I come from a line of women minsters, teachers, preachers and even what some would call an Apostle, my grandmother was a Four-Square Pentecostal home church preacher, and my spiritual mother was one of the first Missionary of Pentecostal Holiness movement in Hawaii during the 1930-40’s. I have heard the debates regarding women preachers, teachers and women in the church, there is scriptural evidence for both sides. This subject is so hotly debated that I personally think we are missing what Christ has called us as His disciples to do which is to go and tell them, Jesus didn’t say which sex was to tell them, He said GO YE into all the world [Matthew 20:18-20].
The issue of women serving as pastors/preachers/teachers/evangelist and any other position or office within the church should not be about men vs. women, but it should be about leadership within the church itself. Women in roles of leadership and what the Bible has to say, regarding one Timothy 2:11- 14-and 1 Corinthians 14:33-40 and women in ministry. Some feel that women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions on the ministry of women, and vice versa, this is not about chauvinism or discrimination but rather an issue of biblical interpretation. This issue maybe crippling the church for it takes the focus off what we are all called to do… GO and tell them. But for the sake of love I will try to address why I do what I do, why am I in ministry.
Let us look to the author and finisher of our faith…Jesus as our example
Well Jesus chose only men as His apostles [Mark 3:13-19], and that is cited by some within the church as the reason why men should be appointed to church leadership roles, yet however, Jesus did have a number of women among His larger circle of disciples [Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:1-3, 23:49, John 20:14-18]. In the Early Church there were a number of women that held important positions in the early churches [Acts 1:12-14, 18:24-26, 21:7-9, Romans 16:1-16]. BUT THE BIBLE SAYS: Bible Prohibitions- much of the opposition of women in ministry is based on these two passages: 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 their related verses 1 Corinthians 11:3, Ephesians 5:22-23. The Apostle Paul accepted that people may have different roles in society, yet he proclaimed that all believers are equal in God's sight: Galatians 3:26-29.
Let us continue our looking to the word for more light upon the subject Can women have positions within the church. Most of the Bible's teachings about women are based upon the foundation laid in Genesis GOD's intentions for men and women are spelled out clearly.
GOD created the woman as a "helper" for the man Genesis 2:18, but the word “Helper does not imply that the woman was inferior or subservient to the man. The word Helper is translated from the same Hebrew word, `ezer, which when translated to the word "helper," and is also used to describe GOD in Psalm 33:20, Psalm 70:5, Psalm 115:9-11 and in fact GOD created both men and women in His own image and made them equal custodians of all His creation Genesis 2:27-28, Genesis 5:1-2 so the man and woman, , disobeyed GOD in the Garden of Eden and GOD gave each of them punishments before evicting them from the Garden Genesis 3:16-19. What sense the husband was to rule over his wife, and this been the subject of debate in the church as to what women in the church can and cannot do, but regardless of how Eve's punishment was originally intended, this passage is key to understanding later Biblical teachings about women. The punishments on both Adam and Eve were clearly imposed by GOD and GOD did not reduce women to an inferior status, nor did He command men to rule harshly over their wives. However, it has sometimes been thought that GOD's punishment of Eve was justification for the discredit and suppression of women.
A note to demonstrate the equality of men and women, the Ten Commandments require children to honor both their father and mother Exodus 20:12.
What Would Jesus DO- while the whole world around Him said women were to stay at home and be good wives Jesus allowed women to travel with Him and His twelve disciples Luke 8:1-3. "Proper" Jews did not speak to Samaritans, and certainly not to Samaritan women but Jesus did with a Samaritan woman at well John 4:4-30, 39-42. Jewish women were generally not educated but Martha's sister, Mary, sat at Jesus' feet in the role of a disciple while Jesus taught her and Jesus suggested that Martha do the same Luke 10:38-42. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Salome, Joanna, Susanna and other women were devoted followers and some remained with Jesus to comfort Him at His crucifixion when all His apostles had fled in terror [Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41] and let’s not forget the first to preach the GOSPEL… “HE HAS RISEN” Mary Magdalene and other women Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-11.
Let us look at the example of “Slavery”
Slavery was an unpleasant fact in Biblical times and there are several New Testament passages urging slaves to accept their lot in life and be obedient to their masters. It was not because of any virtue in slavery [1 Corinthians 7:21-22], these same Biblical passages are used by white supremacists and those who still believe and justify slavery in the U.S. and other countries. Yet today, the vast majority of Christians view slavery as a horrible evil, incompatible with the teachings of Christ, and do not believe God decreed that people should be enslaved.
