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PROMINENT among the many changes in society that have taken place in the twentieth century has been
the increasing number of women taking on jobs that were previously the sole domain of men. There are
women in most of the major professions; women doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Women can be found in
important positions in industry and commerce, and running large companies. Women are involved in politics,
and a number of countries have a woman as their head of government. With this emphasis on equality of
opportunity in so many spheres of life have come calls for the greater involvement of women in the
religious world, specifically to take up a place alongside men as priests.
This suggestion, though warmly welcomed in some quarters, has roused strong and passionate feelings.
The adherents of widely differing views staunchly defend them by stating that theirs is the only position
that can be tolerated. But this only serves to provide greater con fusion. Who is right? Those who say
it is wrong for women to act as priests, or those who say it is only prejudice that is keeping them out
of these positions? What makes the problem even worse is that churchmen themselves cannot agree. They
all claim to speak authoritatively, yet they cannot come to a common view, or even accept a common basis
from which a position can be determined. If there is such disagreement in the ranks of churchmen, no
wonder so many people feel perplexed and bewildered by the subject and become disillusioned with religion
altogether. Where can the real answer be found? Is there a voice of authority we can listen to?
A Source of Authority
The Bible deals with religious matters, and is the only source of Christian knowledge. It is the
written Word of God and provides details of how men and women should act in order to be pleasing in His
sight. If we look to God's Word to provide the answer to this perplexing problem we know that it will be
authoritative. Although some churchmen have used Bible teaching in support of their views, very few have
claimed to rest them solely upon it. Significantly, the Bible has not been widely quoted in recent debates
about who can be priests. It is commonly believed that the church has the authority to make new rules,
not necessarily consistent with Scripture. Some church leaders claim that the Holy Spirit is an active
force in the modern church and is leading us to a new appreciation of aspects of life not foreseen when
the Bible was being written. The difficulty arises when every church-man, whatever position he
holds regarding the possibility of women being priests, uses the alleged working of the Holy Spirit within
the church to support his particular point of view.
Can the Holy Spirit say one thing to one man and something completely different to another? The
Bible itself was produced through the agency of the Holy Spirit, for "men moved by the Holy Spirit
spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:21). Can the Spirit which produced the Bible reveal one teaching upon this
subject, and yet give a different message to someone who then claims to speak on God's behalf? This
would be confusion worse con-founded! Yet "God is not a God of confusion but of peace" (1 Corinthians
14:33). He has declared a simple rule to test the pronouncements of men who say they are speaking for
Him. Through the prophet Isaiah, He said, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (8:20, A.V.).
Put quite simply, this means that there is only one authoritative source Qf information on matters
relating to God and salvation. The Bible, God's revealed Word, is as able to guide His people today
as it was when it was first written. Furthermore, His message is simple, clear and logical. Anyone
can understand it, so long as the Bible is approached genuinely with a desire to learn what it teaches.
The Organisation of the Church
After the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, his apostles were given the
task of continuing his mission by preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and establishing
congregations of believers in different places. Quite soon, and as numbers began to grow, it was
necessary to give advice on how these groups should organise themselves and run their affairs without
the need for constant visits from the apostles.
If God intended the followers of Christ to appoint priests to rule and guide his church, we should
expect to find instructions about this in some of the New Testament letters. Specifically, if there
needs to be a distinction between believers, as there is between the priesthood and the lay members
in most churches, this should have been foreseen and explained by the Apostles. They had the Holy
Spirit gifts to use for the purpose of establishing the early believers in the Christian faith and
were therefore able to speak and write with authority.
But we find no such advice in the Bible. Instead, the Christian church is described as a body, made
up of separate individuals each bringing his own unique talents to provide for the well-being of the
whole community. No task can be assumed to be pre-eminent, indeed the humblest tasks can have an
importance completely out of proportion to their content. God ordained it this way, 'that there may be
no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Corinthians 12:25).
There were, of course, to be different jobs for different people, but the prime objective for all
is that of service to the whole community of believers to bring honour to God's Name. Even the "head"
of the body, the Lord Jesus Christ, said: "I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:27), and set an
example for all his followers to apply in their own lives.
