Examining Ministry And Ordination Of Women In Today's Church

Introduction to Women Ministry

Critically examine the ministry and ordination of women in today's church with reference to 1corinthians 14:34 and 1timothy 2:12 in your answer?

The position of women or the role of women, who is also referred to as the daughter of Eve, in the Church is a debatable one, especially in respect to Paul’s 1 Corinthian 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2: 12. Paul’s, Corinthian 14:34 or to be more precise and correct the Corinthian 14:34-35, says that the women should “remain silent in the churches”; Paul here comments that women should not speak or rather they should not be allowed to speak in the churches (Du Toit, 2015). They should have a submissive attitude inside the churches, and if they have any kind of query then they should ask their husbands to solve that problem, and that too inside their home.

1 Timothy 2:12 by Paul is a verse that focus on the role of a woman as a teacher. According to this particular verse, women are not allowed to teach the man, nor are they allowed to exercise control over the man (Lioy, 2015). The verse or rather St .Paul’s letter to Timothy asks women to remain silent and forbid them from teaching and exercising authority. Well, these explanations should not be regarded as the conclusion regarding the position of a woman as a teacher and a pastor, mainly because of two reasons. Firstly, all these verses were written originally in Greek, which was later, translated into English, and the meaning of theses English words and phrases have changed over the period. Secondly, these are all the literal meaning of the verses that were written and at times, the literal meanings are contradictory to what the author had said previously in the same scripture (Starbuck, 2015).

Throughout history, the role of women as teachers, preachers, as well as the pastor is an important matter of discussion, especially within the SDA or the “Seventh Day Adventist Church”.. Droste (2015), states that during the nineteenth century, theological discussion was actually in favor of women and it favored women’s participation in church activities as the preacher or pastor. Therefore, the theological discussion centers on the Adventists. The theological discussion during the year 1866 states that Paul never forbade women from praying in public or from being the prophet. The discussion refers to the fact that the Bible mentioned about many prophets, who were women and it has mentions women leaders who were part of the local congregation (Payne, 2015). The discussion states that there was a male headship during the creation of Mankind and even during the fall of Adam and Eve; and this particular headship had remained during the time of Adventist. Therefore, women could play the part that was assigned to a man, provided the authority that has been provided to her does not make her a usurper and at the same time, disorderliness is not allowed (Long, 2015).

The issue of participation of women in ordination and church ministry could easily be resolved by stating that verses 34-35, of chapter 14 of the Corinthian by Apostle Paul, is an, “oral law” that is based on the Jewish tradition, more than that of being the word of the Almighty God. Another argument that is put forward in defense of the view about women’s participation in church ordination and ministry is related to the misinterpretation of the verses. According to Payne (2015), during the nineteenth century, there are many people who had hold these two statements made by Apostle Paul, as declarative statements, and this is something, which is not all the right thing to do. First of all the Greek word ‘gunaikes’ has been translated as  ‘women’, whereas the real meaning of the word is ‘wives’ (Jennings, 2015). The argument in the defense of the view of women ministry and ordination states that Paul never asked women to remain quiet in the church, or maintain silence in the church rather he has asked the wives to maintain silence because during the first century A. D most of the women were illiterate (Horrell, 2015). Therefore, at times their questions could cause disturbance inside the church premises. Moreover, Thornton (2015), also states that, previously in chapter 11, Apostle Paul has referred to the women prophet, and has also referred to the fact that if women had the proper attire then they can pray in public and at the same time could also prophecy as well. Theological discussion states that Paul actually wanted the wives to be silent, so that the other women in the church could speak; and this is the reason why in the letters to Timothy, Paul did not permit the women to teach. The modern commentators on bible, believe that the statement made in 1 Timothy 2:12, is also based on the lack of education during the ancient time. Moreover, the fact that in the letter to Timothy Paul has said that women should not author their husbands and does not refer to the inferiority of women but rather to the subordination of women to their husbands (Jennings, 2015).

