In contrast to
other large Christian groups like Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics, United
Methodists maintain that women who are called by God may serve at every level
of leadership within the Church. Aware that this position sets us apart
from other brothers and sisters in Christ, this decision was not arrived at
lightly. Rather, it is the result of a long process of prayerful
theological discernment that has sought to be faithful to Scripture and
Christian tradition as well as to our own reason and experience.
Groups like the
Quakers and Pentecostals have affirmed the gifts of women for ministry from the
very beginning of their movements, while mainline Protestants – including
Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Disciples, Congregationalists,
and some Baptists – did not begin granting women full clergy rights until the
twentieth century. However, since the earliest days of Methodism, certain
women demonstrated what John Wesley called an “extraordinary” call from God to
share the good news and so were licensed to be preachers. Wesley’s own
mother led a Bible study in her home that drew so many people that it began to
rival her husband’s ministry as the parish priest. Thus, United
Methodists have always been mindful that some women are not only persuaded of a
call from God to preach, but also that the living out of this call has produced
much spiritual “fruit” (Matthew 7:16) – drawing many to a deeper love of God
and neighbor. Today, women lead around 8% of all American
congregations and account for 20% of mainline Methodist, Presbyterian, and
Lutheran clergy.
SCRIPTURE
We believe that
God is active in the world, revealing himself to us over the course of human
history. Over hundreds of years, God inspired ordinary people to write of
their encounters with the divine in stories, letters, and poetry (to name a few
biblical genres) – words that were collected together in the Bible. When
read in faith, these words are for us the living Word of God, telling us the
good news of God’s purpose for us.
As United
Methodists, Scripture is of primary
importance for understanding God and how we are called to live in the
world. And yet, it is necessary to acknowledge that the Bible has been
interpreted in many different ways. Often, particular passages are taken
out of context and wielded like weapons to support causes that contradict the
Bible’s message as a whole. For this reason, the Bible is not read in
isolation, but instead is interpreted through the lens of tradition (what has been “handed down” [1 Cor. 15:3] through the
community of faith), reason, and experience. We approach the
Bible, not as those who have mastered God’s Word, but as humble children,
acknowledging our weaknesses, and relying on the Holy Spirit to “lead us into
all truth” (John 14:26).
With this in
mind, we maintain that certain so-called “proof texts” against the full
inclusion of women in the life of the Church (1 Tim. 2:8-15; 1 Cor. 14:34-35)
are used in isolation and are often taken out of context by those who oppose
women’s ordination. In similar ways, sincere Christians have relied on
isolated texts to support slavery (1 Peter 2:13-18), apartheid (Gen. 11:1-9),
head coverings for women (1 Cor. 11:5), or to prohibit remarriage after divorce
(Mark 10:2-12). Before considering these specific Pauline texts, then, it
is necessary to establish what the rest of Scripture has to say about women and
their role in the Church.
1.
Men and women were created equally in
the image of God. In contrast to the long-held assumption that women
are sub-human or dependent on men for their humanity, the Bible describes God
creating “male and female” in his own image. The woman was created as the
perfect complement to man, and she shares with him in the task of caring for
the rest of creation (Gen 1 – 2).
2.
The oppression and belittling of women
is rooted in sin. In the aftermath of the humanity’s disobedience to
God, the relationship between men and women was distorted. We can see the
beginnings of male abuse of women in Adam’s excuse before God: “It’s her
fault!” The conflict between the sexes is the result of the Fall –
including all domestic violence, sexual abuse, systematic exclusion and
oppression meant to undermine the sacred worth of women as human beings created
in the image of God (Gen 3).
3.
Women held significant leadership roles
in Old Testament. Although the majority of Jewish leaders were male,
females also contributed in very important ways. Most strikingly, Deborah
served as a judge over Israel (Judges 4 – 5) and Esther delivered her people
from extermination (Esther). The example of these women reminds us that women
were not entirely excluded from leadership roles in the community of faith and
that God worked through them in extraordinary ways.
4.
In Christ, there is no longer male and
female. Jesus broke down social barriers by reaching out to women and
including them in his apostolic community. The same woman who gave birth
to the Messiah was with him at his death, when most everyone else had run
away. Jesus’ female disciples were the first ones to witness his
resurrection. Through Jesus, God opened the way for a new community, the
Church, where salvation, baptism, and discipleship are available to all people
– including women. Old barriers of division and exclusion, including the
conflict between the sexes that is rooted in sin, no longer apply within the new
community of faith (Gal. 3:28). In contrast to social norms where women
were viewed as property, women in the Church are empowered by the Holy Spirit
to be witnesses to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
5.
