God’s Word for You

Isaiah 3:12 A question of then and now

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, December 18, 2024

12 Children will oppress my people, and women will rule over them. O my people, your guides are leading you straight into sin. They are confusing you about the way that should be your way.

Isaiah repeats his foresight of the oppression of children over the land. Here he adds the warning that women will also rule. Their dominion over the land will be so wicked that the rest of the chapter will be devoted to the evils this will bring about.

Since sin is brought immediately to the fore, we must consider the role of women’s leadership partly in the government, but more especially in the church. The two women who took an active role in leadership in the divided kingdom were Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab of Israel, and Athaliah, the only reigning Queen of Judah. Jezebel was condemned for her own sins and idolatry. She persecuted and murdered the prophets of God in Israel (1 Kings 18:4) and threatened the life of Elijah as well (1 Kings 19:2). When Athaliah seized power, she murdered the royal family (yes, her family) to be sure no one else would do what she had done, but a good nurse hid one grandson of the wicked Queen, who was brought out as the legitimate king when he was old enough (2 Chronicles 23). The ruthlessness of these particular women is unmatched by almost anyone in Scripture. But there are also examples of women who found themselves in positions of national political power (Esther, Bathsheba) who did marvelously good things for their countries. Therefore we will move on to the question of leadership in the church, and specifically to women pastors.

Women had various supporting roles in the church in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament (which continues to this day). These roles included singing and prophesying.

1, “Miriam the sister of Moses was also a prophetess” (Exodus 15:20).

2, Huldah the prophetess gave advice to good king Josiah (2 Kings 22:14-20).

3, Deborah the judge advised Barak (Judges 4:4-7) but criticized him for reaching out to her when he himself should have been leading.

4, The sanctuary had both male and female singers (2 Chronicles 35:25; Ezra 2:65).

5, Philip had four unmarried daughters who all prophesied (Acts 21:8-9).

6, The Holy Spirit said that “your daughters shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28).

7, Paul instructs the women to pray and prophesy with covered heads (1 Corinthians 11:5).

But women were forbidden from becoming priests. The idea of a “priestess” was almost synonymous with pagan religions. Prophecy, especially in the sense of foretelling, has been silent since the early days of the Christian church. The Spirit’s words through Joel look ahead to the approach of judgment day, when we will anticipate more than one change in the world. But after considering all of these good things, we also have the command: women are forbidden from being pastors in Christian churches:

8, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I [Paul] do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve…” (1 Timothy 2:11-13).

“If we had only [this] passage, the question could arise whether Paul here gives an order for his mission field which might not be binding on the church of all ages and all times. However, 1 Corinthians 14 proves that the rule is indeed meant to be universal.” (Hermann Sasse)

9, “In all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or is spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored” (1 Corinthians 14:33-38, with a reference to the Law of Genesis 3:16).

Some listeners or readers might want to read some of my comments about this from our series on 1 Corinthians last year, which are in the archive. But for now we continue with this subject:

It is not only in the public reading of Scripture and the preaching of sermons that women are to listen and not take on a leading role, but also (and we might even say) especially in the act of absolution in the sacraments. When the minister speaks the words of consecration in the Lord’s Supper, he does this in the place of Christ: “Do this in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19). The command is given to the entire church, but to carry it out, the church has set aside, ordained, certain men to be pastors. This is also true of the absolution, the carrying out of the office of the keys. To carry out this act (which, again, is given to the church) the minister proclaims the comforting truth of the forgiveness of sins, and actually gives that forgiveness in the place of and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In churches where the absolution and the sacraments have lost their meaning and become irrelevant, female “pastors” perform this no-longer meaningful task. “But if it ever should happen that one of these ordained women asks, ‘Do you believe that my forgiveness is God’s forgiveness?’ a Christian congregation could only answer: ‘This we most certainly do not believe.’” Why? Isaiah warns: “Your guides are leading you straight into sin. They are confusing you about the way that should be your way.” Therefore believing Christians should not attend their services, even for curiosity’s sake, let alone receive the Lord’s Supper from their hands. The suffrage movement is the root of the issue. It did not have its roots in the church but in the world outside the church. In that arena (that is, outside the church), suffrage performed a necessary and welcome task, righting a modern wrong. But those who spoke and who still speak the loudest about suffrage in the church have no real interest in the church, could not care less about who leads the service in the church, and for the most part do not attend church anyway. Yet they have led a passionate crusade for the right of women to have the full ministry in the church.

But we must also acknowledge that a lack of men to lead worship becomes a punishment on certain churches, that is, on certain denominations. Once the role of pastor is seen as a woman’s task, fewer and fewer men will step forward to do it. We see proof of this in the professions of nurses and of business secretaries, which 150 years ago were exclusively male roles. Today, men are the exceptions there, and in some cases, are looked down on and suffer persecution for taking on those roles. But those are day-to-day secular positions, about which the Scriptures are silent. The leadership of God’s church is another matter and should be addressed within the church, not outside it. And the Scriptures have indeed addressed the matter.

Therefore Luther warns: “Order, discipline and respect demand that women keep silent when men speak” (that is, as they lead worship, preach, and carry out the liturgy). But the Reformer foresees that times may come when men do not speak, and so he adds: “but if no men were to preach, then it would be necessary for the women to preach” (Word and Sacrament Volume II, LW 36:152).

There are nine numbered points above. Recall that the first seven are all excellent ways that women have and continue to serve in the church. Jesus was served by a number of women (Luke 8:1-3), especially during his passion (Mark 15:40-41), and they served in indispensable ways during his burial (Mark 16:1-11). In how many ways do women serve in churches all over the world today? In the congregation where I am called, more than three hundred people volunteer for various forms of service, and many more than half are women. Without them, most of what our church does would not be possible. In the same way that families are blessed by and thrive on men and women each doing their part, so also the church is blessed and thrives with women and men helping, volunteering and serving under our one Head, who is Christ.

The one thing that must rise up above all others is the Word of God itself. The gospel must be preached (Mark 13:10). Let all that the holy Christian Church does, including the preaching of the gospel, be to his glory.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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