Bible Question: Does a women have the right to be an Elder or a Bishop ..... |
Bible Answer: Hi Does a woman have the right to be an elder or a bishop? Forgive my seeming to criticise the question but the strict answer is of course no, nor does any man. Before God we have privileges not rights when it comes to serving Him. And it is important that we remember this. It was because the church forgot this that it went into a dark history. 'GOD IS IN HEAVEN AND WE ARE ON THE EARTH, THEREFORE OUR WORDS SHOULD BE FEW. (Ecclesiastes 5.2)' and this is true for both men and women. A woman certainly has the right to be made president of the US of A but not to become an elder or bishop. So let us rephrase the question, 'does a woman have the inestimable privilege of being open to consideration for God to call her to be an elder or a bishop.' I suspect you may have stirred a hornets' nest :-))) But first we do have to ask how we define an elder or bishop. For the functions that are seen as adhering to the title have in my view an important bearing on the answer. Certainly exceptional women did in the past have positions of high importance. Deborah was a judge of Israel and a prophetess. Huldah was a prophetess consulted by the highest in the land. Priscilla (Prisca) was prominent with her husband in helping Aquila and in ministering. But Paul puts the position quite clearly when he says, 'I permit no woman to teach or have authority over men, she is to keep silent.' And this would appear to have in mind authoritative teaching, as he relates it to the woman having been deceived in Eden (1 Timothy 2.12-15). And that is the point. At the risk of offending half the world it should be pointed out that women think differently from men. Men are more logical in their thinking, women more intuitive. Thus they can give different perspectives. Of course this does not deny that many women can train themselves to be very logical, (and many men are very illogical) but whatever their training the basic difference is there, and can come out at any time to affect the position, both for good and for bad. It is significant that Jesus had both male and female disciples who followed Him about (Luke 8.2-3) but He only appointed male Apostles. (He did not even officially appoint leaders over the women's section). Thus it would seem that the Scriptures are saying that overall the authority must lie with men, both in teaching and in church government. For the divine order from the point of view of authority is the Godhead, Christ, the man, the woman (1 Corinthians 11.1-16). Yet that some women have an important part to play comes out above, and on the mission field where there has been many a Deborah and Huldah. Many a tribe would not have been evangelised had it not been for women. But in most cases those very women arranged for the appointment under God of men to have authority in the church. They acknowleged the important principle that God had laid down through Paul. It is therefore I suggest on the basis of these principles that we must come to our answer. Certainly Paul did not visualise women bishops/elders as authoritative leaders of the local church for he said that they were to be the husband of one wife. But in all this it must be emphasised that this was not so that men could lord it over women. It was a matter of each having their proper function in the purposes of God. As Timothy pointed out in the same context women had a vital function which men have little part in. It is in child-bearing and rearing that she will be able to ‘work out her salvation’, the salvation that God has worked within her (1 Timothy 2.15; Philippians 2.12-13). In other words that is her major function in the purposes of God. She is given the prime responsibility to lay the foundations of all future church leaders. It was Moses’ godly mother who laid the foundation for his future ministry. The vital importance of this comes out in the fact that Muslims are reproducing rapidly while in certain countries Christians are only doing so in very limited fashion. It has been estimated that if the present birth rate goes on in the UK it will become a Muslim nation within fifty years. And the US will be next in line. That is how important it is. Best wishes. Jonp |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 3 | Author | ||
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mae68 | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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GodsNewsBoy | ||
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jaykay | ||
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gizbeth1956 | ||
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gizbeth1956 | ||
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Elder | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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jonp | ||
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Don Finch | ||
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number7 | ||
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canthony |