Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | God can use woman in the ministry? | Gal 3:28 | Reformer Joe | 37054 | ||
Your conclusions here are not supported by the clear revelation elsewhere in Scripture that male leadership of the flock is the standard set forth. "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion." --Titus 1:5-6 "It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)" --1 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul makes it very clear that men are to hold the office of overseer. One might respond by arguing that that was to be done because of cultural reasons, but there are a couple of problems with that opinion: 1. In the pagan culture in which Christianity was taking root, priestesses were not uncommon at all. There would have been little or no cultural backlash to the Christian religion having females leading worship, so we must conclude that it is not merely a "judgment call" on Paul's part. 2. Paul does not present his statements as his personal preferences. He states the qualifications for elders as universal truths. Seeing as these universal truths are found in the Bible, we must assume that they are divinely inspired just as every other part of Scripture. 3. Perhaps most importantly, Paul goes into the reasons for why the elders must meet these qualifications in 1 Timothy 3. He tells Timothy (and us) "if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?" He draws a direct parallel between running the household of one's family and running the household of God. And the Bible makes it very clear who the head of the household in a biblically-functioning family is to be: "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything." --Ephesians 5:22-24 Wives are to be subject to their husbands as the church is subject to Christ. The husband is the head of the wife. Taking that back to 1 Timothy 3, we see that just as the man is the manager of the household, so God's household is to be managed by men. Marriage is a picture of Christ's relationship to His church, and the man and the woman are assigned different but equally important roles in the family. So, too, in the church, men and women alike have been given spiritual gifts with which to glorify God, but the position or office of the woman in the church is not to be one of leadership over the man. Taking the whole counsel of God into consideration, this is the only reasonable conslusion to draw. --Joe! |
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2 | God can use woman in the ministry? | Gal 3:28 | OldTimer | 37138 | ||
The problem with your reasoning is that you are ignoring "the clear revelation of Scripture" regarding the women who are mentioned in the NT as performing the ministry of an apostle, prophets, evangelists, pastors/teachers and deacons, possibly even an overseer (see my comments some where below, to me the offshoots of these commentaries are somewhat confusing). The point being that if only men could be in leadership, then no women would be mentioned in the NT as being leaders. As I also commented (somewhere?), the doctrine of the headship of the husband to the wife is not the same as headship of all men to all women. Let me try to give an example. My husband is my head, but not all the other men in my church or community. My husband may request me to clean his toilet and I would do so. But if a man walking down the street grabbed me by the arm and demanded that I clean HIS toilet, because only men can be in leadership, and all men have the headship over all women, then I'm sure that I would refuse. Now Paul says that he does not allow a woman-wife to teach or usurp authority over her husband, because doing so would overthrow the headship of her husband. For example, if I would get out of unity with my husband, and go off on my own on a tangent somewhere - say decide I would go to the Amazon to teach the headhunters, when he did not think that was wise, I would be violating our relationship and his headship. By the same token, if I were to presume that because God has called me to teach, I should rebuke my husband publicly or berate his intelligence or make fun of his opinions - then I would also be usurping his authority. Nor do I attempt to "correct" his theology, although we often have discussions about spiritual matters, respecting each other's opinions and advice about a broad variety of topics. I have known women who thought they were spiritually superior to their husbands and behaved in this way. This is what I believe Paul was trying to prevent. We are also told to submit ourselves to the church leadership God has appointed over us. Another example: Suppose my pastor were to make a boo boo in his sermon, and I stood up and called his attention to it in a rude manner during the service. That would be out of order. However, if I were to go to him after the service and ask him about it in a humble manner, that would be appropriate behavior. |
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3 | God can use woman in the ministry? | Gal 3:28 | Reformer Joe | 37173 | ||
You wrote: "Let me try to give an example. My husband is my head, but not all the other men in my church or community. My husband may request me to clean his toilet and I would do so. But if a man walking down the street grabbed me by the arm and demanded that I clean HIS toilet, because only men can be in leadership, and all men have the headship over all women, then I'm sure that I would refuse." You are arguing here against positions I have not taken. Nowhere have I said that EVERY man is your head. I wrote precisely what Scripture says: that just as God has ordained that the husband oversees his own hosehold, so God has ordained that being male is one of the qualifications for overseeing the flock. Not EVERY male in the congregation is the head over EVERY woman, but it is clear from Scripture that the overseers of the congregation are to be male. Those overseers are to shepherd both the other men and all of the women in the congregation. There is no distinction in Scripture between a "pastor" and an "overseer/elder," so while God does gift of teaching to women, He does not give them the authority to use it in the context of being an overseer. --Joe! |
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