REVELATION, PROCLAMATION ANDWOMEN'S RESPONSIBILITY(A systematic theology in two or three pages)

Ralph A. Kee

In history as recorded in the Bible, God often gaveHis revelation specifically to women, and often in­structed women to pass on that revelation to others,including men. In the New Testament, at all of the mostsignificant points of Christian revelation and proclama­tion, women played a role as significant as, or even moresignificant than, the roles played by men.

Upon this observation rests the notion that women,equally with men, are still entrusted by God with Hisrevelation, and are still held accountable by God for itsproclamation. Women are still called by God to the basicministries, including pastoral ministry in the Church.

At the Creation

God's first revelation was both to a man and to awoman. According to Genesis I, once humankind ex­isted as' man and woman, both genders were equallyaddressed, equally blessed and equally called to the careof the creation.

The very reason Eve was created was that Adammight have someone equal to himself so that there bemutuality in fellowship, in pleasure, in worship, and inwork. Before Eve's creation, Adam lacked a companion.The animals were there, but they were not Adam's equalGod, who appreciated His own pleasure in sharingamong the co-equal members of the Trinity, thereforemade Eve for Adam, so that Adam could have someonewith whom to share on equal terms, both in the fellow­ship of the Garden and in the responsibilities of theGarden. Following Eve's creation, God revealed Himselfto both Adam and Eve, speaking to both of them (Genesis1:28f£), and revealing His will and His work to both ofthem.

When sin came, domination and subjection camewith it. But our business in the Church is repentance andredemption. When they come, there is a reversal, and themove is back once again toward God's original intention:the sharing by equals in the fellowship and in the respon­sibilities of God's work and God's world. The task of thechurch is to overcome, not perpetuate, the sins of domi­nation and subjection between the sexes.

Annunciation ofJesus' Birth

God first told a woman the news that Jesus ofNazareth would be The Incarnate One, the Messiah, and

The Reverend Ralph A. Kee is a career missionary with theConservative BlIpll:!t Home Missionary Society. He and his wife Judyare engaged in Boston Urban Minis/ries, Baston, MA.

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that woman, Mary, was the first human to announce theIncarnation: to Elizabeth, and to the male John in utero(Luke 1:26ff).

Resurrection ofJesus

Women were the first to be told the news of theresurrection of Jesus from the dead, and then com­manded to proclaim it to the men (Mark 16:6-7). There isno more important, no more authoritative, proclamationin all the world that can be made, by anyone, inany place,than the proclamation that "Jesus is raised from thedead." Women were the first, by the command of God,to make that prodamation.

Giving ofThe Great Commission

Have you ever heard anyone suggest that The GreatCommission (Matthew 28:18-20) was given by Jesus toany group less than the whole Church (not just the menof the Church)? The whole Church, both women andmen, is commanded by Jesus to: 1) go everywhere, toeveryone; 2) preach to everyone; 3) baptize everyone whobelieves; 4) teach everyone who believes, everythingabout the Gospel.

Jesus includes women in the great task of ministry.Indeed, He commands them to do minis try, and will holdwomen accountable as to their obedience on the Day ofJudgment. How can the Church tell women they can't dowhat Jesus Himself told them they must do? How can theChurch tell women they can't preach when Jesus saidthey must preach? That they can't baptize when Jesussaid they must baptize? That they can't teach men, whenJesus told them to teach everybody?

Promise of the Ascension

The news of the impending ascension was first givenby Jesus to a woman, with the instructions that sheshould so inform the men Oohn 20:17-18).

Meaning of Pentecost

Of all the biblical texts Peter could have used whenhe explained what was happening on the Day of Pente­cost, why did he choose One from Joel which emphasizesthe equal roles of both men and women in the estab­lishment of the new community, the Church (Acts 2:16­21)?

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The Revelation About the ChurchCan you name the pastors much less the "senior"

pastors, of the churches in the New Testament? Who wasthe pastor of the church at Jerusalem? At Philippi? AtColosse? At Corinth? At Thessalonica? We're hardpressed to answer. Unlike us, the Apostle Paul didn'twrite letters as much to pastors as he did to churches. Hewrote to the men and the women who made up thechurches. In nearly every epistle he addresses all thesaints, all the members of the body, the women as wellas the men. Thus it is to the women, as well as to the men,that he sets forth the revelation. To both women and menhe sets forth the critical theology of the church.

