Should women be preachers?

Question

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither *male nor female*: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

BUT

1Corinthians 14:34/35
34"Let your women keep quiet in the churches: for it is NOT permitted unto them to speak; but they are COMMANDED to be under obedience, as also saith the law"
35." And if they will learn ANY THING, let them ask their Husbands at home: for it is a SHAME for women to speak in the church!"

BUT

Psalms 68
11The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host: 12 Kings of armies flee, they flee, and she who remains at home will divide the spoil!"

AND

Joel 2:28-29

It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy,

So if a women is good enough to spread his word why is she not good enough to share it as the leader of the church.... I just don't get it.....

Answer 1

Paul actually contradicts himself on the subject of women as church leaders. Conservatives love to cite his passage about women not being allowed to lead men. Yet this is flatly contradicted in his letter to Romans, where he recommends that his audience provide Phoebe, their new deaconess, with everything she requires to perform her mission. There were only two church offices in Paul's church...Bishops and Deacons. Deacons were what we know as priests today. He also makes other reference to other women holding church leadership roles.

In addition there is archeological evidence of women priests and bishops in the early Christian church.

So as it turns out, both sides in this debate tend to pick and choose passages to make their respective cases.

Answer 2

I Cor 10:31 "whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
So, if I sing well, I can do that for the glory of God. If I am gifted at making friends, I can do that to the glory of God. If my gift is cooking, I can do that to the glory of God as well. If I am a professional basketball player, I can play basketball for the glory of God.

BUT, that does not mean that I should be playing basketball in the worship assembly. Or cooking. The worship assembly is a holy ("set apart") thing. We worship God every day, but God also directs us to come together for a special kind of worship. God has given us the command to have this be an orderly assembly (ie, no basketball behind the pulpit). One of the things he has commanded is that women remain silent in the assembly.

Why? I don't know. But that's not for me to question or try to rationalize to the way that I see fit. But it's there for a reason...because God put it there.

The passage in Galations 3 that you referred to is somewhat out of context. Paul is writing to the Galations about the Law of the Old Testament. He spends about 2 chapters on this topic. His point in this specific paragraph is that we all belong to Christ--men, women, Jews, and Greeks--and that all Christians are all worthy of heaven. It does not, however, change any laws or commandments. In fact, he states specifically in 4:5 that those "under the law" will be redeemed.

Psalms 68 - again, women are encouraged to live Christian lives. Nobody is saying that they shouldn't. Part of living a Christian life is being open with your faith in public.

Joel - again, outside the assembly.

Nowhere does God say that women are less or that women are not "good enough" as you put it. I don't know God's reasons for everything. Maybe He knows that women are naturally more social beings and that men, in their weakness, need to be prodded to take leadership roles. Maybe He knows something about men and women's psychology that we don't. Maybe He knows that men need a sense of accomplishment from feeling like "the coach" more than being "the cheerleader" (when in fact both are important). Maybe He knows that women naturally tend to be more spiritually aware, so again, men need more encouragement to become involved in church. Maybe God wants a strong physical form in front of the church to help represent his strong spiritual presence (how would a somewhat bitter, worldly, reluctant atheist perceive a 5'0" 95 lbs. preacher)?

I hope I have not offended anyone, but I'm sure I have. At any rate, the Bible says what it says: "it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." (I Cor 14:35).

Answer 3

What would leading this alledged church entail? What would she as "the leader of the church" be able to do better or worse? What exactly is the church? (according to scripture, not men's traditions) Here's a hint: Christ is the head of the True Church.
If you belong to an organization that claims God's Word and belief in Jesus as the foundation for their doctrine and they've taught you to pick scriptures out of the Bible and argue the validity of those scriptures out of context, then you have been misled and you need to seek another teacher. Try reading the whole thing for yourself. The Epistles to the Galatians and the Corinthians are attributed to Paul, if you read them in thier entirety and carefully I think you'll be better informed.

Answer 4

In Galatians 3:28 They are talking about Salvation not calling preachers.. Jesus never called 12 women disciples to preach His word. Look in 1 Timothy 3.. If a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work.

Answer 5

Preach??

preach

v 1: deliver a sermon; "The minister is not preaching this Sunday" [syn: prophesy] 2: speak, plead, or argue in favour of; "The doctor advocated a smoking ban in the entire house" [syn: advocate]

Yes, I am sure there are some women out there that can preach. Lead others in spirituality? I think there are more that can do just that. Preaching has a negative connotation for me. Leading other in spirituality or helping others to grow in spirituality to me is being a Minister and in my book a Minister should never "preach".

Answer 6

Yes they should be a preacher if God has put that calling inside of them.

