Bible Women with Spiritual Authority

Spiritual authority is a difficult concept to define comprehensively;[1] however it is closely linked with hearing from God and being commissioned by God for ministry and service.  Complementarians are Christians who believe that it is only men, and not women, who have been given spiritual authority by God in the church and in the family.[2]

Complementarians believe that as the spiritual authorities, it is the men who need to seek God’s will and guidance on behalf of the church community and on behalf of their individual families. They believe that it is only male ministers who have the spiritual authority to hear from God in order to minister from “the Word” in a public church meeting.  They believe that in the family, it is the husband who has direct authority from God, and who has the final word on any decisions.  They see the husband as the mediator of God’s will to the wife, who does not have direct spiritual authority herself.

In contrast to what Complementarians believe, the Bible contains several accounts where God bypassed husbands and male guardians and spoke to women with messages of vital significance.  Where God did not speak personally, he sent angels.  This article will look at a few of these women who received spiritual authority from God.

OLD TESTAMENT WOMEN

Samson’s Mother (Judges chapter 13)

In Judges chapter 13 there is a narrative where the Angel of the LORD[3] reveals God’s plan for Israel’s deliverance to an unnamed woman.  This unnamed woman was married to man named Manoah, and yet the Angel entrusted God’s plans and instructions to the woman.  The Angel told the woman that she would bear a special son, and her son would deliver Israel from the Philistines.  The Angel gave the woman instructions about her diet and told her never to cut her son’s hair.

The woman told her husband about her encounter.  Manoah, the husband, wanted to hear the instructions for himself so he asked God to send the man of God again, to teach them how to bring up the child (13:8).  God answered his prayer, but again the Angel appeared, initially, to the woman.  The woman ran to get her husband.  When Manoah met the Angel, the Angel repeated what he had said previously to the woman:

Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat . . . .She must do everything I have told her.” (13:13-14, my emphases.)

Clearly God fully trusted the woman to obey and follow these instructions without her husband’s permission or help!

Furthermore, the woman recognised from the beginning that the messenger “looked like an angel of God, very awesome” (13:6); but Manoah did not realise that the messenger was an angel until he offered a burnt sacrifice and the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flames and disappeared (13:17).  Terrified, he said to his wife, “We are doomed to die, we have seen the Lord.”  The woman prudently replied, “If the Lord had meant to kill us he would not have accepted the burnt offering.”  Throughout this narrative the woman shows herself to be delightfully discerning and sensible.

Deborah (Judges chapters 4-5)

No list of women with spiritual authority would be complete without Deborah who was the leader of Israel at some point in their history.  Judges chapters 4 and 5 records Deborah’s leadership and does not mention that there was anything peculiar about her being both a leader and a woman.  In fact, her gender does not seem to have been an issue at all!  Deborah was married, but the Bible mentions nothing at all about her husband, apart from his name: Lappidoth (4:4).

In Judges chapter 5 we read that prior to Deborah’s leadership: “village life in Israel had ceased”(5:7), “the roads were abandoned” (5:6) and Israel had chosen false gods (5:8).  The clear implication is that Israeli society became more civilized, safer and more god-fearing because of Deborah’s leadership.

Deborah was an excellent and versatile leader.  She was a prophetess (4:4,14), a judge (4:5) and a military leader (4:6-10).  Deborah’s prophetic insight was accurate and she showed decisive leadership in military matters.

Complementarians have unfairly speculated that Deborah became a leader because there were no men capable of the task.  However the scriptures are clear that Israel was not without male leaders at that time.  Judges chapter 5 mentions leaders (5:2-3), nobles (5:13), princes (5:2, 9, 15) and warriors.  Moreover it is evident that Deborah encouraged other leaders in Israel, and that these leaders had great confidence in her leadership.

In comparison with the other judges mentioned in the book of Judges, who were all men and mostly flawed, there is not one negative word said about Deborah; yet Complementarians still assert that leadership and spiritual authority is for men only.   Rather than seeing Deborah as a scriptural precedent for women in leadership ministry, they dismiss Deborah as an anomaly.  This stance of the Complementarians is myopic and unjust, because Deborah was clearly an outstanding and respected female leader blessed by God.

Other Old Testament Women

The Wise Woman of Abel Beth Maacah: This woman was clearly a leader, possibly the chief leader, of the fortified town of Abel Beth Maacah in Israel.  As a civil leader in Israel, this women would also have had a degree of spiritual authority.   Through her wise use of authority and persuasion she rescued her town from being destroyed by Joab,[4] the commander of King David’s army. (See 2 Samuel 20:14ff esp v22).

(Joab and David had no problem with heeding the good advice of women.  Joab knew that David listened to women,[5] so when he was unsuccessful in persuading David about a certain cause of action he asked the Wise Woman of Tekoa to help him (2 Sam 14ff). [The Wise Woman of Tekoa is a different person to the Wise Woman of Abel Beth Maacah.]  “Wise Woman” may in fact be a leadership title and not just a descriptor.)

