This is a topic that can be very much debated in Christianity and often causes division. We read in the Bible in 1 Timothy 2:12 (NET), “But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. She must remain quiet.”. One would quickly jump to say women have no business standing behind a pulpit and preaching the Word of God, and many without thinking would quickly stand behind that. However, before we make any kind of doctrine we need to always understand the context of the text we are using.
We are told many times in the Word of God that wives must submit to their husbands, but before that, we are to submit to one another. Ephesians 5:21-22 (NET), “and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.”. Given this and if we look back to 1 Timothy 2:11 (NET), “A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness.”. The reason Paul wrote this was not to forbid women from the pulpit or any other five-fold ministry office but to deal with the cultural issue at the time when most women were not educated enough. This is why he wrote for them to learn from their husbands and to submit to them. If they were proven in the faith and their husband was in agreement then there would be no issue with them being involved in ministry.
Additionally, Acts 2:17 (NET) says, “‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”. If a woman can prophesy then she would be in a position of authority and even so possibly over a man in the local church.
Additionally in Romans 16:7 (NET), we see it recorded of a female apostle, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my compatriots and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.”. Junia was an apostle, if a woman can be an apostle, then a woman can fulfill any of the other five-fold ministry offices.
In Matthew 28 we see two women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary preaching the first sermon to the original disciples, “He is risen”. If women were not to have any authority at all over men, then why would Jesus permit these two women to go back and tell the disciples that He was indeed risen? If 1 Timothy 2:12 and other similar verses were truly meant to be taken out of context with no consideration to the culture at the time of their writing, then Jesus would have told the two women, “Go back but don’t say anything to the disciples, I will catch up to them later”.
If churches believe in women being silent in the church, then why do they allow women to lead worship, do announcements, and so forth in the church? Where does the buck stop with such a claim with zero consideration towards the context of the Scriptures? You cannot take one verse of the Bible out of its context and make a doctrine out of it. Scripture needs to be interpreted with Scripture.
I’ve seen some say that women preachers are false teachers. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-16 (NET), “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?”. Jesus told us we would recognize false prophets by their fruit, are they bringing people into the Kingdom of God, are they fulfilling the Great Commission?
Mark 16:15-18 (NET) says, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name, they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”. Some men behind the pulpit will claim women cannot be in ministry, but some of these men in ministry do not walk according to the great commission. They might preach the Gospel of Salvation, but they stop there and no signs accompany the Gospel. Some churches skip discipleship and are only concerned about growing the number of people. If we are going to throw a fit over who can and cannot be a minister out of one verse and hinder the expansion of God’s Kingdom, then we need to ask ourselves are we living up to Mark 16?
If a woman is truly called by God to be in ministry, there will be fruit, the same is true with men as well. Whatever God has called you to there will be fruit. 1 Peter 2:9 (NET), says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We are all called to be ministers of the Gospel in our daily lives. This is known as the priesthood of all believers. If a woman has the opportunity to share the Gospel with a man, should she then forfeit it out of fear of breaking one verse? If so, are we willing to assert women not being allowed in ministry and end up with fewer people sharing the Gospel with the lost?
Disclaimer: Please know that many sincere believers will disagree with me on this matter, but that does not change the fact that we are brothers and sisters in the Lord, while we may disagree on this secondary issue.