For Our Pastor To Remain True To Scriptural Truth

Is it wrong for women to preach in church or be a pastor?

I have been working my way through dozens of Bible and theology questions which people have submitted through that “ask a question” area in the sidebar. Here is one that was sent in about whether or not women can preach in church.

Is it biblical for the woman to preach in the congregation?

Along with this question about whether or not it is wrong for a woman to preach, I will also briefly address the issue of women pastors.

This question has split some churches, which I find odd.

Of all the things that can create division within the church, why is it the ones that only have a verse or two one way or the other which seem to be the most divisive? I suppose if there were scores of verses the issue would be more cut and dry, but when there are only a couple verses dealing with an issue, people are more ly to fight over it, especially when the verses are a little vague …

So let’s briefly look at some of the key passages which seem to address the issue of whether or not it is wrong for women to preach in church, and then I will provide one short and simple suggestion for how this whole issue can easily be dealt with.

Bible Passages about Women Preaching in Church

Though there are a variety of passages which people on both sides of the debate appeal to regarding whether or not it is okay for women to preach in church (e.g.

, various female “preachers” in the Old Testament Miriam and Deborah and the female prophetesses in Acts 21:9, and the female apostle in Romans 16:7), two of the main texts in this debate about women preachers and female pastors are 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34.

Let us look briefly at each.

1 Timothy 2:12 and Women Preachers in Church

In 1 Timothy 2:11-12, Paul writes this:

Let a woman learn in silence and with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

Initially, 1 Timothy 2:12  seems pretty clear, but with a little bit of study, it quickly becomes obvious that the text is not so clear after all.

First, there are numerous times in the book of Acts and in some of Paul’s other letters where women appear to be speaking in the gatherings of the church with the approval of others, so whatever Paul is saying here, it does not seem to be a rule which he himself universally followed (Acts 16:14-15; Acts 18:26).

  That is, this verse in 1 Timothy was written to a specific person about a specific situation at a specific time.

Does that it mean it can be universally applied? Paul even says, “I do not permit …” which is different than “you should not permit …” (though 1 Corinthians 14:34 does phrase it this way).

Most importantly, however, it is critical to understand what Paul means by the terms “silence and submission” and “teach or to have authority.” To understand this, we not only need to study the words in their contexts, but we also need to understand that cultural and historical background for what was going on among this group of believers in Ephesus where Timothy lived.

So, these three considerations, a text 1 Timothy 2:12 is not so clear as some believe about the issue or women preaching in church.  The same is true for 1 Corinthians 14:34.

1 Corinthians 14:34 and Women Preachers in Church

Paul says something similar in his letter to the Corinthians as he wrote in his letter to Timothy. 1 Corinthians 14:34 says this:

Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.

We have a lot of similar issues with 1 Corinthians 14:34 as we have with 1 Timothy 2:12. There are numerous cultural, historical, grammatical, and contextual issues that must be researched if we are going to understand what Paul is saying and why.

Yet even this does not mean we have a hard and fast rule for every church around the world and throughout time.

After all, the Corinthians church was full of problems, and so not everything Paul writes to them can be applied to every church.

Furthermore, few churches who use 1 Corinthians 14:34 to defend the idea that it is wrong for women to preach in church also apply Paul’s instructions that women should wear head coverings (1 Corinthians 11:2-10).

I could go on and on about more of the arguments surrounding this text, but let’s leave it aside for now.  (If you want to read more, here are two good books which lay out the issues: Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Beyond Sex Roles.)

The Simple Solution to Women Preaching in Church

Most of Christianity’s debates have a simple solution. Did you know that? 

More often than not, when two (or more) groups of Christians are hotly debating an issue (and calling each other heretics in the process), it is because both groups have incorrectly framed the issue, and are arguing about something that should not be an issue at all.

This issue about whether it is wrong from women to preach in church or be a pastor is one of the greatest examples.

The simple solution to the problem is to recognize that the only groups who really argue about this issue are groups of Christians who meet in buildings on Sunday morning and have paid pastors who do most of the preaching.

Look, if you attend a traditional-style church service on Sunday morning, it is possible that you also attend a Sunday school class or a weeknight Bible study.

Let me ask you, these gatherings also are part of the church.

Does it ever occur to you to raise the question about whether or not women should remain silent in your Sunday school class or in your Wednesday night home group Bible study? Of course not! It’s unthinkable!

The only place this issue comes up today is in this strange way we have come to “do church” where everybody sits in rows and watches a performance on stage in which songs are sung and one person gives a 30-40 minute lecture.

(Which raises the question … songs also are a form of teaching, are they not? How many of these churches who condemn female pastors and women preachers have female worship leaders? I would be interested to know what the difference is between teaching through words put to music and teaching through words not put to music?)

So Is it Wrong for Women to Preach in Church?

In the debate about women preaching in church, the primary problem is not found in how we understand preaching or authority over men or what Paul means in 1 Timothy 2:12 or 1 Corinthains14:34. No, the problem is in how we define “church.”

