Women ordained in the Baptist Church

[leytonstones]

I would be interested to know how women came to be ordained into ministry in the Baptist church. I personally think this is unbiblical and would be interested in your views.

 

[aReformedPatriot]

I would be interested to know how women came to be ordained into ministry in the Baptist church. I personally think this is unbiblical and would be interested in your views.

I agree with you. In my experience, however, I have never encountered an ordained baptist woman.

 

[DeaconDean]

Oh boy, this is gonna get ugly.

 

[daveleau]

There are dozens of types of Baptists, from American Baptist to Seventh-Day Baptists to Southern Baptist to Independent Baptist. The majority do not ordain women, although women can serve in any office short of deacon. This is a disputable item in Scripture. Is it specific for the time written or to the church audience, or is it timeless? It is difficult to tell hermeneutically what the author's intent is.

 

[arunma]

I would be interested to know how women came to be ordained into ministry in the Baptist church. I personally think this is unbiblical and would be interested in your views.

I agree that ordaining women is unbiblical, though it doesn't bother me as much as, say, homosexual pastors. But I've never seen Baptist churches doing this. Of course, we must remember that (at least here in America) Baptist churches exist at all levels on the theological spectrum. Saying that a particular church is Baptist really tells us nothing about that church except that it believes in credobaptism. For example, there's a church on my campus called University Baptist which prominently displays a sign "a liberal church." And then of course there are many fundamentalist Baptist churches out there as well. So it wouldn't surprise me if some of the more liberal Baptist churches do ordain women.

 

[JacobHall86]

It is more likely to happen in a church that is CBF than any other.

A church that is SBC will not, ordain a woman, or they face being asked to leave the convention.

THere is no instance of a Woman leading any New Testament Church.

 

[aReformedPatriot]

I agree that ordaining women is unbiblical, though it doesn't bother me as much as, say, homosexual pastors.

Why not? Both are unbiblical and ought to be shunned without compromise by saying "one is better than the other." I don't think you're saying this, but it can be extrapolated from what your saying and does lend a little credance to the other position.

 

[arunma]

Why not? Both are unbiblical and ought to be shunned without compromise by saying "one is better than the other." I don't think you're saying this, but it can be extrapolated from what your saying and does lend a little credance to the other position.

Well Mark, I certainly don't mean to grant any approval to the practice of female pastors. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that if a church does ordain women, I don't immediately declare such a congregation to be apostate and cut off from Christ. To be sure, I believe that they are in error, and ought to conform to Scriptural standards. But it isn't quite the same (at least not to me) as ordaining active homosexuals, which would be tantamount to approval of sin.

 

[aReformedPatriot]

Well Mark, I certainly don't mean to grant any approval to the practice of female pastors. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that if a church does ordain women, I don't immediately declare such a congregation to be apostate and cut off from Christ. To be sure, I believe that they are in error, and ought to conform to Scriptural standards. But it isn't quite the same (at least not to me) as ordaining active homosexuals, which would be tantamount to approval of sin.

I think both are abberations of gender roles. I also think both usurp the authority of the word of God and are therefore both endorsements of sin. While I can certainly understand that in the instance of female leadership there might not be an abandonment of the gospel due to a totally sinful lifestyle, I do think, however, seperation in this instance must occur because of the overstepping of bounds and should last until repentance occurs. An interesting tangent occurs in my mind as I read your post. Are you saying that some "error" (which I call sin in this case) is acceptable due to a certain level of ignorance wherein the gospel is not totally abandoned?

 

[Cright]

I've never seen an ordaned woman in a Baptist church. I'm in agreement that it's unscriptural.

 

[leytonstones]

OK, first I would like to say that I asked the question because I genuinely don't understand how women have come to be ordained in the Baptist church. I never intended for this topic to "get ugly" as one poster put it and yes, I have encountered ordained women in the Baptist church here in the UK. In the church I currently attend with my husband there are female deacons and there were female deacons in our previous church also. I don't agree with that either and I certainly didn't vote for them nor would I vote for a female deacon. I really wanted to learn from the origianl question I posted and I hope the discussion will continue.

Blessings

 

[Stinker]

I would be interested to know how women came to be ordained into ministry in the Baptist church. I personally think this is unbiblical and would be interested in your views.

I think that in the very near future we will be seeing many women Pastors in all of the Baptist Conferences.

Bible scholars are not being pressured to conform to the position of male dominance in all areas of life regardless of some scriptures teaching otherwise.

Many Bible scholars are now teaching that there was a temporary restriction placed on women teachers just following 1Cor.11:5 to 1Tim.2:11-15. The reason being that the pagan women converting to Jesus were bringing in their pagan teaching in with them, and also their attitude of authority, because in their old pagan religions the women held the authority.

