Amanda Gorman's We Rise and Real Women in Romans 16

  

Amanda Gorman is a dancing poet. And with great grace she moves and moves us with her chant: Here lies, but does not rest, the best / Of tested women who call us all to rise. The Apostle Paul also moves us with great grace. (You can watch her perform her poem We Rise by clicking HERE)

His letter to the church in Rome is perhaps his finest masterpiece. And while many people pay careful attention to the theology that Paul shares in this amazing letter, few wait till the end, Romans 16, to hear him, like Amanda Gorman, speak of “tested women who call us all to rise.” Unlike Paul and Amanda Gorman, I didn’t grow up in a church “rooting” for “women whose silence is broken.” No, armed with Scripture they believed that women couldn’t be leaders and shouldn’t be allowed to speak during worship, read Scripture, or even pray from the pulpit. They kept women’s silence perfectly intact. So I’d like to explore Romans 16 this morning, and ask if Paul wishes to “to bring freedom,” “to bring volume,” and “encourage women who dare to stare fear square in its face.” We’re going to discover that 1) Paul talks a lot about real women in leadership; 2) Paul is gender-inclusive with respect to leadership roles; and 3) that we should read the Bible in freeing way in which women’s silence is broken. This is going to be a fun, deep dive into Scripture. Ready? Let’s get to it.

1.    Paul talks a lot about real women in leadership.

In an important and distinct way, Romans 16 is very different from our poem. Unlike Amanda Gorman, who is addressing and praising all women, the Apostle Paul is speaking directly to specific women, by name. And yet both Poet and Apostle are celebrating women, thanking them, for who they are and what they do. The names and numbers in Romans 16 are important.

Twenty-nine people total are mentioned in Romans 16. But this passage is not a dry list of names that we can skip over but gives insight into the roles and relationships of actual Christian women participating in ministry. Of the twenty-nine people mentioned, ten are women. What is especially amazing is that seven of the ten women are described in terms of their ministry activity and leadership (Phoebe, Prisca, Mary, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis). By comparison, of the nineteen men mentioned, only three are described in terms of their ministry (Aquila, Andronicus, Urbanus), and two of these men are ministering alongside a female partner (Aquila with Prisca, Andronicus with Junia). Think of the significance of the numbers in this way: Romans 16 greets over twice as many men as women but commends twice as many women as men.

Let’s look more closely at three of these women:

16 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. ² I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.

Paul refers to Phoebe first as both a “deacon” and “benefactor,” of many, including himself. We’ll talk more about the role of a deacon later but it’s important to note that Paul uses the exact same Greek word [diakonos] for himself and other male religious leaders. The word, in other words, is not “deaconess.” It’s not feminized or differentiated from the word that Paul uses for himself or other male leaders. Also, because Phoebe is mentioned first, we know she was the one who brought Paul’s letter to the church in Rome and that she would have been the one to read the letter and then answer any questions that Paul’s words might have elicited.

³ Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. ⁴ They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. ⁵ Greet also the church that meets at their house.

After introducing Phoebe to the church at Rome, Paul goes on to ask that certain Romans be greeted. And who is the first on this list? It is another woman. She is even mentioned before her husband, a designation that most likely indicates that she was more prominent in ministry than him. Priscilla and Aquila were friends of the Apostle Paul and are mentioned six times in the New Testament. They had worked, travelled, and ministered with Paul for some time, and Paul refers to them with his favorite term “co-workers.” When Paul greets the couple here, he also mentions the “church that meets in their house” (16:5). In Ephesus, a few years earlier, Priscilla and Aquilla were leading a church when Apollos, an up-and-coming apostle, arrived with some mistaken notions about baptism. It was Priscilla and her husband who “explained to him the way of God more adequately,” and Apollos accepted their correction (Acts 18:24-26). Again, in this story, Priscilla’s name appears first - signaling that she was the more active one offering the explanation.

⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

Andronicus and Junia are only mentioned here in Romans. They were most likely a married couple of converted Jews who came to faith before Paul, and had been in prison with him. From the very beginning of Christianity, women, as well as men, were imprisoned and even killed for their faith. Paul himself confesses that prior to becoming a Christian, he had engaged in terrifying violence toward both sexes (Acts 22:4; Acts 26:9-11). The most interesting feature, however, is that they are called “outstanding among the apostles.”

Scripture which heralds a woman as an apostle has been met with disbelief and often creative translations by those who refuse to believe that a woman could be an apostle. Two comments should be made:

·       Some have argued that Paul was writing to Junias rather than Junia making the name male rather than female. The weakness of such an argument is that there is no such name ever recorded in the ancient world. But the feminine name Junia is very common, found in over 250 ancient inscriptions.

·       Other translators have argued that “episēmoi en tois apostolois” should be translated as “well-known to the apostles” NOT “outstanding among the apostles.” The problem with such a view is that there isn’t one clear biblical or extra-biblical example of “episēmoi en” ever meaning “well-known to.” But the overwhelming evidence is that “episēmoi” means “prominent” or outstanding” and that the preposition “en,” which is used 2,830 times in the New Testament should be translated as “in” or “among” in English (c.f. Matthew 6:9; James 1:1). The New Testament scholar Craig Keener writes, “It is unnatural to read the text as merely claiming that [Andronicus and Junia] had a high reputation with the apostles . . . Those who favor the view that Junia was not an apostle do so because of their prior assumption that women could not be apostles, not because of any evidence in the text.”