This issue, which has caused so much division within the church, is based almost 100% on a faulty definition and understanding of “the church.” Once we understand what the church is, this debate about whether or not women can preach in church completely disappears and becomes a non-issue. (This is why a definition of the church is so critical … see my book Skeleton Church).

Sure, we still have to figure out why Paul wrote what he wrote To Timothy and to Corinth (for the churches in Ephesus and Corinth too were meeting in homes as well).

But since nobody (rightfully so!) is going to tell women to remain silent in home groups and any other gathering of the church.

Also, in such gatherings, there are almost never questions about who gets to be called “pastor.” (Or at least, there shouldn’t be.)

So here is my final answer: I believe women can speak and teach in church, because I understand the church to be the people of God who follow Jesus into the world, and so a gathering of the church occurs whenever and wherever believers gather, whether it is two or three around a dinner table, five or six in a living room, seven or eight at a coffee shop, or larger gatherings in some other building.

For those who think that it is wrong for women to preach in church, I would ask them this: “Is it wrong for women to speak in Sunday school or home group Bible studies?”

If not, why not? These also are gatherings of the church, are they not? Men are usually present at these gatherings, right? Why can women speak and teach in one context, but not in others (especially when this other large-group context is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible)?

So … comments are open! On your mark, get set, GO! (*Please be nice*)

Источник: //redeeminggod.com/women-to-preach-in-church-or-pastor/

Faith of the Pilgrims

From my years young in days of youth,God did make known to me his truth,And call'd me from my native placeFor to enjoy the means of grace.In wilderness he did me guide,And in strange lands for me provide.In fears and wants, through weal and woe,

A pilgrim, past I to and fro.

            -William Bradford

The Voyage that Made a Nation

The Pilgrims arrived on these shores in 1620 in hopes of making a better life for themselves and their children while being able to worship freely and in peace. Undoubtedly the most famous colonists in world history, their faith and fortitude are legendary.

Their perseverance laid the cornerstone of a new Nation. The Pilgrims' courage, gratitude to God, and love for one another still inspire people today.

The story of Mayflower and her tumultuous trans-Atlantic crossing, Plymouth Colony- with its tragic first winter, treaty with the Wampanoag People and celebrated First Thanksgiving echoes down the ages and around the world.

Regardless of anything that came before or after, Plymouth is the 'once upon a time' to the story of the United States — the symbolic, if not literal, birthplace of our Nation. 

In describing the emotional worship service before the Pilgrim church's departure from Holland, Governor William Bradford wrote that Reverend John Robinson:

…spent a good part of the day very profitably and suitable to their present occasion; the rest of the time was spent pouring out prayers to the Lord with great fervency, mixed with abundance of tears.

And the time being come that they must depart, they were accompanied with most of their brethren the city, unto a town sundry miles off called Delftshaven, where the ship lay ready to receive them.

So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.

(13) All these dyed in faith, and received not the promises, but sawe them a farre of, and beleved them, and received them thankefully, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgremes on the earth.

(14) For they that say suche things, declare plainely that they seke a countrey. (15) And if they had bene mindeful of that countrey, from whence they came out, they had leasure to have returned.

(16) But now they desire a better, that is an heavenlie: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God; for he hathe prepared for them a citie.

Bradford's description of Robinson's worship service first appeared in print in Nathaniel Morton's New England's Memorial (1669), a popular chronicle of Plymouth Colony written by the governor's nephew. It is on the basis of this excerpt that Mayflower's passengers first became known as the Pilgrim Fathers, or Pilgrims, in the late 1700s. 

Who were the Pilgrims?

If we really want to understand them, we must try to look beyond the legends and see them as they saw themselves. They were English people who sought to escape the religious controversies and economic problems of their time by emigrating to America.

Many of the Pilgrims were members of a Puritan sect known as the Separatists.

They believed that membership in the Church of England violated the biblical precepts for true Christians, and they had to break away and form independent congregations that adhered more strictly to divine requirements.

A passage from the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians gave urgency to their actions. The Geneva translation for Second Corinthians 6: 16-18 reads:

(16) And what agrement hathe the Temple of God with idoles? for ye are the Temple of the living God: as God hathe said, I wil dwell among them, and walke there; and I wil be their God, and shalbe my people.

(17) Wherefore come out from among them, and separate your selves, faith the Lord: and touche none uncleane thing, & I wil receive you.

(18) And I wil be a Father unto you, and ye shalbe my sonnes and daughters, saith the Lord almightie.

At a time when Church and State were one, such an act was treasonous and the Separatists had to flee their mother country. Other Pilgrims remained loyal to the national Church but came because of economic opportunity and a sympathy with Puritanism. They all shared a fervent and pervasive Protestant faith that touched all areas of their lives.

As English people, the Pilgrims also shared a vital secular culture both learned and traditional. They lived in a time that accepted fairies and witches, astrological influences, seasonal festivals and folklore as real parts of their lives.