Outside their pagan religions, men held all the power in the society. The women were but property of men. This attitude is revealed even in the New Testament: "But women will be preserved through the bearing of children...." (1Tim.2:15)

The supremacy of men in that place and time is further revealed in 1Tim.3:1-10, 12 where the church offices of Eldership and Deaconship are discussed.

 

[arunma]

I think both are abberations of gender roles. I also think both usurp the authority of the word of God and are therefore both endorsements of sin. While I can certainly understand that in the instance of female leadership there might not be an abandonment of the gospel due to a totally sinful lifestyle, I do think, however, seperation in this instance must occur because of the overstepping of bounds and should last until repentance occurs. An interesting tangent occurs in my mind as I read your post. Are you saying that some "error" (which I call sin in this case) is acceptable due to a certain level of ignorance wherein the gospel is not totally abandoned?

Always getting down to brass tacks.

But I suppose the answer to your question is yes, with qualifications. I wouldn't say that any level of sin is acceptable, because sin must always be unacceptable. But there is also the issue of ignorance, which you mentioned. Without doubt, Christians who approve of female leadership do so because they do not properly understand the Scriptures, otherwise they wouldn't do such a thing. They do not do this with evil intent. This is why I say that I don't consider such Christians to have committed a level of sin that would cut them off from Christ.

Now I have to admit that if a church had a female pastor, I probably wouldn't choose to regularly attend there (so as to show tacit approval for the practice). But I suppose that such a church could still do some service for the cause of the Gospel.

 

[arunma]

Many Bible scholars are now teaching that there was a temporary restriction placed on women teachers just following 1Cor.11:5 to 1Tim.2:11-15. The reason being that the pagan women converting to Jesus were bringing in their pagan teaching in with them, and also their attitude of authority, because in their old pagan religions the women held the authority.

I don't mean to jump on you or sound hostile. But if I may ask, which Bible scholars make this claim, and what is their basis for doing so? I'm somewhat curious, actually, because I'm not sure how to interpret the verses in question as you have suggested. But I'm certainly open to hearing your thoughts on the issue (and perhaps those of the Bible scholars you have in mind).

 

[daveleau]

There are dozens of types of Baptists, from American Baptist to Seventh-Day Baptists to Southern Baptist to Independent Baptist. The majority do not ordain women, although women can serve in any office short of deacon. This is a disputable item in Scripture. Is it specific for the time written or to the church audience, or is it timeless? It is difficult to tell hermeneutically what the author's intent is.

To add to my previous statements...
Until there is more revelation, I think we should stick to the conservative assumption that it is applicable to us. But, we should also note that God blesses churches with female pastors, so this is not a death-knell for a church if the church in question takes the stance that ordination of women was a societal-specific, time-limited statement. We are never told ordination of women is an abomination, as others things in Scripture are. I would never support the ordination of any of the 8 things called abominations to God in Scripture, and I think the likening of the ordination of those who commit the abominations to the ordination of women is a large and incorrect leap of logic.

 

[MrJim]

FWIW:

The American Baptist Church I attend has a member that is an ordained Lay Minister.

During the recent Pastoral Committee Search they announced that they would not be examining anymore women as candidates for the position--and they did have several on their list. (One family left after this was announced and the husband was on the committee.)

They did find a pastor-and he is a dude! But there must be a lot of women pastors in the ABC.

 

[Ringo84]

Good for them.

It's perfectly Biblical. And you'll excuse me for saying it, but I say that women should be ordained across the board. It's about time that misreading of the Bible to make our society as patriarchal and sexist as Bible culture ended.

The only thing "unbiblical" here is people's opposition to female pastors.
Ringo

 

[aReformedPatriot]

Good for them.

It's perfectly Biblical. And you'll excuse me for saying it, but I say that women should be ordained across the board. It's about time that misreading of the Bible to make our society as patriarchal and sexist as Bible culture ended.

The only thing "unbiblical" here is people's opposition to female pastors.
Ringo

Since the Apostles wrote in a patriarichal and sexist Bible culture do their writings reflect that?

 

[Easystreet]

I would be interested to know how women came to be ordained into ministry in the Baptist church. I personally think this is unbiblical and would be interested in your views.

I agree with you.

 

[mont974x4]

Can women preach and teach? Absolutely. Can they be elders or deacons? Nope. So, they can exercise their spiritual gifts they just can not hold a high level of church leadership.

Look at other examples of government in the Bible...such as the family. I am the head of my family as Christ is the head of the church. This doesn't mean my sife is subserviant to me. In fact, wives are partners however the husband is held accountable for the leadership role.

The same can be said of the church. Woman have spiritual gifts and are just as capable to serve God as a man, but the men will be held accountable as the leadership.