literally beg me to tackle the issue for their sake. They ask for a book thorough enough to withstand the rigors of expert scrutiny yet simple enough in its presentation to be understandable to a college freshman or a local church lay person. Learning that these young people, the church of the future, are noticing the wrongs against women has proven to be more pressing than experiencing those wrongs myself.
“Second, I am becoming more conscious … of the enormous damage that is being inflicted upon the church and upon the world by banning or limiting the ministry of God-called, God-ordained women. There are local congregations going without pastors, and I can name women willing to shepherd those flocks. Why are we not allowing them to do so?... This is not a one-denomination issue, it is a whole-church issue. Many denominations … are feeling the need to rethink their historical position on women ministers to be sure it is a biblical position… But even recognizing the need for this book… I dread the misunderstandings that may result… Advocating full ministry opportunities for women does not mean I align myself … with the beliefs or practices of radical, secular feminism. I do not think that women ministers have to be non-feminine or, worse yet, masculine in any way…”
She suggests that in interpreting the Bible, “we must ask ourselves, ‘What was being taught to the original audience, and what was clearly understood by them?’ … It is not undermining the authority of Scripture, nor is it leaving God’s Word overly relative and flexible… It is simply acknowledging the fact that the Bible addresses real people in real situations… It is simply acknowledging the possibility of a distinction between a universal principle and a particular application of that principle.” (Pg. 13)
She says, “there is a progressiveness that characterizes scriptural revelation, and individual passages must be understood according to that progression… Without having to be overly dispensational, it is necessary to interpret any one passage of Scripture according to the frame of its reference… Original creation was said by God to be ‘very good’… However, its perfection was drastically altered by the invasion of sin at the point of the fall. The Old Testament law was given because of sin… But… the ideal has been made available again through redemption.” (Pg. 15)
She states, ‘The word ‘man’ in [Gen 5:2] is the Hebrew ‘adam,’ but it is obviously referring to both Adam and Eve… Certainly, then, ‘humanity’ is not only an optional translation for the Hebrew word ‘adam’ but is sometimes the only accurate translation for the word… Since Genesis 1:26-27 states that ‘humanity’ was created in the image and likeness of God, then from its first reference to men and women, God’s Word proclaims that they bear the image/likeness of God in exactly the same way and to exactly the same degree. The biblical account does not differentiate in any way; in whatever way Adam bore the image of God, Eve bore the image of God. Everything that scholars say about the specialness of man… all of it is equally applicable to women. The biblical writer gives absolutely no reason to think otherwise. Male and female together constitute the ‘humanity’ that was made in the image of God.” (Pg. 18) She adds, “If Adam is better than Eve by virtue of supplying a bone, then the ground is better than Adam by virtue of supplying the dust.” (Pg. 19)
She continues, “The biblical account is without sexual stereotyping. Male and female were created by God as equally good and perfect. There is no hint of superiority and inferiority, no mention of domination or subordination… if men are called by God to serve as ministers, women should be expected to be called as well. The church should EXPECT the calling of women, not reject it.” (Pg. 23)
She argues, “the relationship between Adam and Eve in the creation account was characterized by unity, mutuality, and equality. There was NO sexual hierarchy in the original creation. The relationship showed its first sign of deterioration immediately after the fall when Adam suggested that he stood in better stead than Eve (Gen 3:12), the first hint of inequality and hierarchy. Then God predicted that inequality and hierarchy would continue to be the effect of sin (Gen 3:16)---not the desire of God, the EFFECTS OF SIN.” (Pg. 55-56)
She explains, “Probably the loudest argument drawn from the Old Testament against women ministers is that there were no female priests… This argument fails to acknowledge two important possibilities. First, there may have been reasons for excluding women from the priesthood that had nothing to do with their spiritual/ministerial fitness per se… Second, the close connection that is being drawn between the Old Testament priest and the New Testament minister may not be valid… Certain duties of the Old Testament priesthood may have been physically prohibitive for the build and strength of a woman… It is possible that the constraints of motherhood presented an additional obstacle. A major ‘legal’ restriction was imposed … Through ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness… It is very likely that Israel’s patriarchal culture played a role in God’s excluding women from the priesthood… A strong argument can be made for … God establishing an all-male priesthood in order to distinguish Israel’s true religion from the false religions of Canaan and the surrounding areas.” (Pg. 77-80)
