Influential Women (eBook)

CHAPTER 1

Two Quarrelling Women

Euodia was chatting in a corner with Clement’s wife. It was still early on Sunday morning and the heat had not yet penetrated the cool courtyard. Vine leaves were curling over trellis work, and water trickled into an ornamental pool. It would be hot later on, but Lydia’s spacious house was a pleasant refuge for the saints to meet in. They were gathering now on this first day of the week. Some of the men were helping to put out chairs, and many of the women were arriving with covered baskets containing food to be shared later at the “love feast”, the meal with which they ended their meetings.

Euodia glanced around, and a frown creased her forehead. She deliberately turned her back and gazed fixedly away from the doorway. Clement’s wife turned to see what had prompted this behaviour; it was as she suspected: Syntyche had come in. Her heart sank as she watched an angry flush spread over Syntyche’s face and neck. The woman’s mouth set into a hard line as she flounced over to the opposite side of the courtyard.

Clement’s wife sighed. This was getting ridiculous! The trouble was that neither of the women would yield, and now others were getting drawn into their feud. It had started over such a trivial matter, something that really was unimportant. Yet the church they all belonged to was composed of an amazingly disparate group of people who had learned to love one another, despite enormous differences.

Take Lydia, for example: a wealthy businesswoman from Thyatira across the Aegean Sea. After her husband died she had taken on his business, dealing in purple dye, a hugely expensive commodity extracted from a tiny shellfish. Only wealthy people, such as the Roman aristocracy, could afford to dress in cloth dyed in this way. Thyatira was a centre for this industry, and Lydia’s family became very wealthy. She proved to be extremely able in running the business, and was able to buy another house in Philippi as well as her home in Thyatira.

But although she was successful, Lydia’s heart was empty. Searching for truth, she had decided to investigate Judaism and began to meet with a group of Jewish women down by the river. Then one day, Paul had turned up with three friends, and as they preached their message, Lydia’s heart was opened to receive the gospel!

Then there was the little slave girl, rescued from the abusive clutches of a couple of men. They had exploited her apparent gift of fortune-telling, taking every penny for themselves, and keeping her in abject slavery and poverty. She had had no self-respect, no identity, no possessions, but she was set free, saved and added to the growing group of believers.

Perhaps even more striking was the conversion of the Roman jailer and his family. After the slave girl was delivered of the evil spirit that was driving her, her owners, deprived of an easy income, had seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities, accusing them of insurrection. Paul and Silas were thrown into jail. During the night, a violent earthquake shook the prison, and all the cell doors burst open! The jailer, in despair, was about to end his life, when Paul forestalled him. True to form, Paul seized the opportunity to preach the gospel to him, with the result that the man and his household were saved and added to the church.

***

We see that this church at Philippi was made up of a hugely diverse group of people: Jews, Greeks and Romans, men and women, rich and poor, members of the upper class and freed slaves. Yet they were all united by their love for Jesus and by joy in their salvation. There were so many issues that could have resulted in long-term division, but they were learning to forbear, forgive, love and serve one another.

What had happened to spoil this happy situation?

People are always looking for a perfect church; the joke is, of course, that as soon as they find one and join it, it is no longer perfect! Every church is at risk of division, and often it is through secondary issues that conflict arises. What do we know of these two unfortunate women, Euodia and Syntyche?

Hard-working, loyal Christians

First of all, they were hard-working, loyal Christian women. They were not evil! They were not masquerading as Christians; they had not infiltrated the church under false pretences. Paul does not dismiss them, pour withering scorn on them, or belittle their achievements. In fact he speaks warmly, commending them. Their names, he says, are in the book of life! This implies that they have been accepted by God, and he is not about to throw them out of his church for spoiling it. No, Paul gives them due dignity as fellow-Christians.

He also goes on to commend Euodia and Syntyche as those who have “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel”, along with other fellow-workers. How many people could own that distinction? To have actually worked alongside the apostle was not something that everyone could claim. One wonders what it entailed. Doubtless, these two women had to make difficult decisions when adhering to Christian values in a pagan society. Perhaps they were despised and slandered. They may have been part of an evangelistic team, even taking their turn in giving testimony and preaching the gospel. The use of the word “contended” implies that they were at times involved in conflict, but they evidently stood firm and did not back off from their convictions. They were courageous, loyal and unswerving.

We need to see that Paul does not allow the current behaviour of these women to sour his attitude to them, or to the undoubtedly good things they had accomplished. He affirms them. Too often, when people are not walking in step with others, they cast shadows on past history, speaking derogatively of actions and achievements which actually have been fruitful and positive.

The issue was not the issue!

So what was the dispute between these two women all about? Paul does not go into detail. In fact, for him, the issue is not the issue. He is not interested in their argument, only in the health of the church which is being threatened by the tense, edgy atmosphere produced by these quarrelling women. He does not take sides. He does not wish to enter into discussion about who is right and who is wrong; he is simply anxious for them to reconcile – and quickly!

The fact that Paul does not enter into the dispute persuades me that it was most probably over a trivial matter. If, for example, one of the women had been flirting with, or sleeping with, the other’s husband, that would have been a moral issue requiring a stringent disciplinary process in which the church elders would have been involved.

Could it have been a doctrinal disagreement? Maybe, but I tend to think that, if one or both of the women had been vocal in challenging foundational doctrine or in seeking to propagate error, then again Paul would have been exact and focused in isolating the problem and instructing elders to deal with it. This would not have been alluded to vaguely in two verses. Here the apostle puts the responsibility back on the women to sort it out, not on the eldership.

Potential pitfalls

So what kinds of things cause women to disagree? There are so many potential pitfalls. In that racially mixed church, perhaps one woman was Greek and the other Jewish, provoking cultural problems (their names, however, suggest that they were both of Greek origin). Certainly, cultural issues will undoubtedly continue to raise their heads today as we seek to build multiracial churches, and we must guard against these becoming divisive.

Both Euodia and Syntyche seem to have been involved in ministry of some kind. Perhaps jealousy reared its ugly head. Perhaps one felt she was being ignored while the other was gaining recognition. Perhaps Syntyche was given to prophesying, and her prophecies were highly regarded, while Euodia had occasional prophecies but did not really flow fluently in the gift, causing her disappointment and aggravation. Surely not, we might say! But in all honesty, have not many Christian woman heard another woman share a testimony or word of encouragement, and wished they had stepped out in faith themselves? I have felt this way … and I have had to repent of jealousy, a very destructive force if allowed to fester.

Close on the heels of jealousy is competitiveness. This is where wrong motivation confuses the picture. We are exhorted to seek spiritual gifts, but for the right reasons. They are intended to edify the church, to build everyone up, not to bolster a person’s own ego. The only things we should be seeking to outdo one another in are expressions of love, such as serving one another, forgiving one another, and loving one another.

Other things that can divide women are thoughtless behaviour, criticism and selfishness. The glory of the church is that we have been saved out of a myriad of different backgrounds, and are all sinners who have been redeemed but not yet fully sanctified. Those who have been Christians for a long time must give grace to the “babes in Christ”, while the new converts need to give respect to the more mature in Christ.

This, of course, leads on to another potential source of discord: personality...