Prove All Things:
A Response to Women In Ministry

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Chapter 1

Theology or Ideology?
Background, Methodology, and Content of Women in Ministry

Samuel Koranteng-Pipim

Introduction

"What is your view on women's ordination?" one of my Seminary professors asked me several years ago.

"I have no position on the issue. It does not matter to me one way or the other," I responded, trying to hide the fact that up until that time I had not carefully studied the question.

In those days, my apathy was stronger than my conviction on this controversial theological issue. I prized the feeling of being "neutral" more than paying the price for taking a stand either for or against women's ordination. This explains why I chose the "neither for nor against" position.

But my professor would not let me remain neutral: "Would it matter to you if you discovered from the Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White that the ordination of women is right, fair, just, and essential to rightly representing God to the world, and that excluding women from ordination is a denial of their spiritual gifts and their call to ministry?"

A simple rhetorical question from a teacher. But, needless to say, it led me to become a believer in women's ordination. At that time, I saw the issue as a question of equality, justice, and fundamental fairness. Refusing to ordain women was, in my view, a form of discrimination. And didn't both the Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White teach that injustice was un-Christian?

For about five years I enjoyed the fellowship, respect, and admiration of those with whom I was championing the cause of women's ordination. I was not a radical feminist nor an unbelieving liberal. I was a committed Seventh-day Adventist, upholding the tradition of the Protestant Reformers and Adventist pioneers in standing for what I thought was biblical truth. Our cause was right and our motives were noble.

But was the ordination of women as elders or pastors biblical? Do the Bible and Mrs. White's counsels really support it? Though my motives were noble, were they biblical? These questions ultimately led me, almost ten years ago, to change my mind on women's ordination.

I still believe that women have a legitimate place in the soul-winning ministry of the church and that the Seventh-day Adventist church should make provision to encourage a greater participation of women in ministry. I still believe that the church should show stronger support for the training of women at the Seminary and should offer adequate and fair remuneration to women for their labor and, in some cases (such as in team ministries), should authoritatively commission women for roles and duties that do not violate biblical teaching.

I still believe that, among many lines of ministry, women could be encouraged to participate in the study, teaching and preaching of the gospel in personal and public evangelism; to be involved in ministries of prayer, visitation, counseling, writing and singing; to labor as literature evangelists or health evangelists, to raise new churches, and to minister to the needy; to serve in positions of responsibility that do not require ordination as elders or pastors, serving as colleagues in partnership with ordained men at the various levels of the church organization; to teach in our institutions and seminaries; and above all, to minister to their children at home. But while I affirm the legitimacy of women in ministry, I do not believe that the Bible permits women to be ordained as elders or pastors,or that the writings of Mrs. White provide support for it.¹

Even though today I no longer believe in the biblical correctness of women's ordination, I am grateful to my pro-ordination teacher for helping me realize that a true Adventist cannot (and must not) remain neutral on disputed theological issues. The world today may honor indifference to truth as a sign of "open-mindedness," "tolerance," or even "maturity"; but the Bible condemns the attitude as betrayal or cowardice.

In a real sense, the book I am about to review in this chapter and in two later chapters represents the position I once held. The twenty authors who have contributed to the volume deserve our praise for offering the best biblical and historical arguments that Adventist proponents of women's ordination are capable of presenting to a Bible-believing Seventh-day Adventist church. It takes real courage to put one's views in print, allow them to be examined by others, and risk being criticized and even proven wrong. But it is a small price to pay for a genuine search for truth. The Lord always rewards those who make an effort to know Him and His revealed will, regardless of the cost.

In another sense, my biblical and historical evaluation in two subsequent chapters may be read as reasons why I can no longer believe in women's ordination. If my critique at times appears vigorous, it is because I'm disputing with my own earlier views. I invite you, therefore, to put emotions and personalities aside and join me as we reason together on the most divisive and politicized issue to have plagued our church in recent times.

Why Review Women in Ministry?

Why should one evaluate Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives (1998)? After all, its authors describe the book as the product of two years of regular meetings which always began with "prayer, often several prayers--pleading with God for wisdom and understanding, love and firmness, but most of all for God's leading that His will might be done in the meeting and in the book." Why assess a work its writers already believe to be "a contribution to an ongoing dialog"?²

Again, why should one take another look at a 438-page volume the editor claims has the "support" of the ministerial department of the General Conference?³ And why re-examine a book that a respected scholar and General Conference vice-president has already acclaimed as a "deeply spiritual, highly reasoned, consistently logical approach to the issue of women's ordination"?⁴

First, even a Spirit-guided scholarly contribution deserves careful evaluation. God's inspired Word obliges every Christian to do so: "Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess 5:19-21).

Second, the twenty authors of the book have invited those who disagree with the volume's findings to engage them in a dialogue: "This volume represents the understanding of the Seminary Ad Hoc Committee on Hermeneutics and Ordination. We do not claim to speak for others, either at the Seminary or in church administration. Some may disagree with our findings. That is their privilege. We welcome their responses and invite them to dialogue."⁵

Third, Women in Ministry is the latest attempt by a group of Seventh-day Adventist scholars to find biblical and historical justification for ordaining women as elders or pastors. Coming from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, the book will undoubtedly influence those members of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist church who look to the Seminary for sound biblical teaching, training, and guidance.⁶ It is this need for safe and discerning theological direction that may have prompted "several" North American Division leaders, shortly after the 1995 Utrecht General Conference session, to approach the Seminary faculty for answers to questions raised by their petition to the world body of Seventh-day Adventists for divisional ordinations.⁷

Fourth, the book provides a critical component in a carefully thought-out, step-by-step strategy to legislate, if not legitimize, the practice of women's ordination in the Seventh-day Adventist church.⁸ One such effort is contained in a very significant document that was formally accepted at the October 9, 1997, North American Division year-end meeting. The document is the Division's "President's Commission on Women in Ministry--Report."⁹

Fifth, Women in Ministry contains some of the most creative arguments ever marshaled by church scholars to change the minds of a Bible-believing church that has twice overwhelmingly rejected the call to ordain women as pastors.¹⁰ We need to ascertain whether or not the arguments found in the volume will stand the test of biblical and historical scrutiny.

Sixth, the book is being promoted in certain quarters of the Adventist church as the official position of the Seminary and as the product of "sound Biblical and historical scholarship."¹¹ Even if such statements are dismissed as unfounded, the fact still remains that some Adventists and non-Adventists will consider this work a model of thorough, profound Adventist scholarship on a divisive and controversial issue.¹²

These six reasons offer the justification for this present review of Women in Ministry. If the book's conclusions are proven to be valid, they should be incorporated into the Seventh-day Adventist church's Bible-based beliefs and lifestyle. And the church should be encouraged immediately to rectify its 150-year-old practice of ministry and ordination.¹³ On the other hand, if the evidence and reasoning in the volume are found wanting biblically and historically, then the campaign during the past two or three decades by a few influential scholars and leaders to impose women's ordination on the church should be rejected as a tragic mistake and a misguided endeavor.

In this chapter I will review Women in Ministry, paying close attention to the implications of (1) how the book came into being, (2) the hermeneutical stance of the volume, (3) the major conclusions of the work, and (4) how the book fits into a well-orchestrated strategy to legislate and legitimize women's ordination in the Seventh-day Adventist church. In two other chapters, later in the book, I will offer an evaluation of the book's biblical and historical arguments. Taking issue with the authors, some of whom I esteem as close friends, does not involve questioning their sincerity as well-meaning Adventist scholars. Neither does it mean that whatever they have written in other areas is necessarily suspect or invalid.