Better Together Bible Study - Paul on Church and Ministry

As a child, my mother taught me the chant with the accompanying finger play, 'Here's the church and here's the steeple, open the doors and see all the people. Deeply imbedded in this rhyme is a cultural image of the church. It is a special building with lots of people sitting in rows looking towards the ordained minister out the front. Most of us bring this understanding of church to the text of scripture. When we find Luke or Paul writing about 'the church' we imagine he is speaking of the reality we know. Our church is almost certainly a gathering of fifty to several hundred people meeting in a specially constructed building, taking part in a liturgical service led by one or two people out the front, with one ordained and paid pastor/ minister/priest who does most of the preaching/teaching, and in most denominations presides at Holy Communion.

Nothing could be further from the first century experience of church. It is agreed by New Testament scholars today that at least for the first two hundred years, most Christians met in private homes. The local church, the congregation, to which the early Christians belonged, was a gathering in a home. These 'house-churches' were physically limiting on numbers. Even the largest homes excavated could accommodate no more than fifty people. Few homes, even of wealthy people would have held anything like this number. This home setting determined the character and form of these gatherings. It encouraged informality and wide participation (cf.1 Cor. 14:26). It was simply not possible for someone to be 'out the front' leading everything and doing most of the verbal work. Then we need to recall that house church gatherings usually involved eating together (Acts 2:46, 1 Cor. 10:14-22, 11:17-32). Setting out the food, eating it and talking together as the meal progressed must have made 'church' something like a contemporary dinner party. Given that this describes 'church' in the first century, it follows that to ask the question, 'Did women in the apostolic church take the role of the pastor today?" is an inappropriate question to ask of the New Testament.

In the apostolic age, church gatherings were informal, participatory and as a general rule, accepting of the contribution of men and women. So Paul speaks of men and women leading the congregation in prayer and prophecy (1 Cor. 11:5). However, not only were all free to contribute verbally, even though some were clearly understood to be church leaders, but also all church leadership was plural. We have no example in the New Testament of one man leading a congregation as a pastor/ minister/priest would do today.

Paul on ministry in the congregation Paul's theology of ministry is where we must begin. Then we should look at examples of his theology in practice and finally at the three texts where he seems to limit the contribution of women in some way.

Paul’s theology of ministry At a theological level Paul is emphatic: all ministry flows from the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit. It has nothing to do with one's gender. For him the Spirit is non-discriminatory in bestowing the spiritual gifts (charismata) that make leadership in the church possible. See Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4:11-12. cf. Acts 2:17-18, 1 Peter 4:10-11.

Paul’s practice of ministry Paul's practice is also well documented. He spoke specifically and positively of:

• Women prophets (1 Cor. 11:5, cf. Acts 2:17, 21:9)

• Women church workers and evangelists
(Rom. 16:6, 12, Phil. 4:3)

•  Women apostles (Rom. 16:7)

• Women deacons (Rom. 16:1, 1 Tim. 2:9)

• Women as 'fellow workers' in the Gospel (Rom. 16:3, Phil. 4:2-3)

• Women as leaders of house churches
(Col. 4:15, 1 Cor. 1:11, cf. Acts 12:12, 16:14-15, 40 etc.)

• Husband and wife ministry teams (Acts 18:24-28, Rom.16:7)

Given the patriarchal cultural setting, the number of women involved in Christian leadership in the first century church is quite amazing. What this evidence means is that the apostolic practice of ministry wherever possible matched the apostolic theology of ministry. These examples show that God is pleased to use women in leadership in church life and mission.

Prophets, apostles and elders These ministries in the New Testament age need to be explained:

Apostles: In the New Testament we find two kinds of apostles, with Paul in a category on his own.

First, the twelve apostles who were all eyewitnesses of Jesus' ministry and resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). These men by definition could have no successors.

