Should Women be Workers?

One of the foundational beliefs of the Friends & Worker's fellowship is the notion that its preachers (called "workers") most closely resemble the early Christians in the Bible because they travel two by two, which is based upon a loose interpretation of Jesus' Mission of the Twelve in Mark 6:7. There are multiple reasons why this selective proof-text fails scriptural analysis, but this article will concentrate on how the existence of women workers contradicts their own, if you'll pardon the pun, man-made doctrine. In this group, workers travel in celibate pairs, staying in the homes of the "Friends" - a male worker has a male companion worker with him, and likewise, a female worker has a female companion worker. Together they go out and preach, leading the worship services at conventions, gospel meetings, Sunday morning meetings, and in private bible studies.

One very large reason the concept of women workers is contradictory is because Mark 6:7 proves too much. Jesus "summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits." The question is - who were the Twelve? The parallel passage in Matthew 10:2 (which, by the way, does not mention the two by two stipulation) provides the answer:

1) Simon, called Peter = a man
2) Andrew, his brother = a man
3) James, son of Zebedee = a man
4) John, his brother = a man
5) Philip = a man
6) Bartholomew = a man
7) Thomas = a man
8) Matthew the publican = a man
9) James, son of Alphaeus = a man
10) Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus = a man
11) Simon the Canaanite = a man
12) Judas Iscariot = a man

Not only was the mission to the Twelve a limited one focused only on the "lost sheep of Israel" (Mt 10:6), but also Jesus did not choose women to fill this role - He chose men. The Friends & Workers are being selectively literal in their interpretation of Mark 6:7 because they ignore the fact that nowhere in Scripture did Jesus send forth women to travel preaching two by two. Basically, this argument fails the test of the scholastic dictum: qui nimis probat, nihil probat, or "he who proves too much, proves nothing".

F&W apologists turn to other biblical passages to attempt to justify the role of women workers, despite the fact that in his pastoral letter to the young bishop Timothy, Paul makes it quite clear that women are not supposed to be in positions of authority over men in church, saying, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." (1 Tim 2:11-12). There are many attempts by Nathan Barker (see his article New Testament Women Ministers) to explain away this clear statement by mentioning women elsewhere in Scripture, so we will examine each reference one by one:

Acts 1:12-14 - The Upper Room

"And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."

Nate tries to claim that this proves that women preached, but it does nothing of the sort. The passage only says that the women were in one accord in prayers and supplications, not that they went out preaching two by two. Philippians 4:6 says, "Be nothing solicitous; but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God." This is the universal directive to all believers as part of the community of worship, so offering prayers and supplications is NOT the same as two celibate women traveling in a pair as part of homeless, itinerant ministry instituted by Christ - there is a big difference between the two. Furthermore, whom does Peter address on the subject of replacing Judas? He talks to the men of the group, saying "My brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand...." (Acts 1:15). Scripture shows quite clearly that when Peter addressed the issue of replacing Judas, he directed his statements to the men of the group, not the women.

Acts 2 - Pentecost

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Nate tries to claim that those speaking in tongues at Pentecost included women; however, this is not true either. Luke, the writer of Acts, had already shifted attention away from the 120 men and women gathered together to focus on the Twelve, as seen in Acts 1:26 where they find a replacement for the Apostle Judas (a man). After casting lots, Matthias (a man) is selected to replace the man who abandoned his apostolic call, even though there were plenty of capable women available. In fact, Mary the Mother of Jesus was there, but even she was not considered for the position.

Then "they" were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4). Who were "they"? A few verses later we find out that "Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice" (Acts 2:14) and began to preach. Therefore, Peter (a man) preaches the first sermon of the Christian church and the "they" were the Twelve Apostles as seen from verse 14.

Galatians 3:28 - One In Christ Jesus

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus".

