Every Scripture must be interpreted in the light of what other Scriptures says on the same subject—it must harmonize with all other Scripture. Much error has resulted from ignoring this law of interpretation. That’s how people have gotten into difficulty on our subject, as well as others. The interpretation we put on our text must harmonize with all other Scripture. You can lift verses out of their settings, ignore the law of interpretation, and make them say anything you want them to say.*
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. (1 Timothy 2:11-12).
That scripture is pretty cut and dry. There’s no way around it, no matter how it makes us feel. And we know Bible interpretation and application must never be based on our feelings, circumstances, or experiences. So, there isn’t much else to say. Accept it, and move on.
But how then, can we reconcile the fact there were women prophets, deacons, and evangelists? (Luke 2:36, Acts 21:9, Philippians 4:2-3). How do we reconcile the fact that several of Paul’s fellow workers in the ministry were women, that women were present in the upper room, that Priscilla, a woman, taught Apollos (2 Timothy 4:19), and that women were equally included in Joel’s prophecy? (Acts 2:17-18). Were they exceptions to the rule?
We cannot ignore these supposed “contradictions”. Although, many people don’t see it as a contradiction. In fact, some men get an odd sense of glee in sharing these scriptures at any opportunity. They take some sort of delight in reminding women of their station in life. They hold fast to this teaching more than things that are actually sins.
Those same people, however, will dig deep into every commentary, and theology book and reference Bible to try to prove cessationism, Calvinism, or any other pet doctrine hill they choose to die on. But the subject of women? That cannot be touched. They don’t want to hear about it. They don’t want to consider any contextual discrepancy.
And that is more than a shame. I can’t imagine how many women over the years have been deprived of living out their God-given calling, and had their gifts stifled. Though we can’t go back in time for them, we can make the correction now.
“Shall heavy hands be laid on such women as God has evidently called and endowed with natural gifts and Gifts of the Spirit? If God hath called them—who are we to recall them? Let God send them forth—because He’s the one who did it. And when He gets ready to call them in, let Him call them in. I think some men think that they are God—but they are not, and they need to find that out.” (P.C Nelson)
The issue regarding this most sensitive and controversial subject is not about teaching or preaching behind the pulpit as we understand it today, but rather, about headship and authority.
Paul was not contradicting himself, nor was he contradicting the rest of the Word of God. His instructions were clear. There is a created order: God is the head of man, and man is the head of the woman. He needed to remind the women of his day that despite their new-found empowerment and equality through Christ, submission was still a law.
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)
These verses do not contradict the fact that women were free to pray and prophesy in the church. If they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home and not in the church.* Learning does not equate to preaching, praying, testifying or prophesying.
If a wife spoke out of line in the worship service, it was an indication that she was not in submission to her husband. Submission and order within marriage, and in the church, were not done away with, despite all people being made equal in value through Christ (Galatians 3:28).
The Greek word in 1 Timothy chapter 2 means “to have power over”. Women should not dictate to men, but exercise their rights to teach, prophesy, preach, pray and do other things under the authority of men.*
Women were to learn quietly and submissively. Women were not permitted to exercise discipline over men, nor participate in the examination of prophets. A close study of the context of these verses sets us free from the misunderstanding that women can never teach under any circumstance.*
It was the custom at this time for men to speak up in public assemblies to ask questions and even interrupt the speaker when they did not understand, but this liberty was not granted to women. This is Paul’s reason for stating the headship of men.*
What Paul disallowed was the exercise of authority over men, which was incompatible with submission. Authority can be delegated without challenge to headship. If a Pastor of a church delegates authority to a woman to preach, she is not in violation of the laws of submission. We cannot restrict teaching the Bible to the “right to command” or “to be at the top of the chain of command”.*
If you understand that Paul’s intention was to explain the matter of headship, authority, and submission within marriage, the verses become much clearer and eliminate the possibility of any contradiction throughout the rest of the scripture.
In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul talks about the five-fold ministry gifts. Verse 8 says: “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” The Greek word for men here is anthropoi, which refers to both men and women. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, when Paul addressed the “brethren”, it means brothers and sisters, the same Greek word (adelphoi) used in Romans 1:13.
The Bible is inspired, authoritative and infallible. We must never attempt to create our own doctrine, or rules, to fit the current times. God’s Word is not meant to confuse, it’s meant to instruct. But it wasn’t written in English. Therefore, an examination of the original language is often needed to ensure we understand things correctly. The ministry gifts are available to men and women alike. Jesus commissioned everyone who believes in him to carry out his work.
There are 370 kinds of sins committed and recorded in the Bible. A woman preaching is not one of them. I never want to go outside of the bounds of Scripture or try to bend what it says to suit my own agenda. So I write all of this with extreme care and caution. When I was a teenager, I did not believe that women should be in any kind of pulpit ministry. I needed to be corrected. My prayer is that you allow the Spirit to teach and correct if necessary.
“Any redeemed woman has Christ’s authority to be his witness, co-worker and messenger. Any woman who becomes a new creature in Christ can become his co-worker and representative on any level of public or private ministry to which she feels called.” (T.L Osborn)
I would imagine this to be the case: A man previously on his way to hell, who sat in a church service and heard the gospel from the mouth of a woman, is surely very grateful that she did not stay quiet.
*Books used and quoted in this article:
- The Dake Annotated Reference Bible
- The Woman Question by Kenneth E. Hagin
- Man and Woman in Biblical perspective by James B. Hurley
