A CLOSER LOOK AT WOMEN'S ORDINATION #04: HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE
by Ty Gibson
When asked to provide the most direct and explicit biblical statement against women’s ordination, advocates of the position point to Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 3:2:
“A bishop (episkope) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife….”
Paul’s point here, we are told, is that the bishop (what we now generally call thepastor) must be male, because the pastor must be a husband. But there are at least two sound hermeneutical reasons we know with certainty that this is not Paul’s point.
First, in this same passage, a few verses later, Paul says, “Let deacons (diakonos) be the husbands of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:12), and then he turns around without a blink and says to the believers in Rome, “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant (diakonos) of the church” (Romans 16:1).
One very important and sound principle of responsible Bible study is as follows:
“To understand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject you wish to know, then let every word have its proper influence, and if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error” (William Miller).
This principle is echoed in the official Methods of Bible Study voted at the 1986 General Conference Annual Council:
“Recognize that the Bible is its own interpreter and that the meaning of words, texts, and passages is best determined by diligently comparing scripture with scripture…. The reader must allow each Bible writer to emerge and be heard while at the same time recognizing the basic unity of the divine self-disclosure.”
Pause, then, and carefully consider the comparison of the two passages before us. To Timothy, Paul says that the episkope and the diakonos must each be the husband of one wife. Then, to the believers in Rome, Paul introduces to us a woman diakonos. We can only conclude, then, that Paul has no intention for his statement in 1 Timothy 3 to be interpreted as a declaration about gender.
For clarity, this is what we have before us:
“A bishop (episkope) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2).
“Let deacons (diakonos) be the husbands of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:12).
“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant (diakonos) of the church” (Romans 16:1).
While diakonos is sometimes used in a general sense for any informal servant role, we know Paul is using the word here in the formal sense of the ordained position because he describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church” and as occupying an active role in ministry. He then appeals to the believers in Rome “assist her in whatever business she has need of you.” Clearly, she is a leader in the church.
It is evident, then, that when Paul says in 1 Timothy that the episkope and thediakonos must each be “the husband of one wife,” he is simply speaking in a general context in which most of those occupying these roles would have been men, but he was not issuing a universal gender rule.
What, then, does Paul mean to convey in 1 Timothy 3?
Well, look at the passage again: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife…”
The grammar of the text presents the “bishop” as the subject. “Husband of one wife” is set forth as one criterion in a list that Paul offers to define what a bishop of “blameless” character looks like (see verses 2-7). “Husband of one wife” is a grammatical descriptor of “blameless.” Paul’s subject is not the gender of the bishop (pastor) or the deacon, but rather the moral character of those who occupy these two roles. When they are men, as most of them would have been, they are to be “the husband of one wife,” the point being that just one wife is permissible. When they are women, as in the case of “Phoebe our sister,” obviously the husband-of-one-wife criterion applies in principle, but with a different application.
It really is that simple, if we allow the Bible to speak for itself and refrain from reading it selectively with a point to prove. Clearly, Paul did not intend to make a gender restriction with his “husband-of-one-wife” statement. We simply cannot be true to Scripture and not concede that when Paul said the elder and the deacon must be “blameless, the husband of one wife,” he meant to convey that those who hold these positions must be of good moral character, not that that they must all be males, or else Paul contradicted himself by acknowledging sister Phoebe as adiakonos.
It really is that simple, if we allow the Bible to speak for itself and refrain from reading it selectively with a point to prove.
But there is a second reason we cannot use 1 Timothy 3 as evidence for male-only ordination. Even if we were to concede that Paul’s point is that all pastors and deacons must be males, Paul also says in the same letter that men are to lift up their hands when they pray (2:8), that women are to “learn in silence” and not “teach” (2:11-12), that elders who lead well, especially in word and doctrine, are to be paid double wages (5:17), and that slaves who are under the yoke of bondage are to submit to their masters (6:1).
We consider none of these things to be timeless moral mandates. We are not having seminars and symposiums and writing essays urging upon the church the necessity of men raising their hands when they pray, of women learning in silence and not teaching, of especially effective preachers being paid double, or of slaves honoring their masters. If we just stop and think without bias, we know that Paul is speaking here within his particular historical context. That’s why we do not consider these aspects of Paul’s letter to Timothy directly applicable to our time and situation, though the underlying principles are still valid and must be appropriately applied even today. The only way to read the Bible responsibly is to read it with an awareness of its historical context. Otherwise, we are liable to blur the line between timeless truths, on the one hand, and temporal forms, on the other. And the fact is, as Seventh-day Adventists we have always endeavored to read and interpret the Bible in this kind of contextual, historical, responsible manner.
