Women in the Ministry

Questions in this section...

How should women behave in church?

Question: How should women behave in church?

“I have a question on the way women must behave in church. The issue is in 1 Timothy 2 verses 9-15. So is it that women should not preach or even stand in front of men during Sabbath School? Please help me by answering my question on your Present Truth question and answer segment.”

Answer:

Thank you for bringing up such an important subject. Let’s read these verses to see what Paul is saying. “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Timothy 2:11, 12)

First of all, it is obvious that we cannot take these words in their most literal sense, because elsewhere Paul gave instruction that “The aged women” must be “teachers of good things.” (Titus 2:3)

The evident context of 1 Timothy 2:11, 12 is in a church setting. However, even here we cannot take these words in the most literal sense, for women were not kept silent, by Paul or others, in public church meetings. I will give some examples.

“But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head.” (1 Corinthians 11:5) Here Paul is speaking concerning women praying or prophesying, and in chapter 14 he wrote, “he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification,… he that prophesieth edifieth the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:3, 4) For a woman to prophesy she must speak to her brethren, and this is often done in the church.

The Bible speaks of many women prophetesses. We will note a few. “So Hilkiah the priest,… went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read.” (2 Kings 22:14-16) Here God directly spoke to His people through a woman prophetess.

She was not the only prophetess in the Bible. “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.” (Judges 4:4, 5) It is obvious that women play a part in God’s work of teaching others the ways of God.

At the time of Christ Anna was a prophetess. “And there was one Anna, a prophetess,…” (Luke 2:36)

And in the New Testament church God still used women to prophesy. “And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” (Acts 21:9) For further examples of women in the church read Acts 18:26 and Romans 16:12.

It is evident that Paul was not seeking to exclude women entirely from public speaking in the church. Paul was stressing that women should not “usurp authority over the man,” or as the American Standard Bible says, “to have dominion over a man.” There is no record in the Bible of a woman ever being ordained or anointed as a king, priest, bishop, or elder. In fact, Paul gave strict instruction for those who are to be bishops or elders. They must be “the husband of one wife.” (1 Timothy 3:2) It should go without saying that this excludes women, but let’s read on. “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (1 Timothy 3:4, 5)

Here Paul said that an elder or bishop must rule his house well in order for him to be able to take care of the church. There has been a push recently to put women in responsible positions in the church, such as elders and pastors. However, to do this would reverse the roles of husbands and wives in the home. If it is right for a woman to be an elder, bishop, or pastor in a church, then it must also be right for a woman to be the head of the house. Paul wrote, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3) There is a specific order of authority given here. God the Father is the Highest, who is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman, in a similar way that Christ is the head of the man.

In today’s society women are seeking to usurp the authority of the man in the home and in the church. There are some men who are promoting this as well, in an attempt to remove from themselves the responsibility God has given them.

It is this type of usurping authority that Paul was condemning in his letter to Timothy. This should be a strong rebuke to those women who wish to hold a higher position in the church than God has given them. It has never been God’s plan that a woman should take away the authority that God has given to the man in the home and in the church. This does not mean that women cannot share testimonies in church, prophesy, or even lead out in Sabbath School lessons. Women are a valuable asset to the church.

I pray this helps answer some of your questions on this issue.

This question and its answer were printed in the May 2001 issue of Present Truth.

Back to Menu                   Top of Page

If you have a question you would like answered in our newsletter and posted on this page, please Click Here. We do not answer every question that is sent, but we try to answer most of them.

You are Visitor Number:

Since April 2002

Home    E-mail    Contact Us