They looked at the world they lived in not as we do today – through the eyes of quantum physics and psychology – but through the folklore of the countryside and academic traditions that stretched back to antiquity.

They were both thorough Protestants of the recent Reformation and the inheritors of the Medieval worldview that infused the imaginations of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.

The Separatist Faith

The Separatists' faith experience was part of the larger English Reformation of the 16th century. This movement sought to “purify” the Church of England of its corrupt human doctrine and practices; the people in the movement were known as “Puritans.

” Separatists were those Puritans who no longer accepted the Church of England as a true church, refused to work within the structure to affect changes, and “separated” themselves to form a true church based solely on Biblical precedent.

Puritans rejected Christmas, Easter and the various Saint's Days because they had no scriptural justification, and in their worship services, they rejected hymns, the recitations of the Lord's Prayer and creeds for the same reason.

The Separatists believed that the worship of God must progress from the individual directly to God, and that “set” forms, the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, interfered with that progression by directing one's thoughts down to the book and inward to one's self.

As Pastor Robinson expressed it, even two or three “gathered in the name of Christ by a covenant [and] made to walk in all the ways of God known unto them is a church.”

Sabbath services were held twice on Sunday; in addition, sermons were often given on Thursdays, and as occasion demanded, Days of Thanksgiving or Days of Fasting and Humiliation were proclaimed.

These latter were movable weekday holidays called in response to God's Providence. Both were observed in a manner similar to the weekly Sabbath, with morning and afternoon services. The approximate times were from 9:00 AM to noon and from to 2:00 to 5:00 PM.

In Plymouth Colony, according to the famous passage from Isaack de Rasiere's 1627 letter:

They assemble by the beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain's door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum.

Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe, beside him on the right hand comes the preacher with his cloak on and on the left hand, the captain with his sidearms and his cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him.

Once they reached the meetinghouse, the men and boys sixteen and older sat on one side; the women and children sat on the other side. John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, attended morning and afternoon Sabbath meetings while on a brief visit to Plymouth in October 1632.

While no examples of prophesies have come down to us, it seems to have been similar in nature to a mini-sermon, consisting of a reading or quoting of a text and an exposition of its meaning and spiritual application, with some discussion of Christian doctrine:

On the Lord's day there was a sacrament which they did partake in, and in the afternoon, Mr. Roger Williams (according to their custom) propounded a question, to which the pastor, Mr. Smith, spake briefly. Then Mr.

Williams prophesied; and after, the Governor of Plymouth spake to the questions; and after him the elder, them some 2 or 3 more of the congregation. Then the elder desired the governor of Massachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they did. When this was ended, the deacon Mr.

Fuller put the congregation in mind of their duty of contribution; whereupon the governor and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat and put it into the box, and then returned.

William Brewster served as the Ruling Elder of the Pilgrim church from its days in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England to Leiden, Holland and finally Plymouth Colony. Ruling Elders were responsible for the government of the congregation, but as they were laymen and not ordained ministers, they could not deliver the sacraments.

Elders were often referred to as the “eyes of the church,” governing and admonishing the congregation. In the absence of Pastor Robinson, who remained in Holland, Brewster preached and taught the in Plymouth.

In memorializing Brewster after the Elder's death in 1643, Governor William Bradford also supplies additional details on aspects of worship in Plymouth:

He always thought it better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the same, except upon solemn and special occasions as in days of humiliation and the .

His reason was that the heart and spirits of all, especially the weak, could hardly continue and stand bent as it were so long towards God as they ought to do in that duty, without flagging and falling off.

Prayer, in keeping with Separatist belief, was completely extemporaneous. The Lord's Prayer was considered a model to be followed, but not slavishly copied.

Prayer was given by the Pastor or Teaching Elder. At this point in the service, the congregation rose. The speaker removed his hat, raised his eyes and lifted up his arms toward Heaven, and spoke.

At the end, all joined in saying, “Amen.”

Scripture in the 16th century was often interpreted in a metaphorical sense; scholars searched for hidden meaning. Separatists concentrated of the literal and historical possibilities, generally ignoring the metaphorical interpretations. During this part of the service, a passage of scripture was read and expounded upon in this literal manner by the Pastor or Teaching Elder.

Finally, Psalms were the only music allowed in the service. Hymns were rejected because they had no scriptural basis. The versions of the Psalms used in Plymouth Colony came from Henry Ainsworth's Psalter, in which he had “Englished” the Psalms in prose and metre, and set them to livelier music than had been heard before.

These were sung, without musical accompaniment, by the whole congregation. Years later, in the 1670s, when the first generation of settlers–many of whom had musical training–had died, the colonists had difficulty with the music of the psalms. At this point, the practice of “lining” psalms began.

To learn more about the faith of the Pilgrims, visit us at Plimoth Plantation. See our calendar for information about our weekly programs on religion.

Источник: //plimoth.org/what-see-do/17th-century-english-village/faith-pilgrims