Women held significant leadership roles
in the Church. It is clear that “femaleness” is not a barrier to full
participation in salvation, baptism, or discipleship. This being so, it
is logical to conclude that Christian ministry is also extended to all
people. Indeed, the New Testament affirms that women participated in the
ministry of the Church on many different levels. In fulfillment of Joel’s
prophecy, God poured out his Spirit upon all flesh, so that women should
“prophesy,” the same word that connotes the sharing of the Gospel message (Acts
2:17). Thus the arrival of the Spirit points to a new context for the
ministry of women in the Church – women like Philip’s daughters (Acts 21:9),
Priscilla (Rom. 16:5), Euodia and Synteche (Phil. 4:3), Phoebe (Rom. 16:1),
deaconesses (1 Tim. 3:11), and Junia, who is referred to as “prominent among
the apostles” (Rom. 16:7).
TRADITION, REASON, AND EXPERIENCE
In light of the
larger narrative of Scripture, it seems reasonable to maintain that women
should not be universally excluded from leadership within the Church. In
these “latter days,” God has poured out his Spirit on all flesh, leveling
barriers that were formerly meant to exclude, including between male and female
(Acts 2:17; Gal. 3:28). Therefore, all efforts to silence women from
“prophesying” that are based in a male desire to control or dominate females
must be understood as a re-imposition of old sinful divisions within the
Church.
However, it must
also be acknowledged that for the vast majority of the Church’s history, women
have not been able to participate fully in the leadership of the Church.
This is partly due to a particular interpretation of the aforementioned Pauline
proof-texts and partly because of the belief that only a man could stand in the
place of Christ as a priest (since Jesus was a man) and that Jesus only chose
twelve male apostles.
We do not
cavalierly shirk off these historic objections to the ordination of
women. As previously noted, we do not approach the Scripture as
individuals but as part of a wider community of faith that cuts across time,
space, and denominational divisions. And yet, we are also convinced that
all tradition must be continually measured against the apostolic witness of the
Scripture as a whole. Especially in view of the longstanding violence and
oppression against women – inside and outside the Church – we are compelled to
take a closer look at these objections and are careful to remain open to where
the Spirit may be leading us toward reform.
OBJECTION: BE SILENT, WOMEN!
As we seek to be
faithful to the Word of God, we cannot dismiss out of hand biblical texts that
we may find uncomfortable. To be sure, “all Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). At the same time, though, we must be careful
to interpret individual passages within their own context and in light of the
Scriptural narrative as a whole. In this task, it is critical to rely on
the God-given resources of tradition, reason, and experience – while continuing
to acknowledge that sin too often clouds our ability to hear the Word that God
is speaking through the text today. That being said, the Pauline texts in
1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 have traditionally been used in Protestant circles
to bar women from ordained ministry. Although many have approached these
texts with a preconceived sexist agenda, others maintain their position against
women’s ordination out of a commendable desire to be faithful to God’s
Word.
Still, it should
be noted that a selectively literal
reading of Paul’s writings on women casts suspicion on the motivations of
the interpreter. Why is it that those who oppose women’s ordination
strenuously quote Paul’s advice that women “be silent” (1 Cor. 14:34) and that
they should not “have authority over a man” (2 Tim. 2:12) – but ignore his
explicit instructions on women’s apparel in worship such as head coverings,
gold jewelry, pearls, expensive clothes, and braids (1 Cor. 11:5; 2 Tim.
2:9)? Furthermore, women are rarely confined to complete “silence” as a
literal interpretation would suggest (they may testify, sing, offer prayer
requests, etc.), instead they are carefully excluded by men from the recognized
power structures and leadership in the Church (despite doing most the
work). It is in these selectively literal contexts where women are
excluded from leadership that men in authority most often overlook domestic violence, sexual abuse, and
exploitation of women in the Church. If those who oppose the
ordination of women want to be taken seriously, they should be consistent in
their literal interpretation of Paul and should root out all forms of abuse
against women in their churches.
1.