Even though some of the specific tasks in the community's organisation are mentioned in the apostles'
writings (bishops, deacons, elders, etc.), there is no indication that the believers who fill these
roles have any right to assume that the work they do marks them out as different from their fellows.
Every believer has to "work out (his) own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). He can
only do this by a devotion to what God has revealed, attempting to mould his life in conformity to these
Divine principles.
One Mediator
It is commonly believed that priests are able to act on behalf of God, speaking for Him and for Christ,
and mediating on the believers' behalf. But the Bible clearly declares that: "there is one God, and
there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all"
(1 Timothy 2:5,6). All true believers can approach the Father through him. The Bible does not recognise
the need, or make provision for a human priest to intercede on the behalf of others. The old Jewish
priesthood was no longer needed once Jesus had offered "once for all", the righteous for the unrighteous
(Hebrews 10:10).
The Apostle Paul expressed God's desire that everybody should benefit from this salvation, made
possible through the work of Christ:
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings
be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life, godly and respectable in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
God wishes all men to be saved. This does not of course mean that He is unconcerned with women! The
word translated "men" twice in this passage really means 'mankind', and encompasses both men and women.
God wants all men and women to be saved. Paul had mentioned earlier when writing to the believers in
Galatia that the effect of Christ's saving work has no barriers:
"In Christ Jesus you are all the sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-28).
In God's sight the country we are born in, the colour of our skin, the sort of job we do, or whether
we are male or female, all are unimportant so far as the offer of salvation is concerned. This is what
the phrase 'Equal Opportunities' really means! God does not look on the outward appearance but on the
heart, as He revealed to Samuel (1 Samuel 16:7). Any individual, regardless of background, can have hope
of eternal life through faith and baptism into Christ.
Yet, though salvation is freely available to all, believers are still individuals with their own
particular strengths and weaknesses. It is not God's objective to suppress these when His offer of
salvation is accepted. Each believer has his own part to play in the service of God. Men and women,
like the different parts in a body, have different responsibilities and functions within the congregation.
These do not limit the freedom of opportunity for salvation -- that position has already been fully
accepted -- but they do help to explain why men and women need saving, and how it will be accomplished.
These different roles, it must be stressed, carry no idea of difference of spiritual status. The woman's
role is not inferior to the man's, but it is different.
Different Roles
It is the job of men, Paul wrote to Timothy, to lead congregational worship:
"I desire then that in every place (i.e. wherever there is a group of believers) the
men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling" (1 Timothy 2:8).
Here the word "men" means just what it says; the males are to lead the prayers. It is worth noting
that no further special qualifications are indicated. Not "some men" attempting to distinguish them
from others who cannot do this work, but "men" in general are to fulfil this function.
The woman's position is different. Her role in communal worship is more submissive:
"Women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided hair or
gold or pearls or costly attire but by good deeds, as befits women who profess religion. Let a woman
learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she
is to keep silent" (verses 9-12).
This does not mean that women have nothing to do among the community of believers, nor that they
are somehow "second class" believers. We have already seen that there is no distinction so far as
salvation is concerned, and we shall discover later that Paul anticipates this reaction to God's
commands and deals with it. But his comment about women keeping silence is often quoted as an
inflammatory attack on the female sex. Paul, so his critics say, was being chauvinistic. They claim
that such language is not fitting for our enlightened age where, in common with men, women expect
totally equal treatment and opportunities.
Was Paul Anti-Women?
What exactly did Paul mean? Was he relegating women to the kitchen sink, as if they are fit only to
bear and rear children, and prepare meals? This suggestion is refuted in his letter to another young
convert, Titus. Paul explained how everyone has a part to play, old men and old women, young men and
young women, servants and masters. He explained that older women, like the aged men, are "to be
reverent in behaviour . . . they are to teach what is good" (Titus 2:3). So, when he wrote to
Timothy, Paul's strictures on women teaching are meant to apply only in situations of communal worship.
