Longer articles

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The Metaphor of Marriage in the Bible 

This article explores how the Bible uses the metaphor of marriage to speak of God’s relationship with his people and applies this to the issues of the ordination of women, “same-sex marriage” and domestic violence.

Is the ordination of women church divisive?

Nobody wants to divide the church. However the reality is that many fear the issue of the ordination of women could do just that in our LCA. This article explores some aspects of this question.

The orders of creation and the order of the Church

The Scriptures teach us that God has created this world in an orderly way and part of that order is to do with the relationship beteween men and women in family life. This article explores how this reality may or may not relate to the question of the ordination of men and women.

The royal priesthood and the ministry of the word

The Scriptures teach that every Christian is a member of the ‘royal priesthood’ by virture of their baptism, but that there is also an office of the ministry to which only men are called. So what then is the relationship between the royal priesthood and the ministry of the word?

Ministry and ordination

This important article addresses two fundamental teachings that sit behind much of the discussion on whether women may be ordained. These two are that there is such a thing as an office of ministry, and that the rite of ordination places a person into that office.

Ordination and Trinity

At first we might not think there is any connection between the teaching of the Trinity and the ordination of women. This article argues that there is in fact an important connection and that the implications of ordaining women may be far wider than we realize.

Scripture and the exclusion of women from the pastorate

1 Corinthians 14:33b-38 and 1 Timothy 2:11-14 prohibit the ordination of women

Disciples but not teachers

These three articles are some of the best works produced in our own church which make the comprehensive Biblical case for the ordination of men only. They look at the relevant texts in detail and consider historical and contextual issues also.