Women: ministry without ordination

In view of our church's continuing study of women's ordination, MINISTRY will occasionally publish articles on both sides of the question. Our publication of these articles does not constitute an endorsement of the positions they take nor of the arguments they present. We publish them to acquaint our readers with the various viewpoints. We encourage our readers to read these articles critically and study the topic for themselves. —Eds.

Few subjects can stir up emotions as deeply as a discussion of whether or not women should be ordained. Any man writing against the view risks being designated a male chauvinist, out of step with the enlightened age in which we live.

The thoughts expressed in this article represent my initial conclusions both on ' the ministry of women in general and on their ordination as pastors in particular. I intend to pursue the study of the ministry of women more deeply and to publish my final conclusions in book form.

Much of the literature I have read, both Adventist and non-Adventist, fails to recognize the important distinction between women's ministry in the church and their ordination as pastors. The underlying assumption seems to be that a woman can only minister within the church if she has been ordained.

This mistaken, unbiblical assumption must be regarded as the bitter fruit of the Western and medieval clericalization of the church, which has limited ministry within the church almost exclusively to ordained priests. Thus, women today are being wrongly led to seek priestly ordination because no other form of meaningful ministry seems accessible to them.

This reprehensible situation must be corrected, not by pushing for the ordination of women, but rather by recovering the biblical vision of the church as a unity (body of Christ) consisting of a plurality of ministries (1 Cor. 12:12-31; Eph. 4:11-13). While, as will be shown below, the Old Testament precludes the ordination of women to serve as priests and the New Testament precludes their serving as pastors, Scripture provides ample support for their participation in the prophetic, liturgical, and social ministries of the church.

Although in Old Testament times the priesthood was reserved exclusively to men of the tribe of Levi, the Scriptures record several examples of women who ministered to the spiritual and social needs of ancient Israel. After the miraculous crossing of the sea, Miriam the prophetess led the women in a song of celebration (Ex. 15:20, 21). In the critical days of the settlement in Canaan, Deborah acted as prophetess, choir leader, and judge to all the tribes (Judges 4:4, 5; 5:1-31). And near the end of the Old Testament era, Huldah, another prophetess, spoke for God to both religious and civil authorities (2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chron. 34:22-28). The age of Old Testament prophecy closes with the announcement by Joel that in the days of the Messiah "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (Joel 2:28-32; cf. Acts 2:17-21). These examples discredit the claim that the culture of Old Testament times made women radically inferior to men and excluded them from ministering to the spiritual and social needs of God's people.

It is true that Paul wrote some oft-quoted strictures about the role of women to correct certain abuses. But there is no question that women fulfilled a vital role in the Christian ministry of New Testament times. Women such as Mary and Martha, Simon's mother-in-law, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, the mother of Zebedee's children, and Mary the wife of Cleopas ministered to Jesus' needs (Matt. 8:14, 15; 27:55, 56; Luke 8:2, 3; 10:40; John 12:2; 19:25). Women were also the first to receive and to break the news of Christ's resurrection (Matt. 28:1, 7).

After Christ's ascension, dedicated women contributed significantly to the rapid spread of Christianity. Mary, John Mark's mother, opened her home for worship gatherings—presumably the first home church of Christendom (Acts 12:12). Tabitha, or Dorcas, distinguished herself by initiating charitable social work (Acts 9:36). Lydia, a successful business woman, sustained Paul's ministry financially and through her hospitality (Acts 16:14, 15, 40). Paul commends Phoebe as a "deaconess of the church at Cenchreae" who "has been a helper of many" (Rom. 16:1, 2).* Paul praises Priscilla, as well as her husband Aquila, as "fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life" (verses 3, 4). Similarly Paul calls Tryphena and Tryphosa "workers in the Lord" (verse 12).

To the above examples can be added the four daughters of Philip who prophesied (Acts21:8, 9). And Paul's mention that "any woman who prays or prophecies" in church gatherings must show respect by veiling her head (1 Cor. 11:5, 6) is especially significant. Obviously, this implies that women prayed and offered prophetic guidance to the believers during public worship services (cf. 1 Tim. 3:11; 5:3-10).

Note should be taken of the fact that Paul, in listing the various functions within the church, mentions "first apostles, second prophets, third teachers" (1 Cor. 12:28) or "pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4:11). This order suggests that he did not regard the prophetic ministry, which women also exercised, as in any way inferior to that of the pastor teacher.

The foregoing considerations suffice to show that in Bible times, and especially in the early church, women did exercise a very important spiritual ministry, although they were never ordained as priests, apostles, bishops, or elders.