Huldah: When Josiah, King of Judah, wanted to learn more about how to worship God, he sent a delegation to a woman – to the prophetess Huldah (2 Chron 34:19-33).

Linda L. Belleville writes:

The size and prestige of the embassy that sought her counsel indicates something about not only the seriousness of the situation but also Huldah’s professional stature: the High Priest (Hilkiah), the father of the future governor (Ahikam), the secretary of state (Shaphan) and the king’s officer (Asaiah).  Huldah’s counsel was immediately heeded, and sweeping religious reforms resulted (2 Kings 22:8-20; 23:1-25).

The Wailing Women: During the dark days of Judah’s apostacy, when deception was rife (Jer 9:4-6), the only people who listened to God and the prophet Jeremiah were some women.  God gave the skilled wailing women a message and he authorised them to proclaim this message in his name. (See Jeremiah 9:17)

A Shunamite women came up with the inspired idea of building a small room to accommodate the prophet Elisha.  Her perception, initiative and generosity brought great blessing to her, to her husband and to her son. When reading her story in 2 Kings 4:8-37 we can see that this woman had spiritual insight and fortitude.  The Shunamite woman, and not her husband (4:23a), displayed and used spiritual authority for the benefit of her family.

Hannah is clearly the main protagonist in the narrative of 1 Samuel chapter 1 where she prays for a child, vows to give that child back to God to be employed in Tabernacle service, and then fulfils her vow.  Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, is portrayed as loving and supportive; he trusted in his wife’s decisions and actions, and complied with them.  Apart from 1 Samuel 1:19b, it appears that Elkanah did not mediate or intervene in this situation at all.  Furthermore, Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 is part of scripture, and has the spiritual authority of scripture.

NEW TESTAMENT WOMEN

Mary the Mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38)

Most Bible scholars believe that Mary was a young teenager when she was visited by the angel Gabriel.  Despite her age and her gender, God sent the angel directly to Mary with the message that she had been chosen for the wonderful role of being the mother of the Messiah.  Mary would have been under the protection of a guardian, who was very likely male, and she was betrothed to a man named Joseph, yet the angel Gabriel took God’s word directly to this teenage girl.[6]

If the Complementarian concept of male authority is valid, one would assume that Gabriel would have visited the patriarch of Mary’s family with the news; especially considering the ramifications of the remarkable and potentially scandalous situation Mary would soon find herself in.

Mary’s humble compliance with God’s extraordinary calling on her life is exemplary.[7]  Moreover Luke recorded Mary’s faith-filled song of praise, often called the Magnificat, in his gospel (Luke 1:46-55).  These words of Mary have the authority of scripture.

Mary Magdalene (Mat 28:9-10; Mark 16:9-11; John 20:17-18)

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the fact that the first person to see Jesus alive after his crucifixion was a woman.  Did Mary just happen to be at the right place at the right time for this monumentally momentous meeting with the newly risen Jesus, or was it a divinely appointed encounter?

I believe that it is no coincidence that the first person Jesus saw after his resurrection – at the dawning of the New Covenant – was a woman.  Jesus’ act of redemption and his inauguration of the New Covenant brought equality for all people, regardless of gender; and with equality, the real possibility of affinity and harmony between the sexes – reversing the divisive affects of sin.

At their meeting, Jesus authorises and entrusts Mary with certain messages for his disciples, who as yet still believed that their Lord and friend, along with their hopes, was dead.

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her” (John 20:18).

Jesus had no problem authorising and entrusting his marvellous message, that he was alive, to a woman.  This extraordinary commission has led the Eastern Orthodox Church to call Mary Magdalene “the apostle to the apostles”.

Martha (John chapter 11)

Martha has been unfairly maligned by some because of just one incident (John 10:38-42); however Martha made some very astute statements of faith concerning Jesus and eternal life recorded in John chapter 11.

Martha answered, “I know he [her deceased brother Lazarus] will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  John 11:24

“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” John 11:27

This second statement is very similar to Peter’s recorded in Matthew 16:15-17:

“But what about you?” he [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

Jesus states that Peter could not have known that he was the Christ, the Son of God, unless God the Father had revealed it to him.  Likewise, Martha’s faith statements could only have come by divine inspiration.

Martha and her sister Mary of Bethany were devoted disciples of Jesus.  Jesus allowed Mary of Bethany to anoint him and prepare him for burial (John 11:2).  We hear nothing of their brother Lazarus’s faith in the scriptures, despite the fact that Lazarus was possibly the pater familias of the household.  Moreover, in John 11:5 it says, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  Here Martha’s name appears significantly first.  Martha was a woman of great faith and spiritual acuity.

Other New Testament Women

Since Pentecost, God has communicated personally with his people more freely, mostly through the agency of the Holy Spirit.  When Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, he made it clear that spiritual abilities, in particular prophecy, were now freely available to both men and women, to the young and to the old (Acts 2:17-18).

