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NASB | 1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet [in the congregation]. |
Bible Question: i would like to know if this holds true if you have a women pastor, she cannot teach or preach...because the way i understand this is paul is talking to the ephesian women at a point in time. and i have had men tell me that a women shall not preach to a man. and i don't think that way.... |
Bible Answer: I did not actually address the concept of a woman being a pastor in my previous posts. I was focusing on a woman preaching or teaching in a church. Now we all know that teaching and preaching is done by more than just the pastor. However let's take a look at the concept of pastoring. I believe that it is God's plan for a man to pastor and a woman to pastor if she is the wife of the pastor. For instance if a woman is called and gifted to pastor she can do so under the authority of her husband as the senior pastor. This is very common among our churches. There are many great churches that owe their success to not just the ministry of the Male Pastor but to the Wife of the Pastor who does as much work in the area of counseling, teaching, and many other ministry gifts as her husband. And sometimes these wives of pastors teach better than their husbands. I know of a couple in my church, the husband and the wife both graduated from bible school. I have heard both teach. The wife is one of the best teachers I have ever heard, and very humble and submissive to the authority of her husband. As it relates to the image of Christ I think she is one of the better examples in our whole church. Let's look at this through the eyes of the Spirit of the Word and not the letter of the Law. Let's say you have a missionary woman that is in a country like Afghanistan and she is busy doing the Lord's work and many converts are coming to Christ. This scenario is very realistic and not a "what if" that does not occur, but one that is occurring now all over the world. This woman is ministering the Word to these new converts and for a while there is no man to be a pastor. You may call her a missionary, but in all truth she is acting as the pastor of the new congregation. If the Lord raises up a male pastor among them in time, then she will hand that over to him and continue with her calling. But to say she cannot lead that flock in the mean while is not for us to say. When we do that we are legalistic scribes and pharisees and are missing the point. If a woman in america just decides she will start a church and be the senior pastor, I do not think she is going to have many wise men among her congregation because they will not be comfortable with a woman pastor because of the scriptures that lead us to believe God's method is for men to be pastors. There are certain women in the church today that are trying very hard to bring to the church a new understanding of scriptures concerning women in ministry. These women believe that from the middle ages and even since the reformation that the scriptures concerning women have been misinterpreted. I personally do not think it is that complicated. In short I think God is not bound by legalistic rules concerning gender, but that God will use a woman any time He wants to and who are we to say He won't. But I believe that there is an order in the kingdom of God, that the man has been given authority to lead and serve the woman and that the woman should submit to the spiritual leadership of the man. If the woman ministers the word she should do so under the authority of the pastor. This does not mean a woman cannot preach in the pulpit. The Lord Jesus Christ brought us freedom from bondage, therefore whatever the concept of the women being under the authority of the man must mean it must be a concept of freedom. If you teach it in such a way that limits the womans ability to share the gospel with everyone she comes in contact with you are in error and missing the spirit of the teaching. God Bless You as You Study His Word. |