Women's special gifts

As in Bible times, so today women can greatly enrich the spiritual life of the church. God gives to women many invaluable spiritual gifts and ministries that are essential to the healthy growth of the church. Well-trained and dedicated women often can minister more effectively than pastors to many of the spiritual, social, and physical needs of the congregation. Besides the traditional leadership roles women have played in the various departments of the church (choir, Sabbath school, personal minis tries, youth, deaconess, church school board) there is an urgent need to open up new forms of ministry to professionally trained women who are willing to serve as health educators, Bible instructors, and counselors. The growing number of broken homes, single parents, drug-addicted young people, alienated children, and elderly members require the special ministry of trained and dedicated women.

The church that restricts the role of women to cleaning and cooking greatly impoverishes its own spiritual life by depriving itself of the warmth and love that only women can give. "In many respects," writes Ellen White, "a woman can impart knowledge to her sisters that a man cannot. The cause would suffer great loss without this kind of labor."¹

But our recognition of the biblical validity of the women's ministry must not obscure an equally important truth, namely, that women were precluded from serving as priests in the Old Testament and as pastors, elders, or bishops in the New. In my view, the reasons were not sociocultural but theological, and consequently they are still valid today. I find in Scripture seven major reasons for the exclusion of women from the pastoral ministry.

Seven points to ponder

The order of Adam and Eve's creation constitutes the first reason. The Genesis account of their creation indicates that though the man and woman were created equal as image bearers of God (Gen. 1:27), yet they were created different in terms of sex and functions. Moreover, man and woman were not created at the same time. God made Adam first (Gen. 2:7) and Eve second (verses 21, 22). He derived woman from the man and declared her to be a help meet for him (verse 18).

The two-stage creation account is in no way intended to support a chauvinistic view of male superiority. Rather, its purpose is to highlight the basic difference between male and female, a difference that is built into the very order of creation. This difference is not merely sexual. It extends to the differing, though complementary, roles that men and women are called to play both in the family and in the church. Man cannot become a mother and woman cannot become a father.

The order of creation, man first and woman second, also means that man is called upon to fulfill a leadership role in the church as well as in the home. This is the crucial theological (not social) argument Paul uses to support his injunction "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men" (1 Tim. 2:12), namely, "For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor" (verses 13, 14).

Some people accuse Paul of arbitrarily "calling on the biblical Creation-Fall account" to legitimize the subordinate role of women in the church. ² Paul allegedly fabricated this theological argument to protect the church from a controversy that "would almost certainly have split it completely." ³ A somewhat similar thesis argues that the subordinate role of women results from an illegitimate use of false theological reasoning to sanction an unjust gender caste system. ⁴

Certainly some have wrongly used theology to legitimize such social evils as slavery. But note that Paul never suggests that slavery was a divine institution to be perpetuated. On the contrary, he is quite willing for slaves to find freedom (Philemon and 1 Cor. 7:21). It is hard to believe, however, that Paul would fabricate a theological argument to legitimize the subordination of women if he believed that to be unjust.

On the question of the role relationship between men and women, however, Paul has no doubts. As Christ appealed to Creation to establish the indissolubility of the marital relationship (Matt. 19:3-8), so Paul defended the subordination of women to the leadership of men both in marriage and in the church as part of the very order of creation (1 Tim. 2:11-13). To discredit the validity of Paul's theological reasoning in this instance means to open to question the validity of any of his other teachings, or those of any other Bible writer.

Man's headship role

A second reason for objecting to the ordination of women is closely related to the order of creation, and dependent upon it, namely, the headship or leader ship role that man is called to play both in marriage and in the church. In Scripture, the principle of male headship in the family is applied also to the larger family of the household of faith (1 Cor. 11:3, 8; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18, 19; Titus2:4-15;lPeter3:l-7;l Tim. 2:13). In fact, Scripture requires any man aspiring to the office of bishop to exercise effective leadership in his own home, over his wife and children (1 Tim. 3:4, 5). In Scripture, the male headship roles in marriage and in the church stand or fall together.

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul introduces his statement that women should veil their heads in the church by saying: "The head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (verse 3; cf. Eph. 5:23). Here he correlates the headship between man and woman to the headship between God and Christ. The latter refutes the charge that submission means inferiority. The members of the Trinity are equals. Christ's submission to the authority and headship of His Father was the secret of His wisdom, power, and success.