Now pause to notice the obvious problem 1 Timothy 3, if wrongly interpreted, might pose for the Advent Movement as it launched in the 1800s with a woman prophet. Sure enough, there were people in their day who were quick to quote Paul in order to negate Ellen White’s ministry and prove that she, precisely because she was a she, should not be giving spiritual instruction. On one occasion Ellen White preached to a large public gathering in California. Notice what she wrote about the event, with obvious excitement, to her husband, James:
“Elder Haskell talked in the afternoon and his labors were well received. I had in the evening, it was stated, the largest congregation that had ever assembled at Arbuckle. The house was full. Many came from five to ten and twelve miles. The Lord gave me special power in speaking. The congregation listened as if spellbound. Not one left the house although I talked above one hour. Before I commenced talking, Elder Haskell had a bit of paper that was handed in quoting a certain text prohibiting women speaking in public. He took up the matter in a brief manner and very clearly expressed the meaning of the apostle’s words. I understand it was a Campbellite who wrote the objection and it had been well circulated before it reached the desk; but Elder Haskell made it all plain before the people” (Ellen White to James White, April 1 [Letter 17a], 1880; Manuscript Releasesvol. 10, p. 70).
The only way to read the Bible responsibly is to read it with an awareness of its historical context.
It would be helpful to the current debate, would it not, to discover how our early pioneers interpreted Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy. After all, they had to respond to those who were using Paul to negate the ministry of Ellen White. We have no record of precisely what Elder Haskell said on that particular occasion to make “it all plain before the people.” But we do have a record of James White’s response to the general issue, which gives us insight into the way our early pioneers viewed the matter. Brother White had a way with words and wit that could cut right to the core of an issue:
“We object to that narrow-souled theology which will not allow the old ladies to have dreams because the prophecy says, ‘your old men shall dream dreams;’ and that will not allow young women to have visions because the prophecy says ‘your young men shall see visions.’ These stingy critics seem to forget that ‘man’ and ‘men’ in the Scriptures, generally mean both men and women. The Book says that it is ‘appointed unto men once to die.’ Don’t women die?” (James White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 25, 1862; Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, p. 24).
This is brilliant on a number of levels. First, James White is setting forth a foundational perspective regarding how to read and interpret the Bible responsibly (hermeneutics). He takes Scripture for its obvious intent, discerning the principles on display in the text while taking into consideration the use of words in their historical setting. Secondly, he discerns that the inclination to interpret the Bible with a literalistic exactitude that ignores both the broader context of Scripture, as well as the historical context, has its source in a spiritual condition he called “narrow-souled” and “stingy.”
Early Adventists, with their woman prophet, simply did not believe that the Bible’s general tendency to address men—he, him, and husbands—was intended to exclude women. The fact is, pretty much the whole Bible is written to men since nearly all ancient cultures, including Israel, did not regard women as equal with men, while Scripture indicates that God was leading to a correct estimation of women (Matthew 19:3-10). So as we read Scripture it becomes obvious that in addressing men, both men and women are included. Three examples should suffice to make the obvious point.
If the Bible study method being used to interpret 1 Timothy 3 was applied to the gender-specific language of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and 2 Peter 1:21, we would be forced to conclude that while men are not permitted to covet their neighbors’ wives, women are free to covet their neighbors’ husbands; and while men are commanded to refrain from looking and lusting, women are free to look and lust; and while men may be prophets, women may not. At this point, we all know that this interpretive approach to Scripture is deficient. And that is the point James White and our early pioneers were making as they addressed the “stingy critics” who were trying to negate the ministry of Ellen White by quoting the Bible in this “narrow-souled” manner.
We conclude, then, with confidence: Paul’s subject in 1 Timothy 3 is not gender, but character. He is not saying, “Make sure only males occupy the ministerial role.” Rather, he is saying, “Those who occupy the role must be morally blameless.” That is Paul’s point. Anything beyond this involves imposing on the text more than it intends and ignoring other passages of Scripture in order to force this Scripture into the service of a preconceived position.
Those who insist that Paul, in 1 Timothy 3, is setting down a timeless moral rule of male-only ordination are faced with a fact that should give them humble, respectful pause: there are numerous equally committed and conscientious Adventist scholars, pastors, leaders and laity that do not agree with their interpretation of the text. This reality, alone, is sufficient reason to refrain, It in brotherly love, from making the women’s ordination a test question worth dividing the church over.
Originally published: https://lightbearers.org/blog/a-closer-look-at-womens-ordination/
When asked to provide the most direct and explicit biblical statement against women’s ordination, advocates of the position point to Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 3:2:
“A bishop (episkope) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife….”
Paul’s point here, we are told, is that the bishop (what we now generally call thepastor) must be male, because the pastor must be a husband. But there are at least two sound hermeneutical reasons we know with certainty that this is not Paul’s point.
