A Biblical View of Women in the Ministry, Part 5: Distinctive Roles for Women in the Second and Third Centuries

By H. Wayne House

[Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary]

The Role of Virgins

The question of virgins arose in the time of Paul, when the Corinthians, influenced by an incipient Gnosticism, appealed to him to settle their differences on virginity, marriage, second marriage, and widowhood. Paul stated clearly that marriage was honorable and not to be despised.[1] Even with this teaching, some church fathers taught unorthodox views on marriage. Justin, Athenagoras, and Clement of Alexandria maintained a view of marriage similar to advocates of Stoicism, that the sole purpose of marriage was for the continuance of the race, procreatio prolis.[2] Believers in the second and third centuries were preoccupied with the glories of martyrdom, but Christian asceticism was also prominent. Part of the value of virginity and the self-control it required was that it was viewed as a state of perfection that prepared one for martyrdom. The high ideal of virginity and its accompanying asceticism is found in an alleged sermon of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla, in which he was speaking about self-control and the resurrection:

Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.

Blessed are they that have kept the flesh chaste
for they shall become a temple of God.

Blessed are they that control themselves
for God shall speak with them.

Blessed are they that have kept aloof from this world
for they shall be called upright.

Blessed are they that have wives as not having them
for they shall receive God for their portion.

Blessed are they that have the fear of God
for they shall become angels of God.

Blessed are they that have kept the baptism
for they shall rest beside the Father and the Son.

Blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy and shall not see the bitter day of judgment.

Blessed are the bodies of virgins
for they shall be well pleasing to God, and shall not lose the reward of their chastity.[3]

In this sermon self-control is seen in relation to virginity rather than to the biblical concept of moral purity. Howe rightly says, “The word [ἁγνεία, ‘self-control’] is used to denote celibacy or virginity rather than abstention from unlawful sexual activity. Such an interpretation indicates that the presbyter was influenced by the same encratite modes of thought which were current in the Ebionite, Gnostic and Montanist movements of the time.”[4]

Little evidence exists for the ministry of virgins in the second century. Apparently they were not an order at that time with commensurate responsibilities. In his treatise De virginibus velandis Tertullian categorically stated that a woman is not permitted to function in manly positions (virilis muneris) in the church.[5] This rule included virgins, for the only kind of priesthood they were to exercise was that of “priests of chastity” (sacerdotes pudicitiae).[6] (He excluded prophecy for reasons already discussed.)

Toward the middle of the third century an order of virgins was common in the churches of the East. The circumstances warranted it.

Widowhood began to fall into disrepute and virginity became the ideal. In this period of asceticism widowhood lessened one’s fitness for service in the church since, it was believed, a certain lack of self-control was evidenced by having married. Virgins began to be appointed to the functions of widows. Tertullian spoke disapprovingly of a virgin called a widow who at less than 20 years of age had been placed by a bishop in the order of the widows. Though the bishop had seen himself responsible to care for the needs of this young virgin, according to Tertullian he should have done it differently, so as not to injure the work of the church, apparently in its ministry toward widows (viduatus). Tertullian called this so-called virgin-widow (virgo vidua) a monster (monstrum). He said Paul’s teaching that a widow must be 60 years of age, married, a mother, and someone who had taught her children had been disregarded.[7]

Apparently Tertullian did not accept any particular ministry role for virgins, but he recognized the proper function of the church toward widows and certainly did not see how a virgin could ever be a widow. Yet Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “Greeting to the families of my brothers, along with their wives and children, and to the virgins called widows.”[8] One wonders why the Christian community of Smyrna gave the title of widow to a virgin. Some have thought the term was used because they did the same works as widows.[9] Gryson discounts this and offers this view:

The point is that in First Timothy the widows recognized and “registered” as such professed continence; in fact, since young widows might want to remarry later on and thus break their “first pledge,” (proten pistin), they were refused registration. Consequently, Christian virgins who resolved to remain chaste “for the honor of the Lord’s flesh” were called “widows”; since both groups of women had a profession of continence as their chief characteristic, their ideals and life-styles seemed similar.[10]

The Role of Widows

Widows as a distinct group of women in the postapostolic period are early attested in ecclesiastical literature. Polycarp is the first to use for them the term “altar of God” (θυσιαστέριον),[11] a term appearing often in later church writings. Ignatius, in a passage already mentioned, refers to the “virgins called widows,”[12] and in Hermas, Grapte’s task was to instruct widows.[13]

Since widows in ancient Israel were vulnerable, special provisions were made for them in the Law (Exod 22:22; Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17). The prophets had especially harsh words for those who were unjust toward widows (Isa 1:23; 10:2; Mal 3:5). Since widows were susceptible to mistreatment, Yahweh had special concern for them (Pss. 68:5; 146:9; Prov 15:25), and one’s attitude toward widows was a mark of true religion (Job 29:13; Isa 1:17).

