The Role of Women in the Church
Torrye Davis
THEO202-B03
Short Essay 3
Short Essay on the Role of Women in the Church The issue of gender roles has been one throughout history and continues in today’s society not only in the church, but all aspects of life. So often there are only two extremes posed as options for women in society: either overly powerful feminists or silenced secondary humans. While the Bible gives us the true example and guide as to gender roles, it is rarely lived out and declared as truth. Two key roles in a congregation are that of the deacons and elders. The Bible describes a deacon as a servant to the church. To be a servant, some things that fall under the description may be routine labors, smooth relationships in the church between pastor and people, spiritual maturity, and to contribute in helping the pastor. Acts 6 shows us in verses 1-6 that the goal of a deacon is to be a servant. The elders of a church are church leaders in spiritual maturity to the rest of the congregation. With experience, the elders are qualified to hold the responsibility of exercising authority and leadership within the church. Elders in the church don’t have an exact duty, but are set as spiritual leaders in the congregation, as exemplified in Acts 15. Romans 16:1 gives us an example of a woman being called deacon, yet we see in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 that women are not to have authority over men. Women, without authority over men, may be servants to the church. It is likely that a woman may have been called deacon, meaning servant. However, in the terms of deacon that is most commonly referred today, the male may be a servant to the church while showing authority and leadership within the congregation. These Scriptures give society the knowledge that women can be servants to the church, but not a leader in the congregation consisting of males and females. The Bible is full of information that doesn’t make sense to us as humans because of our limited knowledge so to try to get a perfect
THEO202-B03
Short Essay 3
Short Essay on the Role of Women in the Church The issue of gender roles has been one throughout history and continues in today’s society not only in the church, but all aspects of life. So often there are only two extremes posed as options for women in society: either overly powerful feminists or silenced secondary humans. While the Bible gives us the true example and guide as to gender roles, it is rarely lived out and declared as truth. Two key roles in a congregation are that of the deacons and elders. The Bible describes a deacon as a servant to the church. To be a servant, some things that fall under the description may be routine labors, smooth relationships in the church between pastor and people, spiritual maturity, and to contribute in helping the pastor. Acts 6 shows us in verses 1-6 that the goal of a deacon is to be a servant. The elders of a church are church leaders in spiritual maturity to the rest of the congregation. With experience, the elders are qualified to hold the responsibility of exercising authority and leadership within the church. Elders in the church don’t have an exact duty, but are set as spiritual leaders in the congregation, as exemplified in Acts 15. Romans 16:1 gives us an example of a woman being called deacon, yet we see in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 that women are not to have authority over men. Women, without authority over men, may be servants to the church. It is likely that a woman may have been called deacon, meaning servant. However, in the terms of deacon that is most commonly referred today, the male may be a servant to the church while showing authority and leadership within the congregation. These Scriptures give society the knowledge that women can be servants to the church, but not a leader in the congregation consisting of males and females. The Bible is full of information that doesn’t make sense to us as humans because of our limited knowledge so to try to get a perfect
Bibliography: Elwell, Walter. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Baker Book House Company, 2001. Towns, Elmer. Theology for Today. Cengage Learning, 2008.