Question:
Should women be allowed to teach Bible lessons and speak during worship services? Are they not supposed to remain silent in the church?
Answer:
This question has been asked many times, and we have provided responses in other posts (see “REGARDING WOMEN”and “CAN WOMEN SPEAK IN THE CHURCH?”). We will refer to a section of our church’s bylaws to offer another response to this question:
The Bible presents women as full participants with men in the religious and social life of the church. In the fifth year of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry, the priests went to Huldah, the prophetess, for counsel (2 Kings 22:13-14). Women served as musicians and attendants at the tabernacle and Temple (1 Samuel 2:22; 1 Chronicles 25:5-6; Psalm 68:24-25). Women prayed aloud and prophesied in the church (1 Corinthians 11:5). They labored side by side with Paul and other workers in the gospel (Philippians 4:3). In the closing chapter of Romans, Paul begins his greetings and commendations with women, and he includes several other women subsequently in the chapter (16:1-6, 12-13, 15). Widows may have been an organized body for service in the New Testament church (Acts 9:39). But women did not serve as priests in the Old Testament (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 3:1-13) nor did they serve in the leadership/teaching role of elder or pastor in the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:11-14; 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Corinthians 14:33-36).
Regarding women in the role of an Elder, the New Testament says:
“I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12). “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach” (1 Timothy 3:1-2). “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly” (Titus 1:5-6). “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:33-37). There are more New Testament directives on this subject than there are about tithing, foot washing, or the Sabbath.
The Bible is clear that women were not expected to be silent. They prayed, prophesied, and exercised an appropriate teaching ministry (1 Corinthians 11:5; Acts 18:26; Philippians 4:3; Romans 16:12; Titus 2:3-4) that was encouraged. The nature of the teaching forbidden to women in 1 Timothy 2:12 is the authoritative teaching restricted to the pastor, the elder-overseer of the congregation. This conclusion is supported both by the meaning of the parallelism (“nor to usurp authority over the man” vs. 12) and by the use of the verb “to teach” and of the noun “doctrine” in Paul’s writings, especially in his letters to Timothy.
Paul’s letters to Timothy present the teaching ministry as a governing function performed by Paul himself, by Timothy, or by other appointed elder-overseers of the congregation (1 Timothy 2:7; 3:2; 5:17; 2 Timothy 1:11; 2:2). Paul charges Timothy to “command and teach” (1 Timothy 4:11), “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine;” (4:16), “These things teach and exhort” (6:2), “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:2).
In light of the restrictive use of the words “to teach” and “doctrine” in these letters, it is reasonable to conclude that the teaching forbidden to women is the authoritative teaching done by elder-overseers.
The divine arrangement, even from the beginning, is this, that the man is the head of the woman. Every relation is disregarded or abused in this lawless age. But the Scriptures always maintain this order in the family relation. “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.” (Ephesians 5:23). Man is entitled to certain privileges that are not given to a woman; he is subjected to some duties and burdens from which the woman is exempt. A woman may pray, prophesy, exhort, and comfort the church, but she cannot occupy the position of a pastor or a ruling elder. That would be looked upon as usurping authority over the man, which is here prohibited.
The words of Paul do not confine the labors of women to the act of prophesying alone. He refers to prayers and alsospeaks of certain women who “labored in the Lord,” an expression that could only apply to the work of the gospel. He also, in remarking on the work of the prophets, speaks of edification, exhortation, and comfort. This “labor in the Lord,” with prayer, comprises all the duties of public worship. Not all the responsibilities of business meetings, or all the functions of ruling elders, and pastors, (cf. 1 Timothy 5:17; 2:12), but all that pertains to exercises purely religious. We sincerely believe that, according to the Scriptures, women, as a right may, and as a duty, ought to engage in these exercises.