The Christian church inherited its conscience concerning widows from Judaism. James, clearly reflecting the Jewish perspective, wrote that ministry to widows and orphans in their distress is a true and unambiguous mark of religion (James 1:27). This concern became practical in the case of the Greek widows who were failing to receive their proper share in the distribution of the food. Seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, were given charge of providing for them (Acts 6:1–4). Some have attempted to see in this passage the establishment of the office of deacons and the order of widows, but probably neither is intended in this passage. The Apostle Paul wrote that it is good for widows to marry again, though this was not a command (1 Cor 7:8–9, 39). Concerning young widows in Ephesus he wrote that they should marry again lest they be overcome by the desires of the flesh (1 Tim 5:11–14).

In 1 Timothy 5:3–16 two classes of godly widows are discussed.[14] The first group are those women whose husbands had died but whose family (i.e., children and other relatives) were to take care of them (5:4, 8, 16).[15] The second class of widows had no family to support them and so were in financial need. These are called the true widows. They gave themselves to “entreaties and prayers” (5:3, 5, 16). They were the enrolled widows.[16] “To put it in the language of today, [an enrolled widow] has been put on the payroll of the church. She becomes a paid servant of the church. She is a representative of the church, supported to perform services on behalf of the church.”[17]

One should not understand, then, that the two classes of godly widows were those supported by their families and those over 60 who were supported by the church. Would the church refuse aid to widows under 60 who had no one else to meet their need? Hardly. All those godly women[18] who did not have children or other family and had need were supported. But from the larger group[19] a few were registered for special work because of their testimony and ability. The enrolled widow must (1) have been at least 60 years old; (2) have had a pure married life; (3) have had a reputation for good works, having reared children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet (probably literally and figuratively), helped those in trouble, and followed every kind of good work.[20]

These qualifications are similar to those of the overseers, deacons, and deaconesses in 1 Timothy 3:1–13 and Titus 1:6–9. Ferguson says that the standards for the widow were not arbitrary but were a “pointer to her ministry.”[21] Standards on age and purity of life would help alleviate the problem found in younger widows who married again or got into trouble as they performed their work of ministering to others from house to house (1 Tim 5:11–15). A widow’s past involvement in good works would show her dedication and confirm her qualification for being registered by the church for its ministry.

This “enrollment” distinguished one group of widows from widows in general and established an order of widows parallel to the other orders in the church. The postapostolic writers mentioned earlier referred to this special group of widows. However, the former type of widow was not forgotten in the postapostolic Christian community.[22]

The qualifications for the “enrolled” widows were patterned after those given by Paul. Gryson says of these requirements:

It is obvious that there existed in the community a group of widows referred to here by the term viduatus. Admission into this group depended on the authority of the bishop. The conditions for admission, generally, were those mentioned in First Timothy: they had to be at least sixty years of age, have been married only once, and have raised their children properly.[23]

One qualification listed by Paul but not in the above listing is “washing the saints’ feet.” Origen speaks of this at several points. In his Commentary on Romans, he commented on the apostolic exhortation to older women to train the younger, to which he adds the duty of “washing the saints’ feet.”[24] But Origen did not take the statement literally. On 1 Timothy 5:10 he wrote,

In my opinion, it would be ridiculous to stick to the letter of the text and—if I may take the liberty to say—to insist that a woman who shows all the marks of a holy widow except this one not be admitted to this ecclesiastical dignity, even if often, through the intermediary of servants and domestics, she proved her generosity, and, when she was well-to-do, she cared for strangers and those who, for whatsoever reason, needed to receive a witness to their humanity. Do not hesitate to interpret symbolically the expression, “washed the saints’ feet,” since senior women, just as senior men, are ordered to be the “teachers of good things.”[25]

