One of the most frequently googled questions about the Bible is: What does the Bible say about women preachers? Let’s briefly investigate this matter.
First, it is notable that our Lord selected twelve men to be apostles (see Mt. 10:1-4). I’m not saying that this concludes the matter, but it would be difficult to believe that this was random. That seems about as likely as flipping a coin twelve times and heads appearing each times. (Try that and see how it works out.) But the apostles were trained and taught by Jesus to teach others (see Mt. 4:19). They became preachers, preachers who were guided by the Holy Spirit (see Jn. 16:16; 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:13). Obviously, God chose men to fulfill the role of the apostles.
Secondly, and more directly engaging our question, let’s very briefly consider two passages:
- Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:34, “the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.” The silence here cannot forbid women to utter a sound, or she would not be permitted to sing, and singing is a universal command (see Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19). However, it would be a strange interpretation to say that Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, gives the command of God (see 1 Cor. 14:37), that women should be silent in the assembly, and for us, or anyone, to say that women can be preachers.
While I certainly believe that 1 Corinthians 14:34 speaks clearly and authoritatively to the question at hand, if I went to one passage to address this subject matter, it would be the next one. I say that because the passage just noted is in the context of miraculous gifts, which slightly complicates the matter.
The apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:12, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” At the outset of this letter Paul reminds Timothy of the charge he gave to him: “remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1:3). He is also warned concerning those who have swerved from the faith (see 1:6). There is no doubt that Paul is urging Timothy to set things in order, the divine order, as he lives and teaches how one ought to “behave in the household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15).
So, getting back to our text of 1 Timothy 2:12, the divine order of the assembly clearly involves the woman having a more submissive role in the assembly. In this text, the apostle Paul says of her role: “I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.” How could Paul have been any more clear than that? It seems (or, is) arrogant for someone to claim that a woman is free to teach and preach in the assembly (with men present) when the apostle Paul says she may not fulfill such a role.
Perhaps the most common way that some try to get around this prohibition is to argue that women teaching and preaching would have been culturally taboo in first century society. Paul then, is seen to simply be working within that cultural framework, not rocking the boat.
However, even a superficial glance at the context of our passage reveals something entirely different. In the next two verses, Paul states: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (1 Tim. 2:13-14). The word “for” here, as it is used in this passage, indicates why men and women have the roles they do. Paul does not say it is because of cultural precedent, but because of the order of creation, and also the nature of the sin of Adam and Eve. This is significant because Paul ties this restriction to things that are unchangeable.
Other matters could certainly be addressed (like prophetesses and Phoebe), but those must be viewed in light of, and in harmony with, what has just been noted, and also in their own contexts.
Daren Schroeder
