Are the God-Given Gifts

Gender Segregated?

I. What is God’s greatest gift and are women excluded from receiving the gift?

Read: I Timothy 2:1-7

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men (anthropos) to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men (anthropos) the man Christ Jesus;” I Timothy 2: 3-5 (KJV)

*444 anthropos (Greek) – a human being - Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance

Women can receive the gift of salvation, right? It says that God would have all MEN to be saved.

“who wants all men (anthropos) to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:4 (NIV)

“who desires all men (anthropos) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:4 (NAS)

Does “men” (anthropos) mean men and women?

“…who desires everyone (anthropos) to be saved…there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind (anthropos), Christ Jesus, HIMself human…” 1 Timothy 2:4-5 (NRSV)”

“for he wants everyone (anthropos) to be saved…only one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and people (anthropos). He is the man Christ Jesus. I Timothy 2:4-5 (New Living Translation)

“who wants all people (anthropos) to be saved… one God and one mediator between God and human beings (anthropos), Christ Jesus, HIMself human.” I Timothy 4-5 (NIV Inclusive Translation)

From John 3:16, Romans and Galatians and other places, we can conclude that (anthropos) does mean “men and women.”

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 (NIVI)

II. To whom did Paul write the book of Ephesians? Can we conclude that Ephesians is also for woman?

“Paul, an apostle of Christ by the will of God, to the saints at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.” Ephesus 1:1

Can women be “saints” and “faithful in Christ Jesus.?” Are women believers, children of God, Christians, and part of the Church?

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men (anthropos). … And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7-8,11-12 (KJV)

A woman receives salvation through faith in Christ the same as a man. Women believers receive power to witness of Christ after the Holy Spirit comes upon them, the same as the men believers. Is the Holy Spirit’s power to witness of Christ to be limited or silenced in women believers?

Does the meaning of men (anthropos) change here in Ephesians 4:8 to mean only men (no, I looked it up again in Strong’s, same meaning). Paul was speaking to the “saints and faithful in Christ Jesus”. The RSV, NIVI and New Living translations use the word “people”, here in verse 8.

Can women really be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers? Consider this:

“Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.” Romans 16:7 (KJV)

It is impossible to tell from the Greek text whether Junia was a man or a woman. However, St. John Chrysostom, one of the early Church Fathers, wrote that Junia was a woman.

III. Would women prophesy?

In Acts 2 when the day of Pentecost came, the (men and women) were all together in one place. And Peter stood up and told the crowd:

“These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy…’” Acts 2:15-18 (NIVI)

Both men and women, old and young, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and would be prophesying.

Read Acts 5:12-16

“And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number.” Acts 5:15 (NAS)

Under great persecution, they were all scattered abroad:

“Saul was in hearty agreement with putting with putting him to death (Stephen). And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Act 8:1 (NAS)

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word:

But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” Acts 8:3-4 (NAS)

“On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.” Acts 21:8-9 (NAS)

Were Philip’s daughters preaching?

“I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant (diakonis) of the church which is at Cenchrea:” Romans 16:1 (KJV)

*diakonis (Greek) – teacher, minister, office

Diakonis, used to describe Phoebe’s ministry is also used by Paul to describe the ministries of Apollos, Timothy, Tychicus, Epaphras, and even Paul himself. Diakonis appears twenty times in Paul’s writings and in the KJV is translated “minister” sixteen times and “deacon” three times. Only in the case of Phoebe is diakonis translated servant. Has Phoebe’s work been obscured by bias and poor translation? We are instructed to be servant-leaders, therefore, servant would be a proper translation for diakonis, but only if both man and women diakonos’ were translated “servant”.

“I would draw attention to the fact that Phoebe, a Christian woman whom we find in our version of the Scripture (Romans xvi:1) spoken of only as any common servant attached to a congregation, was nothing less than one of those gifted by the Holy Spirit for publishing the glad tidings, or preaching the gospel. The manner in which the Apostle speaks of her, shows that she was what he in Greek styled her, a deacon or preacher of the Word….”’The lord gave the word, and great was the company of those that published it’ (Psalm lxviii:11) In the original Hebrew it is, “Great was the company of women publishers, or woman evangelists.”…”How comes it that the feminine word is actually excluded in this text: That it is there as plainly as any other word no Hebrew scholars will deny. It is too much to assume that as our translators could not alter it, as they did “Deaconon” when applied to Phoebe, they preferred to leave it out all together rather that give a prophecy or unpalatable to their prejudice. But the Lord gives the word, and he will choose whom He pleases to publish it, notwithstanding the condemnation of translators and divines.”

~Cathering Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army

~”Female Ministry: Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel”, 1859, reprinted by The Salvation Army 1975

“The Lord gives the command; the women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host:” Psalm 68:11 (NAS)

The Lord gives the word (of power); the women who bear and publish (the news) are a great host.” Psalm 68:11 (Amplified)

The ordination thrust of Ephesians 4:7-12 is in vs. 12

“for equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:12 (NAS)

Credentialing and ordination is not a requirement for ministry and serving; many churches do use it for organizational purposes. Dwight L. Moody definitely was a person with a ministry and he was never ordained.

Something to thing about:

“Gifts for ministry. The discussion of spiritual gifts is enriched by this passage. … Spiritual gift inventories supposedly help people find their gift. But this approach is naïve and does not do justice to the biblical accounts. In fact, it is a self-centered approach. The New Testament never asks us to identify our gifts … I Corinthians 12:4-7 shows that a gift is the same thing as a working or a service; a gift is namely the way the Spirit works through a person for the good of the community. Consequently, no one should assume a gift is a lifelong possession.

“In Ephesians 4:11 certain leaders are viewed as gifts to the church, but actually this is true of all Christians. All have received grace and have a responsibility to build up the church. As the Spirit works through each person for the good of the community, each person is a gift to the church. We would do well to have less concern about identifying gifts and more concern about being a gift, that is about how the Spirit functions through us to strengthen the body.”

My question is this: Should not women today emulate those early women believers who received The Holy Spirit and became public witnesses of Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth as Christ commissioned? Is Jesus, the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts limited in a woman because she is

female?