SERMON: Women in Ministry | Various Texts
Women in Ministry | Various Texts
Shaun Marksbury | Quacco Baptist Church
Sunday Evening Service | 2 July, 2017
My proposition to you isn’t that we should let the Bible lead, something I think everyone in this room already believes. In fact, I imagine that the Bible is so clear that you will agree with about 90% of what I have to say. My proposition is that the Bible gives us clear guidance on this issue—that is that ordained men should lead in church services, start to finish.
I.
Introduction
II.
The Question of Leadership in the Church
III.
The Teaching of Scripture
A.
The consistent image of gender-roles
B.
The key biblical texts regarding women in
leadership:
1.
1 Corinthians 11:3–16
2.
1 Corinthians 14:26–40
3.
Galatians 3:28
4.
1 Timothy 2:9–15
5.
1 Timothy 3:11
6.
Titus 2:1–6
IV.
What about the public reading of Scripture?
V.
Common objections:
VI.
Final Thoughts
Shaun Marksbury | Quacco Baptist Church
Sunday Evening Service | 2 July, 2017
Video:
Audio:
Sermon Notes
Women in Ministry | Various Texts
Shaun Marksbury | Quacco Baptist Church
Sunday Evening Service | 2 July, 2017
Shaun Marksbury | Quacco Baptist Church
Sunday Evening Service | 2 July, 2017
I.
Introduction
The message this
evening comes from a series of related questions that many people in the
congregation have been asking. I have to
confess on my part that it is not an issue that I’ve articulated well,
especially when it comes to specific aspects of application. In fact, I’m not sure that it’s an issue that
is articulated clearly most of the time in Evangelical churches.
For instance, we have the issue of the
involvement of women in ministry. We’ve
had roughly sixty years of feminism and women’s liberation theology pounding
our seminaries and pulpits. More
conservative institutions for the most part have weathered the worldly
philosophies, but not completely without comprise. It seems that there has been a reduction of
the biblical view to “no women in the pulpit, everything else is okay.” That means that women (and unordained men,
for what it’s worth) can lead the congregation in prayer, reading, and maybe
even some teaching (as long as it’s short).
Some pastors even yield their pulpits to their wives for certain times
of teaching, and we’re even seeing more and more Mr.-and-Mrs. Pastor teams. (There’s a new church in a shopping center
just down the road that has one, and it’s one of many.)
Historically, none of this has been the case
in Christian churches, and this question that comes to how ministry should
operate in the body. As
Christians—Baptists no less—we believe that Scripture should guide how we
worship. This is known as the regulative
principle of worship. The London Baptist
Confession of 1689 says, “the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is
instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not
be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the
suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not
prescribed in the Holy Scriptures” (22.1).
Consider the following:
- · God wouldn’t accept Cain’s offering (Gn 4:3–8).
- · In the Ten Commandments, God will not share worship with another god or even an object (Ex 20:2–6).
- · God wanted Moses to build the tabernacle “after the pattern” (Ex 25:40).
- · God wouldn’t accept the unauthorized offering of Nadab and Abihu and killed them for it (Lv 10).
- · Consider also how many of the man-made traditions of worship Jesus rejected (e.g., Mt 15:1–14).
- · Paul condemns the “self-made religion” at Colossae (Col 2:23).
When we consider the biblical evidence, we
walk away with one, clear message: God despises experimental religion. He doesn’t want us to try new ways of doing
things, He doesn’t want us to innovate with the old ways. We don’t do something new on Sunday that will
shake things up or that’s neat. We
certainly shouldn’t make changes in our format because we’re afraid of what
people will say to us. While our
locations may change (we can meet in homes or catecombs or buildings), and some
of our technology may change (microphones and keyboards), neither our means nor
our message must change.
When we select pastors, we should look to
biblical qualifications, not whether someone has an MBA. When we meet, we read Scripture, sing, and
preach (1 Tm 4:13; 2 Tm 4:2; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). We pray (cf. Mt 21:13). We make disciples, baptize, and participate
in the Lord’s supper (Mt 28:19; Acts 2:38–39; 1 Cor 11:23–26; Col
2:11–12). And we should do all things
decently and in order (1 Cor 14:40).
My proposition to you isn’t that we should
let the Bible lead, something I think everyone in this room already
believes. In fact, I imagine that the
Bible is so clear that you will agree with about 90% of what I have to
say. My proposition is that the Bible
gives us clear guidance on this issue—that
is that ordained men should lead in church services, start to finish. Let’s start with:
II.
The Question of Leadership in the Church
There are three
terms for the role of leadership in the church, bishop or overseer, elder, and pastor.
The three are used synonymously in
Scripture, referring to the same office (Acts 20:17, 28; also 1 Pt 5:1-2). Theologians over the past sixty or so years have
fallen into two camps concerning this office:
- Complementarian—This view teaches that
men and women were created to complement one another and equally bear
God’s image. By “complement,” men
and women are created for and called to different roles that are essential.
