What about women and minister credentials?

Ordained Women Ministers At Christian Leaders Alliance

Ordained Women Ministers Are Allowed And Encouraged

The debate on whether ministry-trained women are allowed to be ministers has raged throughout history and in various faith communities.

Christian Leader Alliance enthusiastically encourages the training and credentialing of women ministers. Why?

1. Ordained Women Ministers Are Allowed Based on the Pentecost Sermon.

The first sermon of Peter on Pentecost mentioned that women have a role as gospel messengers.

Shortly after Jesus rose from the dead and forty days later ascended on high, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Inside the house, a violent wind and tongues of fire spread and came to rest on each disciple. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.

Outside, the wind and fire were noticed by the God-fearing Jews from other nations that were in Jerusalem. Acts 2:7-11 recounts,

Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?  Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

The question on everyone's mind was: What does this all mean? Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12) Some people interpreted the scene as out of control. Maybe alcohol was involved. They mocked them.

Peter, the early spokesman for the new Christian movement, filled with the Holy Spirit, gave the first Christian sermon. He began:

"You men of Judea, and all you who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to my words. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

Peter had the stage, and his next lines disruptively identified the future leaders of this new movement.

No, this is what was spoken in the prophet Joel:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." Acts 2:15-18

The message was simple.

Everyone who called on Jesus would be saved. Later in his Pentecost message, Peter centers the new movement on one central truth. Jesus rose from the dead.

God has raised Jesus to life, and we have all witnessed this fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Acts 2:32-33

Peter's message ended with a call to repent and be baptized.

Christian Leaders Alliance recognizes that in these last days, ministry-trained men and women are called to be messengers.

2. Ordained Women Ministers Allowed Based On Roman 16

The Apostle Paul mobilized educated women ministers.

As the Apostle Paul raised another generation of Christian leaders to spread Christianity beyond the first apostles, he included educated women ministers.

How did he launch Christianity beyond himself?

As he spread Christianity on his missionary journeys, he recruited, educated, and ministry-trained men and women to help.

One of the educated and ministry-trained women he recruited was Phoebe.

Phoebe was a well-educated woman with resources from Cenchrea, a coastal town near Corinth. Paul describes her as being a great help; the Greek word means a benefactor to the Apostle Paul and others. When Paul sent one of his letters, he carefully picked his messenger. This educated woman carried the letter from Paul to the Roman believers.

Paul picked Phoebe to answer any questions. Was this possibly considered out of the ordinary? Yes. So, Paul writes,

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a (DIAKONOS), that is a deacon, a minister, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Romans 16:1-2

Throughout history, it has been debated whether or not Paul meant that Phoebe was a servant, deacon, or minister here. The word used here is "diakonos." Most scholars agree that she was a "diakonos" or a minister.

It is essential to acknowledge that Paul put a high premium on those who received education and ministry training.

A short distance from Cenchrea was Corinth. The general pattern of education in those days excluded women or, more likely, wives from schooling. The gospel includes both men and women, but the leaders were usually educated men. Roman law did not promote women's education and did not encourage women's role in society's development. Most women were not educated, so Paul generalizes that reality. We read in 1 Corinthians 14:33-35

As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

At that time and that day, only a few women were educated and trained in ministry. Phoebe was one of the few. She was the minister who carried the book of Romans to Rome.

Paul promoted other women like Priscilla (Romans 16:3). Paul mentioned Junia in Romans 16:6, calling her remarkable among the apostles. Richard Bauckham proposes that Junia is the Latin name for Joanna, an early supporter (Luke 8:3) and disciple of Jesus who was at the empty tomb (Luke 24:10). (Bauckham, Richard. Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels. Eerdsmans, 2002, pp. 172-80)

3. Women ministers (diakonos) are allowed based on 1 Timothy 3:11.

Some might disagree that Paul allows women ministers based on 1 Timothy 3:11. Others may see the possibility, and others might agree that the Apostle Paul is referring to women ministers in this passage.

Modern translators usually translate 1 Timothy 3:11 as referring to the wives of deacons, not to women deacons. Remember, the deacon is the word diakonos, where we get the word minister. Let's look at the original Greek text and then some translations. 

1 Timothy 3:11  γυναῖκας (gunakas - woman or wife)  ὡσαύτωςσεμνάς, μὴδιαβόλους, νηφαλίους, πιστὰςἐνπᾶσιν.

Wives-only Translation Option: 

New International Version Translation - 1Timothy 3:11     In the same way, their wives, are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

Women Minister Option

American Standard Version  - 1 Timothy 3:11  Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

Here is the issue: The Greek word γυναῖκας (gunakas) means either women or wives, depending on how you read the context to interpret the meaning. 