Then after the church was established, God raised up others as apostles who were not eyewitnesses, such as Paul, Barnabas, Apollos and Timothy. Those in this larger group of apostles were missionaries, pioneer church planters. Among these apostles Paul mentions and commends Junia and Andronicus (Rom. 16:7), almost certainly a missionary couple. For twelve centuries it was accepted that the Greek name Junia referred to a woman apostle, but sometime after that she was given a 'sex change'. Male commentators started spelling the name Junias, a man's name. We now know this is a mistake. Paul here warmly commends a woman whom he describes as an 'outstanding' apostle. On its own, Paul's commendation of Junia, the outstanding apostle, strikes a mortal blow at the argument that God does not want women in church leadership or as church planters.[1] Missionary apostles can have successors. This ministry is not limited to the first century. The church recognises this when it uses the word 'missionary' for pioneer evangelists and church planters. The English word missionary is a transliteration of a Latin word that literally means 'a sent one', exactly the same as the Greek word apostle means.

Paul is a missionary apostle but of a unique kind. God gives him a special ministry to pioneer the mission to the Gentiles. He can have no successor.

Prophets: In the New Testament the most mentioned church ministry is that of the prophet. We should understand this ministry in the light of the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets spoke in the power of the Spirit as teachers of God's people. As is often said, Old Testament prophets were more ‘forth tellers' than ‘fore tellers'. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, all prophecy like all preaching is to be judged as to whether or not it is a word of a human being or a word from God. The recorded prophecies that we have in the Old Testament prophetic books are prophecies judged to be the words of God. Paul thinks of prophecy as the second most important ministry in the church (1 Cor. 12:28) and with Luke, envisages it taking many forms: sermons, exhortation, words of judgment and occasionally prediction. Many a sermon today has a prophetic element. When God lays on the preacher's heart a word specifically for the hearers, this is a form of prophecy. In the New Testament, some were designated prophets and others teachers (1 Cor. 12:28, Eph. 4:11) but it is almost impossible to clearly demarcate prophecy and teaching. Once Luke speaks of the leaders of the church at Antioch as prophetic-teachers' (Acts 13:1). To argue that women may prophesy but not teach is unconvincing Not only can prophecy take the form of teaching but why, we must ask, does Paul allow women to lead in prophecy, a 'word ministry', and yet not teach? To give teaching precedence over prophecy is to reverse Paul's own order. He ranks the ministry of the apostle 'first', that of the prophet 'second' and that of the teacher 'third' (1 Cor. 2:28).

Elders: In the ancient world, as in much of the underdeveloped world today, senior men and women are community leaders. The elders mentioned in the New Testament were all older men (Acts 2:17, Titus 2:2, 1 Peter 5:1-5) or older women (1 Tim. 5:2, Tit. 2:3). A person under 40 could not be an elder. We may presume therefore that virtually everyone who gave leadership in the carly church, whether apostle, prophet, teacher, house church leader, bishop or something else, was a respected senior person, an elder. In Paul's earlier epistles he never mentions the office of elder or even uses the word The selection and appointment of specific people to be office-bearing elders seems to have emerged as a second stage in the development of church leadership. So we note Paul's directive near the end of his life to Titus to appoint men as elders in each town-based Christian community on Crete (Tit. 1:5). The churches of Crete had obviously existed for many years without the office of the elder. However, age remained the primary qualification. It seems these selected older men formed a 'council' (1 Tim. 4:14) and gave general oversight to the church as office-bearing elders did in Jewish communities. The charismatic ministries of the apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and so on continued, but by the second century the bishops and elders as office-bearers started to supplant these charismatic ministries.[2]

Paul’s rulings in problematic congregational ministry situations Three times Paul is forced to deal with a pastoral problem caused by women disrupting church life in one way or another. Each of the issues is specific to the church addressed. In seeking to establish doctrinal norms by appeal to the Bible we should always give precedence to principled comments in scripture - in this case what Paul discloses is his theology of ministry - not from texts giving specific advice on specific problems. 

• 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. In Corinth men and women were leading in prayer and prophecy in church, two highly significant ministries, and Paul commends this practice. However he wants men to minister with heads uncovered and women with heads covered to conform to social norms, so that men are seen to minister as men and women as women. The issue in focus is head coverings, not the subordination of women. (Paul's opening comments in verse 3 on differing "heads' will be discussed in the next study.) This passage unambiguously indicates that Paul believed that both men and women could stand in church and lead the congregation in verbal ministry. Nothing could be clearer.