Although Nate quotes this passage without any supporting argument at all, some people will quote this passage in Galatians as if it somehow proves that men and women are seen without distinction, and they are, but not in terms of church leadership roles! This passage is talking about justification of our souls through faith, not the gender-specific duties of men and women in the church community because, if anything, there is a male-oriented leadership. By this I mean that the New Testament is full of references to spiritual fatherhood; for example, Stephen called the Jewish leaders "father" (Acts 7:2), as Paul also calls Jerusalem Jews "father" (Acts 21:40, 22:1) and Abraham the "father of us all" (Rom 4:16-17). Paul told the Corinthians that "I became your father in Christ through the gospel" (1 Cor 4:14-15) and refers to Timothy as "my true child in the faith" (1 Tim 1:2). The writers of Hebrews tells us that we have "earthly fathers" to discipline us (Heb 12:7-9). In fact, Abraham's name literally means "father of all nations", and this spiritual fatherhood was to continue in the New Testament by Christ choosing 12 men as His apostles and by His apostles ordaining and appointing men to the office of bishop or priest (Titus 1:5). So, to try to apply this to women in the church is to yank the verse completely out of context.

Acts 10: 34-35 - God Shows No Partiality

"Then Peter began to speak: 'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right."

Here Nate completely ignores the surrounding context and gives another irrelevant passage having nothing to do with either men or women in leadership positions. In Acts 10 Peter had received the vision from God that the Gentiles would be allowed into the church. Given the traditional disparaging view Jews had of Gentiles, this was a monumental development in the early church, so what Peter was doing was explaining that the revelation of God's choice of Israel to be His people did not mean that He withheld that divine favor from other people (non-Jews). This conversation had NOTHING do with the women in ministry - a fact which should be obvious to even a casual reader who notices that Peter is speaking of nations, not individual gender issues.

Acts 12 - The House of Mary

"...Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying."

Some of Nate's proof-texts prove too much, but this one proves too little. All this passage shows is that after his miraculous release from prison, Peter went to the house of Mary, where others were meeting and praying. Since Christians were persecuted for their faiths, they would often meet secretly in homes - in this case a woman's home. The passage says absolutely nothing about women workers traveling two by two (note also the mere fact that people met at Mary's house shows that she was not a homeless female ministers like the women workers of today).

Romans 16:3 - Phoebe

"Phoebe our sister, which is the Servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye Receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in Whatsoever business she hath need of you. For she has been a succorer (help) of many and of myself also."

Nate understandably wants to try to make Paul's words to Timothy in 1 Tim 2:11 mean something other than what they actually do, so he mentions Phoebe and others as counterexamples. However, it should be noted that Phoebe is only described as a helper - this passage says that Phoebe was a help to Paul as well as others. The Greek term in this passage for "helper" is sunergos, which Paul also used to describe Urbanus (Rom 16:9) and Timotheus (Rom 16:21) and Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas (Phm 1:24), all of whom were men. It is an word that is too generic to be anachronistically designated the exact same meaning by the Friends & Workers, 1800 years after the fact, to mean "Worker" with a capital "W" . Instead, it is to be used to convey the message of shared faith, as in 3 John 1:8 "We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers (sunergos) to the truth." (see also 2 Cor 8:23, 1 Cor 3:9).

Romans 16 only lists helpers; it does not show that Phoebe was an apostle, or even a successor of an apostle. It does not show that she was sent out two by two paired with another woman. It does not say that she was ordained with the laying on of hands or given the apostolic authority to teach in church. It is interesting to note that the Revised Standard and other versions translate her title as "deaconess" (from the Greek diakonon), even though that term does not appear anywhere in the New Testament. Instead, when "deacon" is used in Scripture as an office, it is always applied to a man, for example, "Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. " (1 Tim 3:12) Therefore, it is clear that in Paul's usage in Romans 16, Phoebe is only described as a "helper" and not as one holding the office of "deacon".

Romans 16:12 - Tryphena and Tryphosa

"Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord."