In my opinion, from years of studying the Bible and following Christ, the positive verses (towards women) you cited refer to what God's perfect will is. But God doesn't force anything upon us; He first shows us the value of doing it His way. It took awhile to bring about the changes God desired because He allows us to keep our freewill while gently leading us in His direction. Woman also have to realize the truth of Galatians 3:28 and they still need to believe it more today.

Men needed to get to the point in their relationship with God to allow themselves to see that being equal with women was what God was trying to show them. The Bible is pretty clear about that if you look for it.

In the negative verse (towards women) you referred to and also some others about women not being in authority over a man or teaching a man, I believe these were situational in nature.

Let me explain, Paul was dealing with real life issues with people who hadn't yet learned all that God had for them to learn, and these situations had to do with the culture at the time they were living in. These were not long term eternal commands given to govern the conduct of women forever; they were forms of discipline Paul used to instruct the believers who were having a particular problem.

There have been many scriptures throughout the Bible that have been specifically written to a specific situation. As an example, in Deuteronomy 24:1-3 Moses give instructions for a person to be divorced. In Matthew 19:6-8 Jesus told the people that Moses permitted divorce as a concession to their hard-hearted wickedness, but it was not what God had originally intended.

God is very practical. He allowed the writers of His Word to deal with specific situations. We are still dealing with divorce today and I’m sure if a woman starts standing up and yelling questions at the preacher during a sermon, she might again be instructed to wait and talk to her husband at home. (And if men were doing this: they would have probably been corrected in the same way.) It was never meant to be taken as an eternal commandment. We need to read the Bible with guidance from the same Spirit under whose power it was written.

Finally, I believe women should be allowed to preach, teach, minister, be a man's boss, be a wife, a mother, a sister, a lover, lead a government, or lead a church. It takes us big tuff men some time to understand Galatians 3:28, but we are getting there.

Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Answer 7

I think that women should be allowed to be preachers and such. That is one reason that I do not agree with the church. Sexism! There has to be another side to god besides satan. every creature on earth has male and female parts. So why cann't the higher power have a male and female counterpart? Just go to show you that there are two sides to every story. Sorry got off the subject.

Answer 8

At the risk of offending fellow Christians and clergy, I think we should stop for a moment and think about exactly what a preacher is and what a preacher does: Allow me to call your attention to Romans 10: 14-15

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

It follows then that the role of the preacher is to share the good news... the gospel... that Jesus rose from the dead, fulfilling prophecy and saving us from sin & death.

Now... flash back for a moment to Luke 24. Since we're looking at 10 verses, allow me to paraphrase (but, please go read it for yourself... Luke 24:1-10)... Sunday morning they came down to the tomb very early in the morning bringing spices... the found that the stone had been rolled away and the body of Jesus was not there (fast forward to verse 10) and it was Mary Magdalene (and several other listed women), which told the apostles these things....

Herein lies the problem: we have gotten so caught up in titles that we take bits and pieces of scripture out of context to support tradition.

I would like you to consider the context in which Paul was writing to the Corinthian church. History tells us that Corinth had been a polytheistic society, the religous observances of which were headed by high priestesses (female version of a high priest for those who are looking at me strange). With so many people converting to Christianity, to keep their popularity, many of these woman claimed to convert to Christianity (I'm sure some did)... and as a result of their positions in that society, many felt they had the right to teach (or preach or lead services) in the church.

Considering the fragile nature of the Corinthian church, that would have been (at the very least) unwise... and probably very detrimental to the growth of the church... It would be a shame (and disgraceful) for these women to undo the work that had gone into developing the church... so isntead of risking the possibility of these women disrupting the church, it made more sense to restrict women in this society to remain silent and then learn from their husbands at home.

Don't misunderstand... Paul thought VERY highly of women and their ability to impress Christian values upon men... Flip ot 2 Timothy 1... we find Paul talking to Timothy, praising him for his level of faith... noting that he probably got it from his mother AND his grandmother.

When we say that women CAN'T preach (share the good news that Christ rose again)... we are boxing God in. God can do what He wants, WHEN He wants... using WHO He wants... and we are on dangerous ground when we decide what God CAN'T do...

Think about it... (Luke 19:40) when the pharisees told Jesus to tell his disciples to be quiet his response was "if they hold their peace, the rocks will immediately cry out"... if that's even a remote possibility, is it so hard to believe that a woman could share the gospel???

Answer 9

Ofcourse they can. Look at Pastor Paula White. She is a woman, and a preacher. She has guided many many people. I truly belive it was God's will. I don't think that God wouldn't want women to help the need come closer to Him. Google this: Without Walls International Church. There are many articles that could help you further explore your questions. Please do.

Answer 10

They can proclaim, but not lead a church service.
But some mainstream religions now ordains women.
That is the fruitage they bear, as Jesus warned us to look for.