Why Men Should Not Be Ordained

[Woody]

"Why Men Should Not Be Ordained" in Adventist Today

By J. David Newman

The current argument in the Adventist Church over

whether or not women can be ordained is asking

the wrong question. The real question is: Why

should men be ordained?

The Adventist Church voted at Annual Council

in October 1991 a “Theology of Ordination.” In that

statement we read: “the Scriptures distinguish

three categories of ordained officers—(1) the gospel

minister, whose role may be seen as preaching/

teaching, administering the ordinances, and

pastoral care of souls and churches (1 Tim. 4:14; 2

Tim. 4:1-5); (2) the elder (sometimes in Scripture

called bishop), who exercises oversight of a local

congregation, performing necessary pastoral

functions as well (Acts 14:23; 20:17; Titus 1:5, 9; 1 Tim.

3:2, 5); and (3) the deacon, to whose care the poor

and the benevolent work of the congregation are

entrusted (Phil. 1:1; Acts 6:1-6; 1 Tim. 3:8-13).”

The statement then goes on to elevate the

gospel ministry above the other two. “The gospel

ministry: a special call. While elders and deacons

are appointed on the basis of spiritual experience

and ability ... the gospel ministry, Seventh-day

Adventists believe, is a special calling from God.”

This suggests that being an elder or deacon is not a

special calling from God.

The statement gives no biblical basis for the

ranking of the three callings by the Adventist

Church. Being ordained as a deacon does not

qualify a person to be an elder, even though the

Scriptural requirements are the same (1 Tim. 3:1-11).

If a deacon is to become an elder, that person must

experience a second ordination. And if an elder

becomes a pastor, that individual now must go

through a third ordination. There is absolutely no

hint in the New Testament that there were three

different ordination ceremonies.

What many Adventists don’t realize is that we

inherited this practice from the Roman Catholic

Church—which is ironic, given our preaching against

so many positions of that church. The Catholics

have deacon, priest, and bishop, each requiring an

additional ordination.

What is even more fascinating is that “the

word ‘ordain’ does not appear in the Greek New

Testament. The word ‘ordain’ that appears in

the King James Version actually translates from

a number of Greek words, including poieou,

‘appointed’ (Mark 3:14); ginomai, ‘to become, select’

(Acts 1:22); titheumi, ‘appointed, place, set’ (1 Tim.

2:7); kathisteumi, ‘cause to be, appoint’ (Titus 1:5);

and cheirotoneou, ‘stretch out the hand, appoint’

(Acts 14:23). The English word ‘ordain’ has a Latin

root, ordinare, which derives from Roman law and

conveys the idea of a special status or a group

distinct from ordinary people. That is why most

modern versions do not use the word ‘ordain’—it

does not give an accurate translation of the

original meaning.”1

“The doctrine of spiritual gifts (as taught in

Rom. 12:4–8; 1 Cor. 12:1–28; Eph. 4:8, 11–16; Acts 6:1–7;

and 1 Peter 4:10, 11) teaches that God gives gifts for

service to all without respect to race or gender.

Included among those gifts are those of evangelist,

prophet, teacher, and pastor.

“In harmony with the New Testament custom,

Adventists appoint ministers, who, like the apostles

and evangelists of the early church, look after

the general interests of the church; and elders

(also called “presbyters,” or “bishops” in the New

Testament); and deacons, who, like their New

Testament prototypes, look, respectively, after

the spiritual and temporal interests of the local

congregation to which they belong.”2

Adventists are extremely inconsistent when it

comes to the issue of pastors and Adventists. At the

1974 Annual Council, the church for the first time

allowed women to serve as local church elders. No

distinction was made between their ordination and

the ordination of men. Both were ordained in the

same way. This led many to say, “If we can ordain

women to be local elders, why cannot we ordain

them to be gospel ministers?”

Women had begun to serve in pastoral roles

ordained as local elders but not as full gospel

ministers. This led to a push by some for women

to be ordained the same as men. At the same time,

others felt women should not be serving as pastors

at all. At the 1990 General Conference Session in

Indianapolis, a compromise was reached. It was

voted that women could serve as pastors but not

be ordained as full gospel ministers. In addition,

to keep some kind of difference between them it

was decided that women could marry, baptize, and

lead the ordinances, but they could not ordain local

elders, organize new churches, or unite churches!

I mentioned spiritual gifts earlier in this

article. There are four main passages that speak

of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12: 6-8; 1 Cor. 12, the whole

chapter; Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Peter 4:10-11), and none

of them limit any of the gifts to a particular gender.

In fact, it is suggested that any gift is available to

any person as God may decide (1 Cor. 12:7). Among

those gifts is the gift of pastor.

Now I know there are passages that speak to

the role of women in the early church, which lead

some people to conclude that women cannot be

ordained. But if these passages are truly followed

without reference to context, then women could not

serve as deacons, elders, pastors, teachers of men,

or participants in worship services. However, this

article does not address these issues. I am simply

trying to show that it is time for the Adventist

Church to reject its Catholic heritage when it

comes to ordination. It should stop using the word

“ordain,” which is not biblical and comes encrusted

with overtones of privilege and separation. For

example, the separation between laity and clergy

with one group being superior to the other.

We should be like the early church. When

we appoint leaders in the church, let us have a

commissioning service with laying on of hands

but give no grade to these ceremonies. The same

ceremony is used for any church leader. There

really is little difference between the pastor and

elder except that one is full time, while the other

is voluntary. The Church Manual indicates that in

the absence of the pastor, the elder fulfills all the

roles of the pastor even to the administering of

the Lord’s Supper, and with the permission of the

conference can baptize as well.

If we give up ordaining men, we solve the problem

of whether or not we should ordain women.

J. David Newman is the senior pastor of the New Hope

Seventh-day Adventist church in Fulton, Maryland.

1Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, article on ordination

2Ibid.

[Gregory Matthews]

Some points of denominational history:

1) In the early days of our denominaiton we had a female who was a Conference President. That could not happen today as denominational policy restricts Conference Presidents to those who are "ordained."

NOTE: Some will say that she was ineffective as a Conference President and did not serve as such for very long. So what? If both are true, and she may or may not have been effective, so what. She was a Conference President and all who know our history acknowledge such

2) During the time of Ellen White, she was given the crdentials of an ordained minister and so listed in denominational records. Some will correctly point out that she was not ordained in a public ceremoney by the laying on of hands. That is correct. But, in my thinking, the fact taht we listed her in denominational records as an ordained minister and granted her the credentials (severeal tiems) makes her an ordained minister.

NOTE: I do not always agree with every position that Redwood takes. However, ordination, as we practice it has its extra-Biblical elements.