Systematic Theology - Church

Women and the Church

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Systematic Theology

Lesson: Government

Genre: Speech

Track: 22

Dictation Name: 22 Women and the Church

Year: 1960’s – 1970’s

Let us begin with prayer.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, again we come unto thy presence rejoicing that the government is upon thy shoulders, that as we face the powers of totalitarianism, the claims of the state to be god walking on earth, we have the blessed assurance that thou art he who doth reign, that thou dost hold them in derision, and that in thine own good time thou shalt smash them with a rod of iron, and so our God, we wait on thee and upon thy government. Give us strength, boldness, and patience as we contend for the faith against these the powers of statism and humanism. Bless us ever in thy service, in Jesus name. Amen.

Our scripture this morning is from Paul’s letter to Timothy, the first epistle, the fifth chapter, verses 1-16, and our subject is Women and the Church. We have been dealing with the doctrine of the church and our concern today is with the relationship of women to the ministry of the church. 1 Timothy 5:1-16. “Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.

Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man. Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.”

The place of women in the history of the church is a very complicated one. The Bible gives a high place to women as we shall note a little later, but culture and the religion which informs a culture always determines how men view themselves and how they view women, and also how women view themselves and how women view men. As a result, over the centuries, from age to age, there have been very marked differences in the evaluation of women to deal with the subject that concerns us today. Our purpose today is not to trace a history of this cultural evaluation of women, but just to call attention to that fact and to cite a couple of examples of it.

Neo-Platonism, very early, had a powerful impact, not only on the Greco/Roman Empire, but on the church. Neo-Platonism saw the world of ideas and forms of spirit as higher than the world of matter. As a result, men who regarded themselves in the Hellenic world as thinkers naturally came to regard themselves as more closely associated with ideas, or with spirit, and women more closely associated with matter, and hence, there was a very marked depreciation, and even a hostility towards women that neo-Platonism engendered.

The role of women in the latter part of the Middle Ages and also in the Reformation improved, but with the rise of Enlightenment, again the role of women both legally and culturally declined dramatically. As a matter of fact, women were progressively, with the Enlightenment, stripped of a variety of legal privileges and status that they possessed. In some instances, even including the ownership of property. The reason for this was, that again, the Enlightenment almost deified reason, and men saw themselves as the embodiment of reason. Women were seen as emotional creatures and therefore, lower, and so the attitude was created that women necessarily were inferior because they were emotional and men were rational.

Well, the consequences of that, culturally, we have still not overcome. They have been far-reaching and devastating.

Physiologically, we do know that men and women differ very thoroughly, even to the very cells of their body, and from a single cell it can be determined whether a person is a male or a female. That’s all it takes. On the other hand, both male and female are essentially one. They are “man,” created in God’s image. The Bible makes clear that women have, in certain areas of life, notably the family and the church, a subordinate status, but it is emphatically clear that subordination does not mean inferiority. In fact, all of us have, at some time or other, been subordinate to some authority over us, an employer or superior, who is emphatically inferior. That’s a routine and everyday experience. Subordination does not mean inferiority.

Now, the Bible gives us the picture of the good wife and the good woman in Proverbs 31:10-31, a very different picture than much of what history gives us. The woman of Proverbs is a woman of tremendous capabilities. We are told that her husband sits in the gates. That was a term which meant that he was either a member of the city council or a judge, because the city council and the court had to meet in an open, public place so that all hearings could be public, so that anyone and everyone could hear what transpired. Now, because her husband sat in the gates, the woman of Proverbs 31 handles the business, manages the farm, takes care of buying and selling, the export/import business, and is thoroughly competent in every sphere of life. This is the concept of the biblical woman. It is one that has again and again appeared. It did for a time in the Colonial era, but it has also been essentially disagreed with by Western history and other histories as well.

When we turn to biblical law, we find that respect for women is mandatory. In fact, the Bible singles out women at their most helpless: widows. And repeatedly, as in Exodus 22:22-24, and in Mark 12:40, our Lord’s words, and many other passages, makes a test of a culture and its faith, how it treats widows, the most helpless of women, the most readily exploited. We also find, when we look at the New Testament as, for example, Acts 6:1-4, that before the church had a building, centuries before, in fact, or any formal organization, widows were cared for, and the diaconate, deacons, were created in large measure to make sure that widows within the circle of the faith were properly cared for.