- Egalitarian— This view emphasizes the
equality that men and women share as God’s image-bearers. Because of the Fall, women were
subjected to their husbands. In
Christ, the two are once again equal.
Any roles in marriage or ministry are for whoever is the best
suited, regardless of sex.
It’s abundantly
clear in Scripture—right from the beginning—that men and women equally bear the
image of God (Gn 1:27). However, contra the egalitarian position, no
Scripture anywhere approves the ordination of women to a church office. There are examples of godly, prominent women
in both the Old and New Testaments, but that is consistent only with the
premise that we are all imago dei. Instead of authorizing women to church
offices, the language of Scripture makes clear that men are to lead in the
church.
III.
The Teaching of Scripture
A.
The consistent image of gender-roles
God in His
sovereignty chose to create man first, and then woman. God speaks to Adam, and presumably, Adam’s expected
to fill her in later. Adam also names
the animals as well as his wife, implying his headship over her. They both bear God’s image, but their roles
develop even in the perfection of the Garden of Eden.
With the Fall came
another wrinkle in the male/female dynamic.
During the curse of Genesis 3:16, God says to the woman, “Your desire
(תְּשׁוּקָ×”—t’shuqah) shall be for your husband, and
he shall rule over you.” The word for
desire is the same as in Gen 4:7: “If
you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire (תְּשׁוּקָ×”—t’shuqah) is for you, but you must rule
over it.”
That consideration
(among a couple of other syntactical nuances) prompted a recent change in the
ESV. Since its inception in 2001, the
ESV has always translated Genesis 3:16 as above. However, in 2016, the committee changed it to
read, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over
you.”
Whether that is the
best translation is debatable, but
this seems to be the implications of the curse.
A wife will, at times, sinfully desire the leadership role in
marriage. However, that husband must instead lovingly bear the authority
in the relationship (1 Tm 2:12–14).
The image continues
most appropriately in the New Testament in the Son of God. It is not an accident that God chose to be
born into the world as a male, a flip of the celestial coin. He chose not to take on the form of the
daughter of God, not to be the second
Eve.
As the first male
born to Mary, He was holy to the Lord (Lk 2:23). Because Adam had transgressed, though,
humanity could only be redeemed by the Second Adam (1 Cor 15:45, 47; Rm
5:14). Thus, He (not “She”) must fulfill
the gospel and rule the church.
Furthermore, when
He appointed twelve apostles, He didn’t engage in egalitarianism. He didn’t appoint half women and half men
to make it fair, or so that the church could receive a broader
perspective. Despite the claims of some
recent television programs and movies, He didn’t appoint even one woman. He didn’t avoid that appointment because of
the cultural and religious norms and mores, for He was crucified for flaunting
the traditions of men. No, He chose men
because men are responsible to take the lead.
The church and
family should reflect this model.
Indeed, Paul compares the church to a household (1 Tim 3:15), and a key
qualification for an elder is whether he runs his household well (1 Tm
3:4–5). Scripture speaks to the fact
that husbands are to lead in the family and that wives are to submit (Eph
5:22–24; Col 3:18; Ti 2:4–5). As such,
it should be no surprise that “the household of God” carries that image forward
into the corporate setting.
The image of male
leadership, however, is never of oppression.
When Jesus came, He didn’t break a bruised reed or quench a faintly
burning wick (Isa 42:3). When He appointed
His apostles, He told them not to “lord it over them” (Mt 20:25). Men should lead in a manner worthy of their
wives’ submission, loving them as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25).
As such, the model
in both the Old and New Testaments for family and church is as follows:
Man à Love | Follow and Submit ß Woman
Even so, could it
be that Scripture permits women to lead in some way in ministry if she also
submits to her husband or to her pastor?
Is a woman herself entirely disallowed the pastoral office? If so, can she participate in other ways in
front of the church? I don’t believe
so. In fact, someone said this to me in
2005 or so and it has come true: no reading of Scripture that allows women to
lead could not also be applied to homosexuals, and that is exactly what we’ve
seen. Let’s turn to texts that are
essential to our understanding.
B.
The key biblical texts regarding women in
leadership:
There are six
passages that form the battlements of the debate: 1 Corinthians 11:3–16, 1
Corinthians 14:26–30, Galatians 3:28, 1 Timothy 2:9–15, 1 Timothy 3:11, and
Titus 2:1–6. Let’s look at each of these
in depth.
1.
1 Corinthians 11:3–16
We looked at this
passage this morning. Because Pastor
Paul went over this text, I won’t linger too long here. The creation order bears out that man was
over woman before the Fall, even though man was never meant to see woman as
inferior. The head-coverings in this
chapter were a cultural sign in the Roman world of a wife’s submission to her
husband, compatible with biblical teaching, and so women mustn’t remove them,
even if she’s giving prophetic utterance.
