Should women hold leadership positions in the church?
If we were living in the 1st century A.D., there would be little debate over whether or not women should be in roles of leadership within the church. Since we are about 2,000 years removed from the foundation of the early church, we’ll take a look at what the Bible says about the subject.
Man is the head of his wife
God made Adam first, out of the dust of the earth. When God saw that it wasn’t good that Adam was alone, he made Eve and brought her unto the man. When Adam and Eve sinned, God punished them by expelling them from the Garden of Eden and informed them of certain consequences of their actions. Not only had death now entered into the world, but God outlined some other specific boundaries to which they must adhere. One of them was …
Man is the head of his wife
God made Adam first, out of the dust of the earth. When God saw that it wasn’t good that Adam was alone, he made Eve and brought her unto the man. When Adam and Eve sinned, God punished them by expelling them from the Garden of Eden and informed them of certain consequences of their actions. Not only had death now entered into the world, but God outlined some other specific boundaries to which they must adhere. One of them was …
|
Genesis 3:16: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."
|
Right from the very beginning of history, we see that God ordained that the husband shall rule over the wife. Husbands are charged to love their wives, but are made the head over them. This order remained in effect up through the New Testament. The Apostle Paul writes:
|
1 Corinthians 11:3: "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."
|
Folks will sometimes argue that this ordinance that Paul gave was merely based on social conditions at the time. However, we’ve already read that it was God that gave this ordinance from the very beginning. To suggest that this is no longer the case would be attempting to change God’s Word to fit our own time in history. God’s Word cannot be altered. Rather, we must conform ourselves to the teaching of the Bible.
Women may not rule over or teach men
When we accept God’s plan for men and women, it is not surprising to read…
Women may not rule over or teach men
When we accept God’s plan for men and women, it is not surprising to read…
|
1 Timothy 2:12-14: "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. "
|
In the church, women may not have authority over the man. They may not teach men, but are to learn in silence. They should not hold positions of authority or be in any type of leadership roles. The bible makes it perfectly clear as it goes on to say …
|
1 Timothy 3:1-4: "This is a true saying, 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; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity."
|
There are 2 offices in the bible: Bishop (or Elder) and Deacon. The above qualifications are required for someone to hold the office of a Bishop. Notice that it says he must be the husband of one wife. One might argue that this could also mean that if the Bishop is a woman, she simply must be the wife of one husband. But this cannot be, because another qualification is that a Bishop rules his house, and we already know that God says the man is the head of the wife. Similar qualifications are found for Deacons…
|
1 Timothy 3:8-45: "Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well."
|
The offices of Bishop and Deacon, as well as roles such as pastors, teachers, and evangelists were filled by men in the Bible and should also be today. Otherwise, the church will not be functioning in the order that God put in place.