The Word is given to all believers, and it is all believerstogether who can best be trusted to properly understandand implement that Word over the years. Basic authoritydoes not lie in the clergy. The basic authority lies in theWord. And it is the whole people of God who can best betrusted to safeguard, understand, and implement thatWord, in good times and bad, over the generations.

Much of the current discussion about the ordinationof women seems to lie in the question of authority, theassumed authority of the clergy; the male only clergy. Tome, a discussion about the unique authority of the clergyis on odd discussion in Protestant circles. For Protestantse~pecially, the locus of authority is the Word of God, asglven to both men and women. The whole congregation,men and women, decide the issues of the church. Thevote of a women counts as much as the vote of a man,certainly in those churches following congregationalchurch polity. For Protestants, authority is not found inthe ordained clergy (although perhaps that is the episco­pal and Roman Catholic view). For Protestants theauthority of the Word is interpreted, understood andimplemented by the congregation as a whole, consistingof men and women.

So why all the concern about the authority of themale clergy?

Could this be the reason: As we have moved inProtestant churches to a pastoral model patterned on theAmerican CEO business model, with pastors now serv­ing as church executives, have we inadvertently moved~he center of authority away from the congregation andIts responsibility for"doing the Word," and moved thatauthority into the office of the properly ordained execu­tive clergy? Authority for a pastor where the wholechurch makes the decisions is one thing. Authority for apastor where he and a circle of people, particularly men,around him make the major decisions is another thing.Executive leadership requires executive authority.

Has the shift toward an executive pastoral style in­advertently birthed a different perception of authority inthe church? Have Protestants in effect moved toward aCatho~ic.c.onc~pt ~f pastor~lleadership, where authorityby defmltion hes In the office and in the man, rather thanin the congregation and in the Word? And have we thens~ressed the very few biblical passages that (superfi­CIally) appear to support these views?

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The World to Come

In heaven, hierarchical gender issues are passe.There is full equality in heaven. The task of the presentday church is to model on earth those things alreadysettled in heaven.

Summary Questions

If God's basic order is that women must learn themost important truths from men,. (which seems to be theassumption when women are excluded from major pas­toral ministry solely because they are women), then whyat the key junctures of revelation, especially New Testa­ment revelation, are women not only given revelation byGod Himself, but in more cases than not are given therevelation first, before the men?

And, if women are not supposed to preach to men,why in many of the above cases were women in factcommanded by God to do that very thing: to proclaim tothe men the revelation they had received?

As we have seen, at all of the important junctures ofrevelatipn and proclamation,. the women played an im­portant role, even the key role. To this day, women arestill entrusted with the revelation, and still responsiblefor its proclamation.

We might even wonder, given the women's oftenprimary role, if we've had it backwards. Maybe it's thewomen who should be ordained to pastoral ministry,INSTEAD of the men!

Reactions to the 1992 CBETour of Italy

- Dr. Catherine Kroeger was awonderful guide, andthe part I was able to join has already made a difference inmy thinking. I feel much more confident. I understand'~s~urce" concepts, Prof Otranto's research, mystery re­hglOns, etc., and the whole mileau ofPaul's time in Italy.

- Bless you for being such a wonderful big additionto mylife, Ca therine. 1'm sTlaring you with others 1ike crazy- can't help it!

- I wanted to write and tell you how enjoyable the"Italy trip" wasfor me. T1Ie wealth ofnew information wasat time ovenoltelming, but always stimulating. I know"pulling this trip off' required a lot ofeffort on your part-thanks for that also.

-:- AnFY' I wanted to t1umk you for the wonderfulexpenence In Italy. It was an honor to be in Dr. Kroeger'sclass; I appreciated her kindness and concern for everyone.For me, it was absolutely life-changing, just to get to seethe places that I have talked about for so long makes me·comprehend much more. We received a revelation of un­derstand how the people lived when Paul was there, andno book or photograph could do that.