(It is our contention that, though God can, He does not continue to give
these kinds of utterances in churches today.)
Now, while it seems
that Paul tacitly permits women speaking, as long as their heads are covered
(v. 5), he doesn’t say that women should speak in church. All he does is highlight their lack of
head-coverings as evidence of their pride. The apostle demonstrates the shameful way
women were addressing the congregation.
As such, not only is this a weak verse to be used in support of women
speaking in church, it’s more likely part of Paul’s larger argument against
it.
2.
1 Corinthians 14:26–40
In this text, Paul
gives his clearest prohibitions against women speaking in church. In chapter 11, he talks about the pride in
prophecies. In chapter 12, he talks
about the pride in spiritual gifts in general.
In chapter 13, he highlights the love we should have for one another in
Christ’s church.
Finally, in chapter
14, he condemns the lack of order in churches amid charismatic chaos (see vv.
26, 33, 40). Rather than everyone
speaking at once, they should do so “in turn” (v. 27). No more than two or three people should be
allowed to speak in tongues, and “one” should interpret (v. 28). If someone receives a prophetic utterance, he
should speak and then remain silent afterward (v. 30). The prophets are to weigh and judge the
prophesies given (vv. 29, 32).
It’s within this
call to order that Paul says that “women should keep silent in the
churches.” This is a parenthetical
thought specific to the role of women in churches.
- V. 33 states the universality of the
command, “As in all churches.” This
isn’t an issue that was strictly for the Corinthian believers, and when
previously addressing women in church, Paul again made the command
universal (11:16).
- Paul says in v. 34 that women should
remain silent; “For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in
submission, as the Law also says” (v. 34). Now, Robert Thomas in his book Spiritual Gifts (114–15) lists five
views on this verse, concluding that it means that women are not to speak
in public services (the most natural reading of the Scripture). As equal image-bearers, their submission
pictures Christ’s submission to the Father (1 Cor 11:3). The Law includes Genesis, so Paul is
again referencing the creation order and the Fall.
- V. 35 would continue, then, to further
emphasize their silence in churches.
If they have questions, they should ask their husbands, but at
home. They should learn, and their
husbands should take the responsibility to teach them. Paul concludes, “For it is shameful for
a woman to speak in church”—scandalous.
The women of Corinth
were interrupting the church services with questions, not for edification but to
embarrass or passively voice disagreement.
So, women were asking questions of the interpretation of prophecies, calling
the taught Word of God into account. Perhaps
some were even using the time to air a disagreement they were having with their
husbands. Paul says that all this discussion
should happen behind closed doors, and that godly women should not interrupt
the services.
For those of you
thinking that he’s just picking on women here, notice the greater context. He’s essentially telling a bunch of people to
hush. Some people were engaged in
tongues and other things to draw attention to themselves, and too many people
were turning the worship into a stage for their pride. So, he’s telling most men to be quiet, as
well.
3.
Galatians 3:28
Egalitarians say
this is the “magna carta” of the church, erasing all differences between men
and women. However, Paul continues to
use terms and define roles elsewhere, so this doesn’t seem to be his
purpose. This verse doesn’t erase the
differences between bond and free, because Paul also gives instruction for them
in their respective roles. The main
purpose here is to speak of our unity in Christ through salvation. That’s why some books on church government
have no indexed references to
this verse—it has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. Passages speaking of who should be ordained
should be consulted.
4.
1 Timothy 2:9–15
This is another
prohibitive text. What some of the women
did in this community was use the braiding of hair to weave in expensive pearls
to signify wealth. Paul here says that women
must avoid showy displays meant to attract attention or signal social status,
as the church isn’t a country club or a fashion show. Their adorning was to be done “with modesty
and self-control” (v. 9). Instead of
pridefully drawing attention to themselves, v. 10, godly women adorn themselves
“with good works.”
With that said, we
then come to v. 11. Women are to be
learners, contra some of the misogynistic beliefs of the Jewish men. However, according to v. 12, they cannot be
teachers of men or to exercise authority over men. In fact, the Holy Spirit here uses the words
“quietly,” “submissiveness,” and “quiet” to describe the modest and self-controlled
demeanor of women as they learn. Paul
points to the creation order: first, man was created before woman, and second,
woman was deceived, not man.
5.
1 Timothy 3:11
This is also seen
as a permissive text for women being ordained as deacons. For the sake of time, we won’t go into it. For, even if we grant “deaconesses”
biblically, we do so recognizing that elders bear the responsibilities of
leadership and teaching within the church.
6.
Titus 2:1–6
This is a
permissive text. It’s clear here that,
not only are women are permitted to teach, they are commanded to do so. However, within the context of the
conversation, notice there’s no mention of women teaching men, only other
women. Women should and must be teaching
in the church—there are some things that men cannot communicate well to women,
and vice versa. It’s the task of the
whole church to build up the church—not just the task of the pastors. With that said, this text cannot be used to
counteract Paul’s earlier words.