In every other aspect of life women believers have the same responsibility as their male counterparts
to teach and to preach, both directly and by example. This sort of "reverent behaviour" by men and women
will "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour" (verse 10). The commandments of God are not just to be
accepted as some sort of philosophical statement. They have to be put into practice in the believer's
life if they are to fulfil their real purpose. Then, and only then, can they be seen in their true beauty.
If the Apostle had left his comments at that point there would have been a command, without supporting
reasons for the different roles of men and women in the organisation of the communal life of believers.
He therefore continued to explain that men are to lead communal worship and women are to remain quiet
in the congregation, "for Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was
deceived and became a transgressor (1 Timothy 2:13,14). By this simple statement he was reminding his
readers of what happened in the garden of Eden at the dawn of man's history, and relating it to Christian
worship. What is there about the Genesis record of Adam and Eve that can help us explain how believers
should organise themselves today?
Folly in Eden
Adam had been given a commandment by God that only one tree in His wonderful garden was barred to him.
All the others were available to provide food, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Genesis 2:1 7). His companion Eve was,
however, tempted to disobey:
"she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate" (3:6). Eve sought
personal advantage, and did not heed the message God gave by her husband.
When God spoke to her afterwards, He said: "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in
pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you" (3:16). Eve was to suffer greatly for her folly. She was doomed to death and would always live in
the shadow of the grave. Additionally, she and all womanhood would have pain in childbirth, bringing
forth new life, but knowing in sorrow that each child that is born is bound to die of sickness, accident,
or old age. Finally, because she had not listened to Adam, she was to be subject to him.
All this sounds as if Adam, who also broke God's command by eating from the tree, got off scot-free.
Nothing could be further from the truth. They each had responsibilities before God, and they both failed
under that test. To Adam God said: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten
of the tree . . . cursed is the ground . . . in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you
return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (verses 17-19).
The Apostle Paul obviously had this incident firmly in his mind when he wrote to Timothy. It forms
the background to all his advice regarding how Christian congregations are to be organised. If we look
again at some of the things he wrote, they will now be seen in a clearer light: "I desire then that . . .
the men should pray . . . that women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly . . . Let a
woman learn in silence with all submissiveness . . . I permit no woman to teach or to have
authority over men: she is to keep silent" (1 Timothy 2:8-12).
Eden Remembered
In communal worship, therefore, the lessons of Eden have to be carefully observed. In Eden the woman
usurped God's authority which had been transmitted by the man. Thereafter, and to remind men and women
of what had happened, men were to take the lead in their joint approach before God. It does not matter
whether men wish to or not, or whether some women are more capable than some men; these are not the
considerations that should apply. Women are to do now what it would have been better if Eve had done
then -- to listen quietly, honouring the God who is able to give life to those who approach Him in
humility and in the way He has decreed. Men today have to take the leading r6le in communal worship
because of Adam's failure to do so in Eden. Adam "listened to the voice" of his wife instead of the
voice of God, and so he and all his male descendants suffer the consequence. In Christ both women and
men have to act in ways that clearly acknowledge the folly of their first parents.
We noted earlier that the apparent unfairness of all this was recognised by Paul. He appreciated
that the arrangement looks as if it is penalising women, possibly even creating a barrier to their
eventual salvation. He therefore completed this section of his letter to Timothy by saying:
"Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness,
with modesty" (verse 15).
What a strange thing to say! It sounds as if only those women who are mothers will be saved; or,
possibly, that only believing women will be certain to survive the rigours of childbirth! Without
appreciating the background in Genesis there would be no other obvious explanation for this verse.
But we have seen that childbearing was one of the things affected for all women as a result of Eve's
disobedience. Paul was referring to this, and answering the criticism he knew would be levelled against
his teaching about the woman's role in the church. The record in Genesis emphasises the separate but
complementary roles of man and woman. The man has a special responsibility to show spiritual leadership.
The woman's r6le is more in the sphere of the family. Providing she is maintaining a faithful spiritual
life, then through the exercise of her divinely appointed role she is ensuring her own salvation --
as well as assisting her family to apply the same principles as guides in their lives.