"Labouring in the Lord" does not mean that they were given authority to travel two by two and preach in church. The Greek word here in Romans 16:12 is kopiao, which in this case is used by Paul merely to refer to "labour with much effort" (see 1 Tim 4:10, 2 Tim 2:6, Eph 4:28, 1 Cor 4:12). However, when kopiao is specifically applied to leaders in the church, he refers to himself (Col 1:29, Phil 2:16, Gal 4:11, 1 Cor 15:10), himself and Timothy (1 Tim 4:10), or the elders of the church (1 Tim 5:17). The common denominator is that when Paul uses kopiao in leadership terms, he always involved men, not women. Note also that with respect to the elders, he uses kopiao in a specific way: "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." In other words, these men were not just "labouring in the Lord" in the general sense like Tryphena and Tryphosa, but labouring "in word and doctrine". The only time Paul writes of labouring in word and doctrine, i.e. teaching authority, it pertains to the elders of the church. Furthermore, when Paul lists Timothy as a "fellow labourer", he further qualifies his title with the Greek term diakonos, i.e., deacon. He uses similar language in Colossians 4:7, "All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister (diakonos) and fellow servant in the Lord" and again in Ephesians 6:21, "But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister (diakonos) in the Lord, shall make known to you all things".

In Scripture, there is a specific manner in which men are selected and sent out, and this is seen clearly in Acts 6: "They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them". Then these men (Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas) were selected and then ordained through the laying on of hands, after which "the word of God spread" (Acts 6:7). No woman in Scripture - not Phoebe, or Tryphena and Tryphosa, or anyone else - were ordained with teaching authority through the laying on of hands.

1 Cor 14:34-35 - Disorderly Women?

"As in all the churches of the holy ones, women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says..."

There are clear directives from Paul outlining the role of women, but when it comes to Paul's statement to Timothy, Nate says in the beginning of his article that "Paul cannot be addressing women who were in the ministry, but rather those in the Congregation who were out of ORDER. With respect to 1 Cor 14:34-35, he says later that "we must interpret those verse [sic] in the light what we have established--that there were women in leadership positions of the church. Obviously Paul is NOT writing to them. He MUST be addressing another issue entirely -- the women who were LOUD and UNRULY during the service, causing DISORDER and CONFUSION." He then says that "When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was dealing with a church that was very disorderly in their service. Much of the letter was spending Correcting excesses and abuses. Some of these pertained to women in particular and some were to the entire church. Paul is not being Prejudiced against Women when he instructs the Corinthian women to keep silent."

There were indeed problems with the Corinthian church, but none of them had to do with women being "out of order" in terms of their own authority to preach. There was a problem with factionalism in which certain members were identifying themselves with individual leaders (1 Cor 1:10-14). The community had not yet taken appropriate action against one of its members who was living publicly in an incestuous relationship (1 Cor 5:1-13). There were legal conflicts in pagan courts of law (1 Cor 6:1-11), and religious prostitution (1 Cor 6:12-20), and continued temple sacrifices (1 Cor 10:14-22). Some members were drinking too much at the Eucharistic meal and discriminating against the poor (1 Cor 11:17-22). Charisms of estatic prayer were thought to be more valuable than works of charity (1 Cor 13:1-3). Paul also had to address the question of eating meat offered to idols (1 Cor 8:1-13), the use of sex in marriage (1 Cor 7:1-7), including the issue of getting married at all with the belief in Christ's quick return (1 Cor 7:25-40)

All of these issues were dividing the Corinthian church, so Paul needed to address them in writing; however, the only time women were mentioned as "disorderly" was for not covering their heads (1 Cor 11:3-16). If anything, the passage agains proves too much, because if Nate's incredible claim that "the women were tempted to shout across the room and ask their husbands the meaning of whatever they did not understand." is true, then this means that the ONLY time women were speaking out in church was to LEARN - they were not preaching, they were not teaching, and they were not leading a meeting or speaking from the platform at a convention. Nate even goes to far to acknowledge that women were "generally uneducated and usually only the men were privileged with an education", yet then expects his readers to believe that many different women were placed in positions of authority in the church.

