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Delving into the Depths of Deceit Needed to Argue for Women in Authority in Church

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"Reason #5 - Women Pastors/Leaders in the NT. There are numerous women leaders in the New Testament, some who obviously functioned in pastoral roles of oversight. Paul mentions 2 of these female pastors in Rom. 16 as well as a female apostle." - Eddie Hyatt

This is the usual tactic. To avoid obeying the clear and direct scriptural commands found in the key verses, false teachers scour the bible for examples of females who contributed mightily and try to hold them up to dismiss scripture. As we will see, their examples are as poor as their hermeneutics.

"Phoebe, a Woman Pastor. In Romans 16:1 Paul commends to the church at Rome our sister Phoebe who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea. Paul refers to Phoebe as a servant which is the Greek word diakonos. Diakonos, or its verb form, is translated minister in 23 other places in the New Testament. For example, in Eph. 3:7, Paul says that he became a minister (diakonos) according to the gift of the grace of God. Phoebe, therefore, was a minister, probably a pastor, from the church in Cenchrea. This is borne out by vs. 2 where Paul refers to her as a helper of many and of myself also. The Greek word translated helper in this verse is prostates and, according to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, means to set over, to rule, superintend, preside over, protect, and care for. When this passage is examined apart from our traditions and prejudicial assumptions, the evidence is overwhelming that Phoebe functioned in what today we would call pastoral ministry." - Eddie Hyatt

Yeah, no Eddie. The word diakonos does appear several times in scripture and means different things depending on the verse. The notion that it is always translated minister is simply a lie. The lexicon online I visited said 7 of the 23 times it means minister and Romans 16:1 wasn't one of them. No, there it meant "Helper." Phoebe was a helper at the church where Eddie went ahead and anointed her pastor of. Realize the gall here. Eddie Hyatt wants to teach that women can preach but he has a scripture problem with the key verses for today. So instead he finds a literal throwaway line in the closing of the letter to the Romans where Paul is simply thanking people who have helped him and corrupts it into thinking he can dismiss the clear, directive scriptures found in 1Timothy. Literally he is saying that we do not have to obey 1Timothy because Paul referred to one woman in the benediction of Romans as a minister, and even that is not accurate. The desperation is pretty thick.

"Priscilla, A Woman Pastor. In verses 3-5 of the same chapter, Paul refers to Priscilla and Aquila and the church that is in their house. Priscilla and Aquila are always mentioned together in Scripture which indicates that they worked and ministered together as a husband and wife team. This is confirmed by Acts 18:26 where both Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos aside and both explained to him the way of God more accurately. In the Greek, Priscilla is always mentioned first. Since Paul reversed the culturally accepted manner of mentioning the husband first, he obviously wanted to make a point about her leadership role. Many commentators conclude that Priscilla is mentioned first because she was the spiritually gifted one and the leader of the church that met in their home. Again, the evidence is overwheliming. Priscilla functioned as a pastor." - Eddie Hyatt

The amount of assumption is breathtaking. The notion that they were a husband and wife pastoral team is absurd biblically and historically. This notion is strictly a 20 century, Pentecostal phenomena, where the wife gets credited with being a pastor merely because she is married to one. They are mentioned together because they are married and that is how Paul references them. In no way does that infer they must somehow be secret pastors! The verse in Acts merely shows a married couple correcting a brother in the lord, not exercising authority over him. You have to marvel at how readily Hyatt concludes things in his favor out of thin air. Now the order in which the couple is mentioned reveals that Priscilla must have had a leadership role? How ridiculous. Not to mention there are plenty of times the husband is mentioned first. Frankly, the order appears quite random and again, who thinks Paul is considering the order of the names when writing these letters? No one except Eddie Hyatt. There is not one shred of evidence that she was a pastor yet to Eddie it is overwhelming? Wow.

"Junia, A Woman Apostle. In verse 7 of the same chapter, Paul sends greetings to Andronicus and Junia who are of note among the apostles. Junia is a feminine name and so we have here a woman who is recognized by Paul as an apostle. The early church father, John Chrysostom, commenting on this verse, said, "Oh how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the appellation of apostle." If a woman can function as an apostle, may not she also function as a pastor." - Eddie Hyatt

Junia is always my favorite distortion in this debate. Many believe this person's name to be Junias, which would make him a man. Putting that aside, what many have latched onto here is either profoundly stupid or reckless. Here is the King James:

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Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to (more...)
 
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