Theology Matters
When we think about women in the church we need to think about our explicit and implicit theologies. Robert Schreiter says explicit theologies are found in places like our doctrinal statements or the sermons we preach. Implicit theologies often go unnoticed. They are the hidden beliefs of those in the congregation that may be expressed in a passing conversation or underlying attitudes and they are what form the culture of our churches. Even more, he says “Implicit theologies are frequently at odds with the explicit, official theologies a congregation may espouse.”[1] Our implicit theology is more important, because that is the one we truly live by.
It’s like the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21. Jesus tells the story:
There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” “I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir” but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? “The first,” they answered.
This parable shows that, at the end of the day, what matters more is what we actually do, than what we merely say we do.
So how does this relate to women in the church? It means that how we treat women matters more than what we say we believe about how women should be treated. In other words, it is good for us to say women and men are made equally in the image of God with the same dignity and value. More important though, is how we treat the women in our congregation—our actions tell us what we truly believe. This is an invitation for us to examine our implicit theology. Not just you, but me and you. Not just the men, but men and women. All of us, together, can examine our attitudes towards women in the church.
The Importance of Listening
This starts with listening. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in Life Together,
Just as love for God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother [and sister] when we learn to listen to him [or her].[2]
When we listen to others, we do not have to immediately assess whether they are right or wrong. The point is not to listen in order to categorize or argue, but to listen in order to understand. If we do not understand another’s view, how can we know whether or not we agree with it? Even more, as we consider how God listens, we see that the point of listening is not mainly to assess right or wrong, but to love—and love looks like being heard.[3]
One day I met with an undergrad professor to ask him his thoughts on whether women can be pastors. After going through some of the challenging passages, he told me, “The issue of the culture of our churches in how we treat women often gets expressed in this one question of ‘Can women be pastors?’” He is exactly right. Many women are wondering what ministry roles they can occupy. We want to hear the theological and exegetical arguments. But that is not the only question we are asking—there are often numerous questions behind this one question. Questions such as, what does Scripture say about women? How has the church historically treated women? Why has my church defended male abusers rather than female victims? Or even, why has the church ignored my questions? While I can’t address everything here, I hope that listening to the women of Scripture—really listening—will draw us to listen better to women with these questions. Hopefully in the process, we can come up with better answers.
The Context of the Ancient World
First, I’ll start with some historical context so we’re all on the same page. We may wonder why the Bible tells the stories of men more than the stories of women. For example, when we look at the Old Testament, there are many male prophets, but Scripture only names three female prophets: Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah. This imbalance may cause us to question the place of women as prophets. Objectively speaking, it appears as though God cared more for male prophets than female ones. This is where context is important. We must always read the text against the backdrop of the original culture, and the original culture was patriarchal. Women did not usually occupy positions of leadership in the ancient world. For God to raise up women prophets amidst this culture is itself revolutionary and redemptive. Lucy Peppiatt says,
Although there are some notable examples of powerful women in the ancient world, on the whole, women were socially, economically, politically, and educationally disadvantaged compared to men.[5]
We see the assumption of women’s inferiority in the culture of the biblical text—an assumption Scripture consistently challenges.[6]
This was also the case in the time of Jesus. We see this in the divorce laws, where men had the power to divorce their wives for any reason, but women did not.[7] Jesus not only challenges this view of divorce, but later in Paul’s letters we see a radical mutuality in husband and wife’s authority over each other’s bodies and equal ability to divorce if necessary.[8] Therefore, we hold both truths together: throughout history, including church history, women have predominantly been treated as less valuable than men, and throughout history, the church has usually treated women better than the surrounding culture.[9]
Women in the Old Testament
Women are not central; Jesus is. But the way we speak about women in the church can either help or hinder the gospel we proclaim. Women are not central, but they are vital to the story of God. Therefore, we will learn from the women we see in Scripture, what Scot McKnight calls the “What Did Women Do?” (WDWD) passages. While I will not explain the “silence” passages on women here, this is what McKnight clarifies about them: “Whatever Paul meant by silence, he did not mean that the WDWD passages were false.”[10]
Who are Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah?
Miriam was Moses’ sister. We first meet her in Exodus 2. She’s the female slave of Pharaoh’s daughter when she is told to get Moses (her brother!) from the Nile. She then asks Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter says yes (an incredible woman herself, given that this directly disobeys her father’s law), and so Miriam gets her mom, Moses’ own mother! This passage alone shows her shrewdness, but Miriam’s story does not end there. In Exodus 15, after the Israelites pass through the Red Sea, Moses and Miriam each sing a song and Miriam is called a prophet. Her song is recorded in verses 20-21:
Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.”