Now, the word deaconess is used in the Bible. There are some churches today that strongly disagree with the idea of a deaconess. They believe the office of deacon belongs only to men. Part of their problem is that, with them, anyone who is a deacon or a deaconess is to be ordained, and therefore, becomes a part of the consistory, or governing body within the church. Now, that’s a modern problem created by the forms of government. The plain fact is that the Bible tells us that there were deaconesses in the early church. For example, in Romans 16:1, Phoebe is called a deaconess in the Greek text, by Paul. The King James translates it as “servant,” a servant of the church. Well, the word deacon does mean a servant, or a minister, and sometimes the context must determine in which sense it is used. However, if Paul had meant servant in the sense of the English word, he would have said, “a servant of the Lord,” but because he used the word deaconess, in the Greek, with regard to the church, he said that this is an office, because he would not have spoken of someone as a servant of the church, but only of the Lord. So, the reference is clearly to a deaconess, a deaconess of the church. That is, an office-holder within the church.

Again, in a letter by Pliny, in 111 A.D., we have a reference to two deaconesses whom he tortured to gain information about the church. Moreover, we find that in his ministry, our Lord was not only accompanies by the Disciples, the twelve, but also a group of women who ministered to a variety of needs, so that quite apparently, there was some kind of status, or office, for women to carry on the ministry of various needs during our Lord’s lifetime. We find a reference to this in Luke and elsewhere as well.

Now, in Luke 8:1-3, by the way, most specifically we have reference to this office or circle of women. However, we have a much more extensive statement of this in 1 Timothy 5 following. What Paul says in this passage, first of all, very literally he says in the first verse, “Do not go at older men, or elders, roughshod.” Rebuke them with respect, in other words. Entreat them as a father, and the same is true of older women. The younger are to be treated as sisters with purity. They are called elders because all men are elders as heads of households. Others are elders because they hold that office within the church.

Then Paul goes on to discuss widows, and it is important to distinguish the fact that four kinds of widows are discussed in this passage. First of all, there are widows who have children and/or relatives to care for them. Paul says this is a necessary Christian duty. If they do not care for their own, widows who are related to them, they are worse than infidels and have denied the faith. Thus, a very strong sense of family responsibility and cohesiveness is made mandatory for Christians.

Then second, there are young widows, and Paul says of these their basic desire and it is normal, to marry again. They need aid, but they are not to be made members of the order of widows, or deaconesses. Then third, there are needy widows who are not of sufficient caliber to be made a deaconess. These are to be supported. And then fourth, there are widows over 60, of excellent character, and Paul gives a series of guidelines to determining who these widows are, those that are singled out to be made deaconesses.

Now, what he says is not prescriptive. The early church for awhile thought this meant the exclusion of any who had children, but this is emphatically not true, because in the concluding section he refers to those that are widows indeed, a phrase whereby he meant those who are bereft not only of children, they have none, but of a husband and of relatives. So they are very much alone.

Thus, what Paul says tells of areas of investigation, not requirements, that are binding and prescriptive. If she had children, did she rear them well? Was she hospitable? And the test of that is did she wash the feet of the disciples? Now, this is an interesting test because our Lord applied it to the twelve also. In those days, roads were not paved as now, with rare exceptions, and as a result, they were dusty or some times the year muddy. People wore sandals. As a result, when they entered a house, their feet, their sandaled feet, would either be muddy or dusty. It was the requirement that the host have their feet properly taken care of. Somewhat in the fashion, still used in some parts of the Orient where you leave your sandals near the door, you were take off your sandals, the host would provide a basin, your feet would be washed by a servant, and then you would go in refreshed by that. Now, if there were no servant, it was the duty of the housewife. If the housewife were not there or available, it was the duty of the host. Naturally, it was not a task that was a desirable one, and there were people who tended to ignore that responsibility, and this was regarded as a very marked discourtesy. We know at the time of the Last Supper when the disciples gathered together, they were all men. Who was there to wash the feet? Well, none of the disciples wanted to play the role of the host. So they sat there, waiting for somebody to do something about taking off their sandals and washing their feet, and our Lord got up and got the basin, and washed their feet, to demonstrate the kind of grace and humility that is required of all who follow him.

Now, Paul says the same kind of grace and humility must be shown by those who are appointed as deaconesses. Let me add here, since our Lord told this to the disciples, this kind of humility is not required of women alone, but of men and women equally, because our Lord first laid it down as a prescription for the disciples.

