Women's ministry in the church Part 3: I Tim 2:9-3:1a

This is the third and final post regarding Dr. Earl Ellis' view of women in ministry. In the first post, I covered Dr. Ellis' observations noting the positive role of women in Paul's ministry and churches. In the second post, I examined I Cor 14:34f which in Ellis' view limits only the role of certain married women in the exercise of their gifts. In this third post, Ellis' view of another "limiting" passage will be examined: I Tim 2:9-3:1a.

Ellis begins by comparing I Tim 2:9-13 with I Cor 14:34f and I Pet 3:3-6. His purpose in doing this is twofold: 1) he wants readers to note the similarities in vocabulary and topic between these three passages, and 2) he wants readers to conclude that Paul is using a traditional "household code" in I Tim 2:9-13. The second point needs to be unpacked a bit. One of Ellis' contributions to scholarship has been his observation that Paul utilized several early church traditions in his epistles. A tradition can be understood as a hymn or statement of faith which the early church utilized in its meetings. Some of these may have been written by Paul himself, although that is not significant. Perhaps the most agreed upon traditional piece which scholars recognize is Phil 2:6-11. "Household codes" are common in the NT letters. They are exhortations given to those of the household: husbands, wives, children, slaves, and masters (e.g. Eph 5). Ellis argues that this I Tim 2 passage is a traditional piece which circulated in the early church that is also a "household code" which is primarily discussing the role of husbands and wives. What Paul has done here is to take the "household code" and juxtapose it with the church worship setting.

Based on the conclusion that these are traditional "household codes," Ellis argues that the words for "women" and "men" should be understood to be "wives" and "husbands." These are the same Greek words used in the I Cor 14:34f passage (surprise! surprise! See the second post for more details). Since their semantic range encompasses both possibilities, it is up to contextual clues to tip the scale one way or the other. Ellis notes three contextual clues to support a "wife/husband" reading: 1) the relationship of this passage with other "household codes", 2) Paul uses the illustration of Adam and Eve which points to the marriage relationship, and 3) the promise to the "observant woman, which is connected with childbirth" (Ellis, Pauline Theology, 72). This appeal to women giving birth points to the household setting and not the worship setting.

Thus, Ellis concludes that Paul does not allow a married woman to teach or exercise authority over her own husband. A single woman, however, is not limited by this and has more ministry flexibility. What is key here in understanding Ellis is that he views Paul as limiting certain women not because they are women, but only if their practice of gifts would violate the roles in marriage. In other words, Paul is very open to women exercising their gifts and assuming various roles in the church, but if their exercise of ministry causes them to violate their role in marriage, then they should limit themselves.

One final point which Ellis makes concerns the role of bishop which is discussed in I Tim 3:2. This post is in danger of being too long already, so I will just give Ellis' conclusion. Ellis notes that Paul may also exclude women from becoming bishops in the church if we understand the bishop to be a single leader of a church. Another option, which Ellis also states is valid, is that women are not excluded from this role if the leadership structure of the church has multiple leaders (i.e. multiple bishops/plurality). Once again, however, if this role causes the women to be teaching or in authority over her husband, then she would have to step down.

Women's ministry in the church

To be honest this is not a topic of which I have done much thinking. In the last few weeks, however, I have been reading several books on early church order which discuss this topic. In the past when I have looked into this topic, the arguments seemed to revolve around whether or not Paul's commands for women to be silent were culturally limited to the ancient world and, therefore, should be "upgraded" because of our more progressive understanding. This line of discussion was not very persuasive to me personally.

One of the books I have been reading is from conservative theologian and former (he is deceased) Southern Baptist professor Dr. Earl Ellis. He has brought to light some new thoughts (at least new to me) in this discussion. It seems there are three Scriptural areas which need to be explained/discussed: 1) Paul's positive statements regarding women's ministry in his letters, 2) I Cor. 14:33-35 which commands women/wives to be silent, and 3) I Tim 2:11-12 which states that women/wives are to learn in quietness and submission while not usurping authority or teaching over men/husbands.

Just to clarify the discussion: no one that I know of explains these passages in terms of women being inferior to men. The issue is one of roles in the church, at least that is how most conservative thinkers explain it. Both men and women are equal in their salvation and unified in Christ (Gal 3:28), however, roles may be distinct as between husband and wife or between the Father and Jesus Christ.

In this post, I want to present Dr. Ellis' arguments regarding the positive role of women in Paul's ministry. In another blog post I will present his exegesis of the I Cor and I Tim passages. All of this information can be found in his book Pauline Theology pages 53-86 which is very readable.

Paul mentions many women who are involved in ministry with him: Prisca (Priscilla), Junia, Euodia, Syntyche, Nympha (not mentioned by Ellis), and Phoebe. In fact, when we look at the biblical evidence nearly 1/4 of the names mentioned in regards to Paul's ministry are women (not from Ellis). Significantly, Phoebe (Rom 16:2) is called a "minister" or possibly "deaconess" in the church of Cenchreae. The other ladies, exluding Nympha, are called "coworkers" which is a term Paul uses elsewhere of those involved in various ministries including teaching, preaching, and prophecy. Junia was imprisoned (Rom 16:7) most likely because she was involved in some ministry which drew the ire of the Roman government: preaching and evangelism. Ellis does not mention Nympha (Col 4:15), but she needs to be added to the list as well in that her house was used for a church meeting. When we realize that only wealthy people owned homes large enough to accommodate 30-50 people for a church meeting, then we realize that Nympha was probably wealthy. Also, if the church met in her home, then there is no reason to assert that she did not administrate some aspects of the meeting. Lastly, Paul mentions that women can have the gift of prophecy (I Cor 11:5). Since prophecy is exhortation, encouragement, consolation and probably has significant overlap with what might be defined as teaching this becomes a significant point. It also creates tremendous tension with I Cor 14 where Paul tells women/wives to be silent.

Obviously Paul has a high regard for women in ministry. In fact if it were not for I Cor 14 and I Tim 2 this would most likely be a non-issue. So how does Ellis handle/explain these other passages? Does he give priority to this evidence or does he give priority to I Cor 14/1 Tim 2? Tune in next time to find out (and hopefully "next time" will be relatively soon).