John's Baptism, Apollos, and Priscilla -Happy International Women's Day!

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

 

This morning I was reading about John’s Baptism. You can find accounts of John baptizing Jesus in all four Gospels. You can read more about that here in a post I wrote about the Baptism of Jesus.

Reading that passage of Scripture led me to a few different thoughts today. 

First, John was baptizing people. This is very interesting. Under the law, people had to do certain things to be forgiven of sins. They had to bring offerings. Blood had to be shed. Priests had to be involved. But that isn’t what is happening in these passages with John baptizing people.

John’s name means “the Lord is gracious.” In the beginning of the Gospels, with the stories of Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, John, Jesus, and a couple of others, we see a new age being introduced, the age of grace. When you understand this, it makes more sense why John was baptizing.

Thinking about this led to other thoughts, ones regarding women in the New Testament, and the age of grace. This is what I want to share today on International Women's Day, a day where we celebrate women around the world, and their accomplishments. I think the three women I am going to discuss merit mentioning.

So what do my thoughts about John’s Baptism have to do with women in the New Testament? Well, we see John mentioned again in the book of Acts.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him in and explained to him the way of God more accurately.-Acts 18:24-26

Apollos, a Believer in Jesus, had been instructed in the way of the Lord, but he only knew about the baptism of John. So, a couple had to take him aside and explain to him more accurately about things. That couple was Priscilla and Aquila. They are mentioned many times by Paul throughout the epistles. They had many churches in their different homes. Priscilla’s name is often mentioned first, which brings me to my next point.

In the passage of Scripture, it says “they” took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God. It doesn’t say just Apollos, but them combined together as a team. This means Priscilla had a part in teaching. 

In Ephesians 4, Paul lists the ministry gifts apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher and evangelist. These are gifts that are given by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They are spiritual gifts, but we can see their affects or influence with our eyes.

Sometimes women are left out of some of these gifts, but I think if we look more closely at the Scriptures, we will see these gifts operating in the lives of women mentioned in the Book of Acts and the Epistles. 

When I think about the gifts I think about Priscilla, Chloe, Lydia, Nympha, and Junia. They are all women listed in Scripture who appear to be in leadership positions.

I think people often mistake women who want to function in a leadership position as wanting to rule over men. But according to Jesus, that is not what the Kingdom of God is like. 

But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, -Matthew 20:25-26 (BSB)

You can see this throughout the lives of women in Scripture, those submitted to the will of God for their lives. Other examples I can think of are Deborah. She was a prophet and judge in the Old Testament. She served Israel for forty years. Another woman is Phoebe. She can be found in Romans 16 in the New Testament. She is commended by Paul for serving (as a deaconess) the church in Cenchrea. Many scholars also believe that she was the one who delivered the epistle to the Romans to the church in Rome. If that is true, what an honor!

Today on International Women’s Day, I pray you recognize and take your place in the Kingdom of God. He has somewhere for you to serve, where the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be flowing from you, and you can build those in your sphere for ministry so they can also serve the people they come in contact with.

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus!

Beth 🌴

Here's a few posts that share more information about some topics I mentioned in this post!

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit-The Life of Jesus

A Foundation of Grace: His Name is John

Women and Ephesians 4

Women of Romans 16

Bold Women in the Bible

Risk (A Post About Priscilla and Aquila)

Women in the Life of Jesus: Women and Ephesians 4

I hope if you have made it this far with me, that you have enjoyed my series, Women in the Life of Jesus.  It was a lot of fun to write, and I learned so much along the way. Women are valuable to God, and He takes great delight in us.  We are not inferior to men, but equal in humanity and in the call He has on our lives.  That is so important to know in the age of the Church.

The Lord spoke to me earlier this year and told me that the reason there are people in opposition to women in leadership in the Church, is that they don’t understand Kingdom dynamics.  We are not called to Lord it over individuals but to serve.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”-Mark 10:42-45

All women have been given gifts in the Body of Christ.  Some of them are called to the list in Ephesians 4. If you will see my post about Mary the Evangelist, I explain more about this passage there.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, -Ephesians 4:11-12

Examples of women from the Bible who possibly walked in the ministry gifts in Ephesians 4 include:

Apostle-Junia (Romans 16)

Prophet-Deborah (Judges 4), Anna (Luke 2), Phillip's daughters (Acts 21)

Pastor (Shepherd)-Lydia (Acts 16), Priscilla (Romans 16)

Teacher-Priscilla (Acts 18)

Evangelist-The Samaritan Woman (John 4), Mary Magdalene (Mark 16)

This is a short list. There are many other women listed in the Scriptures, and down through Church history that served this way. If you find these women in Scripture, you find them in the Body of Christ today.  All of these woman are a picture of how other women are supposed to be functioning in the Church.

Jesus loves women. We see Him teaching women great spiritual truths throughout the Gospels. We see them functioning and active in the Early Church. And we should see them ministering to others in whatever way the Lord has gifted them today.

I believe there are lots of women out there who, though they may not have a job in a physical church building, you may not see yourself doing anything for the Body of Christ.  That is not true. The Body of Christ is not in a building.  It is in the people who come in the building. Jesus lives within you. Much of the ministry that took place within the Early Church as found in the book of Acts happened outside of a building. I am not saying that it is not important for Believers to meet together because it is. Connection to the Church encourages and strengthens us.  But you carry the Kingdom of God wherever you go.  He has placed you where you are now with purpose and given you gift of the Holy Spirit and ministry gifts to carry out His plans for your life, to tell others are about Jesus and to call other people into the Kingdom of God.  Just keep stepping forward and get to know Him and all that He has done for you. Then you will be able to lead many others to Him.

Recently, I wanted to look up some information about women in the book of Romans, so I pulled this book off my shelf called, "What the Bible is All About" by a woman named Henrietta Mears. This is a very well known book, and I highly recommend it for your Bible study. It contains a short synopsis of each book of the Bible along with some other information about Biblical history for your study.

As I was flipping through the pages I came to the section on Judges, and my eyes fell on this, a commentary by Ms. Mears about the prophetess Deborah. It was so cool that I had to share. It reads,

"Now a prophetess arises in Israel (Judges 4:4) She was one of those rare women whose heart burns with enthusiasm when people's hearts are despondent. Many a queen, like England's Elizabeth II, has reigned with honor and wisdom, and often a woman's voice has struck a deep note that has roused nations." (page 113, "What the Bible is All About")

Isn't that an amazing tribute? There are many woman in the Bible whose voice has changed circumstances and turned the tide of events for people. There are many countless women throughout Church history whom this could also be said about. And God is still raising up women for this purpose today!

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace, peace, and love in Him,

Beth

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.