Next we meet Deborah, a prophet and judge, or as Scot McKnight says, “the president, the pope, and Rambo all bundled up in one female body!”[11] The Israelites approached her to have their arguments settled.[12] Her song takes up all of Judges 5, and we see that her leadership is what reinvigorated Israel to fight: “Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.” Deborah dispensed wisdom, spoke on behalf of the Lord, and commanded armies.
Huldah is another prophet in 2 Chronicles 34 during Josiah’s reign. The priest finds the Book of the Law and gives it to Josiah. Who does he ask to interpret the meaning? Huldah. Now Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk were also alive during this time and of them all, King Josiah chose her. We know then, as McKnight says, that “Huldah is not chosen because no men were available; she is chosen because she is truly exceptional among the prophets.”[13]
Entire sermons could be preached on the bravery of the Hebrew midwives who feared God and let the Hebrew boys live against Pharaoh’s orders, all before Moses even enters the scene.[14] Or Sarah. Or Hagar, Sarah’s slave, who not only suffers immensely, but is the first person in Scripture to name God: “the God who sees me.”[15] We could tell of Jael, who was praised for killing Sisera with a tent peg. We could tell of Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, and Abigail. There’s also Rahab, who is commended for her faith twice in the New Testament, in Hebrews 11 and James 2. We could tell of Eve, Ruth, and Hannah. We could tell of Esther, who uses her position and risks her life to save her people, resolving, “If I perish, I perish.”[16]
Women in the Gospels
Let’s start with the first woman to meet Jesus: Mary. As Protestants we might get a bit squeamish when someone mentions Mary. In response to an overemphasis on her, we might resort to avoiding Mary altogether. But we miss out if we do. Lucy Peppiatt writes,
Christ alone saves and rescues humanity, and he alone should be worshiped. However, once we are confident in this truth and how to live this out, we are a poorer church if we cannot acknowledge the central role of Mary in the salvation story and what that tells us of God’s attitude to women.[17]
In Luke 1, we are introduced to Zechariah and Mary whose stories run parallel. To summarize, an angel comes to Zechariah, an old, male priest. He tells him his wife will bear a son who will prepare the way for the Lord. Zechariah responds in unbelief and is made mute until John is born. Right after, Mary’s story is told in blatant contrast. The angel appears to a young (probably around 12 years old) unmarried woman. She believes and humbly accepts the angel’s word. The Son of God dignifies Mary by humbly growing in her womb for nine months. Jesus’ humanity came only from Mary! She was the most formative influence in his life and probably spent more time with Jesus than anyone else on earth.
Women are repeatedly mentioned in the passion account. First, at the crucifixion in Luke 23:27: “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.” They are there when he’s pronounced dead in Luke 23:49: “But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.” Right after, Luke mentions them at the burial in 23:55-56: “The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” At each stage of Jesus’ death, Luke makes sure we know women are present.
Then they are the first witnesses and proclaimers of the resurrection to the apostles in Luke 24: “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered the did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” Then they see the angels who tell them Jesus has risen just as he said. “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” There is a lot here. These weren’t just any women, these were the women who had been following Jesus with them the whole time. Wouldn’t the apostles believe those who had been with Jesus just like they had? Instead, the women proclaim the most important testimony to men who fail to believe.
It seems the women were the most prepared to accept that Jesus was risen. After all, they watched Jesus’ death and burial with their own eyes. In faith they rested on the Sabbath even though their Savior was still in the grave. Apart from John, the last we see the disciples is when they betray, deny, and flee Jesus. They don’t show up again until the resurrection. But even when they think their Lord is hopelessly dead, the women stay near to Jesus. They brought their prepared spices and perfumes to his grave, expecting to see the same scene as two days before. Although now the once familiar grave clothes and tomb are empty. “He is not here; he is risen!” the angels proclaim to the women and the women proclaim to everyone else. This is why these women are considered “the apostles to the apostles.”[18]
In John’s gospel, the story is told slightly differently. Mary Magdalene is the first to see and witness to the risen Jesus. Perhaps this is how we can think about primary and secondary issues. The primary point of the passage is to proclaim that Christ is risen from the dead—he is the central figure of the resurrection account. Yet secondarily, this account was told to a woman, and that was intentional on God’s part. Jesus is raised from the dead and the first person to know was a woman.
