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Randall Balmer’s article, “Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics & A New (I Think) Argument for Women’s Ordination,” challenges a familiar objection: Jesus chose male apostles, so ordained ministers must always be male.[^1]
Balmer asks a simple question: If the apostles’ maleness is permanently binding, why isn’t their Jewish identity? The Twelve were Jewish men shaped by a particular first-century culture, yet most Christian traditions do not believe that only Jewish men can be ordained.[^2]
This comparison exposes the central problem: why should gender alone be treated as a permanent qualification while other features of the apostles’ identity are understood historically? The question does not settle every debate about Paul’s letters, church tradition or sacramental theology, but it requires opponents of women’s ordination to explain why maleness should permanently disqualify women from ordained ministry.
The case for women’s ordination rests on a broader biblical and theological vision.
Jesus Called Women to Discipleship and Witness
The Gospels show women traveling with Jesus, supporting his ministry and witnessing his crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Luke names Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna among those who accompanied him (Luke 8:1–3).[^3]
Mary Magdalene stands at the center of the Easter story. In John’s Gospel, the risen Christ sends her to the disciples, and she returns with the message:
> “I have seen the Lord.”
> —John 20:18
The other Gospels also identify women as the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the resurrection message (Matthew 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:1–12). Later Christian tradition called Mary Magdalene “apostle to the apostles,” recognizing the authority of her proclamation.[^4]
If women were entrusted with Christianity’s foundational announcement, the resurrection, then the church should not exclude them from proclaiming and embodying that Gospel through ordained ministry.
Baptism and the Discernment of Ministry
Paul writes:
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
—Galatians 3:28
Paul emphasizes unity and equality in Christ, while the New Testament describes spiritual gifts as coming from the Holy Spirit rather than being reserved for men (Romans 12:3–8; 1 Corinthians 12:4–31).[^5]
Ministry, therefore, should be discerned through gifts, calling and the recognition of the community—not gender alone. Baptism, not maleness, is the foundation of Christian identity and vocation.
Women in the Earliest Churches
The New Testament also records women exercising meaningful leadership. Paul calls Phoebe a diakonos - deacon- of the church at Cenchreae and a benefactor of many, including himself (Romans 16:1–2).[^6] He greets Prisca and Aquila as fellow workers in Christ (Romans 16:3–5), and Acts describes them teaching Apollos together (Acts 18:24–26).[^7]
Romans 16:7 refers to Junia as prominent among the apostles.[^8] Women also appear as patrons, coworkers, prophets and hosts of house churches. Paul assumes that women pray and prophesy in Christian worship (1 Corinthians 11:5).
Historian Gary Macy has documented women’s leadership in medieval ecclesial and liturgical ministry. Because the meaning of “ordination” varied across periods and institutions, this history challenges the assertion that women’s ordained ministry has no precedent.[^9]
The Deeper Question: How Do We Understand God and Sacramental Representation?
The deepest issue concerns how we understand God, Christ, the church and the meaning of sacramental representation.
The strongest objection begins with a serious Christian claim: Jesus Christ was historically male. In the Eucharist, the priest acts in persona Christi—in the person of Christ—and some theologians therefore argue that a male priest is required to represent the male Jesus sacramentally. They also appeal to apostolic succession: Christ chose male apostles, the apostles entrusted ministry to male successors, and the church has preserved that pattern through its ordained tradition. On this view, priestly symbolism is not merely a matter of social custom but a visible sign of Christ’s identity and the church’s continuity with the apostles.[^10]
These arguments deserve a direct response.
First, Jesus’ maleness is real, but it does not mean that every priest must reproduce every feature of his historical identity. Jesus was also Jewish, first-century Palestinian, unmarried and a particular individual with a particular body and voice. Priests do not represent Christ by duplicating all these characteristics.They represent Christ through the church’s sacramental action, proclamation of the Gospel, and pastoral service .
Second:The risen Christ is not confined to a male body. In baptism, Christians are incorporated into Christ: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). If all the baptized participate in Christ, then women can represent Christ as members of his body, called and gifted by the Spirit.
Third: The apostles were Jewish, yet the church does not require Jewish ethnicity for priestly ministry. They were also drawn from a particular social and cultural setting, yet the church has recognized ministers across nations, languages and cultures. The question, then, is whether maleness is uniquely essential to apostolic succession or whether it has been treated as essential because patriarchal societies assumed that leadership was naturally male. I believe the latter is true.
Fourth. A priest represents Christ, but a priest also represents the church, the baptized community and humanity gathered before God. The Eucharist is not a dramatic reenactment in which the priest must physically resemble Jesus; it is the sacramental action of the whole church in which Body of Christ - the people of God -is the true celebrant- not the priest alone. A woman priest can therefore signify Christ’s self-giving love while also making visible the truth that women, fully and equally, belong to Christ’s body and share in his mission.
