Women in ministry

Subjection or Submission (Verse 11)

Women in ministry is a very important subject to consider. It is a controversial topic in some settings. In some church denominations in India right now, it’s such a controversy that they are forming new denominations over the issue. The question is asked: What is Paul talking about here and does this exclude women from being in ministry?

Simply the answer to that question is: He does not exclude ladies from being in ministry.

First, we will consider the meaning of submission. “Learning with all submission” or “subjection” in the King James Translation is the idea of literally, “to rank under.” Anyone who has ever served in the military knows that rank has to do with order and authority, not necessarily with value or ability. A colonel is a higher rank than a private; therefore he has more authority. When a colonel and a private meet while walking down a hall on a military base, the private does the saluting and the standing
because he ranks under the colonel.

It is important to understand that Scripture is clear about the importance of order and submission. Ephesians 5:21,22 says, “...submitting to one another in the fear of God.” There is this mutual submission before the Lord. God has also established covering for a woman at every
stage of her life. An unmarried woman at home is subject to her parents. An unmarried woman out of the home is subject to the covering of her pastor, as is the widow. A married woman is, of course, subject to her husband. Ephesians 5:22 reads, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Colossians 3:18 says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” We understand that this is a matter of rank- to hold rank under another and understand their authority over us. God has established this. We must understand two things to properly interpret these Scriptures.

Context of Culture and Context of Scripture

What would you notice immediately when you first walked into a church, in that day and in some countries of the world today? The ladies would all be on one side and the men on the other side. In Paul’s day the ladies, who sat on the opposite side of the room from their husbands, would ask questions during the actual church service. A discussion would go on across the room disrupting the service. First Corinthians 14:34 says,
“Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are
not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.” This whole thought of silence is reiterated as we are considering the context of culture in that day.

The second thing we must keep in mind is the context of
Scripture. In 2 Timothy 4:19, it talks of greeting Priscilla
and Aquila. Let’s go back to Acts 18:1,2, “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla..”. In Acts 18:26, “So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”

And over to Romans 16:3, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” What has happened here? They switched their names. “My fellow workers in
Christ Jesus.” First Corinthians 16:19 reads, “The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”

We see from the context of Scripture that this husband and wife team were very much involved in ministry. They were greeted as being together as a couple. We also know in the Old Testament and other places where prophetesses are mentioned. So we understand from
the context of Scripture that there are definitely certain
circumstances for women to be in ministry.

No Usurping of Authority -1 Timothy 2:12

Paul did not allow women to usurp authority over men. This should not be understood to mean they couldn’t be in a position of authority, rather that they should not wrongfully assume authority over a man. This should not be interpreted as downgrading the very wonderful ministries women have had in the church. There have been many women in both church history and in the Old Testament that God has used.

The definition of “usurp” from Webster’s Dictionary is: to
take or assume (power, a position, property, right, etc.) and hold in possession by force or without right; to seize.

Striving for Position

There is a great danger in striving for position. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.”

Several years ago, we changed our Previous church services around. We used to start out at 10:00 in the morning and we had worship all together. After that all the children went downstairs to their Sunday school classes, and all the adults stayed in the sanctuary for morning service. We switched it around because we liked the idea of having everybody together for the whole worship service instead of dividing it. We had Sunday school for all ages first, then church after that.

As we were thinking about classes, who would be teaching and taking care of things, Pastor really felt the Lord spoke to him in his heart. He wrote down a list of about seven or eight men from our congregation that were eligible to teach. In our first year at this, we did a Bible survey course, from Genesis to Revelation. I assigned a different book of the Bible for every Sunday throughout the year. Pastor started asking the Lord in advance and the Pastor said, “You know there is this lady, she’d be good and she’d be good and, maybe, her too.” The Pastor had few different ladies in his mind. The Lord said, “No, for now I just want you to have these men do it.” The Pastor said, “Okay, that’s fine. I’m willing to do that.” He really felt that the Lord spoke to Him.
We have had guest lady preachers and missionaries in our church up to that point, so that was not the problem. I just really felt like the Lord was saying that the Pastor needed to develop these gentlemen and encourage them to take their place.

We started into this course and right away, one lady who
was not even on my Pastor's list to be considered came to him and said, “You know, I could do a much better job than most of those men. Why aren’t you giving me an opportunity?” He said, “I feel that the Lord has said I am supposed to have these men do it for the time.”

A few more Sundays went by and she said to the Pastor, “You’re really missing out because I can do a much better job than most of those men.” If a man had an
attitude like that, he would not get to do it either. The Pastor said to her again that he really felt like the Lord was saying that we should not have any of the ladies teaching in the adult Sunday school class at this time. We are going to develop some of these men by allowing them to do it.

A few weeks went by and another lady from the church called The Pastor and said, “Pastor Hiran, I understand that you’ve said that women can’t teach, preach or have anything to do with the ministry in the church at all. And He said, “Excuse me! Where did you hear this?” She said, “Well, I don’t want to say! But I think that some of us women could do just as good a job as most of those men.” He had a problem tracing the roots to this? No! Eventually, both of those ladies left the church, and that was one of the reasons for leaving.

A couple of months after they left the church, The Pastor was praying and the Lord said, “It is time to have some of the ladies in the church teaching the adult Sunday school class.” We don’t know if those women ever realized that they had a bad attitude as they were striving for position and wanting to be in ministry.

Speaking

Titus 2:3-5 speaks of an awesome need in the church, “...the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers or keepers of the home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

Now, Paul is setting before ladies the priorities of their lives. The first priority for a woman is her husband and family. There have been children raised in homes where the wife has had a wonderful call to ministry, but has neglected her godly responsibility as a mother. Fathers can neglect their responsibilities, too, but the effects are very devastating and harmful to that family when it is a mother who has neglected her duties. There are areas of need that only a man can fulfill in his children lives and there are areas only a woman can fulfil.

It is interesting that sometimes ladies who have a legitimate call to ministry try to act like men in ministry. This is wrong. They end up with masculine attitudes and actions, domineering mannerisms, and a spirit that’s behind them saying, “I’m as good as any man, and I’ll do as good a job as any man!”

The bottom line is that when God calls a man to ministry, He wants him to be a man in ministry. When God calls a woman to ministry, He wants her to be woman in ministry. When He calls a man He does not want him to be a woman, and when He calls a woman He does not want her to be a man. An attitude sometimes develops that is domineering and possessive and can get out of hand. It is very important that we are wise about this area of women in ministry, and that we hear from the Lord. We need to walk it through cautiously. Men must be wise because there are many areas where women in ministry can be more effective than a man.

Another danger may be that a woman in ministry, depending where the man is spiritually in that situation, can end up dominating the man. That was never intended to be. In 1 Timothy, speaking of Adam and Eve, there is the aspect of being saved in childbirth. We find the first understanding of this is the birth of Christ, the birth of the Lord Jesus that brings salvation. Through the bearing of children, the woman can enter into God’s purposes and fulfillment of being a mother and a grandmother.

Sometimes women who go into ministry strive so much for it, they lay aside their responsibilities as mothers and grandmothers. They need to be very cautious about their attitudes in these areas. It is through the caring for children that a woman enters into God’s purposes and
fulfilment. Note the effect that Timothy’s mother and
grandmother had on him.

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