At the time of Christ, a Jewish man would pray three benedictions a day—one of which thanked God for not making him a woman.[1]
Tertullian (an early church writer who lived around 160-220 AD) believed that “all women are guilty through Eve’s transgression in the garden of Eden, and all women are dangerous because they cause men to sin.”[2]
The Greek New Testament uses the word diakonos to describe Phoebe in Romans 16:1, which happens to be the same word Paul uses to describe his own ministry (1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:6, 6:4, 11:23; Eph 3:7; Col 1:23, 25). Only, the English translators have rendered it as “servant” for Phoebe and “minister” for Paul.
Many churches today believe women should not be in leadership because women never have the place of apostle or “minister” in the New Testament.
Think about the church you grew up in—were there ever women who shared a devotional? Did a woman ever read a passage of scripture and explain possible interpretations of what it meant? Did any women organize itinerate evangelistic meetings?
Probably not. And probably because your church believed that a woman’s primary role is to be in the home. Men are ministers—not women.
My point in all of this?
Our understanding of a woman’s role in church has been significantly influenced by the bias of Bible translators. Even more, it’s been significantly influenced by teachings of men who held a low view of women yet were able to publish theological and philosophical writings more easily than their female counterparts.
I’m not going to argue in this post whether women should be pastors or not—the conversation is much larger than what I’ve included here. What I am going to argue is that we are all shaped by way more than we realize when it comes to how think about the Bible, about God, and about life.
Even if the Bible does not permit women to be in church leadership, when we read the stories of women such as Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla or Debra, it becomes clear that the New Testament church gave more space for women to be a part of Kingdom work than most churches give today. The concept that women are to be keepers at home as opposed to being ministers of the Gospel comes from teachings like Tertullian, or Reformers, or Bill Gothard—not Jesus, Paul, or Peter.
Yet many of us are only now realizing this.
We thought that concept was clear in scripture. But when you look more closely at what scripture actually says, it tells a slightly different story.
Our thinking is influenced by far more than mere cognitive factors.
It makes me wonder what other beliefs we have that we think are clear but are more an influence of popular thinking and cultural prejudice than clear biblical evidence.
For instance, it’s only been since Constantine that Christians have interpreted Romans 13 as a passage allowing Christians to go to war.[3]
It’s only been in the last one hundred years that Christians have decided 1 Corinthians 11 is not saying women should cover their heads.[4]
And it’s only been since the turn of the century that Christians have affirmed that the Bible allows for same-sex marriage.[5]
Could these be areas where popular thinking has swayed the way we interpret scripture similarly to how it swayed our understanding of a woman’s role within the church?
Whatever decision we are making today, it is influenced by more than we are aware of initially. Cultural narratives, family values, denominational distinctives, economic status, geographic location, personal relationships all shape and mold the way we look at the world and the way we discern what God is telling us.
Those influences are not necessarily wrong influences; but they’re not necessarily right, either. And if we can’t recognize them, admit they are what they are, and hold them at bay while processing decisions, we likely will only repeat problems of the past.
We won’t necessarily find what we’re looking for.
As we go throughout this series, I’d love to hear your feedback. Feel free to share in the comments below.
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[1] Douglas Groothuis. On Jesus (Denver: Wadsworth, 2003), 77.
[2] “Medieval Women,” Norton Anthology Western Literature (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2006), 1844.
[3] Alan Kreider, “Military Service in the Church Orders,” Journal of Religious Ethics 31 (2003): 415-42 (431).
[4] Carlton C. McLeod, Head Coverings: History, Context, and Exegesis, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2yCvJAzi8&t=1492s (accessed December 21, 2018)
[5] See Christopher Roberts, Creation and Covenant: The Significance of Sexual Differences in the Moral Theology of Marriage (London: T & T Clark, 2007).
