The Barrd,
You need to be able to demonstrate that this is what God teaches in the authoritative Scripture. I have been seeking God and pursuing this study for many years. From my study of Scripture, I have found that there has been a censorship of women in ministry that I am not convinced is supported by Scripture. Yes, isolated verses that are cherry picked seem to support an anti-women in teaching ministry (e.g. 1 Tim 2:12 ESV).
I have taken the following information from my article,
Should churches have female deacons? In this article I deal with women’s ministry in the OT, including that of Deborah and Huldah. Evidence of women presbyters (elders) has been found in archaeological sites.
Archaeology, tombstones & women presbyters
Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome
It was pointed out that in the first four centuries of the NT era, archaeology has found grave sites that confirmed there were women presbyters. ‘One tombstone reads, (don’t remember the names in order) ___ the daughter of Lois the presbyter’.[8] He stated that in many areas around the Mediterranean Sea, there have been discovered paintings of women in leadership positions and inscriptions in churches and on tombstones. These women are named and their positions are that of bishops and deacons. His view was that ‘archaeology demands that we reconcile what we have from Paul with the evidence’.[9]
What is the evidence from archaeology? ‘As far as the statement that there is no tradition of women priests, there’s good evidence from archaeology and iconography, in areas of what is now the former Yugoslavia, and southern Italy, that there were women presbyters, leaders of Christian communities in those places, in the early centuries. And a presbyter is what we would call a priest today’ (Johnson 2010:98).
Aisha Taylor, a Roman Catholic, researched the archaeological evidence for women’s leadership in the early centuries of the church. She found that
This is not Scripture, but it is evidence of what happened after the Scriptures were written.
For many years I was captive to this anti-women in public teaching ministry among a mixed group. It came from the traditional evangelical church of my upbringing (Baptist). However, as I read the Scriptures and studied deeply, I found too many anomalies in the traditional view. I want to make it clear that my conclusions are based on the exegesis of Scripture and not from the influence of women's liberation. Here is one example for you to chew on. It's the one that is constantly dragged out to PROVE that women should not teach in the church. I'm speaking of 1 Tim 2:12-15 (ESV):
When I was able to work out the meaning of the beginning of v 15, 'Yet she will be saved through childbearing', was I able to unravel the meaning of v. 12. Also, I had to read 1 Tim 2:12 (ESV) in the broader context of what was happening in 1 Timothy and the Ephesian church (1 Tim 1:3 ESV). I was not trying to liberate women in ministry (although that was needed), I was also trying to make sense of 1 Cor 11-14 (ESV) where a wife was able to prophesy (1 Cor 11:5 ESV) - which one generally can't do as a silent woman (unless she writes it down) - and what was stated in 1 Cor 14:33-34 (ESV), 'As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says'.
How is it possible for a woman to be told to 'keep silent' yet a woman (a wife) can prophesy? God is a God of truth so he does not allow contradictions. I found that I had too many contradictions in my teaching when I closed down women in ministry. I still have a few fuzzy edges to knock off in gaining a better understanding of women in ministry. You can see some of my teaching on this vital subject in the topic, 'Women in ministry' in the right hand menu on my homepage, Truth Challenge. I have 12 articles on the topic. You'll also see a picture of my darling wife, Desley, and me.
Notes
[8] I have not located this statement in an online search.
[9] Christian Forums.com, Hank77#23. Available at: http://www.christianforums.com/threads/female-deacons.7904366/ (Accessed 23 September 2015).
[10] A mosaic is ‘a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small pieces of stone, tile, glass, etc.’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2015. S v mosaic).
[11] A fresco is ‘a painting done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2015. S v fresco).
[12] They are in Rome. ‘The Catacombs of Priscilla sit on the Via Salaria, with its entrance in the convent of the Benedictine Sisters of Priscilla. It is mentioned in all of the most ancient documents on Christian topography and liturgy in Rome; because of the great number of martyrs buried within it, it was called “regina catacumbarum – the queen of the catacombs.” Originally dug out from the second to fifth centuries, it began as a series of underground burial chambers, of which the most important are the “arenarium” or sand-quarry, the cryptoporticus, (an underground area to get away from the summer heat), and the hypogeum with the tombs of the Acilius Glabrio family)’ (Catacombs of Priscilla, available at: http://www.catacombepriscilla.com/index_en.html, accessed 25 September 2015).
[13] The full details for author and book are, J N M Wijngaards 2006. Women Deacons in the Early Church: Historical Texts and Contemporary Debates. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company (Herder & Herder).
Works consulted
J
ohnson, A 2010. Roman Catholic Woman Bishop, in M E Fiedler (ed), Breaking through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders in Their Own Words, 96-99. New York, NY: Seabury Books.
Taylor, A 2010. Former executive director, Women’s Ordination Conference on the archaeological evidence for women’s leadership, in M E Fiedler (ed), Breaking through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders in Their Own Words, 91-96. New York, NY: Seabury Books.
