One Size Fits All

….for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:27-29 NIV

This covers race, prisoners, and gender, and note there are only two genders mentioned, so I take it there is no third or fourth gender or anything between. The good news is that when you become part of God’s family (clothed with Christ) you are right where you need to be.

These verses are an encouragement to those who work with race hatred, and in the prison ministries, but we still have some way to go before we all recognise and honour the place of our women in the church. We are told that all these groups of people are ‘heirs according to the promise’ but there are some churches and people who prefer to use other Scriptures against this one to make another point.

In secular terms if we are mentioned in a ‘Last Will and Testament’, we have full rights as an heir whether male or female. To suggest that women heirs can only get the crumbs of their inheritance after the menfolk get theirs, goes against the laws of God and country. As we are told in Luke 11:12 by Jesus: If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ That’s anyone and everyone who asks, including the women. Who are we to limit God in what men and women can do? Oh, I am well aware of the verse that’s used to curtail the role women can play in the church as expressed in 1 Corinthians 14:34: Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. Also Ephesians 5:22 says: Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord, but context is everything.

Paul passed on his experiences to young Timothy of the difficulties he encountered in the young church at Corinth. He found many practices there which he felt needed some leadership, and Paul stepped up to the mark and pulled no punches in correcting the sinful and wrong practices. One of the disruptive things going on was some women who would talk over the teachers, or speak loudly among themselves thus disturbing the Spirit in the meetings. He writes in 1st Timothy 2:12 (Phillips) “Personally, I don’t allow women to teach, nor do I ever put them into positions of authority over men—I believe their role is to be receptive. My reasons are that man was created before woman. Further, it was Eve and not Adam who was first deceived and fell into sin.” In other translations it says “I do not permit”, and that is something we cannot ignore or ride roughshod over. Paul, very rightly in the circumstances, expressed his opinion to the young preacher, and it seemed to work in Corinth. He makes it clear that it is Paul who is speaking, and not a command from God. So why do some make it such a directive where it is not an issue?

As we know, where there is no context, there can be no text. When a man or a woman, boy or a girl, comes to Christ in prayer in any church that proclaims the salvation of a living God, will that loving God treat the man and boy any differently from the woman and girl? While you think about that, ask yourself why Paul wrote these words of caution to the churches he chose? Not every church. Let’s be careful how we treat God’s Word because there is a warning we need to heed in Revelation 22:18 addressed to the churches (which are types of our churches today) which says: “And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.”