Are Pastors New Covenant ‘Priests’?
I’m engaged in an interesting little debate with our good friend Ros over at her I Have a Question blog. Ros is agreeing with James Jordan that women cannot be pastors in Christian churches because the office of pastor is the New Covenant equivalent of the Old Covenant priesthood. Since (according to Jordan, following Meredith G. Kline) priests serve to image and represent God to the people of God, they must be male. Therefore it follows that pastors must be male. Read Ros’s original post, a question raised by our friend Justin, and some back and forth between Ros and I (that will probably continue for a while) here. This debate has spawned a second one here which is concentrating specifically on the continuity/discontinuity issues between the OC priesthood and NC pastorate.
By the way, Ros is a British subject doing her Ph.D. at Westminster. She has become a dear friend to us, and her blog is always charming and engaging.
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April 1st, 2007 at 8:53 am
As someone who came out of the “shepherding movement” whenever I hear this talk I run for the hills.
(the issue of women is not even on my radar screen and has nothing to do with it in my context or experience)
The same idea of the husband being the prophet,priest and king falls along the same lines. It is extreme and leads to abuses,either in a home or church. I don’t buy into it anymore.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:20 am
One more thought just to make myself clear… the churches I am referring to had women pastors. Primarily co-pastors with their husbands. Again gender has NOTHING to do with it. What comes out of a persons mouth ( sound theology) is the issue.
Some of the positions held regarding the complimentarian views are much too extreme. If you pursue and dig deep enough into the background of some in leadership today… and who discipled them and during what period it will be obvious where their thinking comes from. ( Ex. Sovereign Grace ,Derek Prince,CBMW)
April 1st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Thanks Mark! Let’s see if for once this debate can be carried on among friends without resorting to shouting and namecalling - I have every confidence in you and Justin to make this happen.
April 1st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Also another thought for reference…
ChristianityToday.com did an article last month called “Day of Reckoning” regarding Calvary Chapel’s and their form of church gov’t and the effects it has had. I think you will see similarities.
April 1st, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Ros and Debbie:
I am very, very aware that this issue brings forth strong feelings. It perhaps won’t surprise you, Debbie, that I have a background in the Shepherding movement as well. We were in the Bob Mumford “stream.” I don’t recall any female “co-pastors” in our part of the movement. There was very strong teaching about men being the heads and full representatives of their households. While it was never enforced, there were even suggestions that wives didn’t need to vote since their husbands voted for them.
Because of the way these discussions too often go, I have waited to really engage no the issue until I could do so with a friend I trust and respect. Ros is such a friend. We’ve actually began a face-to-face discussion (this morning, after worship), so the blog discussion may lapse for a bit unless other pick it up.