Women must not be publicly recognised: Biblical Manhood and Womanhood P/4

                                                      Read Part One HERE

In this post I will compare Professor Wayne A. Grudem's lists of 83 church activities with a list of activities the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Rome about as inspired by the Holy Spirit. This list can be found in Romans 12:6-8

Professor Wayne A. Grudem has said the following:

Scripture teaches some restrictions on the roles women may fill in the Church. Generally these restrictions fall into three areas:

1. Governing authority.

2. Bible teaching.

3. Public recognition or visibility.

There are three lists of activities:

In List 1, I proceed from areas of greater governing authority to areas of lesser authority.

In List 2, I proceed from areas of greater public recognition and visibility to areas of lesser visibility.


My Comment:

The job descriptions mentioned in these three lists comprise of a total of 83 positions in the church in order to establish which functions are acceptable to women and which functions are not acceptable to women.

We will now compare these lists of church activities with a list of church activities the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 12:6-8 as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.                                                                         If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.                                                  If it is serving, let him serve;                                                                                                                      if it is teaching, let him teach;                                                                                                                    if it is encouraging, let him encourage;                                                                                                    if it is teaching, let him teach;                                                                                                                    if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously;                                                    
if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;                                                                                              if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.*

*In the original text of Roman 12:6-8 no specific gender is mentioned. Therefore a better translation would be:

We have different gifts.  according to the grace given us.
If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;
if it is serving, then serve;
if it is teaching, then teach;
if it is encouraging, then give encouragement;
it if is contributing to the needs of others, then give generously;
it it is leadership, then govern diligently;
if it is showing mercy, then do it cheerfully.

In the original text the above list of spiritual gifts does not specifically mention that any of these gifts may not be acceptable to women, because, apparently, the Holy Spirit, does not make a distinction between male and female believers, when giving out gifts. We would not know this from most of the translated versions since the male gender has been added to the original text but it is clear from the original text that the Holy Spirit had no specific gender in mind when inspiring Paul to write these words.

In my next post I will compare Professor Wayne A. Grudem's lists of 83 church activities with a final list compiled by the Apostle Paul as inspired by the Holy Spirit, which can be found in Ephesians 4:11.

 

Read Part Five HERE