The Holy Spirit gives his gifts and abilities without apparent regard to gender (1 Cor 12:4-11), including the gifts of leading and teaching (Rom 12:6-8).  Even Complementarian Mary Kassian (1990:168) observes, “There is no evidence in the Bible that gifts are assigned by gender. While it is true that [male] elders may possess gifts of teaching, administration, and pastoring, it is equally true that women possess these identical gifts.”

In fact, several women are mentioned by name in the New Testament who functioned as church leaders and ministers:  Priscilla (with Aquila), Chloe, Nympha, Phoebe, Junia (with Andronicus), Euodia and Syntyche, etc.  [For more about these women see the links below.]

Conclusion

Mary Kassian, and other Complementarians, have actually recognised that women tend to hear from God more than men, and yet they maintain that it is the men who have the spiritual authority in the church and home.[9]  When I read the arguments of Complementarians, I get the sense that they do not have confidence in the abilities of women.  They seem worried that society will crumble if women take more initiative or move outside of certain restrictive roles which they erroneously claim have been instituted by God.  It seems that Complementarians have overlooked the Biblical examples where God used and blessed courageous women for his purposes, often in vitally important situations which had widespread ramifications.

From the scriptures, we can clearly see that God does not speak solely to men and husbands, even in matters that directly affect them and their family.  God can and does entrust his word – with the authority it entails – directly to women and wives.  God can and does speak to women without using husbands and male church leaders as mediators.  All believers have direct access to God through Jesus and his Holy Spirit, and vice versa.

“There is one mediator between God and people,

the person Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5, literal translation.)

 

 


Endnotes

[1] Complementarian Mary Kassian (1990:32-33) attempts to define “authority” purely in terms of hierarchical structures.

[2] Complementarians interpret the two instances (Eph 5:23; 1 Cor 11:3) where Paul says that “the husband is the ‘head’ (Greek-kephale) of the wife” as meaning that the husband has authority, including spiritual authority, over the wife.  This interpretation assumes that the English (metaphorical) meaning for “head” is the same as the Greek (metaphorical) meaning for “head”.  In English, “head” can mean “chief” or “leader”, etc, however in Hellenistic Greek, of which New Testament Greek is a subset, “head” rarely means “chief” or “authority”; it usually means “source” or “origin”.  Moreover Complementarians elaborate on the supposed spiritual authority of the husband over the wife in ways that are not in any way supported by scripture.

[3] Many theologians believe that The Angel of the Lord may have been a Theophany or Christophany: a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

[4] Joab, and his brothers Abishai and Asahel, who were all great warriors in David’s army, are frequently mentioned as being the offspring of their mother Zeruiah.  Their father’s name is never mentioned. One cannot help wondering what sort woman Zeruiah was, and what sort of influence she had had on her sons.  (1 Sam 26:28; 2 Sam 2:13,18; 3:39; 8:16; 14: 1; 16:9-10;17:25; 18: 2; 19:21-23; 21:17; 23:18,37; 1 Kings 1:7; 2:5, 22; 1 Chron 2:16; 11:6, 39; 18: 12,15; 26: 28; 27: 24.)  Apparently Zeruiah was one of David’s sisters (1 Chron 2:13-16).

[5] David listened to Abigail (1 Sam 25:23-35) and Bathsheba (1 Kings 1:11-31), etc.

[6] Only later did the angel tell Joseph about God’s plan for Mary.

[7] Mary’s humble and obedient response to the angelic message is a contrast to the disbelief of  Zechariah, the priest (Luke 1:19-20).

[7] As well as the words of Mary and Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10), the words of a song co-written by Miriam and Moses are also included in scripture (Ex 15:1-21).  Ironically, according to the stance of many churches, these women would not be permitted to teach men, or preach expositively, about their own words.  Even though their words have the authority of scripture.

[8] Mary Kassian (1990:111) has written, “. . . both psychology and history lend credible support to the Biblical recognition of innate differences between men and women, with a major difference being a heightened spiritual perceptiveness in women.”  Sadly, Kassian sees this heightened spiritual perceptiveness as including a general propensity towards spiritual deception among women.  Despite believing that women are prone to deception, Mary Kassian is a college professor and has a public ministry as a Christian speaker and writer.


Bibliography

Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Kassian, Mary A., Women, Creation and the Fall, Westchester, Il: Crossway Books, 1990.

Belleville, Linda L., “Women Leaders in the Bible” in Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Heirarchy, Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothous (ed), Leicester:InterVaristy Press, 2004.

Merril Groothius, Rebecca, “Equal in Being, Unequal in Role: Exploring the Logic of Woman’s Subordination”, in Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Heirarchy, Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothous (ed), Leicester:InterVaristy Press, 2004.

© 12th of October, 2010; Margaret Mowczko