#sbc2023

Our family recently gathered for a reunion in New Orleans – and the cousins who came to argue pretty much took the shine off things. Quarreling seems to be our family tradition.

We used to argue about women “deacons.” This year it was women “pastors.”

I put those words in quotes because, sadly enough, the cousins on my side of the family are wrong on the words, even though they are right in principle.

‘Pastor’ translates the Greek word ‘poimenas,’ which appears 18 times in the New Testament manuscripts but is translated ‘pastor’ only once. The rest of time, ‘poimenas’ is rendered ‘shepherd.’

Similarly, ‘deacon’ translates ‘diakonos,’ which appears in the manuscripts 29 times but is translated ‘deacon’ only 3. The rest of time, ‘diakonos’ is rendered ‘servant’ or ‘minister.’

One wonders if we would argue about those words if King James’ men had only stuck with the more common rendering. One wonders whether we would be arguing if church history had not connected those serving words with ruling and the exercise of authority in a congregation.

We might do better instead to discuss ‘episkopos,’ which actually referred to an official title, both in first-century civil life and the early Church. Though ‘episkopos’ appears in the manuscripts only 5 times, 4 of them are rendered ‘overseer.’

We’ve made a mess of things by investing authority in ‘shepherds’ and ‘servants’ and being reluctant to use the word ‘overseer’ to refer to our congregational rulers. What if we instead got down to brass tacks and focused on applying 1 Timothy 2:12 (“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man”)?

The cousins on my side of the family are right about women not serving as rulers of a congregation, but they are at the same time wrong. Perhaps it’s because we have perpetuated centuries of confusion about titles. Perhaps we are too concerned with who gets to call the shots in a congregation. Perhaps it’s because our preoccupation with institution can cause us to lose sight of kingdom and mission.

I long for the sweet reunion of brothers and sisters, rather than the gatherings of combative cousins who insist on wrong-headed arguing.