1 Tim 2:11-12

"A woman must receive instruction silently and under complete control. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet."

Nate correctly identifies that "a careful reader becomes aware that many severe HERESIES and False teachings were being dealt with. We can draw a conclusion here that many of the proponents and victims of the false teachings were WOMEN.". While it is indeed true that Ephesus, (where Timothy was appointed bishop) was the primary site where the goddess Diana was being worshipped, his conclusion that the false teachers were women is unsubstantiated. This is an example of the logical fallacy called a non sequitur which means "it does not follow"; in other words, just because Diana (transliterated as Artemis) was a female goddess, it does not mean that the false teachers were also female. And again, Paul states unequivocably that women are not permitted to teach or have authority over men in church - he does not stipulate that this only applies to women teaching pagan practices. Nate only offers conjecture and logical fallacy.

Acts 18 - Priscilla

Any appeals to the case of Priscilla also prove too much. For one thing, Priscilla was married and when she did travel, it was with her husband Aquila and Paul (18:18). She is always listed together with her husband. More importantly, notice that when it came time to preach, Paul left them both and went alone into the synagogue to preach (18:19). In other words, it was Paul who was appointed by God as an apostle and teacher (1 Tim 1:12). It was Paul who had the authority to preach publicly, whereas Priscilla and Aquila are merely described as "my helpers in Christ Jesus" (Rom 16:3). The two of them were "helpers" who had a church in their home (1 Cor 16:19) and when they did teach, it was not publicly, but rather in private instruction to Apollos (Acts 18:24-25).

Contrast "fellow helpers" with the office of bishop and elder - these are the positions of leadership within the church. The clergy is comprised of bishops (Greek episkopos) and priests (Greek presbuteros). These positions are filled by men, not women:"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."(Acts 20:28) and "when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." (Acts 14:23)

Scriptural clues prove that elders were men; for example, read in Acts 15:4, "And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them." Who were the elders? Peter stands up and addresses them as "My brothers, you are well aware that from the early days.... (15:7). Likewise, bishops were men also (1 Tim 3:2). In fact, at no point whatsoever are women identified as either elders or bishops.

Romans 16:7 - Junia

"Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me"

This passage proves only that Junia was well-known and respected among the apostles - it does not prove that she herself was an apostle, nor does it say anything about her teaching capacity within the church. Paul applied the terms like "fellow labourers", etc equally to women AND men, but they are merely descriptors of action, not office. The office of church leader was through appointment, including Paul: "And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and and apostle" (1 Tim 2:7); and nowhere in Scripture are women appointed to positions of leadership - nowhere are women called elders or bishops or apostles. In contrast, we see the process of establishing male leadership in "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." (Titus 1:5) The Greek word kathistemi is the same word used to describe the appointment of men in Acts 6:3:"Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint (kathistemi) over this business."

Philippians 4:3 - Euodias and Syntyche

"Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life."

Again, labouring with Paul in the gospel does not specifically prove that they were given preaching privileges, and it most certainly does not say that they traveled in pairs from town to town. Even the deacon Philip could not perform certain duties; for example, he had to wait for Peter and John to come from Jerusalem to impart the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands (Acts 8, 14-17). While women could prophesy, they could not preach and teach in church; this responsibility was reserved for the men. Just as the office of the Old Testament priesthood was limited to males (Lev 8:1-36), so too was the New Testament priesthood, as Paul wrote that he received from God the "priestly duty" of proclaiming the gospel, saying, "I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God..." (Rom 15:15-16)

Old Testament
High Priest = Aaron (Ex 31:30)
Ministerial Priests = appointed men (Ex 28:21)
Universal Priesthood = people of Israel (Ex 19:6)

New Testament
High Priest = Jesus (Heb 3:1)
Ministerial Priests = appointed men (Rom 15:16)
Universal Priesthood = all Christians (1 Peter 2:5,9)

Acts 21: 8-9 - Philip's Four Daughters

"Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him, and the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy."