As there is a chain of authority in the Trinity, so there must be one in the family and the church. When the biblical concept of headship among equals (fellow heirs, 1 Peter 3:7) is understood and practiced, women need not feel restricted or unfulfilled. Rather, a mature man's leadership can provide a woman the protection and support she needs to exercise the ministries that God has given her.

A third reason for viewing the ordination of women as unbiblical is the fact that the Bible establishes an all-male priesthood or pastoral ministry both inside and outside the family.

During the patriarchal period the head of each family functioned as the priest of his own household. Later the priesthood was entrusted to Aaron and his male descendants.

Christ foresaw the termination of the Jewish priestly system (Matt. 24:2), yet He made no provision for the inclusion of women among the apostles. Rather, He appointed 12 men "designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach" (Mark 3:14, NIV).

Christ's exclusive appointment of men as apostles can hardly be explained as being solely out of respect for Jewish social tradition. The Gospels present Christ as a nonconformist who openly broke many social customs, especially by including several women among His immediate entourage. Thus His failure to call any women either to the formal apostleship or to some informal apostolic ministry must be regarded not merely as a question of chance, but rather one of principle. In spite of the many irrelevant objections raised against this argument, the fact that Christ did not choose women as apostles must remain decisive for us today.

The testimony of the early church is illuminating in this regard. Though various heretical movements such as the Marcosians, ⁵ the Montanists, ⁶ and the Collyridians⁷ had women priests and bishops, the mainstream of Christianity always rejected such a practice. The reason Epiphanius gave (about A.D. 375) is that "since the beginning of time a woman has never served God as a priest." ⁸ This historical fact deserves attention, especially since there were priestesses in many pagan cults, some of whom, like the Roman Vestalis, were virgins who spent 10 years training for their priestly ministry.

Apparently in early Christianity some pressure was exerted to ordain women as priests because several documents explicitly forbid such a practice.⁹ Seventh-day Adventists do not consider historical traditions normative, yet we cannot totally ignore the consistent witness of the Christian church through the past 2,000 years.

Consistent male imagery

A fourth reason for viewing the ordination of women as unbiblical and unwise is that Scripture consistently uses masculine terminology when speaking of God. Obviously, God transcends human sexual distinctions. Genesis 1:27 clearly implies that God's image is reflected in His creation of human beings as both male and female. Yet God has chosen to reveal Himself both in the Scripture and through Jesus in unmistakably male terms and imageries.

God has revealed Himself as father, not as mother. He sent His Son, not His daughter. Jesus spoke of the fatherhood, not of the motherhood, of God. He appointed 12 men, not 12 women, to act as His representatives. We pray "Our Father who art in heaven," not "Our Mother." Christ is the new Adam, not the new Eve. He is the bridegroom, not the bride, of the church.

To these we can add other biblical imageries that depict Christ as authoritative (Luke 20:1-8), head (Eph. 5:23), king (Luke 19:38), slain lamb (Rev. 5:12), judge (Rev. 19:11), and servant of the church (Luke 22:27). All these imageries are unmistakably masculine.

Why has God, who transcends human sexual differences, chosen maleness to represent Himself? Presumably because the male role within the family and the church best represents the role that God Himself sustains toward us. Ephesians 3:14, 15 fittingly illustrates this. Paul writes: "I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family [patria] in heaven and on earth is named." The text indicates that males in a human household are called fathers because they reflect the image of the heavenly Father. The same symbolism applies to the "father's role" a pastor fills in the household of faith.

Feminist theologians have long recognized the enormous significance of the biblical linkage between the male imageries of God and the male priest hood (the latter being a reflection of the former). To them this linkage rightly constitutes a formidable stumbling block to the ordination of women. Consequently, they are actively attempting to erode the male image of God and of Christ in order theologically to clear the path for a female priesthood. To accomplish the latter, they not only deny the bodily resurrection of Christ, but are also proposing either nonpersonal terms for God, such as fire, light, and almighty, or feminine terms such as mother, daughter, and she. ¹⁰

Any change of the male imagery of the Trinity to open up ordination of women must be viewed not merely as speculations about the Trinity but as heresy. This is so for two reasons: First, because it destroys the imagery through which God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Second, because it undermines the spiritual relationship such imagery is designed to provide us with. To worship God as mother and Christ as daughter means to worship divine beings who are totally different from those of the biblical revelation.

The pastor represents Christ

The symbolic role that the pastor plays as representative of Christ comprises the fifth objection to the ordination of women. In discussing the male terms for God, we have already established the correlation between Christ and the pastor. Such a correlation, however, extends beyond male terminology and imagery to include service.