Now, of course, we don’t have foot washing today, although some churches still have the ceremony. The whole point is, of course, humility, the grace to do the things that are needed without pulling rank, or feeling that we are above certain duties.

The real widow is one who is without descendants, but with faith. Paul says these were widows indeed, but instead of manifesting bitterness, as would have been very likely for Hebrew women, or a Jewish woman in our Lord’s Day, they manifested continual prayer and graciousness. True, children are a heritage of the Lord, as the Old Testament speaks, but it became commonplace in Israel for women to regard childlessness as a reproach, but our Lord says those who are childless, but manifest grace, faith, a life of prayer, are truly blessed, and these are to be singled out and chosen because God has a work for them to do.

It is interesting to note what happened to the order of widows, or deaconesses, because both terms were very, very early used in the life of the church as Bingham’s Antiquities of the Christian Church make clear. One of the requirements that was relaxed very early was that of the age requirement. Now, in a sense, they had a biblical precedent for that, because the circle of women that followed our Lord did not have an age requirement. There is no reason to believe, and there is good reason not to believe that some of those women were over sixty. Mary Magdalene and some of the others were quite apparently somewhat younger. As the generations past and the centuries, and the crisis of the Fall of Rome, and increasing lawlessness prevailed, these women were more and more attached to the order of deaconesses, and the purpose was for their protection. The older women were the ones who bore the full title of deaconess, and they acted as a kind of Mother Superior over the younger women, and this is how, of course, conventual life and the order of nuns developed, out of this situation. At first the older women ruled and the others were aids.

There is one term here that sometimes occasions problems for some, the term wife of one man, does not mean a ban on second marriages any more than “the husband of one wife” as applied to elders means no second marriages, and the church did not so understand it. It was a term in that day meaning that you were faithful to one spouse, that your life, whether as a man or as a woman, was one of faithfulness. There were no divided loyalties.

The key point, however, verse 13, is applied not only to those who were singled out to be deaconesses, or members of the order of widows, but it is applied to all women, “And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.” Now, it is interesting that Paul makes a similar requirement of men, “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-minded, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre,” and so on. They are to be sober. They are to be mindful of their tongue, and more. So that the requirement laid upon all women, as well as all men, is that their speech be not idle, that it be not complaining, or gossiping, or tattling, or intermeddling. Men and women are alike summoned by Paul to be members one of another.

As we have seen previously, the family is God’s basic order. The family is the key institution, the most central of institutions in the Bible, and too often, both church and state have attempted to usurp the prerogatives of the family. The church is patterned after family life, and it is to be a larger family, not damaging the family, the natural family, but working with it and becoming an extended family. Thus, the family in scripture is basic. It cannot be downgraded. All men and all women are summoned to manifest family virtues, one to another. Life with in the family is true life, and the highest for of life, and so, as Christians, we are to manifest family life within the family of God the Father, to be members one of another, to be mindful of needs, and to minister to them.

Thus, the role of women in the church is a key one. It has to do with an extension of the life of the family to the full dimensions of the church, and the role of the men is no less. One of the key facts in our time is that beginning approximately with the Enlightenment, men regarded the family as too limiting for them, and you had the birth of men’s liberation, liberation from the family, as rational creatures, as incarnations of reason. They were above the mundane requirements of the family. The result in the modern age has been the devastation of family life with far-reaching consequences for society, and of course, that contempt for the family is something beneath the dignity of an intellectual, a rational being, has communicated itself, men have taught women this contempt, and so you have women’s liberation, a liberation from the family, and today you have children’s liberation, again from the family. All of these mark the dead knell of any culture that buys so pernicious a doctrine. What the Bible teaches is exactly the reverse. True life is family life, and so it is that men, women, and children are to find themselves, most of all, under God, within the life of the family, and the life of the church is to be such a life. Hence, the order of deacons and deaconesses. Hence, the summons to be members one of another. Hence, the requirement that loans are to be made within the circle of the Christian family to one another in time of need without interest. These are mandatory. They are to reinforce the life of the family in the life of faith. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, thy word is true, and thou hast summoned us to believe and to obey. Make us ever mindful, our Father, that it is thy way alone that is truth and life, and thou art the way, the truth, and the life. Make us members one of another and ever joyful in thy service. In Jesus name. Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] What kind of duties did the order of women, or deaconesses, perform in the church?

