Role of Women in the Church

The role of women in church is a topic that is currently being reinvestigated and challenged. Current shifts in culture and a push for sexual equality has forced the church to reinvestigate and too often change their stance on women in ministry. The biblical evidence from the Pauline epistles creates a clear set of guidelines for women’s roles in the home and in the ministry.

The Bible clearly outlines the role of women in the home in Ephesians 5:22-24. This idea is echoed in Colossians 3:18 “wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord,” and further in 1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ.” These verses make it clear that in the home a women is to be subject to their husbands, and that the husband is in charge of the home.

This system of leadership in the home should be directly applied to the church. It is logical that if a women is subject to a man in the home then she should also be subject to him in the larger sense including that of the church. It would be a conflict of interest if the hierarchy of authority changed with location.

To ask “are Christians who aim to be guided by scripture thus obliged to oppose not only the ordination for women to the priesthood, but also any role for women in society which gives them authority over men?” (France 35) Requires restricting and ignoring other scripture. It makes a dangerous assumption that the church should reflect society, and that God intended the church to have the same structure that society has. Scripture says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Christian society and the church should not reflect society at large, because of what is written in Romans and because if this were true then the church around the world would be relative. Each country, even different states and cities would have different set of dogma and tradition regarding women in ministry and other.

1 Corinthians 11:5 “but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head—it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved,” is often used to illustrate that scripture is not fully relevant in today’s society. The argument says that since women don’t pray with their heads covered that what 1 Corinthians 11:3 says about man being the head of his wife, is irrelevant. The relevance of 1 Corinthians 11:5 is interpreted to mean that women should wear appropriate respectful clothes during worship. Since during the time of Jesus only prostitutes wore their hair down, it can be deduced that wearing a hat would encourage women to not wear hair down. The idea of proper clothing is addressed in 1 Timothy 2:9, “that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes.”

The subject of women being allowed to speak in church is often brought up in reference to this debate. 1 Corinthians 14:34 says, “women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.“ 1 Timothy 2:11 says “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.” These passages can be interpreted several different ways Wycliffe Bible Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:34 says; A word for the women is inserted here, possibly because of unwarranted intrusion of some into the worship of the church. They were to keep silence. Even if, as some think, women were permitted to pray and prophesy in the early church (although it must be remembered that prophecy was a temporary gift), other speaking was not allowed. (Wycliffe) France refers to it “not as formal speech but as ‘chatter’” (France 54). They warning is against idle chatter and gossip, that often infiltrates our churches and lives.

1 Timothy 2:12 goes on to further explain, “I [the author of 1 Timothy] permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” This reinforces the conclusion drawn from Colossians 3:18 and 1 Corinthians 11:3 that a man is to be the authority over the women in church. The idea of men being in leadership is addressed a chapter later in 1 Timothy 3:2 where it states, “now a bishop or overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher…” The list goes on to address other positive qualities a bishop or overseer must have. It is logical that if a bishop or overseer would have these qualities then a pastor would also. He must be “the husband of one wife,” which not only address divorce and polygamy but also that the bishops or overseers should be male. Even if this passage were taken literally, in that the qualities are only applied to bishops and have authority over the bishops and overseers, whom are males. This is against what the author of Timothy wrote earlier in 1 Timothy 2:12.

In conclusion, the biblical stance against female pastors is clear and logical. There is no evidence to support women having a position of authority over a male. Women can take an active role in worship, as long as they are not causing idle chatter, or are wearing clothing that is inappropriate for the worship of God. Women can teach Sunday school, because it is not a position of authority over a man. They should not be allowed to teach Sunday school above middle school, at this age it starts to become a conflict of interest. Women should not be stopped from going to Seminary or being ordained, but they should not be called as pastors or put in positions of authority.

The ideal of women submitting to men has become a scarcity in the world today. From an observational standpoint men have become more passive and are no longer leading the marriage relationship. This affects the church by harming the ideal hierarchy of the home leadership then affecting church leadership. Since many men are no longer leading the relationship and taking an active role in church, women are forced to stand up and lead in the home and then in the church. If men lead the home relationship women would not need to lead in the church, because the men would be prepared to lead there also.

In the church it is important for a pastor and his wife to both be active in the ministry. It is not appropriate for a man to be disciplining a woman or to be counseling women’s issues. This creates a necessary role for the pastor’s wife and other females in the church.



Works cited

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press
France, R.T.. Women in the Church Ministry. United Kingdom: Paterson Press, 1995.