Women in the Early Church
In Romans 16:1-2, we meet Phoebe. Paul writes, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.” Not only was she a deacon, but most today believe Phoebe carried Paul’s letter to the Roman church. McKnight describes her role in greater detail:
Since couriers were charged with taking responsibility for their letters, Phoebe probably read (performed is a better word) the letter aloud and answered questions the Roman Christians may have had. (If today’s Christians, who struggle to make sense of this dense treatise called Romans, are any indication, then Phoebe may have spent days explaining this letter to the Roman churches.) Phoebe, to put this graphically, can be seen as the first “commentator” on the letter to the Romans. We can say this too: there are probably six or so house churches in Rome (see Romans 16:1-16), which means Phoebe almost certainly read that letter aloud at least six times![19]
A few verses later, we meet Junia, whom Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles.” Junia was an apostle, one who followed Christ before Paul even did. In her role as apostle, Junia was merely following the example of Mary Magdalene and the other women in the gospels. N.T. Wright says, “We should not be surprised that Paul calls a woman named Junia an apostle in Romans 16:7. If an apostle is a witness to the resurrection, there were women who deserved that title before any of the men.”[20]
When we see God using women to proclaim his message, we are reminded that God raises up the humble and the powerless. He gives his female followers the most life-altering words in human history. He dignifies the voiceless by giving them his message to proclaim first, and to his inner circle no less. Women have an indispensable role in the mission of God to the world. Time would fail me to tell of Mary’s role in the composition of the gospels, Anna the prophet,[21] Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist,[22] Martha’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ just like Peter,[23] Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet like a disciple and anointing Jesus like a priest,[24] Paul’s close missionary friend Priscilla, [25] Timothy’s mother Eunice,[26] and more.
Are We Listening?
My question is this: Are we telling Scripture’s stories of women in our churches? Are we telling the stories of women throughout church history? Are we telling the stories of women in our churches today? I personally didn’t know these stories until more recently. I didn’t know that the way Jesus treated women was radical. As Lucy Peppiatt says, “Oh, how much is communicated to us by the assumptions of those who teach us the Bible.”[27] Who we do and do not teach about in church communicates more than we realize. What place do women have in our explicit and implicit theologies?
Over the years, we’ve heard countless cases of women disclosing all kinds of abuse, warning leaders about harmful theologies, and discrimination in God’s own name. Women speak from their experience of our implicit theologies. How we think God treated women in Scripture matters for how we think God treats women today, right here in our communities. In Scripture we see God gives them gifts and callings, dignity and respect. He considers them worth listening to. Will we?
[1] Robert Schrieter, “Theology in the Congregation: Discovering and Doing” Studying Congregations: A New Handbook eds. Nancy Ammerman, Jackson Carroll, Carl Dudley, and William McKinney (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), 31.
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (New York: HarperCollins, 1954), 97.
[3] David W. Augsburger, Caring Enough to Hear and Be Heard (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1982).
[4] John Webster, “The Visible Attests the Invisible” The Community of the Word: Toward and Evangelical Ecclesiology eds. Mark Husbands and Daniel J. Treier (Downers Grove: IVP, 2005), 110-111, emphasis mine.
[5] Lucy Peppiatt, Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts (Downers Grove, IVP: 2019), 101.
[6] To read more on the role of culture in the biblical text, see William J. Webb, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis (Downers Grove: IVP, 2001).
[7] Matt. 19:1-9.
[8] 1 Cor. 7:3-4, 1-14.
[9] For further reading on the history of women in the church, see Beth Allison Barr, The Making of Biblical Womanhood (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2021) and William G. Witt, Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination (Waco: Baylor, 2020).
[10] Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 215.
[11] McKnight, Blue Parakeet, 219.
[12] Judg. 4:5.
[13] McKnight, Blue Parakeet, 225.
[14] Ex. 1:15-21.
[15] Gen. 16:13.
[16] Es. 4:16. Additionally, both Ruth and Esther have books named after them.
[17] Peppiatt, Rediscovering, 29.
[18] N.T. Wright, “Women’s Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis” presented at Men, Women, and the Church, St. John’s College, Durham, September 4, 2004, N.T. Wright Page, https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/07/12/womens-service-in-the-church-the-biblical-basis/.
[19] Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 235.
[20] Wright, Women’s Service in the Church.
[21] Luke 2:36-38.
[22] Luke 1.
[23] John 11:27.
[24] Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-8; Wright, Women’s Service in the Church.
[25] Acts 18:1-4, 24-26; Rom. 16:3.
[26] 2 Tim. 1:5.
[27] Peppiatt, Rediscovering, 129.
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