If you would, please stand as we say together our memory Scripture for this quarter:
Matthew 6:31-33
“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
And our memory refresher Scripture is …
John 1:1-4
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
“Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
Please open your Bibles to Romans 16:1-16
Last week we started taking a look at the how many things changed during the time of Christ and during the time of the apostles. Some of the massive changes that we looked at were ….
1) The establishment of a more permanent marital structure and the unheard of instruction that husbands and wives should, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” as found in Ephesians 5:21 and this is done without disturbing the marital structure as described in the New Testament
2) There were huge changes resulting in the desegregation and integration of Jews and gentiles among believers
3) There were massive changes that moved from temple worship to church worship including the involvement of women into significant places of calling and ministries
All of this was leading up to the great shift from traditional Judaism which excluded women to the church which now included women in roles such as pastors, evangelists, missionaries and teachers.
One of the main Scriptures that we found as evidence is found in the second Chapter of Acts where Peter quotes from the Old Testament Prophet Joel when he says in …
Acts 2:17-18
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
Now before we head into this we need to remember what we are trying to figure out.
Some say that:
1) It is Scripturally wrong and actually sinful, for women to prophesy (preach) or teach in any gathering where men are present and that
2) the LORD does NOT call women into pastoral, evangelism and elder positions at all.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Romans 16:1-16 and try to spot where women are included with the men as co-workers and even as an apostle.
(Prayer)
So, let’s take a look through the Bible and see what we can see …
Deborah – A Prophet in Israel during the time of the Judges
One time I heard someone saying that Deborah was not really leading Barak in this text found in Judges 4 but only “encouraging” him.
Let’s read Judges 4:4-10 and see if it only sounds like encouragement …
Judges 4:4-10 NIV
“Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.
“She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I (the LORD) will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”’”
“Barak said to her, ‘If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.’
“‘Certainly I will go with you,’ said Deborah. ‘But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. There Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali, and ten thousand men went up under his command. Deborah also went up with him.”
Look in verse 4 … Deborah SENT FOR … she summoned him. He didn’t come by for encouragement. Deborah had something to say to Barak and it was a word from the Lord God of Israel.
Deborah then gives Barak a command from the Lord.
Finally, Barak must certainly valued Deborah’s leadership because he refuses to go into the battle without her by his side!
So, even in the Old Testament when women were not allowed any authority at all in the religious affairs of Israel the LORD chose Deborah, a woman to lead Israel, to prophesy in the name of the LORD and to be a commander over the armies of Israel!
Well, that’s Deborah. What about Huldah? That’s a name, isn’t it?
We don’t know a lot about Huldah do we? But what we DO know is that Huldah was a prophet who spoke the word of the LORD. She was not preaching, she was speaking the actual words of the LORD; “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says …”
Let’s just step back a few books in the Bible in order to give us reference where and when this takes place in the history of the nation of Israel, the chosen nation of God.
We do know about King Solomon, right? After Solomon was king of Israel there was a civil war and the nation was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
Near the end of time before Judah was taken into captivity in Babylon there was a righteous king named Josiah. His father and grandfather had been wicked kings as were many before them and they had forsaken the God of Israel and had moved idols into the Temple of the LORD.
Josiah gave the order to start clearing out the Temple of the LORD and the book of the Law of the LORD was discovered and it was read to King Josiah by Shaphan. When it was read to King Josiah he went into mourning because it revealed the evil that Judah had committed against the LORD.
King Josiah directed his court officials to, “Go, inquire of the LORD for me” regarding what the LORD was going to do to the nation.
There were many righteous men who were surrounding King Josiah at that time.
Did they go to one of them? No, they went to Huldah, a woman prophet of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 34:23-28 NIV
“[Huldah] said to them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, “This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people - all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods and aroused My anger by all that their hands have made, My anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.
“Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what He spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before Me and tore your robes and wept in My presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”
“So they took her answer back to the king.”
Wow! A woman prophet of the LORD God of Israel in ancient Israel. It seems that even back then the LORD could choose who He wanted to speak for Him regardless of whether it was a man or a woman.
So, what about the New Testament?
Anna …
Luke 2:36-38
“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to (Joseph, Mary and the Infant Jesus) at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Generally speaking we see a great change in the prophetic ministry from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
In the Old Testament a prophet most often told of or wrote of future events that were to come, those prophecies were the speaking and writings about those future events.