Christian theology teaches that God is not a male human being and is not limited by human sex or gender. Genesis says:
“God created humankind in the divine image…male and female God created them.”
—Genesis 1:27
Women and men and all genders reflect the image of God. Ordination therefore, does not depend on biological maleness but on baptism, call, community affirmation and oneness in Christ.
Apostolic succession is best understood as fidelity to the apostles’ Gospel and mission, not as the preservation of every feature of their historical circumstances. And priestly symbolism reveals Christ’s inclusive humanity and loving service rather than reinforcing a hierarchy in which men alone are permitted to stand for Christ. Every baptized person represents Christ.
The Roman Catholic magisterium teaches that the church lacks authority to ordain women, while many other Christian traditions reject that conclusion.[^11]
In my view, ordination should be understood as service within the whole baptized community, not membership in a spiritual hierarchy.
In the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, we seek a model of priestly ministry rooted in Gospel equality, shared leadership, inclusive communities and justice. Church renewal requires accountability, collaboration, pastoral care, economic justice and the participation of the entire baptized community.[^12]
This understanding of women’s ordination contributes to that renewal by helping create a priestly ministry grounded in service and shared responsibility in inclusive communities of equals. See www.arcwp.org for list of women priests -led communities and RCWP-USA website.
https://arcwp.org/ministries/inclusive-catholic-communities/
https://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/find-community/
The Church Is Already Changing in our world today.
Women already preach, teach theology, lead communities, accompany the dying, baptize, witness marriages and serve in many other forms of ministry. Some preside at the Eucharist in churches that ordain women; others do so in communities whose sacramental status is rejected by churches such as the Roman Catholic Church.[^13]
The question is not whether women are capable of ministry or whether they experience genuine calls to ordained service. Many clearly do. The question is whether churches will recognize those calls and revise theological, canonical and sacramental systems that exclude women.
Randall Balmer concludes that it may be time to revisit the familiar arguments against women’s ordination. I agree.
The Gospel calls the church to follow Jesus, recognize the gifts of the Spirit and seek justice.
Women are called.
Many churches ordain women.
Women are already leading communities of faith in many ways.
Through them—and through all whose gifts have been pushed to the margins—the church can become more faithful to its baptismal vocation: a community where everyone is welcomed at the table and encouraged to serve according to the gifts of the Spirit.
The Spirit is not waiting for the church to decide whether women may lead. The Spirit is already at work.
Read Randall Balmer’s original article in Good Faith Media.
[^1]: Randall Balmer, “By the Way: Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics & a New (I Think) Argument for Women’s Ordination,” Good Faith Media, August 13, 2025, https://goodfaithmedia.org/by-the-way-southern-baptists-roman-catholics-a-new-i-think-argument-for-womens-ordination.
[^2]: Balmer’s comparison is an argument about consistency: if one historical characteristic of the apostles is treated as permanently normative, other characteristics may require the same treatment unless a theological reason is given for distinguishing them.
[^3]: Luke 8:1–3 identifies Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and “many others” as women who accompanied Jesus and supported his ministry.
[^4]: The title “apostle to the apostles” appears in Christian tradition and is associated especially with Mary Magdalene’s role as the first witness and messenger of the resurrection. See, for example, Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on the Song of Songs 25.6.
[^5]: These passages describe the diversity of gifts within the body of Christ and attribute them to God’s grace and the Holy Spirit.
[^6]: The Greek term diakonos can mean “deacon.” Its precise institutional meaning in Romans 16:1 is debated but the passage clearly presents Phoebe as an important leader of the church at Cenchreae.
[^7]: Prisca is named before Aquila in Romans 16:3 and Acts 18:26, a detail some scholars regard as evidence of her prominence in the early Christian mission.
[^8]: The interpretation of Romans 16:7 is debated. Some translations render Junia as “well known to the apostles,” while others understand the phrase to mean that she was “prominent among the apostles.” The name Junia is widely recognized by contemporary scholarship as a woman’s name.
[^9]: Gary Macy, The Hidden History of Women’s Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
[^10]: For a classic Roman Catholic formulation of the argument that priestly representation requires a male minister, see Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter Insigniores: Declaration on the Question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (1976), especially sections 4–5.
[^11]: See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Inter Insigniores (1976); John Paul II, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994); and Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Responsum ad Dubium Concerning the Teaching Contained in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1995). Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and many other Christian traditions ordain women, though practices vary by denomination.
[^12]: The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is part of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement, which describes its ministry as rooted in prophetic obedience, gender equality and inclusive sacramental communities. The Roman Catholic Church does not recognize these ordinations as valid and regards them as contrary to canon law.
[^13]: Churches that ordain women include many Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and other Protestant bodies, as well as some Old Catholic and independent Catholic communities. Recognition of ordination and sacramental validity varies among churches.
(ChatGPT was used as an editorial assistant in organizing this article but content reflects author’s theology and ecclesiology. )
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