‘To the canonical Scriptures alone I owe agreement without dissent,’ says Augustine. ‘My conscience is captive to the Word of God,’ cries Martin Luther. Martin Anstey writes, ‘the primary qualification demanded in the reader of the Bible is not scholarship but surrender, not expert knowledge but willingness to be led by the Spirit of God.’ Perhaps the old Puritan John Trapp is the shortest and most reliable of all commentators. ‘Where the Scripture hath no tongue, we must have no ears.’

A fresh appreciation in the light of contemporary church disorder
Can women be ordained to Christian ministry? Should they be bishops or hold office as pastor/teachers in the 21st century? These and many other related questions, are being asked and acted upon in an increasingly fluid, controversial, and divisive atmosphere within the professing Christian Church. The practice of ordaining women for Christian ministry has occurred at the same time as a growing concern to ensure equality and rights in today’s liberal and so-called progressive society.

Are we to follow the politically-correct agenda of the 21st century, or the clear teachings of the entirely trustworthy and final authoritative Word of the Living God? Today, too many decisions are taken, not on the basis of Revealed Truth, but in respect of expediency, function, and worldly approval. This is not the way to obtain God’s blessing. 2 Timothy 3:12-17 must remain the Christian’s fundamental charter. It must also be the unshakeable ground upon which the Christian Church, seeking first almighty God’s approval, takes its stand and builds its edifice, to his glory alone (Eph. 4:1-16; and 5:20-27).

The influence of the Church of England – not a model for faithful Christian Churches
Without doubt, the change from a male-only ordained ministry has been driven forward by the Established Church of England. Due to the support of many evangelicals within the National Church, some evangelical nonconformists are confused and could be in real danger of adopting a politically-correct agenda. Without evangelical support in the Established Church, the contemporary innovations would not have been possible. The Synod of the Church of England voted to allow women’s ordination in November 1992.

In 1966, An Archbishop’s Commission published Women and Holy Orders. A narrow majority of the Anglican Consultative Commission gave support for the Bishop of Hong Kong to ordain two women deacons as presbyters in April 1977. When eventually consulted, 30 of the 43 dioceses of the Church of England passed ‘no fundamental objections in all three Houses” (laity, clergy, bishops) for the ordination of women, although there was significant opposition from Anglo-Catholics and a few conservative evangelicals. The legislation for General Approval came in July 1983. But things grind slowly in the Church of England. Over the next decade the debate continued.

The Right Reverend J. Barry Shucksmith is a retired Bishop of the Free Church of England
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