Dale M. Coulter – Guest Author
Part of the challenge of discussing the role of women in ministry has to do with the Church of God’s (hereafter CG) position on ministerial rank. My intention in this two-part analysis is primarily to convince people that the CG should consider changing how it understands ministerial ranking, which is in keeping with the recommendation to study the meaning of ordained bishop adopted at the previous General Assembly.
In this first post, I will explore how the 2014 Book of Minutes sets forth the three ministerial ranks in order to illustrate the biblical precedent for each rank as well as the confusion in how the Minutes employs terms.
- The Book of Minutes justifies the three-fold ministerial ranking on the basis of a functional analogy with scripture. In other words, the ministerial ranking is biblically based because the functions of each rank have a precedent in scripture, not because there is a direct correspondence between each rank and an office in scripture. There is an admission that the three-fold ranking is a product of the tradition of the CG.
- The CG has a current ordination structure that is a hybrid of Methodism and scripture. The first level of licensure or the “exhorter” is taken in part from the Methodist “lay minister” certificate. This stems from the influence of Methodism and the desire to maximize lay participation in mission. While the Minutes has a “lay minister certificate,” this development occurred in 1994, reflecting a decision to count the rank of exhorter as a form of ministerial ordination beyond local church ministry such as a children’s ministry. The biblical precedent for the exhorter is the role of the evangelist and hence the authority to teach and preach. The authority accorded to an exhorter to pastor a local church is an extension of the authority to teach and preach.
The second rank of ordained minister is in reality connected to the role of the bishop in the NT, but not the title. For this reason, the CG implicitly authorizes women to do everything the NT says a bishop can do. The contrast between a bishop managing his own household and managing the church in 1 Tim. 3.5 assumes that the church in question is a house church, which is a local expression. The implicit contrast is between two kinds of households. When the CG says a woman has full authority to pastor a local church, it is in fact saying that she fits the NT role of bishop.
There was no larger governing role for a bishop when Paul wrote 1 Timothy between 66 and 68. As the Minutes recognize, a bishop in second half of the first century did not have authority beyond the local house church. I should note here that many NT commentators do not think church offices developed until the 60s at the earliest or during the final days of the apostles, especially Peter and Paul who were most likely martyred under Nero.
First Corinthians, Romans, and any other letters dated in the decade of the 50s are not addressing church offices strictly speaking. It was only in the second century that some bishops (e.g., Ignatius of Antioch) started claiming an authority over all house churches in a city, and this was not solidified until the third century.
- The CG third rank of ordained bishop stems from a desire to hold together the NT terms presbyter (elder) and bishop as referring to the same office and thus roughly synonymous. This is at least part of the biblical rationale the Minutes set forth for ordained “bishop.” The idea is that there is one ministerial rank of bishop and within that rank there are different functions (ordained, administrative, presiding). Unfortunately, the Minutes use the term offices for Administrative Bishop and Presiding Bishop, which creates a conflict between the argument for only one office of bishop and the claim that there are multiple offices within the rank of ordained bishop. It also means that there is no functional analogy for the office of ordained bishop within scripture even though the Minutes attempt to connect the office to 1 Timothy 3. As we have already seen, the functional equivalent of a NT bishop is the rank of ordained minister.
- The authority to govern the general church that the CG accords to those occupying the rank of ordained bishop can only be found in bishops after the third century. The Minutes attempt to find biblical precedent for this office in the category of apostle, but the problem is that apostle becomes the basis for extending the category of ordained bishop to include other “offices” such as Administrative Bishop and Presiding Bishop. A close reading of the Minutes suggests that Administrative Bishops and the Presiding Bishop function analogously in relation to the apostles who could exercise authority over a series of house churches.
Part of the rationale for this interpretation stems from A. J. Tomlinson’s reading third century sources that told him James was the bishop of bishops in Jerusalem. Tomlinson modeled the General Overseer on what the Pseudo-Clementine Writings and Eusebius of Caesarea (among others) had said about James as bishop of bishops. The Pseudo-Clementine Writings are a series of texts supposedly written by Clement of Rome that include a letter to James. Tomlinson read these works in the then newly translated Ante-Nicene Fathers of the Church set. He did not allow women to speak when the church was assembled in council (read on floor of General Assembly or GA), which is why women were restricted from the final rank.
Yet, even this is a little convoluted now. The CG says that the GA is its final authority, not the General Council so it has implicitly given some governing authority over the general church to women. The CG has also recently said women can serve on all church boards, which means that women can exercise authority over the general church through governing boards.
Some conclusions:
a. The Minutes attempt to provide biblical support for the three ministerial ranks on the basis of a functional analogy with offices in scripture. Exhorter is analogous to the NT evangelist, Ordained Minister is analogous to the NT bishop, and Administrative Bishop/Presiding Bishop is analogous to the NT apostle. There is really no functional analogy for Ordained Bishop although the Minutes attempt to connect the rank both to the NT office of bishop and the NT office of apostle. The Minutes never attempt to deal with prophets or deacons even though they are also present in the NT.
b. The Minutes employ the term offices in a way that is confusing. On the one hand, ordained bishop is the final ministerial rank and thus the final office. On the other hand, there are additional offices beyond ordained bishop such as Administrative Bishop and Presiding Bishop. Finally, the Minutes claim that bishop and presbyter overlap and are always local while also claiming precedent for episcopal offices that are general rather than local. This can only be understood in light of the traditions within the CG.
c. As those entitled to the rank of ordained minister, CG female ministers are the functional equivalent of a NT bishop.
The current ministerial structure of the CG needs to be reworked in order to make it more consistent in light of scripture and CG traditions.
