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Women Preachers
We live in a DEI world. Everyone knows this acronym as diversity, equity, and inclusion. Recently the “E” has been the focus and what it means to be fair and equitable and how it can be applied in society. When I study what the Bible says about women being teachers or preachers, it’s easy to think “that's not fair.” Is God unfair? Certainly not! Revelation 15:3 says “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways.” You might read that and say where does it say God is fair. The word “righteous” means fair or equitable. In fact, the ESV translates “righteous” as “fair.” This point is driven home in Romans 3:21-26 as Paul talks about the righteousness of God in dealing with sin when he says God gave Jesus to be a propitiation for our sins so that “he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” The “fair” result of your sin is death (Rom 6:23), but through Jesus, sin is washed away, God is shown as just, and the sinner is made right. Let us appreciate what God has done for us as we discuss whether the Bible authorizes women preachers.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:12, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” We don't know the historical background of this verse. Did he really mean “wife” and “women,” were the wives pagans and causing trouble in their worship services, were women too uneducated to preach at this time, had Paul forgotten about Deborah and Priscilla and Phoebe when he wrote these words? The Bible doesn't answer those questions, but it does provide the next verses. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” Paul's answer concerning why women were to not teach or exercise authority over a man was order. “Adam was formed first, then Eve.” God made an order for worship just as he made an order for the family as he says in Ephesians 5:22-24, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.” This order may seem like a bad fit for 2024, but it's God order and we need respect that, remain humble, and reflect on this verse: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).
The Bible never mentions women preachers, but it is full of examples of Godly women who made an impact, added value in the Kingdom, and demonstrated leadership. The Bible also includes admonitions to women to teach what is good to the younger women.
- “Then Miriam the prophetess” (Exodus 15:20)
- “Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time” (Judges 4:4)
- “So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect” (2 Chronicles 34:22)
- Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26)
- “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1)
- “but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven” (1 Corinthians 11:5)
- teach what is good, and so train the young women” (Titus 2:4)
Peter admonishes women in 1 Peter 3:1-6 to be subject to their husbands, respectful, and adorn themselves with the “hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.” This may sound dated and unfair, but don't miss the end of verse 4: “which in God's sight is very precious.” We serve a great God who had a plan for the world he created, an established order, and a charter of service for his children. Let us do what we can in the roles he has given us, according to his guidance and wisdom, so that we can be precious in his sight.