IV.
What about the public reading of Scripture?
This is where the main question at our church comes into
view. This is more of a grey area
since Scripture doesn’t say specifically if a woman (or an unordained man, for
that matter) can or cannot read Scripture.
Now, some of our discussion has been focused on whether reading implies
teaching or authority. I think a case could be made there, but not a strong one.
If the discussion began and ended there,
we’d have to say this is an issue in which we could agree to disagree.
As such, we have to
consider a little more. There are some
passages in addition to the ones we’ve considered. Consider, for instance, that God through
Moses gave the task of publicly reading His Word to the elders and to
priesthood (Dt 31:9–13):
Then
Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried
the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded
them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release,
at the Feast of Booths, 11 when
all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will
choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people,
men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may
hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of
this law, 13 and
that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord
your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to
possess.”
Later, Ezra the
priest engaged in the public reading of Scripture (Neh 8:2–5):
2 So Ezra the priest
brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand
what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the
Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the
women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were
attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And
Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.
And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on
his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah,
Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5 And
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the
people, and as he opened it all the people stood.
When Paul addresses
Timothy, he calls him to take on the pastoral task in Ephesus. He says to him (1 Tm 4:13): “Until I come,
devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to
teaching.” The verb translated “devote
yourself” is singular, meaning that Paul means these three instructions
specifically for Timothy.
When we see
Scripture read publicly, then, it seems to always fall under the auspices of
ordained leadership; debating whether reading or prayer is teaching is
secondary to that point. Moreover, we
saw that Scripture calls all women and most men to remain silent in churches
(singing and other congregational responses notwithstanding). These considerations have historically lead
churches to restrict the reading to pastors or elders alone.
In the Presbyterian
Church, the Book of Church Order (50-1, 2) has that the public reading of
Scripture is to be done by a minister “or by some other person,” historically,
a visiting minister, an elder, or a someone in training for ordination. However, the PCA has begun allowing
un-ordained men and women to engage in this practice, teetering close to the
same decisions the PCUSA faced before compromising on other issues. As the Westminster
Larger Catechism Question 156 says,
Q.
Is the Word of God to be read by all?
A. Although all are not to be permitted to read publicly to the
congregation, yet all sorts of people are bound to read it apart by themselves,
and with their families: to which end, the Holy Scriptures are to be translated
out of the original into vulgar languages.
V.
Common objections:
- Isn’t this just
legalism?
Properly defined, legalism is a system of salvation based on personal works. One can be legalistic in the application of scriptural commands by misapplying the commands, increasing the burden one must bear beyond what God said. - Can’t the Bible mean
different things to different people?
This is the postmodernist’s approach, attacking the sufficiency of Scripture by questioning whether anything can be certain. This is spiritual suicide, however, for if the Bible can mean anything, then it means nothing. - What if a woman feels
called to ministry and she’s blessing people?
Several prominent women preachers are either “pastors” or instruct both women and men and have avid followers—Beth Moore, Kay Arthur, Joyce Meyer, Darlene Zschech, Christine Caine, Lysa TerKeurst, etc. Whether they are good or bad teachers, solid or heretical in doctrine is beside the point. Nowhere does Scripture list the qualification for ministry as a feeling. While some certainly can desire ministry, that alone is no reason to justify their desires, even if some people feel that the ministry is helping them in some way. - What if a woman hears
God tell her to enter ministry?
The Holy Spirit has inspired clear Scripture on the matter—men are specifically called to ministry. For the Holy Spirit to then communicate to a woman that she should enter ministry would be to contradict Himself, and God is not a God of confusion. As such, a woman claiming to hear from God in such a way would be a false prophet adding to Scripture (cf. Dt 4:2; 5:22; 12:32).
VI.
Final Thoughts
Women are essential
to the life of the local church. By
“essential,” I mean that we could not do what we do without you. My wife, for instance, takes care of so much
in my life so that I can be ministering to others; her ministry to me and our
children is no less vital. That’s true
of all women—they have a high calling from Scripture that makes church
possible. Just because it’s a different
calling doesn’t mean that it’s less godly or special.
You may or may not have thought through all these issues before, and that is alright. Typically, other than a few items of
ministry, most in the church take certain features of church life for
granted. Perhaps you’re not even sure
you agree. That’s also okay—you do not
have to agree with every layer of doctrine this church teaches to be a member
here; you only need to know what it
teaches and begin studying for yourself.
Understand, though, that there isn’t true freedom leaving a
biblical framework for worship. We’re
left with the ideas of men, our own presumptions, and the question of
tradition. Only in the Lord do we
experience true freedom, and He tells us to abide in His Word.