[Rushdoony] What kind of duties, I should have touched on that more. Very early, they had a part in the education of children. They had a part in the ministry from home to home, visitation. They had a part in finding where the needs were and communicating those needs to the deacons so that those needs could be met. So that they had a very central function in meeting the needs of the fellowship, of the family, the family of Christ. They visited, they taught, and they saw where the needs were that had to be met. They were thus, important in the work of charity, of helping one another.

[Audience] Would they have taken care of the sick?

[Rushdoony] Yes, and hospital work developed out of that. Hospitals are a Christian product, and they will again be safe places to go when they’ve become again Christian. Yes?

[Audience] How did this service of women and church, especially the teaching, fit with the scripture that says the women are supposed to be silent in church?

[Audience] Yes, but a school is different from a church, and very early, women as well as men taught children. Now, I think ideally we should have, in Christian schools when they grow sufficiently, two classes, one for boys and one for girls, in each grade. There is a reason for this. Throughout grade and high school, boys do not like to compete with girls. As a result, where you have co-education in grade and high school, the girls tend to be the better students and the boys hold back. They regard studying as sissy stuff, too often, because they don’t like to compete with girls. Now, there have been one or two Christian schools that have established separate classes, at least through the eighth grade, and the results have been dramatically good. The boys, when they are competing with one another, do very, very well. Then, there is no holding back. So, this kind of thing was once recognized as true, but we’ve gotten away from it. We need to get back to it. Hopefully, someday, when the schools grow sufficiently, they will go to this practice. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] How is one to regard women, I can think of several in this country now, who are excellent Bible teachers, very often better than the average minister, and they’ll have the free Bible teaching ministry. How does one regard that?

[Rushdoony] As long as it is to women, it’s entirely scriptural, and in fact, very good, and there are a number of women who have ministries, some good and some bad, to women, and there is quite an extensive Bible study movement among women, with women teaching women. That’s entirely legitimate. Yes?

[Audience] You don’t see, that takes the women away from the home if they move into these Bible study groups, which women tend to do that more and more.

[Rushdoony] Well, that need not be. In other words, if a woman allows such things to interfere with her family life, then she is clearly wrong. I have seen that, and I’ve once knew a couple women, I’m glad I no longer know them, who were, I don’t know what term to use to apply to them, they were sanctimonious somethings, and they were always going around, making a show of good works, helping this person out and that person, and their families rarely ever had a meal. In fact, I know of one women who was the wife of a professor, who never cooked a meal in her life. When they couldn’t afford servants, they went out to eat, but if any of the graduate students under her husband had a baby, she moved in and cooked for them, and helped them, and developed a fantastic reputation for being such a marvelous helper. It was all show. Now, that’s evil. There is a room in hell for women like that. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] Well, with regard to a couple of the other questions, if women are allowed to teach, how far does that go as far as, for instance, teaching at the university level, teaching adult men?

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience] Bible courses particularly.

[Rushdoony] Oh. The university is not the church and its service of worship, and Paul has reference to that. So, there is a distinction there. In other words, the Bible speaks not of inferiority, but subordination. There is a difference. It speaks of subordination within the family and the church, and that’s it. Now, we know of one instance in the Bible where obviously there must have been a difference in the abilities of the two; husband and wife. Pricilla and Aquila were two very wealthy Christians who had homes in several cities in the Roman Empire, places where they did business. So, they had multiple dwelling places and the churches met in their homes. Now, the custom then was, when you spoke of men and women, you gave the man’s name first, normally, but Paul speaks of Pricilla first always, and it seems to indicate that she was the abler of the two. Now, there is nothing wrong with that. That’s very often true. Men are often married to women who are much abler than they, and if they have any common sense, they listen to their wives without surrendering the fact that God has given them the headship. In fact, men should listen to their wives anyway, whether they do what they say or not, all the time. Any other questions or comments? Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord, and thy blessings surround us all the days of our life. We praise thee for thy grace, for the joy and the privilege of family life, for one another, for children and the joy that they are. We give thanks unto thee for Gary, and for Krista{?}, and for their son, Zechariah, and we pray for thy richest blessing upon them and to all their children and their loved ones. Prosper us ever in thy service, and surround us with thy mercies. In Jesus name. Amen.

End of tape.