Frank

Cheryl, your article is a wonderful reply to that old saw: “If Jesus were really counter-cultural in his treatment of women, why didn’t he choose any women to be his apostles?” And a complementary response to this question, which you might interested in, is the article by Aida Besancon Spencer’s column in MUTUALITY, “Short Answers To Tough Questions.” I quote in part:

LET’S REPHRASE THAT QUESTION: “If Jesus were really counter-cultural, why didn’t he choose any Gentiles to be his apostles?” or “Why didn’t he choose any slaves as apostles?” Jews thanked God that they were not born a Gentile, an untrained person (or a slave), or a woman, so wouldn’t Jesus have been really counter-cultural if he had Gentiles and Jews, untrained and trained (or slave and free), and women and men among his twelve disciples. Paul refers to the equality of all believers (Gal. 3:28), and recognized the ministry leadership of Titus, a Gentile; Onesimus, a slave; and Pheobe, a female. Were Paul and Jesus’ other disciples more counter-cultural than the Lord they followed? I think not. Perhaps we need to understand further the significance of the twelve for Jesus. Twelve Jewish men symbolized the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 11:30). Jesus’ own call to ministry was focused on reaching Israel (Matt. 10:5-6; 15:24; John 1:11; Rom. 15:8-9), because the earlier covenant was made with Israel (see Gen. 35:10-12; 1 Kings 18:31). The twelve were a witness to Israel, representing God’s first covenant with them and reminding them of God’s promises that were about to be fulfilled through Jesus…Building on this Old Testament symbolic base of the twelve, Jesus began expanding the numbers for the new covenant. The new covenant was begun by the apostolic witness of women and men. An apostle is someone sent with orders, an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus…After the resurrection, “apostles” were comprised of many who “had been” with Jesus and were now also witnesses to the resurrection (Acts 1:21-23; 4:33), including the women at the tomb (Matt. 28:1, 7; Mark 16:1, 6-7; Luke 24:5-10) and the more than 500 brothers and sisters (1 Cor. 15:6). In the post-resurrection, post-Pentecost new covenant community, apostles are no longer limited to the twelve, but are multi-numbered because Jesus’ ministry has refocused from the Jewish people, the twelve tribes, and the old covenant, to the Gentiles, the nations, and the many tribes. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit became a permanent indweller of every believer–both male and female–to be priest or intercessor between humans and God (1 Peter 2:9).

Well, it is a good article, and it certainly complements all that you have said, Cheryl. I would recommend it to both you and everyone else. And if I may make an analogy, your article and Dr. Spencer’s would, together, like a twelve-gage shotgun, would be more than adequate to bring down this old partridge, named “The Twelve” that complementarians like to let loose in their discussions. Anyway, you’ve written a great article.