Role of Men and Women in Church!

Reflection:  I Corinthians 11 has been a challenge for many interpreters over the years, as they try to interpret Paul’s theology of the role of men and women in the church back then and how that applies to us today.  Paul says in Galatians, “There is no male or female, slave nor free, Jew or Gentile, but all are one in Christ Jesus.”  And then, here in Corinthians, Paul preserves the distinctiveness of men and women, and uses the order of Creation, and the story from Genesis where the woman is made “out of the man” to establish how authority flows. He states the line of authority is that Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of the woman.  The term head was a word used for “power or authority”.   

This is the same logic that Paul uses when he says, “Women should be silent in the churches as I teach all the churches”, although this particular admonition appears to be more in conjunction with the women exercising their newfound freedoms in ways that disturbed the flow of the worship service and became a distraction.  The apparent contradiction comes in when it is widely recognized that all people, men and women, had been given spiritual gifts including the gift of prophecy, where Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians that spiritual gifts are meant to build up the body of Christ.  Whether men or women are using their gifts the goal is the same edification of the body.    

So you can see the tension here.  Paul is trying to keep order in the church, in a highly patriarchal culture. For the sake of order he encourages them keeping cultural norms like women keeping their heads covered and men covering their heads, while also allowing room for the in-breaking power of the Holy Spirit given to all people (see Joel 2:24 for the prophecy from the OT regarding this!).    Paul also says in verse 11-12, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God” to show the mutual dependence on God.

So what do we make of all this and how does Paul’s teaching direct us today as we seek to be faithful to the scriptures and our life in mission together as men and women?  Today you will find some churches that ordain women, and some who don’t based on the arguments laid out above.  A while back in the church I serve, a women was called to serve as pastor and did a fine job using her gifts to help build up the body.  Today our church is served by 3 male pastors, with a staff made up of men and women. One of the women on our staff teaches bible studies at our church, which some men attend and are built up in their faith and knowledge of the bible.  As a general rule, we have men disciple men and women disciple women in our church.  We have found this to be a healthy rule to follow realizing the differences between men and women.

How does your church balance Paul’s teaching today?  What has been your experience in your tradition?      

Psalm 58

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam.

1 Do you rulers indeed speak justly?

    Do you judge people with equity?

2 No, in your heart you devise injustice,

    and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

3 Even from birth the wicked go astray;

    from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,

    like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer,

    however skillful the enchanter may be.

6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;

    Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions!

7 Let them vanish like water that flows away;

    when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short.

8 May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,

    like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—

    whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.

10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,

    when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 Then people will say,

    “Surely the righteous still are rewarded;

    surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Job 41

41 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook

    or tie down its tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a cord through its nose

    or pierce its jaw with a hook?

3 Will it keep begging you for mercy?

    Will it speak to you with gentle words?

4 Will it make an agreement with you

    for you to take it as your slave for life?

5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird

    or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

6 Will traders barter for it?

    Will they divide it up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons

    or its head with fishing spears?

8 If you lay a hand on it,

    you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

9 Any hope of subduing it is false;

    the mere sight of it is overpowering.

10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it.

    Who then is able to stand against me?

11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

    Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,

    its strength and its graceful form.

13 Who can strip off its outer coat?

    Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,

    ringed about with fearsome teeth?

15 Its back has rows of shields

    tightly sealed together;

16 each is so close to the next

    that no air can pass between.

17 They are joined fast to one another;

    they cling together and cannot be parted.

18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

    its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19 Flames stream from its mouth;

    sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke pours from its nostrils

    as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,

    and flames dart from its mouth.

22 Strength resides in its neck;

    dismay goes before it.

23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;

    they are firm and immovable.

24 Its chest is hard as rock,

    hard as a lower millstone.

25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;

    they retreat before its thrashing.

26 The sword that reaches it has no effect,

    nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

27 Iron it treats like straw

    and bronze like rotten wood.

28 Arrows do not make it flee;

    slingstones are like chaff to it.

29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw;

    it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds,

    leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron

    and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;

    one would think the deep had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is its equal—

    a creature without fear.

34 It looks down on all that are haughty;

    it is king over all that are proud.”

1 Corinthians 11:3-16

3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. 6 For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head. 7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.

You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Exodus 23:8

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly. Titus 2:11-12

Redeemer, we depend on your grace to overcome the world’s temptations. Empower us, we pray, to live pure and righteous lives that honor the holy name we bear. Amen.