The gift of prophesy was not restricted to men only, as seen in both the Old Testament (Miriam in Ex 15:20, for example) and the New Testament (Anna in Luke 2:36). There is actually ample biblical evidence that women did prophesy; however, this does not mean that women were in positions of authority to lead Sunday Morning Meeting or speak at Convention. This passage proves nothing.

DISCUSSION

It is clear that women were not treated as equals of men in the Old Testament (see Gen 3:16, Gen 4:19, Gen 16, Ex 1:15-16, Lev 12:1-5, Deut 22:28-29) although as, Nate correctly points out, some of them did prophesy (Ex 15:20, 2 Kgs 22:14, Lk 2:36-37). Even the Second Temple rebuilt by Herod (2 Chron 36:23) was designed to keep the women as far away from it as possible. Yet, when Jesus came, He showed no hesitation in affirming the inherent value of women - He ignored the impurity laws (Mk 5:25-34, Mt 9:20-22), spoke to women in public (Jn 4:4-42; 8:3-11)and taught women (Jn 4:7, Lk 10:38-42) In Luke 13:16 He cures a woman of an evil spirit and calls her a "daughter of Abraham", a term which had previously been reserved for Jewish men. He allowed female followers (Lk 8:1-3) and endorsed the support of widows on more than one occasion (Lk 2:36, 4:26, 7:11, 18:1, 20:47). He allowed the sinful woman to approach him in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7:37) and expressed concern for the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:27), even though Samaritans were shunned by everyone. All of these actions prompted even His adversaries to exclaim: "Teacher, we know you are a truthful man and teach God's way sincerely. You court no one's favor and do not act of human respect." (Mt 22:16).

Even with all of this, Jesus still chose twelve men as His Apostles. It is obvious that Jesus was unconcerned with public opinion and never hesitated to go against the norm, so it cannot be claimed that He chose men because He was afraid that people might be upset by it. Nor can it be claimed that there was no historical precedent for female leadership, because there were many religions which had priestesses (Delphi, Sybil, temple prostitutes, etc).

This is not to say that women have no role in the church at all. Do not forget that one of the most important people in the New Testament was a woman - in the turning point of our salvation history, a woman was at the center of the event as Paul tells us that "God sent forth his son, born of woman" (Gal 4:4). Mary, who was immaculately conceived and gave birth to our Lord and Saviour as a virgin, and nursed and cared for Him from infancy.

From Scripture it is clear to see that women played a significant role in helping build and support the growing church. It was a woman who first spread the news of the risen Christ (Mt 28:5-8). Tabitha was a disciple who helped widows, being "full of good works and acts of charity" (Acts 9:36-7). The homes Mary, Nympha, Lydia, and Priscilla were known meeting places for the worshippers. The daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 21:8-9). Phoebe, Euodia and Syntyche, et al, were "helpers". However, this is not an adequate comparison to women workers preaching in gospel meetings and at convention, etc. Even as exalted as Jesus' own mother Mary was, even she did not receive the mission of the apostles or the role of priest, which further demonstrates the non-admission of women into these authority roles.

The position of women developed as the church itself developed over the centuries. There are extrabiblical texts describing women as deacons, but their actual duties are ill-defined. Tertullian, writing in 204 A.D. expresses the opinion that women are not to be given priestly responsibilities:

"It is not permitted to a woman to speak in the church; but neither is it permitted her to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer the eucharist, nor to claim to herself a lot in any manly function, not to say in any sacerdotal [priestly] office." (On the Veiling of Virgins)

As the role of deacon for men became more fully defined, the church began to also explicitly define roles for females. By 441 A.D., The Council of Orange stated: "Let no one proceed to the ordination of deaconesses anymore." (canon 26) and again in 517 A.D. at the Council of Epaon: "We abrogate completely in the entire kingdom the consecration of widows who are named deaconesses." (canon 21). So, it is true that there "deaconesses" in the early churh, but it remains unclear what they actually did.

