Who is a Minister? Part 5
This is my latest letter to our church concerning women in ministry. This particular one seeks to interpret two clobber passages usually used to shut down women in pastoral leadership. I offer a different interpretation than what normally is presented in this letter of those two texts. As always, be kind!
Dear CBC Family,
The past few weeks, I have sought to make a case for full inclusion of women in all ministry/pastoral roles as called by God, according to the gifting given by God. I have approached this with generosity to those who interpret the Scripture differently than I do by focusing on experience with women in ministry, places in Scripture where women are functioning in ministry/pastoral roles and pushing back on the normal anthropological assumptions people have when reading certain passages. In this installment, I will tackle the “clobber texts” that seem to shut conversation down when it comes to women in pastoral roles.
The first text is from 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. If you have a study Bible, it might note that some of the earliest manuscripts either did not have these verses or moved them to after verse 40. I will not tackle the reasons in this letter, but rather deal with the text as it is in our Bibles. On first blush, Paul seems to forbid women speaking in churches, and if they did not understand something, they should ask their husbands at home. Pretty clear right? Except, Paul in this very same letter, instructed women when they pray out loud in worship, should pray wearing a head covering. So, which is it, are women to be silent or can they lead out in prayer? Corinth was known for having several different pagan temple shrines, with many of them sexually exploiting women. In fact, most of the women at the pagan temples did not wear head coverings, which showed they were available for sexual exploitation. For Paul to write about head coverings is more about a cultural witness in Corinth than a rule for all time. If that is true in Chapter 11, why is that different in Chapter 14? Chapter 14 is all about order in the worship service. One of Paul’s rhetorical devises in the Corinthian letters is to quote a question, or position, by people who were opposed to what Paul was teaching. Could it be that Paul was doing that in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35? I think it is quite possible given that in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul had no issue with women praying publicly in worship out loud! Another interpretation could be that the men and women were separated during portions of worship, and the women could not hear all that was going on. I’m not as sold on that one, but it is a possibility as well. Either way, 1 Corinthians 11 assumes women actively participating in a pastoral role by praying in the worship service.
Another passage that is used against women in pastoral roles is 1 Timothy 2:8-15. This one is a tough passage for modern Western ears to hear. Let’s set some cultural assumptions. First of all, the first command is to men to be holy and humble (I’ve got some work to do). More than likely, the origin of this letter is Ephesus where the main source of religion and commerce was the cult of Artemis (or Diana if you are Roman). The temple was operated completely by women. The priests were all women. Many of them adorned themselves with “elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, and expensive clothing” (1 Timothy 2:9). I have primarily pastored affluent congregations. There are many people who wear expensive clothing, gold, and have fancy hairstyles each Sunday! Most of the time, interpreters dismiss this as “cultural witness,” but do not consider the next paragraph – where Paul commands women to not teach men – as not culturally tied down, but rather a truth for all time. Yet, those commands fall in the same paragraph! So how can one be cultural and another a truth for all time? Therefore, I submit the question: what if Paul’s prohibition in verse 12 is about a particular problem happening at Ephesus? After all, we know there was a heresy being taught in Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:20). We also know in Paul’s follow-up letter that heresy had gained a footing among some “idle women” (2 Timothy 3:6-7). What was the heresy being taught? No clue. Yet we know that Paul did want the women in Ephesus to study. He tells them to study in quietness and reverence (submission in some Bibles). He tells them to not have “authority.” That particular word is used only here in the New Testament. In some secular, Greek letters that word is translated “murder.” Perhaps a different translation would be “domineering.”
Let’s then put the puzzle together. More than likely the women in Ephesus have either come out of the Artemis cult or been affected by it. The religious environment of Ephesus would lead to women having the power to domineer men. Was this folding over into the community of Christ followers? I think, based on the evidence, this is so. Paul’s injunction for women here is to learn, be discipled, and be apprenticed in the way of Jesus rather than the way of Artemis. In other words, just like the hair and the clothes, this is pastoral advice given to a certain context dealing with cultural duress. Like 1 Corinthians 14, this is about order in worship and in the church in general.
These passages are difficult to deal with. However, in context they make sense tied to the cultural issues that those particular churches were experiencing, not the ones we are presently experiencing today. Put together with the witness of women performing pastorally in Scripture, I conclude that you cannot exclude women from pastoral ministry.
Grace and Peace,
Ray P. Miller, DMIN
Pastor, CBC Nashville