This essay is regarding the role of woman in the first century emerging church. I could not get the footnotes to appear, so please excuse the footnotes that appear in the text. I did include the bibliography at the end. If you need a footnote, please e-mail me and I will get that to you.
There were numerous factors involved with the growth of the church in the first century. With the development of the Roman Empire came the pax romana. There was a long period of peace and people flourished in trade and commerce. Transportation had become easier with the development of roads and a unifying language was established throughout the land. All of these factors were important for the emerging church of the first century, yet not imperative. People were imperative for joining in the mission of God to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. These imperative people that participated in joining the mission of God were called the church. The church is comprised of both men and women. Due to the numerous layers of controversy surrounding the role of woman in not only the church, but also the market, the household, and the family, men have received the majority of the attention regarding the strength of the church. My hypothesis is that women also played an essential role in the emergence of the church within the first century.
I will investigate this hypothesis in a four-fold manner. The first manner will be to briefly investigate the role of women in the Old Testament through examining some prophetesses. The second will be to investigate the role of women within the life of Jesus, remembering that while the church did not begin until after Penetcost , the stories of women found in the Gospels certainly had an effect on the emerging first century church. The third will be to investigate Luke’s various references to women within the book of Acts. And the fourth will be to investigate the diverse Pauline material regarding women within the emerging church as encountered in several of his letters.
There was a history of women playing important roles within the people of God before the life of Jesus. For instance, while women in the Old Testament filled the prophetic office far less than men, they were periodically placed into positions of prominence and authority. The prophetic nature of Aaron’s sister is revealed in Exodus 15. 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.” (Exodus 15:20, 21). Judges 4:4 begins the account of Deborah and discloses that she was not only a prophet, but also reveals that she “was leading Israel”. Following in the tradition of women playing an important role in the midst of God’s people, 2 Kings 22:13 and 14 shares the story of the prophet Huldah, who spoke prophetically regarding idolatry and the anger of the Lord that resulted form it. The majority of the stories of the Old Testament do prioritize the lives of men, but as one studies the text, it becomes more common to encounter progressive stories of women who played prophetic and formative roles within the people of God.
The stories of the Old Testament carried into first century Judea and the context in which Jesus was born. After Pentecost, as the church began to take shape, communities took on the form of groups that were already in place. While Judaism had numerous different groups within it, the Temple remained central for most groups. When it came to women in the temple, there were different courts that different types of people could venture into. While Gentiles had to stop at the outer court, women would continue into the Court of the Women. However, women were not allowed to enter into the Court of Israel. While Jewish women were given more privilege than all Gentiles, they were not given the same privilege as Jewish men. There were also three groups within Judaism that prayed thanksgiving for being male. “Praised be God that he had not created me a gentile; praised be God that he has not created me a women; praised be God that he has not created me an ignorant man.” The Tosephta, the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud were all traditions that commonly said this prayer, representing more of a traditional perspective on women within Judaism. However, within the synagogues of the Diaspora, women were experiencing more and more responsibility. Hellenism had influenced the synagogues within the Diaspora, and one of the results was allowing women to be more prolific in leadership within worship and prayer. The most important theme of the landscape in which Jesus stepped into regarding women was that there was a significant amount of diversity amongst different people groups, and again, communities began to form throughout groups that were already in place.
The study of Jesus’ views on women as leaders within the people of God can be confusing because the institution of the church was not a priority to him. Rather, Jesus’ central purpose was to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God. In Luke 4 Jesus says, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43) Similarly, in Mark 1 Jesus says, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) This is important to understand as one ponders the role of women in the emerging church within the first century. Jesus did not come to found the church or a “new” Israel, but rather to proclaim the “true” Israel. As Jesus announced the Kingdom of God and the true Israel, it was clear that he held an egalitarian idealism and this egalitarianism paved the way for women to lead within the church after Pentecost. It was a natural outflow of the life and teaching of Jesus to include women in following him, in providing for the needs of women who were in hardship, and in encouraging women just as he would encourage men. These outflows of Jesus are experienced through the lives of women that he came in contact with; Martha and Mary, the women caught in adultery, the women at the well, the woman with the hemorrhage, and of course, Jesus’ mother Mary. All of these women, and certainly more, were included in the life, teaching, healing, equipping, and empowering of Jesus. As he proclaimed the Kingdom of God for the emergence of the true Israel, it seems that women were included and prepared to do the same.
Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom and through the Holy Spirit, the church was the result. The Kingdom of God is not the church, but the church is the instrument of the Kingdom. The Gospel writers tell the story of a Jesus who prepared both woman and men to do this. As the Biblical narrative moves through the Gospels and into the book of Acts, a similar theme manifests. As the reality of Jesus bends deeper and deeper into the Gentile world, numerous women initiate movement of the Gospel. The bends of leadership become indirectly evident in the beginning of Acts 17. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God–fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. (Acts 17:4) It is important to note that these prominent Macedonian women had a “well-earned reputation for their independence and enterprising spirit.” These women were the wives of leading citizens, and the decision for believing in Jesus was theirs and not their husbands. Undoubtedly, maintaining their independent and enterprising spirit, these women played a role within the emergence of the church in Thessalonica. While this story is rather indirect, Luke later becomes more poignant in including specific women within his telling of the story of the emerging church.
Poignancy in Luke’s writing for woman actually begins with a man named Apollos. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. (Acts 18:24-26) Priscilla and Aquila still attended the synagogue after Paul had left and found that they were most impressed with the articulation of Apollos in his rhetoric. In their hospitable spirit, the couple invited Apollos into their home, where they further explained the way of God. (This was a kind motion in that they did not embarrass Apollos publicly in front of the synagogue. ) This text becomes pertinent to this essay because Luke puts the female name of Priscilla in front of the male name of Aquila three times in Acts 18. This is an unexpected order of names for the context of the first century. Not only is a woman explaining the way of God to a man, but also to a learned man, and also in a manner prioritizing the female teacher in front of the male teacher. The often-sexist church fathers and John Chrysostom even realize the importance of Priscilla. Chrysostom writes that Priscilla was “more pious than her husband” and that “she took him (Apollos), instructed him in the way of God, and made him a perfect teacher.” Priscilla was certainly an important woman and played an important role in the emerging church. Apollos continues in the way of God and even becomes an appreciated colleague of Paul. Priscilla and Aquila also continue in the faith and are often remember by Paul, or the communities that followed Paul, in Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy.
The woman that Luke writes about in Acts 16 also plays an intriguing role within the first century church. Luke writes that Paul and his companions arrived in Philippi, which is a Roman colony and leading state in the district of Macedonia. It was also a common place of retirement for military leaders and had very few Jews that lived within its parameters. Paul stayed there several days and then staying true to his pursuit of firstly the Jews, and then the Gentiles, the text says, “On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.” (Acts 16:13) In order to form a synagogue, it was necessary to have ten male heads of the household. Apparently, this type of foundation could not be found within the city, so a group of either Jewish women, or God fearing women, or a mixture of both were gathered to go through the appointed Jewish service of prayer for the Sabbath. It is in this place that Luke includes the phrase “we” and thus indicates that he was also present for this meeting. The “we” makes the historicity of the text substantially more reliable. The two groups converge and it is in this space that Paul meets Lydia.
Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, had her heart opened by God to hear and positively respond to Paul’s message. Lydia was a God fearing Gentile, a successful businesswoman, and she was Paul’s first Gentile convert in Europe. Lydia and her whole household were baptized as Paul and Silas stayed at Lydia’s house before they were taken to prison for exorcising a demon out of a little girl. The hospitality of Lydia is then highlighted as Luke includes that after Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to Lydia’s home. This was a safe haven for them and also for the believers that were gathered in Lydia’s home. Apparently, others had come to know Jesus while Paul and Silas were in prison. Paul and Silas encouraged them while in Lydia’s home before they went on their way. An independent and successful businesswoman, refined into a lover of Jesus, Lydia was an weighty figure in the apostolic church.
Along with others such as Damaris, the foreign woman in Athens who heard Paul at the Areopagus , and Philip’s four daughters, who had the gift of prophesy, it seems that women played a role in the life and growth of the emerging church in the first century through the work of Luke. While the story is heavy on men, in no place are woman restricted in the church in any of their roles within the body of Christ. If anything, these women, when contrasted with first century Judaism, played progressive roles within the people of God. Luke’s approach is different than the approach that we encounter with Paul’s writing. At an initial glance, within Paul’s writing, there seems to be dichotomized thoughts that subordinate woman and thoughts that encourage woman as equal players within the leadership of the church. It is within these texts that the hypothesis of the essay will truly be put to the test.
