Does 'Gender' Dictate Anointing?

Growing up in a Christian environment meant exposure to teachings which sometimes seems to promote male supremacy.  At sixteen I was just happy to be in church and serving God.  However, I could not help but noticed that there were some brothers who would diplomatically express that a woman’s place is in the home.   I remember one Bible class in particular where the Elder taught that a woman is not to teach and that wives were to take a leaf from Sarah’s book in honouring their husbands as she did to Abraham, calling them lord.  I also noticed that whenever there were any kinds of problem within the assembly the brothers would complain to the pastor that the sisters were not ‘submitted to them’ and the flag of non-submission was constantly being flown.

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This troubled me, as the thought of every brother in the church being able to boss me around was unacceptable.  Having an innate desire to teach sent me on a quest to study the word of God.  My eyes became opened to the existing gender-hierarchy which had prevailed.  The obvious stereotypical role of Sunday school teacher, prayer service leader, testimony service leader or main service leader were clearly female dominated areas.   Desiring to be a main Bible study teacher, Elder or even a pastor would attract such disapproval and a clear quotation reminding that a woman should really be 'silent' in the church.

The urgency for me was to understand whether or not my gender dictated my anointing?  I had been taught that God had opened up his gift and poured his anointing on servants and handmaidens as well as sons and daughters.  There was no distinction between what was poured out, as it was the self-same Spirit, providing to all severally as God willed.  On top of this, I had spent time in prayer, fasting, reading and studying the word in a bid to harness a relationship with God.   How could God be so invested in me, inviting me to his fold with promises of grandeur; yet limit the anointing based solely on my gender?  Was it not God who made me female?  Why then would he penalise me for being female?  Why would he erect a boundary as to how far I could attain with him because I am female?  I could not accept it.

I therefore embarked on a study spanning the bronze and archaic era and down through the ages to the twenty first century.  On completion  I realised that much of what was taught and practiced concerning women and their roles within the Christian community was based on a misconception.  In my book ‘Genderless Anointing, there his neither male nor female’, I investigated the socio-classes which existed during the time of Paul and gave a thorough explanation of 1 Corinthians chapters 1 to 14; taking time to show that knowing the scriptures, simply to render a quotation is not enough.

One of the things that stood out was the misinterpretations of the writings of Paul.  It became evident that the fallacy spawned from an insertion of English definitions attached to epistles originally written in Greek.  While negating their customs and culture; and without an understanding of their language, we parallel two separate eras overlaying their language with English demarcations and their customs with a westernise culture, thereby teaching errors.

Let me be the first to say that the word of God is infallible; however man’s interpretation without thorough study can lead to a totally misconstrued teaching.  Coupled with a teaching on submission we ostracise the greater church community of female believers, teaching male supremacy, a doctrine cultivated within the corridors of Greek philosophy; heralded by Aristotle and Socrates, which was completely rejected by Paul.  Nevertheless, when we apply the English translated text with its definitions, what Paul once rejected becomes what is piped from our pulpits, thereby making Paul the most slandered apostle.

Paul promoted equality in his assembly, pointing out that once we accepted Jesus Christ, the separations which existed were broken down.  There were no more divisions between races, not between Jews or Greek, there were now no difference between social classes between slaves and freemen, they were all accepted; similarly there were no more distinction between the sexes, it did not matter if you were male or female.  In the eyes of God all were now equal according to Galatians 3:28.

The idea that the anointing is dependent on gender paints God as a chauvinistic discriminate who gives preferential benefits to those of the male populous; and I for one cannot begin to even imagine nor believe that God has those traits.  I do not and will not accept that gender plays any role in how anointed an individual becomes, and I do not believe that men are more anointed than women purely based on the fact that they are men.

I believe that the same God over all is rich unto all who call upon his name and what he gives to us is the same, the only difference separating us is how dedicated we are in our walk, and the relationship we invest in having with God.

To all those who feel the tug of ministry, do not be hindered by your gender, step out knowing that the selfsame Spirit divides to every one of us as God sees fit; and God’s decisions are not gender biased.