Sabbath: Women in the Ministry of Jesus
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 1:39-55; Luke 2:36-38; Luke 7:11-17, Luke 7:36-50; Rom. 10:17; Luke 8:1-3; Luke 18:1-8.
Image © Lars Justinen Goosalt.com
Memory Text: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. . . . There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus
(Galatians 3:26-28, NKJV).
Luke’s Gospel is sometimes called the Gospel of Women
because, more than any other one, it makes special mention of how caring Jesus was to the needs of women and also of how involved women were in His ministry.
In the time of Jesus, as in some cultures today, women were deemed of little worth. Some Jewish men in that time thanked God that they were not created a slave, a Gentile, or a woman. Greek and Roman society sometimes treated women even worse. Roman culture developed its permissiveness to an almost unlimited licentiousness. A man often had a wife only in order to produce legitimate children who would inherit his property, and he had concubines for his own sinful pleasures.
Against such a backdrop of women being treated so badly, Jesus brought the good news that women are, indeed, daughters of Abraham (see Luke 13:16). How happy the women of those days must have been to hear that, in Jesus, they are children of God and of equal worth with men in the sight of God. The message today for women of all nations remains the same: we are all, men and women, one in Christ Jesus.
(37)
We are equal spirituality but biologically different. we need yo know also how women stand before God otherwise our doctrine will be same as that of earthly on women rights
I think the Bible empasizes that we all stand before God as equals irrespective of Biology. In that respect the Bible presents a radically new view of women compared to the way that many women were treated in New Testament times.
In agreement. ..
lets say I have a head of 100 cattle and there are bulls, calves and cows. when I count them I count them as 1 whole number on each animal. the same appilies to God He count us as His children no matter our coulor, our age, our gender, nationality,rich,poor or disable.Same with the body is one but it has many parts with different functions.
But you also want to know how many cattle's cows and bulls you have in separate. yes we are equal before God in respect to love and salvation but at the same time we are vastly different (does not mean one better than the other) in the way we see things, understand things, do things feel things and all the rest.
There is nothing wrong for women to take leadership positions in church or anywhere, even God approves of that. The problem is when a woman thinks of herself as a man or the head. God chose many women for His work as Lindale mentioned but that does not make them men. Let's just be women and be proud that God made us like that and just enjoy the many gifts He has given us and use them wisely and not to prove to anyone but to praise God with those gifts.
The body has many parts with different functions but it is one. we are one before God.the same with us if we have cattle or sheep we take them equal they are the same to us weather they are male or female.
I think this week's lessons are important in several respects. First, because there is a lot of discussion over the role of women in the church. Secondly, because as SDA's who consider a women with a third grade education to be a major prophet and a leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That one point has raised many questions among Christians in other denominations especially when considering the role women played in general in ancient times and even in Israel during the time of Christ.
In the Seventh-day Adventist church, I have heard it said that women must be silent especially when it comes to teaching the Sabbath School lesson.
Was not Deborah a judge in Israel?As she sat under the palm-tree she instructed Barak to go against Sisera. God was with her judgements and they won the battle. Judges 5. Was not Miriam a prophetess? Exodus 15:20 What role did Huldah play 2 Kings 22:14. Was Athaliah in 2 Chronicles 22: 10-12 not commissioned by God?
As women, God has called us to a powerful ministry of helping to finish the work of the gospel. Because the evil one sees our potential in letting that happen he is using those of our number to frustrate the work of the gospel. Let us be strong in the Lord and the power of His might!
The idea of regarding women as people not worthy is a result of the Satan trying to make divisions among human kind. Satan wanted to make sure that women are only used to satisfy men's sinful desires. From creation Genesis 2 vs 18 women were created as helper to men. Not created above or below men but with specific roles different from that of men.
Galatians 3:28 was to be a change in the reality of men and women (and the other groups mentioned) relating as equals. The verse cannot have to do with salvation since all of those groups already had salvation before. There wasn't any "partial salvation" or "lower order of salvation" before Galatians, nor is there now. The verse was a reference to a real-world change God intended to take place between groups that had formerly been in relationships of racism, domination and/or subjugation. The idea that the Bible is against those things is entirely correct, and here it is spelled out in unmistakable terms. Let us continue to be a people of the Book, even (especially) when it eradicates power-over relationships in favor of Christ's humility and spirit of service toward one another.
Yes, Terri, let us be a people of the book. The context of Galatians 3:28 is indeed salvation, particularly how we are saved, "through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26) The relation of faith and law to salvation is the main topic of both chapters 3 and 4.
The equality of male and female is not having same body parts. It is equal voice, authority, vote, access, opportunity and protection.
It is in fact 1 Corinthians 14:34 that says that the women should not speak in church but be silent, it's not an SDA-originated thought, however...how do we understand what Paul was speaking about in light of the fact that Anna the prophetess spoke in the temple? Luke 1 verses 36-38 mention her and verse 37 says she never left the temple. Verse 38 says she spoke about the child (Jesus) to all who were present...she did in fact, speak in church, and there seemed to be nothing wrong therewith
Paul was speaking to a specific problem. He also said women should teach and speak in church.
Barrington, I can't remember Paul ever saying that "women should teach and speak in church." If you know where the text is in the Bible I would love to have it. It certainly would give justification for our practices today wouldn't it?
