Ar trebui femeile să fie hirotonite ca pastori? Considerații asupra Vechiului Testament – partea a II-a

Should Women be Ordained as Pastors? Considerations on the Old Testament – Part II

Abstract

This second part of a four-part study is a tentative answer derived from the account of Genesis chapter 3 to discover what constitutes God’s provisions for the relationship between men and women after the Fall. In the modern discussion over whether women should be ordained as pastors, the foundational passage for both those who affirm and those who oppose women’s ordination is Genesis 1–3. In the first part of the study, we have dealt with the biblical material of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Those who affirm women’s ordination find in the Genesis creation accounts a statement of full equality without hierarchy of man and woman, set forth as the divinely ordained creation order. They see the rest of Scripture, starting with Genesis 3, calling us back toward that creation ideal, and allowing for women to fill any position of authority to which God calls and gifts them. Those who oppose the ordination of women also go to Genesis 1–2, where they find support for their view that male headship, both in the home and in the church, is a divinely ordained creation ordinance. They see this reaffirmed in Genesis 3 and thus they assert that women cannot assume the role of authoritative headship in the church. What is often common to both groups is a similar view of authority—as top-down hierarchy. Opponents argue that such hierarchical leadership in the church is a male prerogative; proponents urge that women should have equal rights to those hierarchical leadership offices. What is the truth regarding these matters, is the question we try to give an answer to in the current study.