He was declaring in a straightforward way that the provision God was making for the future
organisation of the believers was essential if the effects of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the
garden of Eden are finally to be removed from their descendants. Men and women meet together to
worship God and to thank Him for the gift of His Son, and the salvation made possible in him. By
taking up the divinely appointed roles they declare that, like their first parents, they are
disobedient and as deserving as they were of the punishment God introduced. By their demeanour before
Him, however, they are also declaring that they believe He will ultimately redeem them from death, and
from all the other consequences of the first sin.
Men Should not be Domineering
Lest male believers should think that they have been placed in a position to lord it over women, or
to dominate them, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "Be subject to one another out of reverence
for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord . . husbands, love your wives, as Christ
loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:21-25). He was pointing out that the
male/female relationship should take as its example the love of Christ for the believers, and their
reliance upon him in all things. This principle can be seen reflected in the arrangements for communal
worship: the men are to represent Christ, while the women represent all the believers.
In the Corinthian church, these things were being done, and they were organised as Paul had directed,
but the reason for them was not fully understood:
"I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have
delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head
of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Corinthians 11:2,3).
Christ is the head of the body -- his church. Human relationships within the church are therefore
specially ordered to provide a constant reminder of God's gracious provision of a saviour for mankind
from his sin, and of how that sin first occurred when the authority of God was forsaken. Men and women
have their special part to play in declaring their belief in these things. Not to organise themselves
as God has appointed is effectively to deny the truth of what it is all designed to teach.
Authority-on the Head
In explaining this to the Corinthians, Paul added a further requirement for men and women in communal
worship. They were already doing what he wrote to Timothy about: the men, and not the women, were
leading the congregational worship. But it would help the women believers if they could do something
positive to show their understanding of these commands. This is what was commanded:
"Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, but any woman who prays
or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonours her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since
he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. That is why a woman ought to have a
veil (Greek, authority) on her head" (1 Corinthians 11:4,5,7,10).
It all seems a very strange provision until we realise (and as the Greek of verse 10 indicates)
that it is an expression of how to respond to God's ultimate authority, the authority that was forsaken
by Adam and Eve in Eden. The man, representing Christ, is to appear before God bare-headed. To do
otherwise would discredit his "head", which is Christ. By contrast, the woman is to appear with her
head covered. Her "head" is the man (see verse 3). If she was to appear uncovered she would not be
exposing only herself to disgrace, but also the male believers. The only way both men and women can
show that they are under the authority of God and Christ is to comply with this command-the man
appearing bareheaded, and the woman with her head covered, when they approach before God to worship Him.
If these teachings are understood, how can the suggestion that women should take more of a leading
role in communal worship be sustained? To do so would deny the whole process of salvation graciously
provided by God for fallen mankind.
A Kingdom -- and Priests!
The sacrifice of Christ ensures for faithful believers a place in his kingdom, to be established on
the earth when he returns. The life of service for believers today is probationary. In His wisdom and
mercy, God has provided for men and women the circumstances that will teach them of the glories of the
future age -- if they respond to them properly. There is no distinction of opportunity now between
males and females, and in the Kingdom the different r6les will no longer be necessary. The lessons
they are designed to teach will either have been learned, to the believers' benefit, or forsaken, to
their shame. Jesus taught about this when he said: "Those who are accounted worthy to attain to that
age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage . . . they are equal
to angels" (Luke 20:35,36).
At his return, the work of Christ will be seen in all the earth. Those redeemed by his sacrifice
and judged to be his faithful servants will share with him in bringing the world into a full knowledge
of God's ways: "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand
years" (Revelation 20:6). The apostle Peter spoke in the same way of what lies in store for those who
"love his (Christ's) appearing". They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own
people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
What a wonderful promise! Let us therefore, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female,
honour God's commands and through Christ "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is,
the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name" and recognise His supreme authority (Hebrews 13:15).
-- MICHAEL ASHTON
Most Bible quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version
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