Response to Male and female in the church – gender in the ordained ministries by Douw G. Breed, Fika J. van Rensburg, and Gert J.C. Jordaan

Abstract

“Male and female in the church” (2008), by Breed, J. van Rens- burg and Jordaan, is reviewed as to its treatment of the regu- lative principle and its exegesis of 1 Timothy 2-3. The reformed and puritan version of the regulative principle, reflected in the writings of John Calvin and in the major reformed confessions, implies that proponents of women in the ecclesiastical office must do more than question the traditional exegesis of key passages used in the debate. They must provide Biblical war- rant for the practice. “Male and female in the church” outlines an option that defends the traditional exegesis of 1 Timothy 2-3. It also provides another option that seeks to explain 1 Timothy 2:8-15 in terms of the marriage-relationship rather than male and female in the church. The exegesis in the latter option is found to be tenuous. Similarly, the option that views 1 Timothy 3:11 as referring to ordained deaconesses is found to be unconvincing. No clear Biblical warrant is found in these pas- sages for the practice of ordaining women in the ecclesiastical office.