She observes, “The responsibility for speaking for God entails the highest level of spiritual intimacy and authority possible… the fact that women were used in this capacity in both testaments speaks volumes about their qualification to serve at all levels of spiritual leadership today.” (Pg. 98)
She asks, “Why isn’t ‘it’ used of God? ‘It’ cannot be used because it is not a personal pronoun. It would …. thereby invite the theological error of viewing God as an abstract principle or force… Because ‘she’ unavoidably connotes gender, and … invites the theological error of viewing God as human-like… The only pronoun … that can be used of God … is ‘he.’ … It is being used in its general sense as a personal pronoun, not in the specific sense as a masculine pronoun.” (Pg. 110-111)
She points out, “Any argument for maleness that is built upon the use of masculine imagery should be silenced by the fact that Scripture also contains a significant amount of feminine imagery for God… Moses described God as being both the one who fathered them and the one who birthed them (Dt 32:18)… God is depicted as a midwife [Ps 123:2]… The prophet Isaiah … describes God as being like a woman in the pains of childbirth (42:14)… and like a woman feeding her baby (49:14-15)… Jesus described Himself as being like a mother hen longing to gather her children under her wings.” (Pg. 113-114)
She notes, “Jesus violated all rabbinical teaching regarding the treatment of women. He went out of his way to include them and to elevate them in ways that were absolutely amazing to the people of His day… But He did not elect a Samaritan, a Gentile, or a woman to serve as one of the twelve disciples. Doing so would have made it impossible to reach those He was sent to reach first, the people of the old covenant (Mt 10: 5-6)… excluding women, Gentiles, and Samaritans from the first band of ministers was not meant to permanently bar these three categories of people from Christian ministry… Sometimes cultural sensitivities could not be violated without hindering the spread of the gospel.” (Pg. 127-128)
She states, “On one occasion Jesus was given the opportunity to address the belief that a woman’s chief role in life is that of being a wife and mother. Or, perhaps it should be said that He MADE an opportunity to correct this erroneous view of women. While He was teaching, a woman in the audience exclaimed, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth…’ He responded, ‘Blessed RATHER are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Pg. 131)
She explains, “The apostle used a specific term over and over again to identify the ministers who joined him … The Greek word ‘sunergos’ is typically translated ‘fellow worker’ … being a ‘sunergos’ was not a small or casual designation… In addition to calling … 14 men ‘sunergos,’ Paul also called three women the very same thing; Priscilla… Euodia… and Syntyche…” (Pg. 156) Later, she adds, “The evidence continues to mount that women did in the Early Church the two things that are commonly withheld from them today---pastor and teach. Priscilla was just such a woman, a pastor-teacher.” (Pg. 175) She suggests, “The fact that Scripture identifies women as being prophets … lends further support to the claim that teaching and all other ‘lower’ ministries were generally open to women in the first century and should remain open to women today.” (Pg. 181) She asserts, “Paul … identified Andronicus and Junia … as ‘outstanding apostles’ (Rom 16:7)… Junia is the name of a woman. This means that a woman served as an apostle in the Early Church, just as Paul and others did.” (Pg. 183)
She laments, “Those who do not wish to see everyone in the church given equal treatment, explain away Galatians 3:28 as referring only to the universal availability of salvation or to a believer’s spiritual standing with God. Thus, one of the most uniquely Christian and powerfully life-changing statements in all of Scripture is relegated to a realm of theological abstraction that is denied any practical application.” (Pg. 235)
She argues, “if Paul is actually silencing the women of [the Corinthian] congregation in [1 Cor 14:34-35], then he is doing so only in relation to some very specific behavior on their part, namely, the voicing of disruptive questions during the worship service. This in no way supplies the grounds for reversing everything else ... throughout the Bible regarding the equality of women and their participation in worship and in ministry.” (Pg. 276) She adds, “This enormous amount of evidence cannot be set aside with one verse of Scripture that was originally intended for special circumstances in Ephesus.”(Pg. 301)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians studying the issue of women’s ordination, and related male/female issues.
