“And the LORD God said,
‘It is not good that the man should be alone’.”
Reasons why sisters should be encouraged to offer the same service as brothers
in ecclesial activities by Ian & Averil McHaffie
- Believers are “all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Divisions of gender, race or status should no longer count within the Christian community.
- Women, like men, have a range of talents and abilities, all of which should be offered to Christ in service.
- Jesus brought a new freedom and status to women.
- Jesus encouraged women to learn, unlike teachers in the pagan and Jewish worlds (Luke 10:39-42).
- Jesus used women to spread his message (John 4:27-42, Mark 15:40-41, Luke 23:55).
- On the day of Pentecost both men and women were empowered to preach the Gospel (Acts 2:15-18).
- Paul listed the activities of the church in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4:11-16. These lists are not divided into male and female roles, but “according to the grace that is given to us” (Romans 12:6).
- Paul addressed his main letters to all members of the church, calling them adelphoi “brothers and sisters”.
- Paul approved of sisters praying and prophesying in the assembly (1 Corinthians 11:5-13).
- Paul expressed the wish that all should prophesy, which involved addressing the assembly with edifying words (1 Corinthians 14:3-5). Note NRSV and revised GNB which avoid the mistakenly masculine impression conveyed by older translations: “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. ... those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation ... those who prophesy build up the church... Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy" (NRSV).
- Paul encouraged believers to “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16).
- Paul showed this in practice, regarding the women with whom he worked as colleagues (Philippians 4:2-3).
- History and church tradition since New Testament times show an anti-women approach based on pagan thinking, mistaken medical understanding and a selectively anti-women reading of the New Testament.
- Christadelphians rejected church tradition when our community began last century. We rejected the clergy/laity distinction, but kept the male/female one.
- It demeans sisters to discourage them from using their God-given abilities (Matthew 7:12).
- Those who prepare addresses benefit others and benefit personally. This applies to both brothers and sisters.
- Sisters can see things from a different point of view. We are all the losers if we cannot benefit from their wisdom, knowledge, learning, insight and experience.
- Now that women are well-educated, capably employed in all sections of society, there is positive harm in refusing to make proper use of their talents in ecclesial activity.
- If we are to be faithful to the teaching of the Bible and to the talents with which God has entrusted us, we should encourage sisters to speak, write, read, pray, teach, and take part in decision-making – just as we do brothers.
- God said: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). It was not; it is not.
But what about ... ?
- 1 Corinthians 14:34 “Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak ...”
- The context suggests that this refers to disruptive behaviour by some women, not to the capable behaviour of those sisters who offered prayer and prophesied (chapter 11:2-16) edifying the church by their words (14:3-5, 24, 26), of whom Paul approved.
- 1 Timothy 2:12 “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”
- The context suggests that it is addressed to specific problems in Ephesus. It does not refer to Christian service by sisters who are capable of teaching the message properly – such as Priscilla who (along with her husband Aquila) taught Apollos (Acts 18:26).
- Paul’s final words on teaching are: "... what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people [i.e. men and women, not men alone] who will be able to teach others as well" (2 Timothy 2:2, NRSV).
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully" (Romans 12:3-8, NIV).
This is a quick summary of the issues analysed at length in All One in Christ Jesus (2010) by Ian & Averil McHaffie. Their book (360 pages) is available as a free download from mchaffie1@icloud.com, and links on this site, or as a printed book for £10 including postage:
Averil & Ian McHaffie, 176 Granton Road, Edinburgh. EH5 1AH. Books available in the USA from moreperfectly20@gmail.com.