The Apostolic Church Order, known also as Third Clement,[26] stated that the responsibilities of the widows were prayer and ministry to sick women: “To devote themselves to prayer on behalf of all who are tempted, and to revelations (ἀποκαλύψεις) to whatever extent is necessary, [and] to succour women who are sick. They must be ready to help, they must be temperate and make the necessary reports to the priests.”[27] Daniélou observes that besides the regular duty of prayer they shared in the liturgy, “continuing the function of the Pauline prophetesses. It is no doubt to them, too, that the revelations (ἀποκαλύψεις) have reference.”[28] It is uncertain how much to make of this term but surely an added dimension may be present.

Gryson mentions that the term “altar of God,” mentioned earlier as used first by Polycarp, was used by the author of the Didascalia not only in a complimentary way but also to point out that widows were to stay at home, being immovable like an altar. The widow, says the Didascalia, “must stay at home and not waste her time running from one house to another…to obtain gifts, to spread gossip, and to stir up quarrels. These are not widows but wallets.”[29]

The duties of the widows, other than praying, teaching women, doing good deeds, and possibly being involved in some way in the liturgy, were restricted. They were not to answer questions of a theological nature, but were to defer these to the leaders of the community. Were they to do otherwise, the Word of God would be mocked rather than praised by unbelievers:

It is neither right nor necessary therefore that women should be teachers, and especially concerning the name of Christ and the redemption of His passion. For you have not been appointed to this, O women, and especially widows, that you should teach, but that you should pray and entreat the Lord God. For He, the Lord God, Jesus Christ our Teacher, sent us the Twelve to instruct the people and the Gentiles; and there were with us women disciples, Mary Magdalene and Mary the daughter of James and the other Mary; but He did not send them to instruct the people with us. For if it were required that women should teach, our Master Himself would have commanded these to give instruction with us.[30]

In a similar vein the Didascalia forbade women to baptize: “For if it were lawful to be baptized by a woman, our Lord and Teacher Himself would have been baptized by Mary His mother, whereas He was baptized by John…. Do not therefore imperil yourselves, brethren and sisters, by acting beside the law of the Gospel.”[31]

The question of office and ordination arises with respect to widows. Were they of the clergy or of the laity? Understanding this matter is made difficult by the terminology used in the Fathers and by the different practices in the West, Egypt, and Syria.

The Apostolic Tradition states that some widows were appointed (καθίσταναι) but not ordained (χειροτόνειν): “Let the widow be instituted [καθίσταναι] by word only and (then) let her be reckoned among the (enrolled) widows. But she shall not be ordained, because she does not offer the oblation nor has she a (liturgical) ministry [λειτουργία]. But the widow is appointed [καθίσταναι] for prayer, and this is a function of all Christians.”[32]

Tertullian recognized an order (ordo) of widows and seems to have reckoned them among the clergy. They were required to have similar qualifications regarding marriage and purity, but they were forbidden the right to teach or perform a sacramental act. Their high place is seen in that sinners prostrated themselves in the center of the assembly before the widows and before the presbyters (in medium ante viduas, ante presbyteros).[33]

There can be little question that the Alexandrian fathers listed widows along with the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Clement declared, “Innumerable commands such as these are written in the Holy Bible appertaining to chosen persons, some to presbyters, some to bishops, some to deacons, others to widows.”[34] Origen wrote similarly, “Not only fornication but also second marriages shut off access to ecclesiastical dignities: neither the bishop, nor the presbyter, nor the deacon, nor the widow may be married twice.”[35]

Daniélou argues then that Clement of Alexandria and Origen ranked widows along with the other orders in the church, in agreement with Tertullian:

Thus already we have Clement of Alexandria (Paed. 3:12, 97) setting Widows after the three male Orders amongst the “persons of distinction” (ἐκλεκτα πρόσωπα). It is the same with Origen (Or. 28:4). There he states that if the role of the widow consisted solely of feet washing, which could be done by servants and domestics, there would have been no reason for ranking them (κατατετάχθαι) with those enjoying a definite ecclesiastical status (ἔκκλησιαστική τίμη).[36]