2.    Paul is gender-inclusive when talking about real leadership roles.

In Romans 16, Paul offers actual roles that real women and men were performing. So let’s look more closely at the words Paul uses to describe those roles. As we study the Bible we must always remember that words matter. When speaking a different language, it can be difficult to get the words right. I once had a friend who was responding to someone thanking him in French by trying saying, “De rien” [It’s nothing], but wound up saying, “Derrière” [Butt]. He got the word wrong!  Let’s not get the word wrong – I don’t want to be a butt. Three words/roles stand out:

Deacon. The Greek word diakonos is one of Paul’s most common words for describing an official agent of the church, often translated in the NIV as “deacon,” “minister,” or “servant.” He uses this term to refer to himself (Rom. 15:25; 1 Cor. 3:5; Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23) as well as other male leaders (1 Tim. 4:6; Col. 1:7, 4:7-9; Eph. 6:21-22; 1 Cor. 3:5), and even of Jesus (Rom. 15:8). When Paul applies the word to himself and others, like Phoebe, the preaching of the gospel is central (1 Cor. 3:5).

Apostle. Apart from Jesus’ twelve apostles who are in a special class, an apostle in the earliest churches meant a minister who serves as a church planter or missionary. Apart from the original 12 – others who are offered the title are: Paul, Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Silas, Apollos (1 Cor. 1:12), Timothy, Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25) and Andronicus and Junia (Rom. 16:7). In Paul’s letters, apostleship was based upon witnessing the resurrected Jesus, receiving a commission, and preaching the gospel (1 Cor. 15:5-9, 2 Cor. 11:4-6).

Laborers. For Paul “labor” [kopia] and “laborers” [kopos] are common words used to describe Christian ministry and Christian ministers particularly when coupled with “in the Lord” (e.g. Rom. 16:12). He uses the words several time for himself, and in reference to the leadership ministries of others (e.g. 1 Corinthians 3:8; 15:10; Galatians 4:11; Philippians 2:16; Colossians 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Timothy 4:10). In Romans 16, Paul uses “labor” for the ministry of four women: Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis.  He further qualifies this labor with the word “hard.” These women were hard workers. Christian ministry could be difficult and even dangerous work in the first century (Paul himself was almost killed numerous times). Even now encouraging women to rise up, means calling them sometimes to “stare fear square in its face,” Gorman reminds us. In 1 Cor. 16:16, Paul tells the Corinthians to submit to everyone who is “laboring” in service to the Lord. He would say the same to us today.

Here's the point: All of the roles and titles for ministry and authority that are given to men are also given to women. None of the ministry roles that Paul discusses are specific to a particular sex or changed for women. It makes sense that God’s kingdom would mirror the original relationships of creation – men and women with the same job description.

3.     Women being freed and their “silence broken” is the redemptive story the Bible wants to tell.

In her poem, Amanda Gorman moves and chants: “In this hour, it is our duty / to find the brave beauty / In rooting for other women / So they too know we are not victims, / We are victors, the greatest predictors / of progress. We press for change, / A new dawn drawn into the open / By women whose silence is broken.”

And for those of us who know our Bibles it’s worth asking, “Is women’s silence broken?” What about 1 Timothy 2:11-12? Should we read 1 Timothy 2’s injunction that seems to suggest that women should not teach men as a sweeping command if Paul will acknowledge real women, like Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia, teaching men, and preaching the gospel? Should we read 1 Corinthians 14 that appears to suggest that women shouldn’t speak in church as a general and broad prohibition if Paul acknowledges and thanks real women who speaking and reading Scripture in church?

At Trinity, we understand that the purpose of reading Scripture is always redemptive, to read it in a freeing way, which means we read it sometimes not by where it is but, as Gorman writes, where it is "blowing." The redemptive story of Scripture places male and female relationships at the center. It begins with a creation that finds men and women in harmony given the same job description without any differentiation of roles. Then comes sin which creates disharmony, sexism, and male oppression of women. But even in the Old Testament God will raise up mighty women to lead like Deborah, Eshter, and Ruth. And prophets like Joel will prophesy women’s return to full inclusion, culminating in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and Paul’s own ministry and proclamation, calling both women and men to preach the gospel.

We must read Scripture in a freeing way because women continue to languish under a curse that was never meant for them. They were made to be partners in God’s great wonderful kingdom. We look to the past, in order to live well and rightly in the present. Gorman’s poem is actually an homage to the great African-American poet, Maya Angelou and her poem Still I Rise. Likewise, we’re not simply talking about our sisters: Phoebe, Priscilla, Junia, and others from Romans 16 but also Caitlin Berney, Tammy Mathis, Brooke Anderson, Briella Mathis, Nancy Gordon, Dawn Taloyo, Carmen Bensink-Lewis, Melody Schultze, and perhaps that young woman or little girl sitting right beside you. So let’s rise up and remember this - a picture that I’ve shown you before – an early mosaic of the resurrected, dancing Jesus pulling both Adam and Eve out of the grave. I want to remind you that Jesus did that in his ministry as well - pulling women out of despair and out of the curse. So let’s join Jesus, chant with Amanda, revere Scripture, and join all women in full partnership and preaching of this amazing gospel that redeems the world and makes us rise.

So I invite you to prayer for . . .

more women pastors.

women who have or are currently experiencing being silenced that they might be set free.

the church that we might no longer live with each other as if we are under a curse.