The same can be seen with women in the ministry as pastors, teachers, preachers etc. in fact, many of the passages urging women to be submissive are grouped with those urging slaves to obey their masters [Ephesians 5:22, 6:5-6, Colossians 3:18, 3:22, Titus 2:3-5, 2:9, 1 Peter 2:18, 3:1].
Bottom line is this GOD created both men and women in His own image and made them equal custodians of all His creation.
Let us look at the Word of GOD itself and take it one area at a time:
“A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” -1 Timothy 2:11-12.
There is the only one command in the entire passage is “let a woman learn” in verse 11. This is mostly to do with the Jewish custom, which often excluded women from the learning process, Paul pushed hard that they should learn. False teachers in particular were a concern that the Paul has had for the Ephesian women being led astray, as in 2 Timothy 3:6-7. Paul complained that some were turning away and following Satan in 1 Timothy 5:15 because they were being forbidden to learn. Paul, therefore, demanded that the women of Ephesus learn sound doctrine to guard themselves from false teaching, so they would not be deceived. I realized that a passage that is often used to disempower women is actually an empowering one. In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women.
Verse 12 is often translated, “I do not permit women to teach or to have authority over a man.” The word “to have authority” in Greek has a more insidious meaning: “instigating or perpetuating a crime” and “the active wielding of influence or the initiation of action.” The word does not show up in the rest of Scripture, but a large percent of the time in classical literature, the word has this darker meaning. Therefore, its meaning is not authority in general, but an undue, stolen authority. When the word is linked in parallel grammatically with “to teach,” we have something akin to Hebrew poetry where one verb can, though not always, have an effect on the other. However, the next three verses seemed to contradict my new understanding at first. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.”
Was Paul, referring back to Genesis, seemed to be saying that Adam is somehow superior? Let us use a little logical to clarify this, what did being physically “formed” first have to do with anything, does Adam being formed before Eve make him superior to her? If the answer to this argument is yes, and this is what this scripture is, implying then the animals must be superior to Adam, because they were formed before Adam, or maybe there is another angle we can look at this from? Could Paul have feasibly have meant that Eve was formed from Adam making him the source, and therefore superior. Okay if that is the case here again Adam was formed from dirt, so since dirt is the source in which Adam was taken from does that make the dirt superior to Adam? GOD does not do anything by chance, He choose to take woman from the rib of Adam.
To quote Matthew Henry, a 14th century commentator regarding the creation of woman, he states: “Woman was not taken from his head to be above him nor was she taken from his feet to be beneath him, but from his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, close to his heart to be loved by him. She is his helpmate not a slave.”
Deborah is a good example of a whoam who held a position, who was in authority, yet did not, as men like to say, usurp authority over the man. GOD does not seem to have that policy. He gave Deborah authority as a prophet and judge—[there were 13 male Judges] and there is no logical reason why the creation priority of man gives males exclusive authority in the religious sphere but not in civil government. The Bible clearly shows that although women rarely had civil authority, God does allow it, and the primary passage that would seem to limit female authority in the church is introduced as a policy rather than a command.
BUT let us just look at it simply... Did GOD call you... then DO it... GOD will use who, what, and WHOM HE wants to Use. We are all His Disciples, let us just shut up, GO, and tell them HE IS RISEN. Also on a side note regarding "Women being Emotional,” That's exactly what the Apostles said when Mary came and told them the GREAT GOSPEL message... "HE IS RISEN.” also remember it wasn't the women who ran from Christ during his trial, beatings, crucifixion either.
SO let us shut up, GO, and win the LOST... GO and fulfill the Great Commission instead of deciding who does what.
IN the end GOD is the judge of it all...
Let us run the race, fight the good fight and give the devil a black EYE...
Marine Evangelist Holy Ghost Terrorist... signing off.
Prayer: Father, in the name of Jesus, I plead that You will draw me closer Christ and salvation through Him [Proverbs 14:12]. Lord Jesus, I plead that You will seek out those who are lost and save them from eternal condemnation [Luke 19:10].Holy Spirit, I ask You through Your power that you help us who are called by Christ to preach and teach fulfilling the great commission and laying aside all manner of weights that hold us down but just to be one as You have called us to be in Your love. Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, I plead that the Word of God will take root in the lives of those I come across in my life planting the seeds of the gospel of salvation in them [Matthew 13:6, 20-21]. Father, I ask that the pleasures of this world and the pressures of life will not choke the Word of God that has been sown into the seeds that I have planted and send someone to water where I have and then You can reap the Harvest [Matthew 13:7, 22]. Father, I pray that You will send people continually into my life so that I will share the gospel with them [Romans 10:14]. Draw us together Holy Spirit to be one so that we can fulfill the Great Commission for Christ in Jesus name I pray Amen.
