“One in Christ Jesus” was an address from the elders and minister to the Stamford Church of Christ on Sunday morning, October 18, 1998.

One in Christ Jesus

After years of study, prayer, and reflection, it is the position of the elders and minister of the Stamford Church of Christ that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female (Gal. 3:28). We understand this to mean that distinctions of roles, privileges, rights, and status on the basis of birth (that is, on the basis of race, gender, and class) are ended in Christ. We base this conclusion on a careful and exhaustive study of Scripture.

It is our conclusion that those passages that restrict women’s participation in public worship (1 Cor. 14:33-35; 1 Tim. 2:9-15) address specific circumstances in the particular cultural context of their original first-century audiences in Corinth and Ephesus. We take care to distinguish between what the New Testament says about the new life in Christ and the degree of implementation possible in the first-century church. Just as we would no longer use the teaching “Slaves, obey your earthly masters” (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22-4:1; Titus 2:9-10) to defend slavery, we will no longer use 1 Cor.14:33-35 or 1 Tim. 2:9-15 to silence women’s voices in our assemblies together.

We believe that God has poured out his Spirit on all people, both men and women (Acts 2:17-21), and we call for an end to restricting the use of God-given gifts on the basis of gender. In doing this, we are confident that we are being fully and finally obedient to Jesus’ teachings on justice, mercy, peacemaking, mutual submission, freedom, “the last shall be first”, and self-sacrificial love. God’s way, expressed in Jesus’ life, teaching, death, and resurrection, is to empower others-to give power away so that everyone is freed to achieve their God-given giftedness. Restrictions on the basis of hierarchy, power, and status (e.g. Gen. 3:16) are at best an accommodation to a fallen world. In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. We are all one.

We appreciate that acting on our convictions-making whatever changes are right and appropriate-will take the loving patience of everyone in our church family. Naturally we are concerned for the consciences of Christians who disagree (Rom. 14:1-15:13; 1 Cor. 8-9). However, we are also concerned for the lost (Matt. 9:9-13), for those who in this time and place turn to the church to find God, and find themselves more ethical and humane than the church. We believe that it is our spiritual responsibility to make the teachings about God our Savior attractive (Titus 2:1-10) so as to win as many as possible (1 Cor. 9:19-23). Otherwise, we may be shutting the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.

This then will be our teaching. As we move from teaching to action we prayerfully ask all members of our church family to conduct themselves in such a way that if we err we err on the side of grace, love, and trust. We place great faith in you. And we love you.