First, in this same passage, a few verses later, Paul says, “Let deacons (diakonos) be the husbands of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:12), and then he turns around without a blink and says to the believers in Rome, “I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant (diakonos) of the church” (Romans 16:1).
One very important and sound principle of responsible Bible study is as follows:
“To understand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject you wish to know, then let every word have its proper influence, and if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error” (William Miller).
This principle is echoed in the official Methods of Bible Study voted at the 1986 General Conference Annual Council:
“Recognize that the Bible is its own interpreter and that the meaning of words, texts, and passages is best determined by diligently comparing scripture with scripture…. The reader must allow each Bible writer to emerge and be heard while at the same time recognizing the basic unity of the divine self-disclosure.”
Pause, then, and carefully consider the comparison of the two passages before us. To Timothy, Paul says that the episkope and the diakonos must each be the husband of one wife. Then, to the believers in Rome, Paul introduces to us a woman diakonos. We can only conclude, then, that Paul has no intention for his statement in 1 Timothy 3 to be interpreted as a declaration about gender.
For clarity, this is what we have before us:
“A bishop (episkope) then must be blameless, the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2).
“Let deacons (diakonos) be the husbands of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:12).
“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant (diakonos) of the church” (Romans 16:1).
While diakonos is sometimes used in a general sense for any informal servant role, we know Paul is using the word here in the formal sense of the ordained position because he describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church” and as occupying an active role in ministry. He then appeals to the believers in Rome “assist her in whatever business she has need of you.” Clearly, she is a leader in the church.
It is evident, then, that when Paul says in 1 Timothy that the episkope and thediakonos must each be “the husband of one wife,” he is simply speaking in a general context in which most of those occupying these roles would have been men, but he was not issuing a universal gender rule.
What, then, does Paul mean to convey in 1 Timothy 3?
Well, look at the passage again: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife…”
The grammar of the text presents the “bishop” as the subject. “Husband of one wife” is set forth as one criterion in a list that Paul offers to define what a bishop of “blameless” character looks like (see verses 2-7). “Husband of one wife” is a grammatical descriptor of “blameless.” Paul’s subject is not the gender of the bishop (pastor) or the deacon, but rather the moral character of those who occupy these two roles. When they are men, as most of them would have been, they are to be “the husband of one wife,” the point being that just one wife is permissible. When they are women, as in the case of “Phoebe our sister,” obviously the husband-of-one-wife criterion applies in principle, but with a different application.
It really is that simple, if we allow the Bible to speak for itself and refrain from reading it selectively with a point to prove. Clearly, Paul did not intend to make a gender restriction with his “husband-of-one-wife” statement. We simply cannot be true to Scripture and not concede that when Paul said the elder and the deacon must be “blameless, the husband of one wife,” he meant to convey that those who hold these positions must be of good moral character, not that that they must all be males, or else Paul contradicted himself by acknowledging sister Phoebe as adiakonos.
It really is that simple, if we allow the Bible to speak for itself and refrain from reading it selectively with a point to prove.
But there is a second reason we cannot use 1 Timothy 3 as evidence for male-only ordination. Even if we were to concede that Paul’s point is that all pastors and deacons must be males, Paul also says in the same letter that men are to lift up their hands when they pray (2:8), that women are to “learn in silence” and not “teach” (2:11-12), that elders who lead well, especially in word and doctrine, are to be paid double wages (5:17), and that slaves who are under the yoke of bondage are to submit to their masters (6:1).
We consider none of these things to be timeless moral mandates. We are not having seminars and symposiums and writing essays urging upon the church the necessity of men raising their hands when they pray, of women learning in silence and not teaching, of especially effective preachers being paid double, or of slaves honoring their masters. If we just stop and think without bias, we know that Paul is speaking here within his particular historical context. That’s why we do not consider these aspects of Paul’s letter to Timothy directly applicable to our time and situation, though the underlying principles are still valid and must be appropriately applied even today. The only way to read the Bible responsibly is to read it with an awareness of its historical context. Otherwise, we are liable to blur the line between timeless truths, on the one hand, and temporal forms, on the other. And the fact is, as Seventh-day Adventists we have always endeavored to read and interpret the Bible in this kind of contextual, historical, responsible manner.
