Role of Women in First Century Church

Role of Women in First Century Church

Introduction

The role of women in our world is an issue that is evolving continuously. This paper argues that the image of God is male-female and not just genderless as some propose. This brings up a truly pressing issue facing the church today, the role of women in the church. The paper also addresses the secular and religious point of view.

Discussion

Women's Role in Biblical History

It is of concern to set the brief foundation of the position of women from the scriptures. The belief on Adam and Eve is well established under the Church jurisdictions. The New Testament assessment validation of this is described from the following, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (Lind, 2005). From Paul's view some have said, “In the temptation incident woman showed herself to be more susceptible to temptation through deceit than was the man” (Forerunner Commentary, 2012). Even though, Eve fell for Satan's plot, she also was given the first promise of redemption. Eve suffered, as well as Adam, for the “eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” proving that this was more than just for the punishment of women.

Many Testament women were mightily used by God to perform His will on the earth. A Hebrew slave woman, Jochabed, would exemplify great faith and the result was the deliverer of Israel - Moses. Much could be said of Esther and Ruth, but this paper is to just briefly examine these to validate the importance of women in religious history (Lind, 2005).

When God wanted to reconcile the world to Himself, He chose a woman to bare His sacrificial body. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the one who provoked Jesus to perform his first miracle. One cannot demean the importance of Mary in the life of our Lord in the flesh not only in birth but also in ministry (Barbara, 2006). The very fact that the Spirit overshadowed Mary to bring forth the Son, Jesus Christ, shows the Almighty was again saying that man could not dwell alone without Him and He needed a woman to bring forth the Son. The importance of women in the New Testament cannot be explained fully in this paper, but they were extremely instrumental in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles.

The early post Apostolic Christians believed that women were the cause of the curse of Adam. The opinions show the theology of “submission” teaching of women throughout much of early Christendom (Mullino & Elizabeth, 2004).

The phrase, “a woman's place is in the home” has been the traditional role of women for most of history since the time of Jesus. This phrase was used by men and is found first recorded even prior to the time of Jesus by the Greek playright, Aeschylus, in Seven against Thebes, in 467 B.C. It stated, “Let women stay at home and ...