Professor Judy Brown wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “Two things… have grieved my heart to the point of feeling as if this issue has been thrust upon me. First, I have had numbers of ministerial training students, male and female… literally beg me to tackle the issue for their sake. They ask for a book thorough enough to withstand the rigors of expert scrutiny yet simple enough in its presentation to be understandable to a college freshman or a local church lay person. Learning that these young people, the church of the future, are noticing the wrongs against women has proven to be more pressing than experiencing those wrongs myself.
“Second, I am becoming more conscious … of the enormous damage that is being inflicted upon the church and upon the world by banning or limiting the ministry of God-called, God-ordained women. There are local congregations going without pastors, and I can name women willing to shepherd those flocks. Why are we not allowing them to do so?... This is not a one-denomination issue, it is a whole-church issue. Many denominations … are feeling the need to rethink their historical position on women ministers to be sure it is a biblical position… But even recognizing the need for this book… I dread the misunderstandings that may result… Advocating full ministry opportunities for women does not mean I align myself … with the beliefs or practices of radical, secular feminism. I do not think that women ministers have to be non-feminine or, worse yet, masculine in any way…”
She suggests that in interpreting the Bible, “we must ask ourselves, ‘What was being taught to the original audience, and what was clearly understood by them?’ … It is not undermining the authority of Scripture, nor is it leaving God’s Word overly relative and flexible… It is simply acknowledging the fact that the Bible addresses real people in real situations… It is simply acknowledging the possibility of a distinction between a universal principle and a particular application of that principle.” (Pg. 13)
She says, “there is a progressiveness that characterizes scriptural revelation, and individual passages must be understood according to that progression… Without having to be overly dispensational, it is necessary to interpret any one passage of Scripture according to the frame of its reference… Original creation was said by God to be ‘very good’… However, its perfection was drastically altered by the invasion of sin at the point of the fall. The Old Testament law was given because of sin… But… the ideal has been made available again through redemption.” (Pg. 15)
She states, ‘The word ‘man’ in [Gen 5:2] is the Hebrew ‘adam,’ but it is obviously referring to both Adam and Eve… Certainly, then, ‘humanity’ is not only an optional translation for the Hebrew word ‘adam’ but is sometimes the only accurate translation for the word… Since Genesis 1:26-27 states that ‘humanity’ was created in the image and likeness of God, then from its first reference to men and women, God’s Word proclaims that they bear the image/likeness of God in exactly the same way and to exactly the same degree. The biblical account does not differentiate in any way; in whatever way Adam bore the image of God, Eve bore the image of God. Everything that scholars say about the specialness of man… all of it is equally applicable to women. The biblical writer gives absolutely no reason to think otherwise. Male and female together constitute the ‘humanity’ that was made in the image of God.” (Pg. 18) She adds, “If Adam is better than Eve by virtue of supplying a bone, then the ground is better than Adam by virtue of supplying the dust.” (Pg. 19)
She continues, “The biblical account is without sexual stereotyping. Male and female were created by God as equally good and perfect. There is no hint of superiority and inferiority, no mention of domination or subordination… if men are called by God to serve as ministers, women should be expected to be called as well. The church should EXPECT the calling of women, not reject it.” (Pg. 23)
She argues, “the relationship between Adam and Eve in the creation account was characterized by unity, mutuality, and equality. There was NO sexual hierarchy in the original creation. The relationship showed its first sign of deterioration immediately after the fall when Adam suggested that he stood in better stead than Eve (Gen 3:12), the first hint of inequality and hierarchy. Then God predicted that inequality and hierarchy would continue to be the effect of sin (Gen 3:16)---not the desire of God, the EFFECTS OF SIN.” (Pg. 55-56)
She explains, “Probably the loudest argument drawn from the Old Testament against women ministers is that there were no female priests… This argument fails to acknowledge two important possibilities. First, there may have been reasons for excluding women from the priesthood that had nothing to do with their spiritual/ministerial fitness per se… Second, the close connection that is being drawn between the Old Testament priest and the New Testament minister may not be valid… Certain duties of the Old Testament priesthood may have been physically prohibitive for the build and strength of a woman… It is possible that the constraints of motherhood presented an additional obstacle. A major ‘legal’ restriction was imposed … Through ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness… It is very likely that Israel’s patriarchal culture played a role in God’s excluding women from the priesthood… A strong argument can be made for … God establishing an all-male priesthood in order to distinguish Israel’s true religion from the false religions of Canaan and the surrounding areas.” (Pg. 77-80)