This of course also happened a few times in the New Testament such as when Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation of Israel (John 11:49-53) and when Agabus prophesied that the Jewish leaders would arrest Paul and hand him over to the Romans for trial. (Acts 21:10-11)
And, naturally we don’t want to overlook the prophecies of Jesus’ coming as King and Judge in the prophecy of the Sheep and the Goats or Paul’s prophecy of Christ’s return in 1 Thessalonians or John’s great prophecy of the end times in Revelation.
In the New Testament some prophecy does occur but most of the prophets, men and women, would prophesy about what the Lord had spoken through the Jesus, the prophets and the apostles. To prophesy is to speak for the Lord, in the most common sense it is to preach or teach the Word of the Lord.
So, in the New Testament do we see women prophesying?
Daughters of Phillip …
Acts 21:8-9
“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.”
Some translations refer to Philip’s daughters and prophetesses and some say that a prophetess is merely the wife of a prophet. Acts 21:9 pretty much puts that issue to rest.
A prophetess is merely a female prophet in the same way as an actress is merely a female actor because of gender.
There is no difference in the calling or activities of a prophet or a prophetess.
Also, it does not mention that the daughters of Philip were only to prophesy to women and children or anything of the sort.
So there’s no problem there … What else is there?
1 Corinthians 11:5 says,
“But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head - it is the same as having her head shaved.”
Here, also, there was no problem with a woman prophesying at all as long as it was done with decency.
So, we see that women were prophesying in the New Testament church.
What about deacons? Could a woman be a deacon in the church?
In Romans 16:1-2 we see …
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. 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.”
Many of the translations we have do not call her a deacon but a servant.
The Greek word that is used here for deacon or servant is found 31 times in the KJV.
20 as minister / 8 as servant / 3 as deacon
So, how can we determine if Phoebe is a deacon or a servant or a ministering deacon?
Well, the people of church where she is going are asked to, “give her any help she may need from you”. If she were a servant she would be seeking to serve or help others and would not expect others to serve of help her.
OK. So let’s take a look at co-workers.
Are these co-workers those who serve to support those in ministry or are they those who are actually in ministry roles in the church.
Who do we see as co-workers in the church in the New Testament?
We see Urbanus, Timothy, Titus, Clement and Epaphroditus.
Those are all men, of course, but we also see Priscilla, a woman, and her husband Aquila.
What about apostles?
Apostles: those who have seen the risen Lord and who have been sent by the Lord.
When it comes to apostles we always think of the 12 apostles and Paul but who else were apostles in the New Testament?
James the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19), Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Timothy and Silas (1 Thessalonians 1:1 combined with 2:6)
Are there any women mentioned? There is a debate about Junia/Junias in who is mentioned in Romans 16:7.
Romans 16:7 NIV which says,
“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.”
Some translations say that they were “well known to the apostles” (LEB) or “noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles” (HCSB).
If that were true why would they only be well known or noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles and not in the church as a whole? Why are they grouped in a statement referring to the apostles?
And then there’s this great debate; is it Junia a woman or Junias a man?
On BibleGateway.com there are 59 English translations of the Bible, 43 have Junia (female) and 16 have Junias (male).
Was this another two man team like Paul and Silas or was it another husband and wife team like Priscilla and Aquila?
This was too smart for me so I looked for help …
In an article by Phil Whittal from January 2012 he investigated whether the person mentioned in Romans 16:7 named Junia or Junias was a man or a woman. In his investigation he looked at 10 different commentaries and here is some of what he found …
“Eight of the commentaries opt for Junia (female) while only two have Junias (male) and even then one of them still thinks that Junias is a woman while the other makes no comment. All but one of those who opt for Junia are clear that Junia was a woman and only one sits on the fence.”
Additionally he states, “What is the consensus? Andronicus and Junia were an outstanding missionary couple who no doubt planted churches. Arguably they were apostles both because they witnessed the risen Christ and because they were sent.”
Now, all of this may have seemed dry and boring to some of you but it is vitally important.
But it brings us an alarming possibility.
Women who are being called to be pastors or teachers or missionaries in the church are being told that such a thing is a sin and consequently they are being deterred from following God’s will for their lives.
Such a thing is just as detrimental to the kingdom of God as one human telling another, “you should be a pastor …”
It is not our position to call someone into the ministry and it is not our position to reject someone from the ministry based on their gender. Here is what we should be doing …
We are to, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.” Matthew 9:38 NIV