The typological correspondence between the ministry of the priests in the earthly sanctuary and that of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary is explained at great length in Hebrews 8-10. By offering His own blood once, forever, and for all, Christ fulfilled and terminated the sacrificial ministry of Old Testament priests that typified His redemptive ministry (Heb. 9:11-14; 10:11-14). Yet Christ, the heavenly high priest, continues to perform intercession and reconciliation in heaven (Heb. 7:25). The pastor, somewhat like the priests in Old Testament times, acts as Christ's representative or ambassador in inviting people to accept salvation.

Paul clearly understood this correlation: "He [God] has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:19, 20, NIV). Paul had no question but that he was Christ's ambassador to believers and unbelievers. To the Galatians he wrote: "You welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself (Gal. 4:14, NIV).

While every believer is Christ's ambassador and belongs to the "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9; Ex. 19:6; Deut. 26:19), in a special sense the pastor fulfills the role of Christ's representative. He is the shepherd commissioned to "tend the flock of God" until "the chief Shepherd is manifested" (1 Peter 5:2, 4). As a human father reflects to his children the image of the heavenly Father, so a pastor represents to his congregation the heavenly Father, Shepherd, and Priest.

A woman cannot fulfill this unique symbolic function because her scriptural role is not that of a shepherd, priest, or father. To change the nature of the symbol by creating women pastors means to dispense with the biblical function of the pastoral ministry altogether.

God's revealed will

A sixth reason I object to women's ordination is that the Scripture, the church's guide, provides no general principles, no specific precepts, and no examples that can support such a practice.

All the biblical examples of ordination involve males. Scripture's specific instructions unmistakably require that the bishop, priest, or elder be not merely a person but a male (aner— 1 Tim. 3:2; cf. Titus 1:6; Ex. 29:8, 9). And as noted above, the Bible's general principles preclude the ordination of women to the pastoral ministry. The absence of biblical warrant for women's ordination should warn the church from venturing in this uncharted terrain.

Finally, women should not be ordained because the pastoral ministry is not a profession that any person who trains is thereby entitled to enter. Rather, it is a divine calling that no one can claim by right. It involves a solemn appointment by the church of those who have given proof of their divine calling (Titus 1:5-9).

Those in favor of women's ordination argue that women are just as competent and capable as men in the ministry. Few will dispute this. But the issue is not one of abilities or training, but one of God's will as revealed in the Scriptures. Sometimes a man can be a better mother than a woman, yet this does not change the fact that God has called men to be fathers and women to be mothers.

The real issue is not whether women are equally as capable as men are, but whether God has called women to be pastors, that is, as indicated by the meaning of the word, shepherds of a spiritual flock. As C. S. Lewis aptly states it: "No one who opposes women's ordination is thereby maintaining that women are less capable than men of piety, zeal, learning, and whatever else is necessary for the pastoral office."¹¹ The opposition simply rests on the acceptance of the biblical view of the pastoral ministry,, which precludes the ordination of women to the role of pastor or elder.

Scripture provides ample support both for the participation of women in various vital ministries of the church and for their exclusion from the specific role of ordained pastor or elder. If, in spite of the witness of the Scriptures, our church begins to ordain women, it will have opened the door for changes in other of its teachings and practices, such as the ordinance of humility, tithing, the distinction between clean and unclean foods, restrictions on divorce, and Sabbath-keeping. These practices can be questioned on the same ground as is the exclusion of women from the priesthood, namely that they were culturally conditioned and consequently are no longer relevant.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church cannot afford to ignore the witness of Scripture; it cannot afford to yield to the pressures of our society. To do so can only lead to a gradual erosion of confidence in the authority of Scripture and in the uniqueness of the end-time message God has entrusted us to pro claim to the world.

Our church must recognize and encourage the vital ministry that women can fulfill as counselors, educators, musicians, missionaries, Bible instructors, preachers, and deaconesses. Spiritual gifts are to be exercised in the church irrespective of gender (Gal. 3:28). However, according to Scripture, ordination to serve as pastor or elder is open only to some men and to no women. The criterion for ordination is neither merely gender nor the presence of spiritual gifts for preaching, healing, teaching, and counseling. Rather, it is the evidence of a divine calling recognized by the church, who sets apart a man to act as her shepherd, father, and priest. These symbolic roles entail a certain relationship with the church that is dependent also upon male sexuality. My conclusion, then, is that the Scriptures preclude the ordination of women as pastors or elders but permit their serving in various other ministries.