Q&A

Women In Ministry

Can women be pastors? Are they allowed to speak in church? Or should they keep silent (1 Cor. 14:34)? Should they lead or teach the Bible (1 Tim. 2:12)? What do we believe at Port Kells Church? 

There are many examples of women leading and teaching in the Bible. Some examples are Miriam, Deborah, Huldah the prophetess, Pricilla, the women at the tomb, Junia, Phoebe, Lydia, and the daughters of Philip. What did these women do? They led, they prophesied, they taught, and they were apostles. They were also deacons, disciples, co-workers in Paul’s ministry, and they led in the local church. 

There are two prohibition passages in the Bible known as the "women keep silent" passages (1 Cor. 14:34-35, 1 Tim. 2:11-15). These two passages are the main places people go to make the argument that women should not speak or lead in church. A literal reading of these passages reveals that women cannot speak in church, plain and simple. I get that. For years, this is how I read these passages. And I understand why many people still do. But let's take a closer look.

1 Timothy 2:11-15

11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

When Paul writes, "I do not permit a woman to teach," he seems to be very clear that women are not to teach or lead in church (v. 12). However, one must apply the same literal approach to the verses following that say, "women will be saved through child-bearing" (v. 15). 

The question we must ask, then, is why does Paul write in the same breath that women should not speak in church and that they will be saved through childbearing? Put together, this seems like an odd thing to say. Most Christians don’t believe in salvation through childbearing. Either Paul is saying that women can't teach and that they are saved by childbirth, or there is something going on beyond a ‘plain reading’ of the text.

In verse 11, Paul says women should learn. The word he uses is manthano, which comes from mathétés (disciple). Paul is saying that the women in the church of Ephesus should assume the posture of a disciple and learn. This was a provocative statement because discipleship was seen as something that only men would normally do. Paul encourages women to learn and become disciples of Jesus.

Now, telling disciples to learn in quiet submission wouldn’t be seen as shocking or overly restrictive. In fact, the ordinary posture of a disciple was being quiet and submissive to their rabbi or teacher — hanging on their every word. We would assume that male disciples would learn in "quietness and submission" as well. 

Okay, that makes sense, but what about Paul’s argument that men were created first? This has to be about authority, right? Well, what Paul isn’t saying is that women are more susceptible to deception simply because of their gender. Some people take this verse to mean that women are less rational and easier to deceive. This is not at all Paul’s point. Rather, his point is that Eve was created after Adam and wasn’t present for God’s instruction.

Eve was deceived (in part) because she wasn’t present when God instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). This instruction comes before she was created in Genesis 2:22. Eve is not more prone to deception because she is a woman, but because she was created after God’s instruction. 

Paul is most likely addressing women coming out of the Artemis cult, which was prominent in Ephesus at the time. These women came into the church without learning God’s instruction (in quietness and submission). They may have been disruptive or domineering as well. This is why Paul uses the word authenteo, which means to take over authority, rule, or dominate. 

We can’t be sure of the exact situation here, but it’s likely that a group of women came into the church in Ephesus and were teaching without first learning. We can also assume that their approach was aggressive or domineering in nature. 

Now, let's examine verse 15 to understand what it means. It says, “But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety.”

In those days, it was more common for childbirth to result in complications or even death. Because of this, many women went to the temple of Artemis, the goddess of fertility. They looked to her to keep them safe in childbearing. Therefore, this is probably a better translation “She will be safe in childbearing”. The idea is that the Ephesian women don’t have to go to Artemis to be safe in childbearing. They can look to Jesus for protection as they continue to put their faith in him.

With this in mind, it’s likely that Paul is addressing this is the group of women — telling them to be quiet in public gatherings. Paul is talking to a group of women coming out of the cult of Artemis and telling them to learn quietly.  Like Eve, they need first to be taught and be brought up to speed. Once they have been educated, they are free to lead and teach.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 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.

The same is true in this passage as well — we have to take the passage as a whole rather than isolating a phrase out of context. At first glance, it appears that "women should remain silent." However, Paul also says that someone speaking in tongues without an interpretation should "keep silent" (v. 28). He also says that someone who prophesies out of turn should "be silent" (v. 30). Also, Paul can't mean that women should literally be silent in church. If he did, he wouldn't talk about them praying and prophesying (1 Cor. 11:5).  

So, what does Paul mean when he says people should "keep silent" in the church (1 Cor. 14:28, 30, 34)? The context of the chapter is order and peace in public gatherings (v. 33,40). All three of these examples that Paul uses are people speaking out of turn. Paul tells the church to speak one at a time (v. 27, 29, 40). 

In verse 34, the word for woman is gyne. It can either mean a 'woman' or a 'wife'. In context, it should be translated as "wives should remain silent." That's what the English translators have done with 'man/husband' in verse 35. That’s why it says, "Let them (wives) ask their husbands at home" (v. 35).

The issue here is not women speaking in church. The issue is wives interrupting the service to ask their husbands questions. Paul wants people prophesying out of turn, people speaking in tongues without an interpreter, and wives asking their husbands questions to "be silent" so that there can be order and peace.

Some folks may also refer to 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and argue that because the pronouns are male only men are qualified to be pastors. The problem with that is that most commands in the Bible are written with male pronouns but still apply equally to women (see Matt. 4:4; Matt. 5:40; Matt. 16:24; Mk. 7:16; Mk. 10:9; Lk. 12:15; Rom. 12:3; Rom. 14:5; 1 Cor. 3:18). 

Also, the "husband of one wife" is about polygamy, not gender (1 Tim. 3:2). Culturally, it was not uncommon for a man to have multiple wives. In fact, most Old Testament heroes like Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, and others had multiple wives. Paul’s point is not that you need to be a husband or man to be a pastor but that you can’t be a polygamist. His point is that the leaders of the church are to be "blameless" or have a good witness in the community. He's trying to say that someone leading the church with multiple wives isn't a good idea.  

Here at PKC, we believe that there are no restrictions within Scripture that limits or prohibits women from leading and teaching in the Church. We believe that all the gifts and offices of the Church are available to both men and women alike. We also believe that a healthy church will have a diverse group of people leading and serving together.

Recommended reading: The Whole Church by Elita Friesen and Chris Price, Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight, Discovering Biblical Equality, Letter And Homilies For Hellenized Christians: Volume One by Ben Witherington III, and 1-2 Corinthians by Craig Keener