As far as Anna goes I think we need to remember that the temple mount was no small area during the first century. In the outer court (court of the Gentiles) everyone and everything was allowed in including animals and was more like a market place than the temple of God which Jesus criticized and cleaned out twice during His ministry. Even with that women weren't allowed into the court of men which is where the altar of burnt offering was and that says heaps about the social condition of that era.
Basically women and children were just one step up from the Gentiles along with anyone else generally considered unclean. That being the case Anna was at liberty to freely speak and do whatever she did in those parts of the temple that allowed women and children which was the majority of the temple area.
Paul, on the other hand was dealing with total confusion in the synagogue at Corinth which wasn't very big at all. Not only were women constantly talking but an over abundance of everyone speaking in tongues at the same time was also adding to the mess. Not only did he say women should keep silent but he required that only one prophet or a person with tongues and one interpreter to speak at a time. In that he was preaching order rather than confusion.
I also believe that Paul actually did not allow women to speak in the synagogue during services which would have been the rule for Jews in general. I think we need to get away from the thought that things were the same then as they are now.
It is important to ensure that our picture of women in the New Testament time is not skewed by our pre-conceived ideas. Their position in Jewish society was much more complex than we sometimes portray. Women were allowed to own property and run businesses. They also had a fair bit of power in the spiritual domain in the home.
I recently read an article on the prayer of Hannah and its influence on Jewish liturgy. The article may have been just trying to put a spin on women's position in society but it was interesting and worth following up.
I don't deny that there were inequities, but we need to be aware that the position of women in Jewish society had its merits as well. And compared with some othe concurrent cultures they were considerably better off.
Maurice Ashton as I read your last comment I'm reminded of the proverbs 31 woman who works with her hands and makes clothing for her family, and also who "considers a field and buys it"...I presume she would have men as well as women working for her on that field, effectively meaning they would both be working for her? Interesting thought 🙂
How much do we really know about Jewish women in history? Were they treated the same way at all times? Or were they treated differently at different times? Would women have the same property and business rights as the proverbs 31 woman in the 1st Century under the Pharisees, Saducees and Scribes?
Paul's prohibition against women speaking in the temple perhaps was not universal. Although he said the women should keep silent and ask their husbands at home if they wanted to learn anything, there were women who taught in the New Testament era, such as Priscilla who was a co-worker along with her husband Aquila with Paul. She also taught Apollos, which is mentioned in the Bible and not in a condemnatory way.
If it was appropriate on an individual basis for a woman to teach a man about the Lord it does not appear to be ruled out by Paul. If it were, we would have a problem with our female prophet, who spoke extensively for many years. Paul said all things are lawful (not meaning of course breaking God's law but not being bound by ordinances and rituals, some of them man made) but all things are not expedient. Perhaps this is part of the issue- time place and culture. Paul also told Onesimus to return to his master, we really need to look at the whole picture on these things. Having said this, I am not strongly advocating one viewpoint or another with respect to the exact work of women in the church, just saying I do not see this as a salvation issue.
I think what this lesson want to empasize is that both men and women are one before God but that does not really mean that men do not have some important roles to play different from that of a women, moreover, this issue of equality should be address with all sense of Biblical seriousness before satan will capitalize on it.
I believe that Peter made an important point in Acts 2:17,18.
120 men and woman were gathered together praying and the Holy Spirit descended on each one. Peter stood up, began quoting Joel, and said as a result of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh:
Sons and Daughters will prophesy
Male servants and Female servants will prophesy
Jesus said the type of authority in His kingdom was that of a servant.
According to Jesus the leaders in the church should be servants to the church members, facilitating not dictating.
According to Paul both males & females will prophesy - spread the good news.
Can someone help me to understand this.During Christ's ministry, He chose (men) 12 Apostles(ordained) to preach the gospel. Why was there no woman chosen for this task??
In reply to Redford. I look at their first commission as apostles in Matthew 10 to go neither to the gentiles nor the samaritans, but to Israel's lost sheep. Now, from there, I go to the woman by th well in John 4 and notice that the disciples marvelled that he was talking with a woman...they didn't marvel that he was talking with a samaritan. The samaritan, on the other hand, was received well by her own people, who then came to Christ to hear him for themselves. It would make sense then, that the. First disciples/apostles would be men, since they would more readily be received by the Jewish people. Notice in Acts 6, when deacons (or overseers?) Were chosen to take care of the Greek-speaking widows...all their names are Greek names...a clear indication of intent to be fair towards the Greeks, though I'm not sure if they were Greek-speaking Jews or actual Gentile creeks...I'm inclined towards the former, since the church at Pentecost was Jewish even though they spoke different languages, since the Jewish people were dispersed into various countries at the time
The issue on how we should regard women as christians wouldn't really an issue if the peculiar people who are called out of darkness to this marvellous lights, would walk in the Spirit and not according to flesh.
Paul is not here doing away with gender, however he's here expressing the point that, we are all saved by the same blood, that of Christ our redeemer
Well as we all know, in China, males are being incarcerated for spreading the word. However, females have taken a leading role and baptisms are far more than any other country- females leading. Consider that. To God sex is irrelevant, it's how honestly do you love Him and serve Him. He diverted His route for a Samaritan woman so that the entire village can be saved. Another fact to consider is, was Ellen White, male or female?