Despite the obscurity of definition for deacons, Scripture is clear about priests (presbuteros) and bishops (episkopos). Priests were sent and commissioned by Jesus (Mark 6:7, John 15:5, 20:21, Romans 10:15, 2 Corinthians 5:20) as representatives of Jesus(Luke 10:16, John 13:20) with the authority to "Bind" and "Loose" (Matthew 18:18, Matthew 16:19) and the power to forgive Sins in Jesus' Name (Luke 24:47, John 20:21-23, 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, James 5:15) as well as the authority to administer penance (Acts 5:2-11, 1 Corinthians 5:3-13, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 1 Timothy 1:18-20, Titus 3:10). They received the power to conduct the Eucharist(Luke 22:19, Acts 2:42 (compare Luke 24:35, Acts 2:46, 20:7, 1 Corinthians 10:16), dispense sacraments (1 Corinthians 4:1, James 5:13-15), and perform baptisms (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38, 41. They are ordained (Acts 14:23, 1 Timothy 4:14, 5:23) as Shepherds (Acts 20:17,28, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Peter 5:1-4) to preach and teach (1 Timothy 3:1-2, 5:17), evangelize (Matthew 16:15, 28:19-20, Mark 3:14, Luke 9:2,6, 24:47, Acts 1:8), heal (Matthew 10:1, Luke 9:1-2,6), cast out demons (Matthew 10:1, Mark 3:15, Luke 9:1), hear confessions (Acts 19:18, Matthew 3:6, Mark 1:5, James 5:16, 1 John 1:8-9, John 20:23).

Likewise, Bishops have jurisdiction over priests and local churches, and the power to ordain priests (Acts 14:22, 1 Timothy 5:22, 2 Timothy 1:6, Titus 1:5) with special responsibility to defend the faith (Acts 20:28-31, 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Titus 1:9-10, 2 Peter 3:15-16 and power to rebuke false doctrine and excommunicate (Acts 8:14-24, 1 Corinthians 16:22, 1 Timothy 5:20, 2 Timothy 4:2, Titus 1:10-11). They have the power to bestow the receiving of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17, 19:5-6.) and managee church finances (1 Timothy 3:3-4, 1 Peter 5:2). [adapted from Armstrong,D.]

Although women in Scripture were vital to the development of success of the church, the specific priestly functions belonged to the males. Just as the Mosaic Law restricted the priestly ministry to Aaron and his sons (Lev 8), Paul wrote that he had received his priestly ministry by appointment (Rom 15:16) which was to continue with men (1 Tim 2:11-12). While women could pray and prophesy in church (1 Cor 11:1-16), they could not have authority over men (1 Tim 2:11-14) or publicly challenge the teaching of the clergy (1 Cor 14:34-38).

CONCLUSION

Nate's article never succeeds in its attempt to prove that women were in prominent positions of authority (such as a female 2x2 worker), nor has anyone proven that women were sent out two by two in the first place.

The simple fact of the matter is that Jesus was a man, and He chose twelve men as His Apostles. He could have chosen women, but it was His will (Mk 3:13-14) in union with the Father through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2), having spent the night in prayer (Lk 6:12) to choose twelve men. Nowhere did He ever commission women to teach in His name and with His authority, and to suggest otherwise is the same as claiming to know more about Christianity than Paul. These Apostles passed their office on to other men who succeeded them (Titus 1:5) through laying on of hands (2 Tim 1:6), and nowhere in the gospel do we find evidence of Jesus giving �orders� to women to anoint the sick, or to forgive sins, etc.

It may seem "unfair" to some that women do not perform the priestly duties, but it must be remembered that "Our religion is a mystery, God's wisdom, not a wisdom of this world" (1 Cor 2:6-7). People who fall into this kind of thinking are using the "wisdom of this world", rather than acknowledging the clear biblical principles that Paul enunciated:

"Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function." (Rom 12:4)

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