愛戀 ‧ 情曲 ‧ 神の語

Introduction

The proper biblical understanding of women’s place in the ministry has been in intense debates among evangelicals in modern times. In general, there are two major views on this subject: complementarian and egalitarian. Although there are nuances of beliefs and methods of applications within each camp, they do represent the two prevalent perspectives on women’s role in ministry today. This research paper will attempt to show that neither view is entirely correct or incorrect. Both men and women are equal in their inherent worth before God, and both gender can function in all the ministerial positions in Christ with a calling, and that within a marriage context, the husband and wife have different roles.

Women’s Role in Ministry

            It is fundamental to establish women’s personhood before discussing their roles in the church. In the Genesis creation account, both “male and female” were created “in the image of God” (Gen 1:27).[i] Therefore, men and women have equal spiritual status and value, before the same Creator who “shows personal favoritism to no man” (Gal 2:6; 3:28), although there are definite qualitative differences between the masculine and feminine bodies and spirits. Both complementarian and egalitarian concur with the equal intrinsic worth of both sexes. However, complementarian, such as Piper, Grudem and Schreiner, believe that women are prohibited from fulfilling certain functions in the church.[ii] These offices may vary from individual complementarian, but usually include pastoral positions such as pastors, elders (presbyters), overseers, bishops, and apostolic and prophetic offices.[iii] The main supporting texts are 1 Cor 11:1-16, 14:34-35 and 1 Tim 2:9-15.[iv] Egalitarians, on the other hand, believe that these passages need to be interpreted against the specific culture and setting of Paul’s day; not every verse is to be taken literally as universal commands, as this would violate hermeneutical principles. The Scriptures, therefore, places no restrictions on women being pastoral ministers in the Body of Christ.[v]

            In regard to First Corinthians 11:1-16, the words translated as “man” and “woman,” aner and gune, are also the words for “husband” and “wife.”[vi] The context concerning “honor” and the reference to Adam and Eve, who are marriage partners, show that “husband” and “wife” are the better translation.[vii] There are no Scriptures indicating that every man is the “head” of every woman, but Eph 5:23 is an unambiguous verse on the headship of the husband. Whatever the meaning of this headship is, which will be discussed later, it is clear that it makes much more biblical sense to limit this headship within the marriage context only. It is also not very difficult to see that the head covering in this passage is only a cultural constraint particular to the Corinthian Church during Paul’s time,[viii] for he did not command any other churches to follow suit. Moreover, nowhere in the Bible do we find a direct relationship between outward physical adornment and a believer’s sanctity (cf. 1 Sam 16:7). The principles behind the customs of the day are good Christian witness through proper order and submission, which are applicable across all ages. If complementarians do not require women or wives to wear head coverings in the church, but explained it as something culturally conditional, then the headship of aner over gune must also be interpreted in the context of the passage. Thus, if it is not referring to a man’s authority over women in church functions, sound exegetical rule does not allow room for prohibiting women in certain ministry offices from this passage.

            In a similar way, First Corinthians 14:34-35 is not an all-inclusive regulation forbidding all women to speak in the church under all circumstances, for in the same epistle, Paul allowed women to pray and prophesy (1 Cor 11). Whatever the specific situation was that Paul addressed to the Corinthian women, it most probably has to do with them being disruptive of the services with their questions and speech.[ix] First Timothy 2:9-15 is the only text in the Bible that excludes women from teaching. However, this instruction must be interpreted as situational for the particular condition in the church at Ephesus at Paul’s time, and not a transcultural precept, for many godly women have taught in the Bible.[x] Priscilla taught a godly male preacher, Apollos, a fivefold teacher who is “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18). Paul wants the older women to teach the younger women in his letter to Titus (Titus 2:3-4). The major reason that Paul did not allow women to teach and have authority over men in the Ephesian church was because of the many false teachers and teachings there, and women were much more susceptible in those days, being uneducated, as specifically mentioned by Paul (1 Tim 5:13; 2 Tim 3:6-7). If this passage was meant to be applied literally under all circumstances, places and times, then women should not adorn themselves with “braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing” today (1 Tim 2:9), which obviously can only be true in opposition to standard biblical hermeneutics.

            Many complementarians have also purported that since all of the twelve apostles of Christ and most early prominent leaders are male, therefore, core leadership in the church must be exercised by men only. However, this view is unsupported by Scriptures. If we follow the same logic, since all the twelve apostles of Christ are Jews, does this imply that non-Jews can never take up leadership responsibilities in the church as well? Moreover, all of the twelve are from Galilee, except Judas Iscariot, does this mean Galileans are preferred as pastoral clergies? The reason that there are no women in the twelve and less women leaders in the early church is because it is more culturally convenient for ministry in the social milieu of the day. Women had inferior status in the general public and at home, as “many men felt that women were morally weaker than men,” and that men and husbands enjoyed much more privileges.[xi] (It is in this context that wifely submission, not a universal command for all women, needed to be emphasized for a good Christian witness now that women discovered their freedom and rights in Christ.) Therefore, on the contrary, the fact that women could stand in ministry offices even in those times shows that the church gradually recognized their equal ministry qualification. Women’s subordinate footing was only progressively amended towards biblical norm just like slavery, neither of which is advocated by the Word of God.

            If we hold to the verbal plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, which we must, then we are obligated to accept that the whole of Scriptures is the divine Word of God. Hence, by all testimony of the entire Bible, it is unsound to believe that women are unfit to stand in certain ministry functions. There are plenty of examples of women leaders in the Bible, such as Deborah the prophetess (Judg 4), Paul’s close co-worker Priscilla who instructed Apollos (Acts 18), maybe even examples of women apostles and elders (pastors) (Rom 16:7; 2 John).[xii] Apart from finding instances of women teaching and in leadership positions in the Bible, the crux of the matter lies in the nature of Christian ministry. Gal 3:28 expressly says that there is “neither male nor female… in Christ.” The context and the reference to “in Christ,” which means to be part of the same Body of Christ (Rom 6:3; 12:5) and to be like Christ (Gal 2:20), speak of a spiritual unity and equality when one places his/her faith in Jesus. Surely Paul is not talking about being indistinguishable between a male and female physiologically, or there are no longer actual ethnic Jews and Gentiles, or actual slaves and masters; thus, he is pointing out the spiritual reality of male and female’s oneness in Christ. As the Spirit of Christ is neither male nor female, so those who are in Christ are no longer limited by their natural gender in their Christian life and service. Therefore, in terms of functions in Christ, women can receive any of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:1-11) and stand in any of the fivefold office (Eph 4:11). There is no Scriptural ground to base a ministry role’s qualification to natural gender when Christian ministry is spiritual by nature. Experientially, there are countless women who feel called to the fulltime ministry as missionaries, evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc. Many who obeyed have born tremendous fruit for the Kingdom of God. One would have to explain away every single prompting and apparent confirmation in these women’s lives throughout two thousand years of church history as false or misunderstood in order to maintain a complementarian view of women’s role in ministry, which is hardly possible.