• 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. Again at Corinth, it seems married women were asking questions, probably about the prophecies given, and thus disrupting church gatherings. In reply, Paul tells these women to ask their husbands at home. This text undeniably deals with disruptive behaviour, but there is growing evidence that Paul did not actually write these words. They were added by a later scribe. If there is any doubt on the textual authenticity of any text in the Bible, the binding rule is it should not be quoted in support of any doctrine.[3]

• 1 Timothy 2:11-12. Later when the church in Ephesus was under threat from heretical teaching, in which women were involved, Paul tells them to stop teaching because as we will see in a moment, he was convinced they had been 'deceived". As Paul nowhere else gives such a ruling (elsewhere he speaks positively of women in leadership), and before this time women had been teaching at Ephesus (he asks them to stop teaching), an aberrant situation must be envisaged. This conclusion is confirmed by the use of the exceptional and negative word authentein found only here in the Bible. This word indicates two things:

An exceptional situation. The use of this word with no parallel in the Bible suggests a situation with no parallel in the Bible.

Something very objectionable. In the first century the Greek verb authentein had very negative overtones. The word speaks of someone 'assuming authority' wrongfully, of self aggrandising leadership, of improperly putting oneself first.[4]

The argument that Paul is laying down a universal rule that forbids women from teaching with authority in church has little to commend it. Why designate the teaching proscribed by the word authentein, and if it is a fundamental principle that women should not preach in church, why does Paul lay down this rule just this once in contradiction to his clearly enunciated theology of ministry and his usual practice of ministry?

To make their case that Paul is giving a timeless, transcultural principle that women must not teach in church, some tell us that the apostle's two supporting arguments, For Adam was formed first... but the woman was deceived' (v. 13-14), speak of the creation ideal order. God wants men to always be 'first', the 'head, and women should not teach because they are more prone to sin and error. This is unconvincing. As we have seen, Genesis 2 does not teach that women are second in rank or subordinated because Eve was created second or that women are more prone to sin and error because the devil first deceived Eve. Paul's two supporting arguments as to why women should not teach in an authentein way do not refer to a past creation social order but specifically to the present disorder in the church in Ephesus. Some women are teaching without authority to do so, having been deceived by the false teachers (1 Tim. 5:13-15, 2 Tim. 3:6-7, Titus 1:10-11).

Questions for discussion

1.    If the early churches were all located in homes, the numbers small and all could participate, can we deduce binding rules from the New Testament for churches in the twenty-first century? What challenges do such deductions raise?

2.    Paul seems to have believed that, 'all ministry should be predicated on spiritual gifting not gender' How does this work out practically in your church?

3.    What do you think of the argument that the 16th century Reformers were mistaken in giving so much emphasis to mono-ministry - the idea that one person should do most of the leading and preaching in a congregation? Does this model of church leadership impoverish church life today?
How might this model particularly disadvantage women? If so why?

4.    If, as some argue, the church should not give way to major social changes in regard to church leadership, should it allow and encourage young men to be church leaders/ elders/ pastors, even ordaining them as elders / presbyters?

5.    Most ordained ministers seem to be finding church leadership very challenging today. Some think it is even harder for women. Is it harder for women? If so, why?

6.    As you reflect on this study and the discussion you have had on it, what challenged your thinking the most, what surprised you and what ideas were new to you?

[1] For the facts on Junia see E.J.Epp, Junia the First Woman Apostle (Minneapolis, Fortress, 2005)

[2] For scholarly support for these comments on apostles, prophets and elders and more generally in ministry and leadership in the New Testament see Kevin Giles, Patterns of Ministry among the first Christians (Melbourne, Collins Dove 1989)

[3] On the doubtfulness of this text see PB Payne, Men and Woman, One in Christ (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2009) 217-270, and Epp, Junia the First Woman Apostle

[4] For first class scholary support of this understanding of the word authentein and thus interpretation of 1 Timothy 2,11-14, see Payne, Men and Woman, 361-398

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Rev Dr Kevin Giles (Th.D.) is a graduate of Moore Theological College, Sydney and has completed post graduate study in England and Germany. He was in parish ministry for forty years in various ways; associate minister, church Planter, university chaplain, rector of a large multi-staff parish, and in "rebirthing' an inner city church. He has published widely on what the Bible says on the church, ministry, women and the Trinity. He writes with a passion to see the renewal of the church.