Gospel Of Mark: Summary And Analysis

After surveying a brief history of ordination, we then proceed to its biblical foundations. It is a good thing to know that the laying-on-of-hands originated from the Old Testament, but what did these situations look like in their actual context? In the Gospel of Mark, specifically chapter 3 verse 14 (KJV), it states, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” However, V. Norskov Olsen, who wrote Myth & Truth: Church, Priesthood & Ordination, notes that the word used in this case is the word “poieo” which more accurately translates into “and he appointed twelve.” Olsen remarks that in virtually every instance in the KJV where you find the word “ordained,” you will find it to be mistranslated

Paul used this word six times toward church leaders in his ministry (1 Tim 3:4, 5, 12; 5:17; 1 Thess 5:12, Rom 12:8) Yet, he did not choose to use that word, but instead used authentein which holds fiercely negative connotations. A more accurate view of this passage is “I permit not a woman to dominate a man, or domineer a man” a quote taken from Davis’s work. The significance of this is that Paul seems to have had a clear understanding between the two definitions of the words authentein and proistemi, which supports the notion that he was not making a statement on authority, but on aggressive domination. However, Davis does note that the main controversy concerning this passage is not in the use of words, but rather through the creation account that Paul used in 1 Timothy 2. In this account Paul remarks that it was woman who sinned first, not man, and it was man that was created first. If this is true, then it is woman’s punishment that she must remain submissive to

As Davis points out, Paul’s letters to each church were ones that many times contradict each other. The reason for these contradictions was because he was not speaking to the world-wide church, but instead he was addressing the specific problems associated with each particular church he sought to advise. Furthermore, Paul has used the same creation account and has translated it differently in the context of the church he was addressing. For example, when he wrote his letter to Rome, it is noted that Adam, not Eve, is the “head” of humanities failure and fall into sin. Then when Paul is speaking to the Corinthians he asserts that man and woman should hold “mutual dependence” between each other. Paul even seemed to want those women in Corinth to keep on prophesying and praying in an agreeable way within the church. Furthermore, if one contrasts 2 Corinthians 11:3, versus 1 Timothy 2:12 you can find that the idea of “Eve” can be used as a “figure of women in Ephesus (the Church mentioned in 1 Timothy) or as a figure for an entire church in Corinth.” Driving home the point that the use of the Genesis account, and how Paul speaks to each church varies, and that the points that were made were ones that related to the specific church’s problems in its given context. For the church of Ephesus, the one mentioned in 1 Timothy, it seems they were having an issue with women trying to dominate and