The issue of women serving as pastors/preachers/teachers/evangelist and any other position or office within the church should not be about men vs. women, but it should be about leadership within the church itself. Women in roles of leadership and what the Bible has to say, regarding one Timothy 2:11- 14-and 1 Corinthians 14:33-40 and women in ministry. Some feel that women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions on the ministry of women, and vice versa, this is not about chauvinism or discrimination but rather an issue of biblical interpretation. This issue maybe crippling the church for it takes the focus off what we are all called to do… GO and tell them. But for the sake of love I will try to address why I do what I do, why am I in ministry.
Let us look to the author and finisher of our faith…Jesus as our example
Well Jesus chose only men as His apostles [Mark 3:13-19], and that is cited by some within the church as the reason why men should be appointed to church leadership roles, yet however, Jesus did have a number of women among His larger circle of disciples [Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41, Luke 8:1-3, 23:49, John 20:14-18]. In the Early Church there were a number of women that held important positions in the early churches [Acts 1:12-14, 18:24-26, 21:7-9, Romans 16:1-16]. BUT THE BIBLE SAYS: Bible Prohibitions- much of the opposition of women in ministry is based on these two passages: 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 their related verses 1 Corinthians 11:3, Ephesians 5:22-23. The Apostle Paul accepted that people may have different roles in society, yet he proclaimed that all believers are equal in God's sight: Galatians 3:26-29.
Let us continue our looking to the word for more light upon the subject Can women have positions within the church. Most of the Bible's teachings about women are based upon the foundation laid in Genesis GOD's intentions for men and women are spelled out clearly.
GOD created the woman as a "helper" for the man Genesis 2:18, but the word “Helper does not imply that the woman was inferior or subservient to the man. The word Helper is translated from the same Hebrew word, `ezer, which when translated to the word "helper," and is also used to describe GOD in Psalm 33:20, Psalm 70:5, Psalm 115:9-11 and in fact GOD created both men and women in His own image and made them equal custodians of all His creation Genesis 2:27-28, Genesis 5:1-2 so the man and woman, , disobeyed GOD in the Garden of Eden and GOD gave each of them punishments before evicting them from the Garden Genesis 3:16-19. What sense the husband was to rule over his wife, and this been the subject of debate in the church as to what women in the church can and cannot do, but regardless of how Eve's punishment was originally intended, this passage is key to understanding later Biblical teachings about women. The punishments on both Adam and Eve were clearly imposed by GOD and GOD did not reduce women to an inferior status, nor did He command men to rule harshly over their wives. However, it has sometimes been thought that GOD's punishment of Eve was justification for the discredit and suppression of women.
A note to demonstrate the equality of men and women, the Ten Commandments require children to honor both their father and mother Exodus 20:12.
What Would Jesus DO- while the whole world around Him said women were to stay at home and be good wives Jesus allowed women to travel with Him and His twelve disciples Luke 8:1-3. "Proper" Jews did not speak to Samaritans, and certainly not to Samaritan women but Jesus did with a Samaritan woman at well John 4:4-30, 39-42. Jewish women were generally not educated but Martha's sister, Mary, sat at Jesus' feet in the role of a disciple while Jesus taught her and Jesus suggested that Martha do the same Luke 10:38-42. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Salome, Joanna, Susanna and other women were devoted followers and some remained with Jesus to comfort Him at His crucifixion when all His apostles had fled in terror [Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41] and let’s not forget the first to preach the GOSPEL… “HE HAS RISEN” Mary Magdalene and other women Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-11.
Let us look at the example of “Slavery”
Slavery was an unpleasant fact in Biblical times and there are several New Testament passages urging slaves to accept their lot in life and be obedient to their masters. It was not because of any virtue in slavery [1 Corinthians 7:21-22], these same Biblical passages are used by white supremacists and those who still believe and justify slavery in the U.S. and other countries. Yet today, the vast majority of Christians view slavery as a horrible evil, incompatible with the teachings of Christ, and do not believe God decreed that people should be enslaved.
The same can be seen with women in the ministry as pastors, teachers, preachers etc. in fact, many of the passages urging women to be submissive are grouped with those urging slaves to obey their masters [Ephesians 5:22, 6:5-6, Colossians 3:18, 3:22, Titus 2:3-5, 2:9, 1 Peter 2:18, 3:1].