Gryson rebuts Daniélou’s claims that the Alexandrians of the third century, together with Tertullian, ranked women among the orders of the church. He says that the references to qualifications for widows must be seen in Origen as exegetical in nature rather than relating to his day.[37]

The Syrian church showed little more likelihood of an order of widows equivalent to the clergy than did the Egyptian church. Gryson comments on the Syrian perspective of the position of the widow found in The Apostolic Tradition:

The author stresses first that when a widow was appointed (kathistasthai), she was not ordained (cheirotonein), as were the bishop, the presbyter, and the deacon. Ordination for these involved each time an imposition of hands accompanied by a prayer. In the case of the widow, there was nothing similar; she was simply “named.”…The reason for this difference is that ordination (cheirontonia) is conferred on members of the clergy (kleros) because of their role in liturgical services (leitourgia).[38]

The order of widows, or the appointed widows, had as their primary duty continence and prayer. Younger widows, even though they were not established as an order, were to work toward the same ideal.[39] Thus only the Western church had any ranking of women with the clergy and even there a distinction was carefully made.

In none of the orthodox centers of the church does one find widows functioning in male positions. Even the ordo for widows referred to by Tertullian and Hippolytus does not reveal any ministerial position. That had disappeared by the time of Cyprian, and at Rome apparently it did not exist at the beginning of the third century. Chrysostom attested to the office of widow up to the end of the fourth century, but by the middle of the second century it had begun to decline. A major reason for its demise was the rise of asceticism and the emphasis on virginity, constituting an ideal of perfection to which the widows could not attain because of their former “defiled” state of marriage.[40]

The Role of Deaconesses

The role of deaconesses began to gain prominence as that of the widows declined, partly because the former was largely practiced by virgins whose chaste and ascetic state became the ideal and partly because the former took over many of the tasks of the latter.[41] Certainly the office of deaconess was already a position for women in the service of the Christian community in apostolic times, but until the middle of the third century it was considered an inferior office. The office is also attested at the beginning of the second century when Pliny wrote to Trajan (ca. A.D. 112) about Christians in Bithynia. “I have judged it necessary to obtain information by torture from two female slaves [ancillae] whom they call ‘deaconesses’ [ministrae],”[42] the latter term being probably a translation of διάκονος.[43]

The Syrian Didascalia recognized both widows and deaconesses as church offices. The widow was to be associated with the altar of God, an association dating back to Polycarp, and the deaconess was to be honored by the church in the place of the Holy Spirit, the “spirit” being feminine in Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac.[44] The identification of the widows with the altar was symbolic of the fact that they made prayers for the church and received gifts from the church.[45]

Both of these classes appear to represent a development in the century after Ignatius.[46] But the function of the deaconess is not greatly expanded. She had the primary duties of ministering to women in their houses and assisting at baptisms:

Wherefore, O bishop, appoint thee workers of righteousness as helpers who may cooperate with thee unto salvation. Those that please thee out of all the people thou shalt choose and appoint as deacons, a man for the performance of most things that are required, but a woman for the ministry of women. For there are houses whither thou canst not send a deacon to the women, on account of the heathen, but mayest send a deaconess. Also, because in many other matters the office of a woman deacon is required. In the first place, when women go down into the water, those who go down into the water ought to be anointed by a deaconess with the oil of anointing; and where there is no woman at hand, and especially a deaconess, it is not fitting that women should be seen by men [early baptisms were done with the person unclothed]: but with the imposition of hand do thou anoint the head only. As of old the priests and kings were anointed in Israel, do thou in like manner, with the imposition of hand, anoint the head of those who receive baptism, whether of men or of women; and afterwards—whether thou thyself baptize, or thou command the deacons or presbyters to baptize—let a woman deacon, as we have already said, anoint the women. 

