When I was a young girl, I went to a loving church that taught me the Bible. We had hymn-sings, and Sunday afternoon pot-lucks, we had Christian pageants and my mom sang in a quartet. We prayed for the sick and loved one another. It was a small church, with only one pastor, and his wife made the best homemade bread.
It was also a men-only-leadership church. Women could teach the kiddos and each other, but women didn’t preach and they also didn’t participate on the elder board. When I asked about the lack of decision-making women, most of the time people said that husbands do a good job of listening to their wives and their job before God is to represent the women. Women don’t need a voice. Their husbands can be their voice. Even as a child, I saw holes in this logic.
This small Presbyterian church taught me Scripture and acquainted me with the Bible in ways I’m thankful for. This is the church that helped my mom and dad become Christians and it was actually the pastor’s daughter, for whom I used to baby-sit, who first introduced me to egalitarian theology. She was bold enough to lead a co-ed Bible study in her home. When I asked why her husband wasn’t leading, she laughed at me. “Because I want to lead it,” she said. It was the first time I’d ever been around a woman unafraid to admit she wanted to lead men and women. I gobbled it up like a starving child.
As a kid, I asked about these issues. I remember asking the leaders about this one Old Testament prophet, in particular. Her name was Deborah. She wasn’t just a prophet, she was also a Judge for Israel. You’ll find the story of Deborah tucked away in the book of Judges, chapters four and five. The leaders and teachers in my church explained to me that Deborah was the Judge because no man volunteered to do the job. They said women are allowed to lead men, if no man is willing.
Deborah was judge because no man was willing. The problem with this line of teaching, which is pervasive and as overgrown as blackberry bushes in the church, is that it doesn’t actually say that in Deborah’s story.
In Judges two — it says, “In those days, God raised up Judges to lead Israel.”
This is the time period before Israel had kings. They’d come into the Promise Land and were trying to figure out how to be a people, how to till the soil, grow plants, and follow God. According to the text, they weren’t always very good at following God. Judges helped lead the people, make decisions, and fight their enemies. Samson was a Judge, Gideon was a Judge, and Deborah was a Judge.
In Judges four, we read,
“Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading[a] Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.”
That’s all it says. Deborah was a married woman. Her husband was Lappidoth. She was a prophet and she was the judge. That the narrator mentioned she was a prophet before mentioning she was a judge, suggests that her prophetic gift was primary. That’s probably what got her into the position of Judge. She used to sit under a tree and people would come to her to have their disputes decided.
All my life people said the only reason Deborah was allowed to lead was because no man would do the job. But the text says, “In those days, the Lord raised up judges.” This is paramount to understanding everything.
God raised up Deborah to be Judge. To conclude that Deborah judged and prophesied because there was no man, is first an insult to God. It infers that God is incapable of raising up the correct person, and it makes a mockery of God. Scripture shows us from beginning to end that God calls and uses and appoints various kinds of people all the time. When Samuel anointed David, Samuel assumed God would ask him to anoint a strong, tough man. God asked him to anoint a shepherd boy. When Samuel balked at God’s instructions, God said to Samuel, “You look at the outward appearance, I look at the heart.”
Secondly, it shames the men. Why should a man be forced to do something even it is not his gift, only to uphold some standard of leadership? The gifted judge and prophet at that time was Deborah. God raised her up. Why should men feel guilty about that?
Thirdly, this is a set-up to women. It breeds resentment and gender enmity. I absolutely remember thinking through this logic. “So, if there is no man available, then I’m allowed to lead?” That day, my prayer became: “Let there be no man to lead.” This kind of teaching breeds bitterness and frustration for both men and women.
Instead, we need to invite people to use their gifts and to receive the gifts of others.
In the book of Joel, another prophet, Joel says that in the last days, God will pour out God’s Spirit on all people.
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
When God poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and Peter preached the great message that ushered in thousands of people, Peter said, “Now, this prophesy is fulfilled.” As in Joel’s prophesy. The age of the church is the age when there is to be no discrimination.
We are called by God to use our gifts as just that: gifts. We are called to be generous with what God has given us.
If you have the gift of prophesy, then by all means, preach.
If you have the gift of service, then serve.
If you have the gift of leadership, then please help us, because Lord knows we need good leaders.
If you have the gift of teaching, then teach.
If you have the gift of hospitality then open wide your heart and welcome people.
If you have the gift of dreaming dreams and casting vision, then tell us what you see.
There are layers to the radical gift of the Holy Spirit. One, is that God gives us God’s Spirit as comforter, and counselor. This is beautiful and wholly gracious.
It is also a radical gift because God’s Spirit is not discriminatory. God gives God’s Spirit with Gifts to ALL who receive.
The great misunderstanding and confusion in the Church is patriarchy.
The Gift of the Holy Spirit was the great smashing of the GLASS Ceiling. It was radical in every way.
If we are trying to uphold some hierarchal standard of male/female leadership in the church, we do not understand the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and what such a gift meant and continues to mean to the People of God.
Up next on the blog: If this is true, what’s up with Paul and the Household Codes?
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