Many of the earliest commentators in the early church opted for the women minister option, and these women could marry.

Take, for instance, John Chrysostom. John was born in 347 and died in 407. He was the archbishop of Constantinople and Antioch. This was a Greek Speaking place that read the New Testament in ordinal Greek.  Men and women at these places in the early church were credentialed as married and single women as well as married and single men.

Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiekin in their book Ordained Women in the Early Church. quote John Chrysostom and then make further comments on John Chrysostom Homily 11 on 1 Timothy 3:11,

 “Likewise women must be modest, not slanderers, sober, faithful in everything.” Some say that he is talking about women in general. But that cannot be. Why would he want to insert in the middle of what he is saying something about women? But rather, he is speaking of those women who hold the rank of deacon. “Deacons should be husbands of one wife.”  This is also appropriate for women deacons (diakonoi), for it is necessary, good, and right, most especially in the church. (John Chrysostom)

The point that John makes is still disputed in the interpretation of the text from Timothy. Here the commentator is clear which option he favors. In John’s churches in Antioch and Constantinople, female deacons or deaconesses were well known. His application of the one-marriage rule to women deacons seems to suggest that in late-fourth-century Antioch, they were allowed to marry and so need not have been celibate. (Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn. Ordained Women in the Early Church (p. 19). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition)

The eastern church centers of Constantinople and Antioch ordained men and woman ministers who read the original Greek New Testament. As John Chrysostom read 1 Timothy 3:11, the only thing he wanted to clarify was that women ministers (deacons) must only have one husband.

This brings us to another point. There is much evidence in the early church that women were credentialed as ministers.

Ordained Women Ministers Are Allowed Based On The Historical Early Church Practice. 

The early church credentialed numerous women ministers (diakonai).

The first documented deacon minister was Phoebe, seen in Romans 16:1. Historical documents, recent research, and archeology have uncovered a preponderance of evidence showing the common practice of ordaining women in the church. This practice happened until the 1200s in the Catholic church. (Women Deacons: Gary Macy. Paulist Press. 2011. Page 28.)

Women Slaves Mentioned As Ministers

Pliny the Younger was a prolific writer whose epistles have survived. He died in 113 AD. About three years before he died in 110 (AD), he wrote to Emporer Trajan about the spread of Christianity and the procedure for punishing confessing Christians. He is alarmed at the spread of Christianity. He commented,

For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. Georgetown University

He arrested people in Bithynia (northern Turkey) accused of being Christian. Some recanted, and he let them go. Others did not, and he executed them. As Pliny tells of his dealings, he mentions the arrest and torture of two female slaves. He writes,

Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called "ministers." But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

What? The Christians were educating and ordaining women slaves as ministers! By 110 AD, the training system for women included not only higher society women like Phoebe but also women slaves.

Only 80 years after the resurrection of Jesus, the prophecy of Joel mentioned at Pentecost by Peter had come true.

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy (Acts 2:18)

Montanist Movement Credentialed Women

The Montanist movement (circa 150 AD) in the early church included the ordination of women ministers and women bishops. These Montanist leaders encouraged the mobilization of Godly men or women to serve in ministry. This movement was ultimately not supported and was condemned but not because of the use of women's gifts. Dr. Alan Wheatly suggests that

The Montanist phenomenon points strongly to a reaction to increasing clerical dominance, to an insistence that authentic Christian practice included a broad spectrum of participants, including women and to the work of the Holy Spirit as invigorating such breadth of involvement. (Wheatley, Alan B.. Patronage in Early Christianity: Its Use and Transformation from Jesus to Paul of Samosata (Princeton Theological Monograph Series Book 160) (p. 100). (Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.)

The Montanists also included women who were Bishop Ministers. Ordinarily, men occupied the role of Bishop in those days. Perhaps the traveling for Bishops made it unsafe for women in the Roman empire. We see wealthy women like Phoebe from the book of Romans as exceptions.

There are many tomb inscriptions of women deacon ministers and even women bishops. For a detailed and extensive study, a documentary history of "diakonos" ministers in the church's history, purchase Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek's Ordained Women in the Early Church.

Takeaways

1. Based on the overwhelming evidence of the inclusion of women in ministry from the book Acts and other writings of the Apostle Paul, married and single women are allowed to be credentialed ministers.
2. Church history is friendly to the inclusion of credentialed women.
3. Christian Leaders Alliance enthusiastically endorses credentialing married and single women as ministers.