She observes, “The responsibility for speaking for God entails the highest level of spiritual intimacy and authority possible… the fact that women were used in this capacity in both testaments speaks volumes about their qualification to serve at all levels of spiritual leadership today.” (Pg. 98)
She asks, “Why isn’t ‘it’ used of God? ‘It’ cannot be used because it is not a personal pronoun. It would …. thereby invite the theological error of viewing God as an abstract principle or force… Because ‘she’ unavoidably connotes gender, and … invites the theological error of viewing God as human-like… The only pronoun … that can be used of God … is ‘he.’ … It is being used in its general sense as a personal pronoun, not in the specific sense as a masculine pronoun.” (Pg. 110-111)
She points out, “Any argument for maleness that is built upon the use of masculine imagery should be silenced by the fact that Scripture also contains a significant amount of feminine imagery for God… Moses described God as being both the one who fathered them and the one who birthed them (Dt 32:18)… God is depicted as a midwife [Ps 123:2]… The prophet Isaiah … describes God as being like a woman in the pains of childbirth (42:14)… and like a woman feeding her baby (49:14-15)… Jesus described Himself as being like a mother hen longing to gather her children under her wings.” (Pg. 113-114)
She notes, “Jesus violated all rabbinical teaching regarding the treatment of women. He went out of his way to include them and to elevate them in ways that were absolutely amazing to the people of His day… But He did not elect a Samaritan, a Gentile, or a woman to serve as one of the twelve disciples. Doing so would have made it impossible to reach those He was sent to reach first, the people of the old covenant (Mt 10: 5-6)… excluding women, Gentiles, and Samaritans from the first band of ministers was not meant to permanently bar these three categories of people from Christian ministry… Sometimes cultural sensitivities could not be violated without hindering the spread of the gospel.” (Pg. 127-128)
She states, “On one occasion Jesus was given the opportunity to address the belief that a woman’s chief role in life is that of being a wife and mother. Or, perhaps it should be said that He MADE an opportunity to correct this erroneous view of women. While He was teaching, a woman in the audience exclaimed, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth…’ He responded, ‘Blessed RATHER are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Pg. 131)
She explains, “The apostle used a specific term over and over again to identify the ministers who joined him … The Greek word ‘sunergos’ is typically translated ‘fellow worker’ … being a ‘sunergos’ was not a small or casual designation… In addition to calling … 14 men ‘sunergos,’ Paul also called three women the very same thing; Priscilla… Euodia… and Syntyche…” (Pg. 156) Later, she adds, “The evidence continues to mount that women did in the Early Church the two things that are commonly withheld from them today---pastor and teach. Priscilla was just such a woman, a pastor-teacher.” (Pg. 175) She suggests, “The fact that Scripture identifies women as being prophets … lends further support to the claim that teaching and all other ‘lower’ ministries were generally open to women in the first century and should remain open to women today.” (Pg. 181) She asserts, “Paul … identified Andronicus and Junia … as ‘outstanding apostles’ (Rom 16:7)… Junia is the name of a woman. This means that a woman served as an apostle in the Early Church, just as Paul and others did.” (Pg. 183)
She laments, “Those who do not wish to see everyone in the church given equal treatment, explain away Galatians 3:28 as referring only to the universal availability of salvation or to a believer’s spiritual standing with God. Thus, one of the most uniquely Christian and powerfully life-changing statements in all of Scripture is relegated to a realm of theological abstraction that is denied any practical application.” (Pg. 235)
She argues, “if Paul is actually silencing the women of [the Corinthian] congregation in [1 Cor 14:34-35], then he is doing so only in relation to some very specific behavior on their part, namely, the voicing of disruptive questions during the worship service. This in no way supplies the grounds for reversing everything else ... throughout the Bible regarding the equality of women and their participation in worship and in ministry.” (Pg. 276) She adds, “This enormous amount of evidence cannot be set aside with one verse of Scripture that was originally intended for special circumstances in Ephesus.”(Pg. 301)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians studying the issue of women’s ordination, and related male/female issues.
July 9, 2009
I have this and need to finish reading it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews