History or Biblical?

And I would not, Rock, because I believe a woman is not to pastor, preach or serve above a man according to scripture as I see it. Serving communion to a man would conflict with that belief.

Diane

 

When seven were elected by the Jerusalem church to tend to the needs of those who felt neglected, they were men , not women. Again, in Timothy and in Titus, Paul outlined qualifications for deacons who were to be men.
The Lord's supper is an ordinance for the church, not an ordinary function, and, as Dr. Griffin pointed out, is traditionally one carried out or led by men , not women.

Paul speaks of tradition twice in the Epistles:

Col. 2:8 says:

Traditionally, men with enticing words spoil that which is a good and established practice such as tradition in the church.

2 Thess. 3:6 says:

So, just because the Bible does not specifically state that men are to pass the bread and cup, does that mean women can now ? Neither does the Bible say that women may, and neither in the Gospels or Acts or the Epistles do we find women being instructed to do that which traditionally is a man's function.



Yea, did God say is the same as yea, is it Biblical if the result is a liberalizing of certain tradition

 

Sounds great - I may suggest this to our pastor as a way to bring new meaning to the Lords Supper

 

There is a huge difference between serving and preaching and teaching.

Romans 16:1,2, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well."

Notice how she helped Paul the apostle but in your church she cannot help the pastor. I find that quite interesting that the apostle Paul would have a woman help him but not your pastor.

There is plenty of evidence that the early church utilized women in ministry. There were women whose responsibility was to work with other women and children. They performed pastoral work with the sick and the poor and helped at baptism. From the earliest times deaconesses visited the sick, acted as door-keepers at the women's entrance to the church, kept order among church women, taught females in preparation for baptism and acted as sponsors for homeless children. They also carried official messages. There was a clearer line drawn between the sexes than there is today. Women deacons were not on the same level as men deacons. They could not teach and minister to mixed groups of people or men, and they were not ordained.

For the first 1200 years of Christianity there is loads of evidence of woman deacons in the church. However, the Western Roman Catholic church never had them. Whereas the eastern church did

Almost every country outside of the U.S. has women deaconesses in Baptist churches.

The emergence of deaconesses is unclear. But in the third and fourth centuries the office deaconess developed greatly. In a letter dated 112 A.D. Governor Pliny wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan. 'In it he mentions a couple of deaconesses. (Book X, XCVI, 8, 289)

 

Most of which is fine as long as the differences (--tradition/history and NOT bible--) is noted & maintained, and does not become "Phariseeism"!

 

Rock: Diane the great thing about being baptist is that we are able to respect one another's opinions when it comes to matters of disagreement. The post in this thread have been outstanding. I appreciate your position even though I do not agree with it.

 

I don't see a problem with women taking up the offering or serving communion. There is no authority over anyone from the one doing the serving to the one being served; if anything, it is a humbling of ones self to serve. In my current church, deacons serve the Lord's supper mainly as a symbolic tradition of their role as a servant of the church. Since the word translated by some "wives" in the Timothy passage is vague, and the corroborating evidence of the language usage would indicate that the word in Greek was probably not referring to wives of deacons but to women who were servants of the church like Phoebe, we have women deacons in our church who serve the Lord's supper, and we believe that is adherence to both a literal Biblical position and to church tradition.

We also have women who take up the offering, and no one is concerned about them gathering it up and heading from the foyer to the mall.

 

I attended one of our IFB churches several weeks ago and they were having the Lord's Supper. There were many small cups and pitchers on the table. Each head of household came up and took back cups for their family group and served them ...interesting to say the least. I served my family!

 

I don't hand out the Lord's Supper at my church, I'm just the girl that buys the components of it.

What you guys thought that bread and wine rained down from the sky on sunday morning?
That only happens at Russian Orthodox churches!

Yes, that second paragraph was a feeble attempt at humor.

 

I may be the only PB here to say this, but I really see no problem with a woman serving the bread and wine. (pause for gasps)

If anything, it would be putting her in a servants position below the men. Wives, do you think yourselves greater than your husbands when and if you ever prepare and bring their supper to them? I would think it would be the opposite.

It is tradition, and tradition is an important aspect of worship. Our fathers did things for a reason, and I think we should be really careful about changing those things.

We do not have women deacons, and I would never be in a church that did. Paul admonishes the women to remain in silence and learn with all subjection. Would he tell them this if he thought they should hold office in the church?

The Bible does not specify who is to pass out the supper, but since it does say that the deacons are the servants of the church, then I'll be sticking with that. It's just that I don't see any conflict with having a woman SERVE The Supper as she would a supper. It's not like she's the one praying over and offering it to begin with. That responsibility falls to the pastor.

 

"Would he tell them this if he thought they should hold office in the church?"
Depends on how much talking in church a 1st century deacon was supposed to do.