Perhaps you
know of someone who might like to watch this program. If so, go to the bottom of
the page and click on "Email this page." Fill out the short form, and share the
good news! There's also a way to share the page on Facebook, Twitter,
Buzz, and other websites.
If you'd like to support this ministry, click here.
"God is not ashamed to be called their God." This profound statement is found in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter of the Bible. Can you imagine your name being listed along with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Moses in God’s list of the faithful?
"Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28, King James Version). How many times have we heard these familiar words of the archangel Gabriel repeated, especially every year around the time of Christmas.
For a 27-minute video about our series of study papers on women, click here.
Many people can probably agree with Thomas Schreiner when he writes, "The role of women in the church is probably the most emotionally charged issue in American evangelicalism today
The endnotes for this study are in a separate document. Click here to see that document in a new window.
For many people, 1 Timothy 2:12 is concise proof that women should not have authority in the church. Paul did not allow women to teach or have authority, they say, and neither should we.
In the following paper, the doctrinal team surveys biblical evidence on the role of women in the apostolic church. We will see that in the New Testament, various women are named as having key roleswithin the work of the church, but few are given titles, just as few men are given titles. All this evidence is (as we expected from the start) inconclusive for our ultimate goal, which is to decide whether the Bible prohibits or allows women to be ordained as elders in the church.
As the evidence in parts 1 and 2 indicates, scholars are generally agreed that Jesus treated women with respect, as people of the same spiritual significance as men. On this point, scholars who favor women's ordination are agreed with those who oppose it. There is one significant aspect of Jesus' ministry on which they do not agree, and that is the implications of the fact that Jesus chose only men to be among the Twelve. For example, James Borland writes that Jesus
Christian Odyssey interviews
Barbara Quillen Egbert, who recently published Portrait of a Woman and
Jesus. 
"Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28, King James Version). How many times have we heard these familiar words of the archangel Gabriel repeated, especially every year around the time of Christmas.