Historical Background of Women Ministry and Ordination

The scholars consider the New Testament at times as a “Big Lie” because the New Testament has been copied several number of times. Therefore, while commenting on the 1 Corinthian 14:34, and also on verse 35, the scholars state that there are certain evidences which state that it was the scribes who had added these verses later in the New Testament (Mahon, 2015). Although, according to the scholar, such as Stanford (2015), deleting or adding verses was not at all an ethical thing, yet it was practiced at the time copying the Bible. In this case there are evidences that prove that, these two verses are not there in the original verses of Paul. Moreover, Paul’s verses to Timothy, according to the scholars, have been regarded as a part of the proof text, therefore, the statement made there has been regarded as a definitive statement and it was established as a doctrine as well.

Scholars believe that the wrong translation of specified texts allowed some theologians to suppress the voice of women, especially it served the purpose of British Reformed theologians; who believed that women should not be allowed to teach or to rule. Although, the history speaks, of some women religious leaders like Antoinette Brown, who was ordained as the Universalist minister in the year 1853 in New England and the Wisconsin Congregation. She exercised her authority in this post for a term of 24 years. In the year 1917, the successor of the United Reform Church, the “The Congregationalist Church”, ordained one of their women for the first time. Although, in the 1993, the “Act of Synod”, came as an official structure, which refused women’s ordination and ministry, and the women’s right to exercise the power of the priest was also being rejected through this act.

Conclusion

The verses that are discussed here in very simple words could mean that women are not allowed to speak rather they are not even given the permission of exercising any kind of speech inside the church. Moreover, at the same time, it also means that women are people who should remain submissive and at times, they are inferior to a man and therefore should not author him. If women themselves go through the Bible, they will find women prophets, leaders and teachers, such as Miriam, four daughters of Philip, Deborah and many more. Therefore, these verses actually contradict what the author himself has said previously and raises the question whether the misinterpretations that were made are intentional or not, whether  it was possible for the church to prohibit women to act in the role of the ‘elders’ or the ‘pastors’.

References

Droste, C.J., 2015. The ordination of women in the Catholic Church: arguments for teachers and students in schools to consider–Part 1 the case against. International Studies in Catholic Education, 7(1), pp.4-14.

Du Toit, P.L.G., 2015. Paul's reference to the" keeping of the commandments of God" in 1 Corinthians 7: 19. Neotestamentica, 49(1), pp.21-45.

Horrell, D.G., 2015. Fear, hope, and doing good: wives as a paradigm of mission in 1 Peter.

Jennings, M.A., 2015. " Make My Joy Complete": The Price of Partnership in the Letter of Paul to the Philippians.

Lioy, D., 2015. Paul's theology of the cross: a case study analysis of 2 Corinthians 11: 16-12: 10. Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary, 20, pp.89-133.

Long, F., 2015. A Wife In Relation To A Husband: Greek Discourse Pragmatic And Cultural Evidence For Interpreting I Tim 2: 11-15. The Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies, 2(2), p.3.

Mahon, M., 2015. “Sisters with Voices”: A Study of the Experiences and Challenges Faced by Black Women in London Baptist Association Church Ministry Settings. black theology, 13(3), pp.273-296.

Payne, P.B., 2015. The Bible Teaches the Equal Standing of Man and Woman. Priscilla Papers, 29(1), p.3.

Payne, P.B., 2015. Man and woman, one in Christ: An exegetical and theological study of Paul's letters. Zondervan.

Stanford, R., 2015. The Ecclesiological Grounding of Pauline Language of Leadership in 1 and 2 Timothy.

Starbuck, S.R., 2015. 21st June: 4th Sunday After Pentecost 1 Samuel 17.1 a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-39; Psalm 9.9-20; Job 38.1-11; 2 Corinthians 6.1-13; Mark 4.35-41. The Expository Times, 126(8), pp.396-398.

Thornton, D.T., 2015. Hostility in the House of God: An" Interested" Investigation of the Opponents in 1 and 2 Timothy (Doctoral dissertation, University of Otago).