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| 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
Risk (A Post About Priscilla and Aquila)
