What Will Future Christians Say About Us?

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Oklahoma Contact | March 6, 2025

Since very early, Christianity has been wrestling between living to the highest values of Jesus’ calling (love our neighbors as ourselves) and fitting in with society at large. One would assume that it is an easy choice to make: “of course we are going to abide by Jesus’ greatest commandment! Duh!” Yet, in reality, it is more complex than we can imagine. Take the community in Corinth. Here is a community that was founded by Paul (one of the all time champions of the faith) riddled with internal fights: who has the higher sign from the Spirit, how to present themselves for worship and the Eucharist, doubting Paul’s credentials, just to mention a three of the many issues Paul had to address. Scholars think that Paul wrote at least four times to these congregations. 

If we read the writings in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament), aside from the gospels, we find conflict in these early Christian communities. One of these early conflicts was women in leadership positions within the Christian communities. Or putting it in other words, women in ministry. Paul, the earliest writer in the Christian Scriptures (writing in the 50s C.E.), understands that “in Christ” all the norms of the “world” have been destroyed and those “in Christ” live under a new reign. “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28 CEB). “In Christ” determines under which “rules” Christians live. If one is a Christian, then any other rules or reigns do not have the same effect upon our lives as before. In this new reign, women can be in leadership positions. 

Proof of this is Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome. In Chapter 16: 3-16, Paul sends greetings to 6 different women (not to mention the unnamed sisters and mothers he lists in this chapter). Paul addresses these women as co-workers, leaders and even apostle (Junia). In this same chapter, Paul introduces “Phoebe… who is a deacon.” διάκονον or deacon can be translated as servant or commissioned minister or preacher of the Gospel. For all of those who live “in Christ,” life is different now. Christians live under a new standard of society. Paul, in his letter to Philemon, advocates for Onesimus the runaway slave. Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus back “no longer as a slave but more than a slave—that is, as a dearly loved brother” (Phil. 1:16 CEB). Paul indeed believed and conducted himself as one who lives under the reign of Christ Jesus. Paul asked the communities he founded to do the same.

Yet, this battle to be in the world but not of the world is hard. As Christianity keeps growing (expanding throughout the Roman Empire), the pressure of “fit in” with the world grows. By the 120’s C.E., the tone regarding women in ministry has changed dramatically from that of Paul. Most scholars agree that First and Second Timothy were not written by Paul but by somebody else using Paul’s name (a very common practice in antiquity). The tone is completely different to that of Galatians or Romans:

“A wife should learn quietly with complete submission. I don’t allow a wife to teach or to control her husband. Instead, she should be a quiet listener. Adam was formed first, and then Eve. Adam wasn’t deceived, but rather his wife became the one who stepped over the line because she was completely deceived. But a wife will be brought safely through childbirth, if they both continue in faith, love, and holiness, together with self-control” (1 Tim. 2: 11-15 CEB). The letter to the churches in Ephesus (another letter thought not to be written by Paul) has a similar tone as that of Timothy: “so wives submit to their husbands in everything like the church submits to Christ” (Eph. 5: 24 CEB).

It seems that the pressures of the world go into the churches and opted to compromise part of their witness. Perhaps Christians would not worship Caesar but they would submit women and not let them be in leadership positions. Now this small study only touches the surface of a larger struggle. In the gospel according to Luke women are lifted up as the champions of the faith. Elizabeth and Mary are the “heroes” of the nativity story. Luke also provides plenty of evidence of women following and even sponsoring Jesus’ ministry (Lk. 8:1-3). Yet, Acts, the second part of the gospel of Luke, does not mention women in leadership anymore. The order has been established with the 12 apostles (all men) and them bestowing authority upon other men only.

What about us? The United Methodist Church has ordained women since 1956. Which, let us be honest, is not that long ago. We, like Christians before us, have to wrestle with living under the reign of Christ and aligning all of our actions to this reality or succumbing to the pressures of the “world” to better fit in. This period of history is demanding an answer from us: will we live “in Christ” and by doing so living in a reality where there is neither male or female, citizen or immigrant, able or disabled, straight or gay, white or person or color, but ONE IN CHRIST JESUS? Or will we opt to “fit in” and confine our Christian witness to an hour on Sunday morning or to the premises of our houses of worship? The encouraging thought is that we are not alone in this choice. Many before us have been faced with it. We know their responses. It is not our turn… What will future Christians say about us?

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he Rev. Carlos Ramirez is director of communications and strategy for the Oklahoma Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. This article is republished with permission from the Oklahoma Contact news publication.