Two points will be important to remember as we explore some of Paul’s texts regarding the role of women within the emerging church. Firstly, since Paul’s letters are primary, they should be given priority over and against harmonious texts that share the same story. Secondly, it should be noted that Paul’s letters are occasional letters and were written in response to certain sets of circumstances that were happening within certain contexts. Paul had the people whom he was writing to on his mind, but this does not mean that these letters are only for those people. We have much to learn through these letters, but we must remember that they are occasional. Through Paul’s actions in the way that he lived his life, it is easy to see that he was particularly progressive for his time. The question of just how progressive he was, especially in the conversation of male and female roles, is put to the test in his letters. We will examine numerous of Paul’s texts one by one and the occasions that surrounded them.
Suneltheson is the key word in the controversial passage regarding women in Philippians chapter four. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel (Philippians 4:3a). The TNIV translates the word as contended. Other translations NET translates as struggled, KJV translates as labored and the ASV translates the same. Suneltheson means “to toil together with someone in a struggle, implying opposition and/or competition”. As we revisit the idea that it was more common to encounter Macedonian women in positions of prominence , this passage is relatively self explanatory. We don’t know who the women are, but they were certainly female, and they certainly contended, or struggled, or labored with Paul in his ministry, therefore having an influence within the first century emerging church.
In Romans 16, we come across a couple more woman that Paul mentions in his writing. Phoebe and Junias. The least controversial of the two is Phoebe. 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 (Romans 16:1, 2). Two words are important in this text. The first is diakonos, translated here as deacon and the second is protasis, translated here as benefactor. In the past it has been common to translate these words as “deaconess” and “helper”, thus attempting to make these words seem inferior in status to males. These are poor translations. The word diakonos and how it relates to Phoebe is explained exceptionally well by Craig Blomburg in his book Pentecost to Patmos.
“Although translations often render the first of these terms simply as a “servant”, this was the standard word used for “deacon,” and a distinctly feminine form of the noun had not yet developed in the Greek language. Given that Phoebe is called a diakonos of a specific church, the term is more likely a label for an office in this context.”
The word prostasis would normally have been used in antiquity to mark one as a patron and has a long history and strong connotations toward labeling people as leaders and persons of authority. With the responsibility of patron would also involve the ownership of a home, which would then make sense of Phoebe being the owner of a home in which a house church met from Cenchreae. Another role of Phoebe as a patron would have included financial generosity toward the ministry of Paul. In order to supplement his income that he earned in making tents, Phoebe was certainly a generous financial supporter of the life and ministry that surrounded Paul. Not only was Phoebe an influence on the life of Paul and the church, but it also seems that she took on major leadership rolls within loving and supporting the community that surrounded her.
While the role of Phoebe as a leader in the early church is obvious, the controversy surrounding Romans 16:7 is a bit more complicated. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was (Romans 16:7). Here Paul writes of two people that are outstanding among the apostles. Apostles are elevated among others in the eyes of Paul, and in this instance he calls Junia an apostle. This becomes relevant for this essay as Junia is not read about as a man, but rather as a woman. In some texts, such as the RSV and the ASV, Junia was translated as Junias, a male name, rather than Junia, a female name. The TNIV has the translation correct, in a female form. Translators of these incorrect versions could simply not believe that Paul would label a woman as an apostle and therefore assumed the masculine version of Junianus. It is more likely that Junia is a better translation, marking a woman as an apostle within the first century emerging church.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). The words are certainly electric, pushing Paul especially progressive within the context of the first century landscape of the New Testament and the emerging church. But does this passage mean anything for woman having influence within the first century emerging church? A common view in refuting this text states that this verse comes from the lips of Paul through a quote but that he did not really mean for the words to be taken at face value for the entire community. Others argue that this text represents the primitive community before Paul, some argue that the text arranges the views of a post-Pauline church, and others call it a word for the Gnostics which Paul had to adapt, using the words polemically to parallel his voice with his opponents. This paper does not allow the space to work through all of these opinions, and at this point I will simply have to state that I fervently disagree with all of these ideas. When Paul boldly and progressively proclaimed that all are one in Christ Jesus, I believe that this is what he meant. It is especially important to refer to this text through the lens of leadership. He did not mean that while we are all one, Jews and free people are allowed to lead and Gentiles and slaves are not. Similarly, he did not mean that we are all one, but that women are not allowed to lead. We are all one, in Christ, therefore on the same playing field as others when it comes to gifting and practicing gifts. This text is not only the highest climax of the often-sad letter of Colossians; it is at its core the most basic statement about what it means to be a follower of God.
