MEN AND WOMEN IN MINISTRY Josimar Salum

MEN AND WOMEN IN MINISTRY

Josimar Salum

Jesus gave gifts to men and women.

Ministerial gifts are not exclusive to men. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and cooperates with men and women alike. Both men and women are disciples of Jesus who, in order to carry out God's work, need God's gifts.

“Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number." Acts 5:14 

We read in the pages of the New Testament about women in ministry with specific gifts:

“Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied." Acts 21:8‭-‬9 

“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. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them." Romans 16:2‭-‬4 

“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 

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children," Titus 2:3‭-‬4 

It seems controversial to many to recognize that Junia was an "apostle", or that her ministry was highlighted among the apostles as such.

“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 

It is a fact that the word "apostle" in the Greek New Testament text does not appear in the feminine, neither prophet nor evangelist, etc.

But it is clear in the New Testament that "in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female" and in the Body we are all members of one another.

The problem is that “ministry” is confused with the “government” of the Church, ministry with presbytery.

The elders, disciples of Jesus, from the communities or cities of the New Testament, constituted by the Holy Spirit to shepherd, led the church of God. In each city there was a group of elders who pastored the Church of God. Shepherding according to the New Testament was always exercised collectively and not individually.

“The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you." Titus 1:5 

Peter recognized himself a presbytery with and among others and not superior to them. It is strange to the New Testament for the practice of one "elder" to be superior to others, in the same way that there was no apostle superior to another. Bishop in the New Testament is not a pastor above others.

“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." 1 Peter 5:4 

The word “presbyteros” in Greek literally means “oldest”. A man over forty years of age was considered in the New Testament world an “presbyteros” elder.

It is also an indisputable fact that there is no mention in the New Testament of the word "presbyteros" in the feminine form and no name of a woman acting as "elder" in any of the churches cited in the New Testament.

Therefore, ministry cannot be confused with presbytery. There is no restriction in the New Testament that women may exercise their ministerial gifts as long as the episcopacy (overseeing) is clearly and exclusively intended for men.

“Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach," 1 Timothy 3:1‭-‬2 

It is worth remembering that in the New Testament world there were elders both in the market and in the city squares, in the houses, in the government offices, etc. as there were also elders in the churches. The word elder (presbyteros) has to do with age, so a young man (from the Greek neoteros) could not pastor the church of God because he was simply not a “presbyteros” (older).

And not every elder (older man) in the church was made a "bishop" to shepherd the flock of God. Only those who fulfilled the Biblical qualifications and were chosen by the Spirit of God, generally set forth by the apostles and never chosen by the saints. The election, where believers vote to choose their leaders, is unknown in the New Testament.

So when the Word of God uses the term "given gifts to men", this does not refer only to men. A woman can exercise the pastoral ministry, teaching, evangelism, and act as a teacher, prophet and apostle, but never in the New Testament was she constituted as a "bishop" to shepherd the flock of God.

#ASONE