1 Corinthians 14:34-35: “Women
should be silent in the churches…If there is anything they desire to know, let
them ask their husbands at home.” Perhaps the most obvious point
is that this passage does not refer to who is leading the service, but only to
those who are in the congregation. Moreover, the “silence” here implies
“reverence” or “respectful attention” more than limitation, since women (who
were overwhelmingly uneducated) may have been asking questions or causing other
disruptions in the service, “for God is a God not of disorder but of peace”
(14:33). Silence in this passage is related to the ordering of worship
within the particular context of the church at Corinth, not restricting half of
the body of Christ to total public silence for all time.
2.
1 Timothy 2:12: “I permit no woman to teach
or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” In
all of Christian Scripture, this is the only text that instructs all women to
be “silent.” In context, however, Paul is giving his own personal advice
to Timothy’s particular situation, saying that women in the congregation should
be decent and modest in appearance, not “seizing authority” over men. Why
would Paul say this? Timothy was a young pastor in Ephesus, a city where
the female-only cult of Artemis was the main religion. In order to prevent
newly empowered Christian women from getting carried away and dominating men
like the cult of Artemis, Paul encourages them to learn in silence (“reverence”
or “respectful attention”), so that men and women together can develop the
gifts of leadership God is giving them. Such a spirit of reverence and
respect need not contradict all other biblical passages where women appear in
leadership roles (see above). In fact, it is this very spirit of respect
that prevents women from seizing the kind of authority over men that men
previously held over women.
To a lesser
extent, opponents of women in Church leadership roles will point to the
requirements for selecting pastors (elders) that refer only to men (1 Tim.
3). Yet such a restrictive interpretation is not consistently applied,
since to do so would be to suggest that all pastors should be married fathers
with disciplined children who obey their teachings. This not only makes
an assumption (beyond the text), that Paul and Timothy were married men with
children, it demonstrates the opposite bias of a literal interpretation of the
texts that refer to Junia as an apostle (Rom. 16:7) and Phoebe as a deacon
(Rom. 16:1).
OBJECTION: BUT, JESUS WAS A MAN!
In addition to
the biblical proof-texts (widely circulated in evangelical Protestantism),
Catholic and Orthodox opponents of female ordination often cite tradition and
theology. The Catholic Church's opposition to the ordination of women has
hardened in recent years, although a majority of
churchgoing American Catholics are actually in favor of female priests. Supporters of the
Vatican's policy point out that God became a man, not a woman. It makes
sense, then, that only male priests can fully represent Christ to the people in
worship. Furthermore, Jesus chose all male apostles when he certainly
could have selected from among his devoted female followers.
Certainly,
proponents of female ordination should not simply dismiss centuries of church
practice. However, in the case of the argument that a female cannot
sufficiently represent Christ in worship, it is helpful to remember Gregory of
Nazianzus' maxim that "that which he did not assume he did
not redeem." In other words, the incarnation is about Christ
assuming and redeeming our common humanity, not "maleness" -
otherwise, all women remain unredeemed! Furthermore, to follow this
narrow logic, one would also have to exclude all Gentiles from ordination as
well. Paul underscores the opposite point in his letter to the Galatians
- in Christ, there is no male and female, no Jew or Greek (3:28).
Therefore, gender cannot be a determining factor for what it means to be human
and to stand as a representative of Christ to the people in worship.
The second
objection of Jesus only choosing male apostles is more difficult to
address. But surely, even though the apostles were given particular
authority by Jesus and the early Church, we should remember the faithfulness of
his female disciples, who remained by his side when the apostles fled. We
should also bear in mind the patriarchal context of the ancient world.
There is no reason to infer that because Jesus chose all male apostles that he
meant to exclude women from leadership in the Church for all time.
Indeed, the leadership positions women did
hold in the early church (particularly Romans 16:1, 7) and the spiritual fruit
of women in ministry today seem to imply the contrary.
YOUR DAUGHTERS WILL PROPHECY
Even in
traditions where they cannot serve as pastors/priests, women have lived out
calls to ministry over the centuries as nuns, missionaries, pastors’ wives,
deaconesses, and teachers. Within Methodism, women have served as class
leaders and local preachers. Over a period of time, the fruit of this
ministry has been observed by our corner of the Church to be blessed by the
Holy Spirit. We believe that the reasons for excluding women from full
participation in the Church’s leadership contradict the greater message of
Scripture – that in Christ there is no longer male or female – as well as our own
experience of the effectiveness of females in various non-ordained ministry
roles. Thus, as United Methodists and other Protestants, we have come to
a consensus that women should be ordained as a witness to the wider Church that
we are truly living in the latter days, when the Spirit is poured out on all
people and our “daughters shall prophesy.”