The traditional or subordination approach to women in roles of influence within the church desires to explain away Galatians 3:28 because of some seemingly contradictory ideas of Paul within 1 Corinthians and one text within 1 Timothy. The final paragraphs of this essay will deal with these specific texts that seem to contradict all of the previous stories and passages of women that have had exceedingly influential roles within the first century emerging church. While both of these passages are seriously called into question as to whether or not they are authentically Pauline, they will be treated in this essay as if they were authentically Pauline.
The most difficult Pauline passage to understand in light of all the stories of women involved in spheres of influence within the Scriptures is 2 Timothy 2. Thus we warm up with trying to get some handles on 1 Corinthians 14. Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church (1 Corinthians 14:34, 35). This verse must be understood within the educational landscape of first century Corinth. To put it simply, wives were uneducated. Especially when compared to their spouses. In the sequence of 1 Corinthians 14, Paul has been especially emphatic on a fitting and orderly process of worship to press forward into edification in worship for the entire body of Christ. Therefore, woman have been commonly understood as inferior in mind in the Greco-Roman world, and were often denied the opportunity of education. Women participated in worship in the house churches within Corinth, which apparently had trouble articulating an orderly way of praising God. Women, because of the oppression of their education, were adding to the confusion by asking poor questions at inopportune times during worship. So Paul then gives a progression of answers to the problem. A short term answer, as seen in verse 34 and a long-term answer, as seen in verse 35.
The short-term answer calls woman to be silent to maintain proper order of worship. This short-term answer is also a contextual answer for a specific congregation of people and certainly does not apply to all women within all congregations. All one must do is turn a few pages back in the Scriptures to read 1 Corinthians 11:5 in order to understand that Paul calls women, in an apparently different congregation, to pray in the context of worship. So verse 34 is a short-term solution to the problem of the oppression of women in education in Corinth, and verse 35 presents for the church a long-term solution for the problem by husbands taking time to educate their wives. Again Paul, in a progressive manner, instructs husbands to privately tutor their wives. In a world where the common husband would consider this a waste of time, this instruction from Paul is remarkable! In view of the larger context of both 1 Corinthians and the Scriptures, this text is not a “tool” to be used to subordinate women, but rather is a text that’s primary goal is to set women free from the injustice occurring within the first century educational system in order that women may have a stronger voice for the emerging first century church.
In light of all of the stories that call for an egalitarian relationship between men and women, 1 Timothy, at first glance, seems as if it might call into question the apparently progressive nature of Paul’s other support of woman in all different forms of leadership within the New Testament. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man she must be quiet (1 Timothy 2:11, 12). Before we dig into the ideas of quietness and authority, we should back off of verses 11 and 12 and remember the purpose of 1Timothy. The letter was written to Timothy and was addressing heresy that was happening within the church in Ephesus. 2 Timothy 3:1-9 refers to the heresy with the center of these verses climaxing in verses 6 and 7. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:6, 7). Apparently, this heresy was having a controlling effect over gullible women, or gynaikarion, who were swayed by evil desires through being loaded down with sins. As was the case in Corinth, women were also oppressed from an education in Ephesus and were therefore easily subject to influence. These uneducated women were then inspired to spread into the church and teach heresy, which was unacceptable to Paul.
Similar to 1 Corinthians 14, Paul gives both a short-term and long-term answer to the question of these heretic women in Ephesus. The short-term answer is to learn in full submission and quietness, and not to teach or to assume authority over a man. The word for quietness does not mean “without talking”, but rather implies a calmness. It is the same root, hesuchia, as the verb found in 1 Timothy 2:2, “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives”, and also in 2 Thessalonians 3:12, “Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” referring to settling down. The word that is translated in the TNIV as authority is especially interesting for this paper. This is the only time the Greek word authentein is used in the New Testament. Scholer writes that the word negatively implies “usurpation and abuse of authority” . Banks writes that the word implies “an excessive use of authority over a man, or domination.” Louw and Nida translate the word as “to control in a domineering manner.” This word is different than, exousian, the word used to define the authority of Jesus. Therefore, the authority that Paul is writing of in 1Timothy is that of the seizing authority that the heretic woman from Ephesus laid claim upon over the church. In the short term, Paul deeply desires to keep these heretical woman from teaching in the local house churches, and to keep them calm, in order that they may be in submission to teaching that better aligns with the reality of God.
The long-term implications of this passage is similar to that of the church in Corinth, that the women should learn. Again, this is a remarkable progressive component of the teaching and instruction of Paul, that he would even consider the opportunity for women to be a part of education. He is not only correcting the false teaching that is happening through woman in Ephesus who were preyed upon by heretical men because of their lack of education, he is also pressing for a better way, a way that includes women within the realm of education. With all of this in mind, 1Timothy should be approached as a letter to dismiss and combat false teachers that existed within the city of Ephesus. This was not specifically a transcultural word to refute the leadership of women within the church, but was rather a specific response to a specific incident that was occurring within Ephesus.
