House Church Talk - There can not be male and female1

[SameSpecies]

My two cents on the woman issue.

Judges 4:4-5:31  "Now Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth.  She
judged Israel at that time...And the children of Israel went up to her for
judgment..."

Note: Deborah was a female prophet and a female judge of the nation of
Israel.  She was also a wife.  Now, let us recognize at this point, it is
our flesh nature that wants us to start down playing these facts.  Quoting
Origen (a third century church father, referenced from the book entitled
"The Early Christians" by Eberhard Arnold under Plough Publishing House). In
pointing out that Deborah, one of the judges of Israel, was a prophet and a
woman in Origen, Homily V.2 on Judges 11, he states "This grace is
determined by purity of mind alone, not by difference of gender".  We know
that it is God who does the calling and the choosing.  We should not hold a
position or view of prejudice that hinders Him, only discern if it is from
Him.  In Act 13:20 we see that these judges were given by God for a period
of about 450 years.  Deborah was one of these judges.

Micah 6:4  "For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and from the
slave house I redeemed you; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam."

Note:  We see God sent before Israel Moses, Aaron, and the woman Miriam,
Strong's #4813.  Now some will recall the degradation of Miriam's service to
God, Numbers 12:1-15.  Then the enemy will try to tell you to discredit her
functioning and the fact that God sent her as with Aaron and Moses.  The
enemy will say she fell into degradation.  So we should also recall what
happen to Moses, Numbers 20:8-12 and Deuteronomy 34:1-5.  Also, recall
Aaron's degradation, Numbers 20:24-28.

Genesis 1:27  "And God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them."

Note:  The use of man in this verse is Strong's #120, it should be
understood as man in the collective sense of mankind.  The first and only
"him" in this verses is not assigned a Strong's number, this word "him" is
not in the Hebrew text, it is added for clarity.  The word "them" should
have been added instead because "male and female is a "them" not a "him".
Up to this point in scripture they (male and female) have been created both
in God's image.  In this verse we also see that the God-Head's image, the
expression of God, includes male and female.  We have God the Father, and
God the Son.  Did you know we also have God the Mother.  Look at what just a
couple of scriptures say:  Gal 4:26 "But the Jerusalem above is free, and
she is our mother.", 29-30 "But just as at that time the one born by natural
descent persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now. 30
But what does the scripture say? "Throw out the slave woman and her son, for
the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son" of
the free woman."  Look at all the typologies of Christ found in the Old
Testament, Joseph is just one example, in Joseph's dream did he not have a
father and mother.  If we don't pervert God's example to us in this world, a
son has a mother and father.  Gal 4:4 "But when the appropriate time had
come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem
those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full
rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, who calls "Abba! Father!"  Christ was born of a woman in verse 4,
don't think this is referring to mother Mary, it's much deeper.  We all must
be born from above, just as Christ was born from above, recall His baptism
at the on set of His ministry.  We too must be born of this woman, the Holy
Spirit.  God is Spirit, Son is Lord Spirit or Spirit of Jesus Christ, Holy
Spirit is our mother above.  We are born of Her womb, Her travailing in
birth results in the child being born and taken up into heaven.  Her seed
shall bruise Satan's head.  Sorry, I am getting off the subject, but it's
much more then what we tend to see because we think worldly, and yes there
was a physical aspect, a mother Mary, etc.  But, if we will just focus on
the heavenly and not the earthly we can say the Lord's Mother is Blessed.
We will say our Mother is Blessed, not Mary, Yes Mary was found righteous in
God's site, and she was blessed, but His true Mother and our true Mother is
the Holy Spirit.  God is Spirit, and in the Spirit of God we also have the
Son, and our Mother.  When we see this, we will thank the Lord that our God
is also a complete family to us, Father, Mother, and Son.  The Son also has
many brothers, and God the Father has many son's, both male and female.  Now
let's look at a couple of New Testament verses.

Acts 8:3  "But Saul was devastating the church...dragging off men and
women..."

Note:  No gender discrimination in Paul even before he was converted, or
with the martyrdom God allowed, which occurred with both sexes.

Romans 1:26-27   "...God gave them up to passions of dishonor, for their
females...likewise also the males..."

Note:  No gender discrimination with God when He gives them up.  Male and
females both given up to the passions of dishonor.

Acts 2:18  "And indeed upon My slaves, both men and women, I will pour out
of My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy."

Note:  God doesn't discriminate based on gender.  He pours out His Spirit on
both males and females and they will both prophesy.

Acts 16:30-34  "...he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?...And he
brought them up into his house and set a table before them..."

Note:  The jailer and his hole household were saved, this is seen in verse
34.  Now lets look at similar verses about a woman.

Acts 16:15  "And when she was baptized, as well as her household, she
entreated us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come
into my house and abide.  And she constrained us."

Note:  The woman was baptized as well as her household.  This was the first
house the Lord gained in Europe.  It was a woman's house.

Romans 16:7  "Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow
prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ
before me."

Note:  Gender of Andronicus is unknown, Junia was female, Strong's #2458.
The word "note"  Strong's #1978 means notable or distinguished.  They were
notable or distinguished among the apostles.  In this verse we see that
Junia, a female, was an apostle.  To be "among the apostles" is to be one.
This verse is not saying she was distinguished and simply with the apostles.
She was not only an apostle, she was a distinguished one.  We will talk more
about this when we look at the historical manuscripts.  In these writing by
the early church fathers we will see many women were apostles.

Well, this is enough for one post, but not even close to being the tip of
the iceberg.  If anyone is interested, we will continue, and look at many
verses, including the misunderstood verses, on women speaking in church,
teaching in authority, and head covering.  All these verses that we
misunderstand, that tend to lead us to believe God does not place women as
overseers, shepherds and teachers, elders, etc.  So far we have seen a
little scriptural evidence that women were created in the image of the
God-Head, that God chose them as prophets, appointed them as judges over the
nation of Israel, that they were also sent before Israel too, they were
persecuted equally, they are turned over equally as men are, God's Spirit is
poured out on them just as It is poured out on men, they were given credit
as men for there households, and they were apostles (sent ones) too.

God's Grace to us all, as God chooses, not us,

Mike