Bottom line is this GOD created both men and women in His own image and made them equal custodians of all His creation.
Let us look at the Word of GOD itself and take it one area at a time:
“A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” -1 Timothy 2:11-12.
There is the only one command in the entire passage is “let a woman learn” in verse 11. This is mostly to do with the Jewish custom, which often excluded women from the learning process, Paul pushed hard that they should learn. False teachers in particular were a concern that the Paul has had for the Ephesian women being led astray, as in 2 Timothy 3:6-7. Paul complained that some were turning away and following Satan in 1 Timothy 5:15 because they were being forbidden to learn. Paul, therefore, demanded that the women of Ephesus learn sound doctrine to guard themselves from false teaching, so they would not be deceived. I realized that a passage that is often used to disempower women is actually an empowering one. In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women.
Verse 12 is often translated, “I do not permit women to teach or to have authority over a man.” The word “to have authority” in Greek has a more insidious meaning: “instigating or perpetuating a crime” and “the active wielding of influence or the initiation of action.” The word does not show up in the rest of Scripture, but a large percent of the time in classical literature, the word has this darker meaning. Therefore, its meaning is not authority in general, but an undue, stolen authority. When the word is linked in parallel grammatically with “to teach,” we have something akin to Hebrew poetry where one verb can, though not always, have an effect on the other. However, the next three verses seemed to contradict my new understanding at first. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.”
Was Paul, referring back to Genesis, seemed to be saying that Adam is somehow superior? Let us use a little logical to clarify this, what did being physically “formed” first have to do with anything, does Adam being formed before Eve make him superior to her? If the answer to this argument is yes, and this is what this scripture is, implying then the animals must be superior to Adam, because they were formed before Adam, or maybe there is another angle we can look at this from? Could Paul have feasibly have meant that Eve was formed from Adam making him the source, and therefore superior. Okay if that is the case here again Adam was formed from dirt, so since dirt is the source in which Adam was taken from does that make the dirt superior to Adam? GOD does not do anything by chance, He choose to take woman from the rib of Adam.
To quote Matthew Henry, a 14th century commentator regarding the creation of woman, he states: “Woman was not taken from his head to be above him nor was she taken from his feet to be beneath him, but from his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, close to his heart to be loved by him. She is his helpmate not a slave.”
Deborah is a good example of a whoam who held a position, who was in authority, yet did not, as men like to say, usurp authority over the man. GOD does not seem to have that policy. He gave Deborah authority as a prophet and judge—[there were 13 male Judges] and there is no logical reason why the creation priority of man gives males exclusive authority in the religious sphere but not in civil government. The Bible clearly shows that although women rarely had civil authority, God does allow it, and the primary passage that would seem to limit female authority in the church is introduced as a policy rather than a command.
BUT let us just look at it simply... Did GOD call you... then DO it... GOD will use who, what, and WHOM HE wants to Use. We are all His Disciples, let us just shut up, GO, and tell them HE IS RISEN. Also on a side note regarding "Women being Emotional,” That's exactly what the Apostles said when Mary came and told them the GREAT GOSPEL message... "HE IS RISEN.” also remember it wasn't the women who ran from Christ during his trial, beatings, crucifixion either.
SO let us shut up, GO, and win the LOST... GO and fulfill the Great Commission instead of deciding who does what.
IN the end GOD is the judge of it all...
Let us run the race, fight the good fight and give the devil a black EYE...
Marine Evangelist Holy Ghost Terrorist... signing off.
Prayer: Father, in the name of Jesus, I plead that You will draw me closer Christ and salvation through Him [Proverbs 14:12]. Lord Jesus, I plead that You will seek out those who are lost and save them from eternal condemnation [Luke 19:10].Holy Spirit, I ask You through Your power that you help us who are called by Christ to preach and teach fulfilling the great commission and laying aside all manner of weights that hold us down but just to be one as You have called us to be in Your love. Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, I plead that the Word of God will take root in the lives of those I come across in my life planting the seeds of the gospel of salvation in them [Matthew 13:6, 20-21]. Father, I ask that the pleasures of this world and the pressures of life will not choke the Word of God that has been sown into the seeds that I have planted and send someone to water where I have and then You can reap the Harvest [Matthew 13:7, 22]. Father, I pray that You will send people continually into my life so that I will share the gospel with them [Romans 10:14]. Draw us together Holy Spirit to be one so that we can fulfill the Great Commission for Christ in Jesus name I pray Amen.
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