Stumbling Blocks 5: Women In Ministry
May 12, 2024

Women In Ministry

  • Beth Moore
  • Kim Van Hoye
  • Jennifer Long
  • Shari Hunt

“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.” —Paul, 1st Corinthians 14.34-35

“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.” —Paul, 1st Timothy 2.11-12

“Then Miriam the prophet…” —Exodus 15.20a

“Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading [judging] Israel at that time.” —Judges 4.4

“‘These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”’” —Acts 2.15-18

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophesy.” —Paul, 1st Corinthians 14.1

“One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us.” – Acts 16.14-15

“He [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” —Acts 18.26

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.” —Romans 16.1

“Romans is probably the most important letter ever written. In the ancient world, the person who delivers the letter is the person who will read it out. Paul could easily have chosen some man to do that job. It is highly likely the first ever exposition of Paul’s letter to the Romans was done by a Christian business woman from the eastern port of Corinth.” – N.T. Wright

“Greet Andronicus and Junia/Junius, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” —Romans 16.7

“There’s been a huge attempt to try to make out this as Junius a man, but the scholarship is quite clear that this is a female name and she is an apostle. For Paul that means somebody who has seen the risen Jesus and is thereby commissioned to be an authorized representative.” —N.T. Wright

“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.” —Paul, 1st Timothy 2.11-12

“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.” —Paul, 1st Corinthians 14.34-35

“But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.” —Paul, 1st Corinthians 11.5

One way to understand this passage would be to maintain that women should never lead in Church.

Some people would argue that women can teach and lead other women or children, but not men.

Women can teach, preach, and lead, because the four verses in question were never intended by Paul to be universally applied to every Church forever and ever.

“Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife,…He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him.” —1st Timothy 3.2a, 4a

“No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry.” —1st Timothy 5.9-11

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” —Paul, Galatians 3.28

The New Testament ethic is

, not .

“So God created mankind in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” —Genesis 1.27

Practices:

Solitude: Recommended Reading: Surprised by Scripture by N.T. Wright and Women in Ministry by Tim and Kathy Keller.

Scripture: You can find all of the Bible passages cited today in The Way’s App. Click on “This Week,” then click on “Sermon Notes.”

Service: How has God called and gifted you? We are all “ministers.”

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” —Paul, Romans 12.4-6