But let a man pronounce over them the invocation of the divine Names in the water. And when she who is being baptized has come up from the water, let the deaconess receive her, and teach and instruct her how the seal of baptism ought to be (kept) unbroken in purity and holiness. For this cause we say that the ministry of a woman deacon is especially needful and important. For our Lord and Savior also was ministered unto by women ministers, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the daughter of James and mother of Jose…. And thou also hast need of the ministry of a deaconess for many things; for a deaconess is required to go into the houses of the heathen where there are believing women, and to visit those who are sick, and to minister to them in that of which they have need, and to bathe those who have begun to recover from sickness.[47]

In the later Apostolorum Constitutiones (late fourth century A.D.) the deaconess received additional responsibilities of “assigning places to female strangers, of keeping order, and of admonishing and praying with latecomers,” as well as assisting in a minor way at the altar.[48] But even in the Eastern empire, where feminine opportunities were often greater, her duties and rights were limited. “The right to anoint the head and to perform the baptismal act itself is reserved, also when women are being served, for the deacon or presbyter. Where cleric activity begins, there the competence of the deaconess ends.”[49]

Both Clement and Origen wrote of deaconesses in the ministry of the early church and especially those associated with Paul, but they gave no indication that the office survived that period and especially that it survived in Egypt in their own time. When they spoke of ministries, they made no mention of deaconesses. Gryson reflects this setting when he says, “Phoebe did not seem to remind Origen of a minister of the contemporary Church, whereas the exegetes of the Antiochian School of the fourth century, for whom deaconesses were a living reality, spontaneously made the comparison.”[50]

The Western church fathers gave even less information about deaconesses: “Tertullian, like all the West up to the end of the fourth century, ignored completely the institution of deaconesses.”[51]

Even as events and attitudes caused deaconesses to supplant the widows in the Eastern church, so the movement of time brought the demise of the order of deaconesses. Only the Eastern church made much of the office at all in the first two postapostolic centuries. After this it began to grow, and even the Western church adopted it for a short while. But the order had vanished in the West by the eighth century and in the East[52] by the tenth, though it is still preserved in some senses in the Greek Orthodox Church.[53]

This eclipse and ultimate demise may be attributed to the decline in the missionary activity of the church and the resultant adult baptisms with which they assisted, the reaction against the prominent ministry of women in certain heretical groups, and the rise of religious orders which assimilated and redirected the former activities of the deaconesses.[54]

One can see that from the time of the New Testament little progress was made in women assuming teaching or leadership roles over men in the church. None of the writings of the church during the second and third centuries, except those written by leaders of hetero-dox sects, sanctioned women as teachers of men, as elders, or as those responsible for other typically male functions. Women did, however, have important ministerial roles as widows and deaconesses. In these positions they assisted men by caring for the needs of women. Classes of women servants of the church already existent in the New Testament in embryonic form were allowed to expand and became better defined, but women, in agreement with New Testament teaching, were not allowed to have authority over men in the church.

Where May Women Minister in the Church Today?

The teaching of the apostolic church was, and the practice of the ante-Nicene church confirms, that women received a new status in the church that they had rarely enjoyed in the ancient world. Even with this recognition of equal worth with men, however, restrictions were placed on women because of the apostolic understanding of the order of male and female in Creation and in the Fall. Women were not allowed to serve in a position of spiritual authority over men in the life of the church. This included the public proclamation of Scripture to men and sacerdotal functions such as the Lord’s Supper and baptism.

In saying the former, there is no implication that women were not gifted equally with men, even having the gift of teaching.[55] They were, however, to restrict that teaching to children (a high calling, contrary to some modern thinking, 2 Tim 3:15; cf. 2 Tim 1:5 and Acts 16:1), to other women (Titus 2:3–5), and possibly, though problematically,[56] to men in private if Priscilla’s setting forth (ἐξέθεντο) the way of Christ more accurately to Apollos should be considered a model (Acts 18:26).

Since women have been equally gifted by the Spirit for the work of the ministry within the church, and since there is abundant evidence in the New Testament that they ministered with Paul, not to mention the confirming evidence of the ante-Nicene church, women are to be encouraged to pursue numerous avenues of service in the church. One would think that the church, both in its local manifestations and its expression in church-related ministries such as theological institutions and missions agencies, would begin to offer more opportunity for women to minister in official capacities alongside men as long as they are in harmony with scriptural mandates.

This writer believes that qualified women should be selected as church staff members to teach and counsel other women in the congregation. Women may often counsel women better than can a male pastor. Having a woman help the women of the church better understand their roles as wives, mothers, and servants of God, as well as helping them with specific emotional concerns, would be a priority. Moreover, certain administrative positions may be filled by women that do not concern the spiritual mission of the church.