The question, again, was not whether or not Paul was progressive, the question, rather, is just how progressive was Paul? From the studies above, we can assume that Paul was very progressive for his time, and played an important role in freeing woman to utilize their gifts any many ways. He called them apostles and prophets, he called woman and men one in Christ, and he encouraged them to learn in the midst of a culture that did not think that it was worth their time to teach women. The world of the first century emerging church was one in transition: political, religious, spiritual, geographical, ideological and chronological. Within all of the texts that we have considered, it is important to note that Paul was steering a careful course through changing cultural seas. While many different communities and many different cultures have interpreted the words of Paul in different ways throughout time, the conversation continues. Paul has important things to say to men and women regarding proper rolls for humanity within the context of leadership that unquestionably still apply in today’s church. The church probably will never come to absolute agreement on this topic because of the different lens’ and different hermeneutics that people apply to the text. However, within the context of this paper, Paul does give people that agree with an egalitarian perspective a strong voice within the discussion of roles of women in ministry and in life.
In researching my hypothesis that women played an essential role in the emergence of the church within the first century, I believe that I have unpacked several examples that demonstrate my hypothesis as true. I gave examples of women prophets in the Old Testament, women in the life of Jesus, women as apostles and teachers in Acts, women in leadership within the sphere of Paul, and I defended key scriptures that may, at first glance, seem to contradict Galatians 3:28, and put men on a pedestal above women regarding leadership within the emerging first century church. This paper and all of the material that was researched within it, constitute just a minute portion of the conversation that continues surrounding this difficult topic. In the end I think that it may be humbly important to quote Raymond Brown.
"I contend that in a divided Christianity, instead of reading the Bible to assure ourselves that we are right, we would do better to read it to discover where we have not been listening. As we Christians of different churches try to give hearing to the previously muffled voices, our views of church will grow larger; and we will come closer to sharing common views."
We are divided regarding exactly what role women played in leadership in the first century church. Moving into the 21st century and all of the hurdles that the church will be facing, can we continue in the process of generously discovering where we have not been listening? This, as Brown writes, will give rise to previously muffled voices, increase our view of the church, and bring us closer to practicing unity.
Bibliography
Ascough, Richard S. What Are They Saying About the Formation of Pauline Churches? Mahmah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1998.
Banks, Robert. Paul’s Idea of Community rev. ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
Blomberg, Craig L. From Pentecost to Patmos, An Introduction to Acts Through Revelation Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006.
Brown, Raymond. The Churches the Apostles Left Behind New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1984.
Bruce, F.F. ed. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Book of Acts, rev. ed., by F.F. Bruce Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Press, 1988.
Clark, Elizabeth A. Woman in the Early Church: Messages of the Fathers of the Church. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1983.
Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974.
Louw and Nida, Accordance Bible Software Version 7.1. Copyright 2006, Oaktree Software Incorporated. www.accordancebible.com.
Hawthorne, Gerald F. and Martin, Ralph P. ed. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Horrell, David G. An Introduction to the Study of Paul New York, NY: T and T Clark, 2006.
Patzia, Arthur G. The Emergence of the Church: Context, Growth, Leadership and Worship Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
Scholer, David. Women, Authority, and the Bible Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986.
Scholer, David M. "Women in Ministry," Covenant Press, Companion Bible Study Series 17 (1984): 64.
Snodgrass, Klyne R. Women, Authority, and the Bible Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986.
Tucker, Ruth A. and Liefeld, Walter. Daughters of the Church Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987.
I have had some extra time, after a long quarter at Fuller, to look at various texts from the scriptures. I have also been reading McLaren's new book titled Everything Must Change. While I have grown less fond of McLaren in some of his latest writing, he has captured me with his latest articulation of reality in his new work. (I recommend the text for all... Not only those seeking to understand reality within a postmodern culture, as has been much of McLaren's previous work.) As I was reading last night before going to bed, McLaren spent a short time on the word construction seen in the Bible, "HOW MUCH MORE". It is a common word construction not only in the New Testament, but also in the entire text. "Paso mallon" is the Greek that the New Testament authors use in order to bring hope to some hopeless contexts. I have been encouraged today in spending time with these texts, written by so many different authors, in so many different communities, throughout the second half of the first century. I hope that they can be an encouragement today to you too!
Mini Putt