Now pause to notice the obvious problem 1 Timothy 3, if wrongly interpreted, might pose for the Advent Movement as it launched in the 1800s with a woman prophet. Sure enough, there were people in their day who were quick to quote Paul in order to negate Ellen White’s ministry and prove that she, precisely because she was a she, should not be giving spiritual instruction. On one occasion Ellen White preached to a large public gathering in California. Notice what she wrote about the event, with obvious excitement, to her husband, James:
“Elder Haskell talked in the afternoon and his labors were well received. I had in the evening, it was stated, the largest congregation that had ever assembled at Arbuckle. The house was full. Many came from five to ten and twelve miles. The Lord gave me special power in speaking. The congregation listened as if spellbound. Not one left the house although I talked above one hour. Before I commenced talking, Elder Haskell had a bit of paper that was handed in quoting a certain text prohibiting women speaking in public. He took up the matter in a brief manner and very clearly expressed the meaning of the apostle’s words. I understand it was a Campbellite who wrote the objection and it had been well circulated before it reached the desk; but Elder Haskell made it all plain before the people” (Ellen White to James White, April 1 [Letter 17a], 1880; Manuscript Releasesvol. 10, p. 70).
The only way to read the Bible responsibly is to read it with an awareness of its historical context.
It would be helpful to the current debate, would it not, to discover how our early pioneers interpreted Paul’s statements in 1 Timothy. After all, they had to respond to those who were using Paul to negate the ministry of Ellen White. We have no record of precisely what Elder Haskell said on that particular occasion to make “it all plain before the people.” But we do have a record of James White’s response to the general issue, which gives us insight into the way our early pioneers viewed the matter. Brother White had a way with words and wit that could cut right to the core of an issue:
“We object to that narrow-souled theology which will not allow the old ladies to have dreams because the prophecy says, ‘your old men shall dream dreams;’ and that will not allow young women to have visions because the prophecy says ‘your young men shall see visions.’ These stingy critics seem to forget that ‘man’ and ‘men’ in the Scriptures, generally mean both men and women. The Book says that it is ‘appointed unto men once to die.’ Don’t women die?” (James White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 25, 1862; Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, p. 24).
This is brilliant on a number of levels. First, James White is setting forth a foundational perspective regarding how to read and interpret the Bible responsibly (hermeneutics). He takes Scripture for its obvious intent, discerning the principles on display in the text while taking into consideration the use of words in their historical setting. Secondly, he discerns that the inclination to interpret the Bible with a literalistic exactitude that ignores both the broader context of Scripture, as well as the historical context, has its source in a spiritual condition he called “narrow-souled” and “stingy.”
Early Adventists, with their woman prophet, simply did not believe that the Bible’s general tendency to address men—he, him, and husbands—was intended to exclude women. The fact is, pretty much the whole Bible is written to men since nearly all ancient cultures, including Israel, did not regard women as equal with men, while Scripture indicates that God was leading to a correct estimation of women (Matthew 19:3-10). So as we read Scripture it becomes obvious that in addressing men, both men and women are included. Three examples should suffice to make the obvious point.
- The Tenth Commandment says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” (Exodus 20:17). But we do not, therefore, conclude that the commandment does not address women. We believe that the commandment includes, by implication and extension, that women should not covet their neighbors’ husbands.
- Jesus said, “I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). But we do not take His specific address to men to mean that He is not also addressing women. Women should not look and lust any more than men should.
- The New Testament says, “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Yet, we do not take this to exclude women from receiving the gift of prophecy. We accept that women such as Miriam, Deborah, and Ellen White were true prophets and we do not quote Peter’s gender specific language to rule out women from prophetic ministry.
If the Bible study method being used to interpret 1 Timothy 3 was applied to the gender-specific language of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and 2 Peter 1:21, we would be forced to conclude that while men are not permitted to covet their neighbors’ wives, women are free to covet their neighbors’ husbands; and while men are commanded to refrain from looking and lusting, women are free to look and lust; and while men may be prophets, women may not. At this point, we all know that this interpretive approach to Scripture is deficient. And that is the point James White and our early pioneers were making as they addressed the “stingy critics” who were trying to negate the ministry of Ellen White by quoting the Bible in this “narrow-souled” manner.
We conclude, then, with confidence: Paul’s subject in 1 Timothy 3 is not gender, but character. He is not saying, “Make sure only males occupy the ministerial role.” Rather, he is saying, “Those who occupy the role must be morally blameless.” That is Paul’s point. Anything beyond this involves imposing on the text more than it intends and ignoring other passages of Scripture in order to force this Scripture into the service of a preconceived position.
Those who insist that Paul, in 1 Timothy 3, is setting down a timeless moral rule of male-only ordination are faced with a fact that should give them humble, respectful pause: there are numerous equally committed and conscientious Adventist scholars, pastors, leaders and laity that do not agree with their interpretation of the text. This reality, alone, is sufficient reason to refrain, It in brotherly love, from making the women’s ordination a test question worth dividing the church over.
Comentários
Postar um comentário
Diga-nos o que achou das publicações e dê-nos sugestões de novos posts. Gratidão e curta nossa página no Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SouUmJovemAdventista