Visitation and personal evangelism are areas of responsibilities open to both men and women. Local churches and broader church ministries should begin to explore ways in which the gifts and talents of women might be more fully exercised within the body of Christ.

One caution must be stated regarding church-related ministries. There is a tendency for parachurch organizations to take to themselves the roles and many external trappings of the church, such as evangelism, missions, discipline, and teaching. This is not improper, because the ministries of the church are given to the church universal and are fulfilled in local settings. But the appropriation of the duties of the church brings with it the restrictions and responsibilities imposed by those duties. For example teaching is a specific command for the universal church (Matt 28:20) but it was practiced in the settings of local congregations (2 Thess 3:6) with the church leaders responsible to see that the teaching was passed down properly (2 Tim 2:2). Paul, however, had certain restrictions in this regard and disallowed women from teaching men Scripture and exercising spiritual authority over men because of his theology of Creation and the Fall; and the application of that teaching was the local church. This was the only context in which to express that theology. When the setting is extended from the meeting of the church, then it is only appropriate, in this writer’s opinion, to extend the theology to the new setting.

Notes

1. Scroggs in reference to Corinth and Lane in reference to Ephesus present cases that these churches were heavily influenced by an over-realized eschatology that deemphasized marriage since the resurrection of Christ brought in the “age to come” (Robin Scroggs, “Paul and the Eschatological Woman,” Journal of the American Association of Religion 40 [1972]: 283-303; W. L. Lane, “1 Tim iv.1–3. An Early Instance of Over-realized Eschatology?” New Testament Studies 11 [1964-1965]: 164-67).
2. M. Rosamond Nugent, Portrait of the Consecrated Woman in Greek Christian Literature of the First Four Centuries, Patristic Studies no. 64 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1941), pp. 3-4.
3. Acts of Paul and Thecla 2.3–9.
4. E. Margaret Howe, “Interpretations of Paul in the Acts of Paul andThecla,” in Pauline Studies: Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce on His 70th Birthday (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), p. 36.
5. Tertullian De virginibus velandis (trans. Christoph Stücklin) 9.2.
6. Tertullian De cultu feminarum (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 70: Tertulliani Opera [Vindobonae: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1942]) 2.12.2–3.
7. Tertullian De virginibus velandis 9.3–4; cf. Roger Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, trans. Jean Laporte and Mary Louise Hall (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1976), p. 22.
8. Ignatius Epistle to the Smyrneans (trans. J. B. Lightfoot) 13.1.
9. Theodor Zahn, Ignatius von Antiochien, pp. 336, 585, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 13.
10. Ibid.
11. Polycarp Epistle to the Philippians (trans. J. B. Lightfoot) 4.
12. Ignatius Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 13.
13. The Shepherd of Hermas, Visions (trans. J. B. Lightfoot) 2.4.
14. For a discussion of the godly widows see William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1967), p. 170.
15. Hendriksen says that the idea that the words “let these first learn” refer to the widows rather than the children is clearly erroneous. The verb is plural whereas “widow” is singular. “That is their first religious (cf. Acts 17:23) duty toward those who brought them up. They should strive to make a real return (acc. pl. of ἀμοιβή plural of intensity) for all the care that was so lovingly bestowed upon them. Note, ‘Let these first learn’ this lesson. By nature children are often disinclined to provide for their needy parents…. But even if it means self-denial, this lesson must be learned. It is certainly implied in the fifth commandment” (Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, pp. 168-69).
16. This is a technical term meaning registration (Martin Dibelius and Hans Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epistles, Hermeneia Series [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972], p. 75).
17. Everett Ferguson, “Widows and the Church,” Firm Foundation, December 8, 1981, p. 6. This is opposite to the view of Daniélou: “Here the stress is laid on the ascetic and contemplative side of the life the widows lead, rather than on their functions within the community” (The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, trans. Glyn Simon [Leighton Buzzard: Faith Press, 1961], pp. 13-14).
18. Hendriksen says that verse 10 indicates some of the enrolled widows may have been well-to-do (Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, p. 173).
19. R. St. John Parry, The Pastoral Epistles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 31.
20. Homer Kent, The Pastoral Epistles (Chicago: Moody Press, 1958), pp. 172-74.
21. Ferguson, “Widows and the Church,” p. 6.
22. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (trans. G. Dix) 25. 24, 30.
23. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 22.
24. Origen Commentary on Romans 10.20, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, pp. 27-28.
25. Origen Commentary on John 32.12 (7), cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 26.
26. Dix, p. 11.
27. Daniélou, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 18.
28. Ibid.
29. Didascalia 3.6.3-7.5, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 37; Gryson comments that the author of the Didascalia has an untranslatable play on words (μὴ χερας, ἀλλὰ περας—non viduae, sed viduli). These widows had their wallets as their God; “they turned their state of life into a business” (p. 37).
30. Didascalia 3.6.1-2; Bartlet, “Fragments of the Didascalia Apostolorum,” pp. 304-5; Daniélou, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, pp. 18-19; Fritz Zerbst, The Office of Women in the Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1955), p. 89.
31. Didascalia 3.9.1-3, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 38.
32. The Apostolic Tradition of Hyppolytus 10.
33. Tertullian De pudicitia 13.7, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 21; on ordo see P. van Beneden, “Ordo, Ueber den Ursprung einer kirchlichen Terminologie,” Vigiliae christianae 23 (1969): 161-76.
34. Clement of Alexandria Pedagogue 3.12.
35. Origen Homilies on Luke 17, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 26.
36. Daniélou, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, p. 17.
37. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, pp. 32-34.
38. Ibid., p. 24. Ferguson in defining the terminology of the Apostolic Constitutions, a Syrian book akin to the Didascalia, and written in the fourth century in the region of Antioch, distinguishes cheirontonia from kathistanai. Ceirontonia is used of formal appointment whereas kathistanai can be used for appointment of church functionaries, as in the installation of bishops, ordination of deacons, or the enrollment of widows. But widows did not receive the “laying on of hands.” This latter rite was “not the equivalent of cheirontonia, but express [sic] the visible sign of which cheirontonia is the whole” (Everett Ferguson, “Ordination in the Ancient Church: An Examination of the Theological and Constitutional Motifs in the Light of Biblical and Gentile Sources” [PhD diss., Harvard University, 1959], pp. 254-55, 266).
39. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, pp. 36, 41ff; contra James Donaldson, Woman: Her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece and Rome, and among the Early Christians (New York: Gordon Press, 1973), p. 163.
40. Daniélou, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, pp. 19-20, 24.
41. Ibid., p. 20.
42. Pliny the Younger Letters to Trajan (The Loeb Classical Library [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975]) 2.10.96.8; cf. Karl Hermann Schelkle, The Spirit and the Bride (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1979), p. 158.
43. Since Pliny was the governor of Bithynia, a Greek-speaking province of Asia Minor, one may properly assume that he translated a Greek term into Latin (Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 130).
44. James Monroe Barnett, The Diaconate (New York: Seabury Press, 1981), p. 68.
45. Ibid.
46. Ignatius had said the bishop may picture God the Father, the deacon may represent Christ, and the presbyters may picture the apostles, but the Didascalia went further and related the deaconess to the Holy Spirit (Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 41).
47. Didascalia 3.12.1-13.1, cited by Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, pp. 40-41.
48. Zerbst, The Office of Women in the Church, pp. 89-90.
49. Ibid., p. 89.
50. Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Church, p. 32.
51. Ibid., p. 22.
52. Russell C. Prohl, Women in the Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1957), p. 75.
53. Paul K. Jewett, The Ordination of Women (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), p. 73.
54. Ibid.; Zerbst, The Office of Women in the Church, pp. 91-92.
55. There is no indication in Ephesians 4:7–16 (ἄνθρωπος, not ἀνήρ is used in v. 8), Romans 12:4–8 (“each member”), or 1 Corinthians 12:4–31 that women are less gifted than men or are restricted in spiritual gifts they receive.
56. Priscilla gave some form of instruction to Apollos but its exact nature is impossible to determine from the text. Possibly it was further proclamation of the kerygma (similar to the women who told the apostles after the resurrection) or information that was not considered on a par with the teaching of doctrine. Or perhaps the teaching of Apollos by Priscilla was not a problem to Luke because her instruction was alongside of or under the authority of Aquila. These arguments are speculative and tenuous at best, but this obscure passage in the narrative of Acts should not be allowed to offset the teaching of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 14:33b–36 or 1 Timothy 2:12.