Difficult Questions: Can Women Be Preachers?

From time to time, we dig into Scripture and seek answers to difficult questions from the Bible. Today, we are asking the question: “Can women be preachers ?”

The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. He will use anyone who is called, willing, and obedient to the Lord. God is God, and He can choose whom He wishes to use. He has used many different people and even animals for His purposes. He has even used a donkey, a whale, birds, horses, and so forth throughout Scripture. And we know women are much more valuable and needed than those animals.

God used Mary to be the first person to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection. She preached the good news that Jesus is alive before anyone else did.

Paul ministered with a married couple: Priscilla and her husband Aquila. They pastored a house church. And in his writing, he mentioned Priscilla first, giving her more honor because she was the lead pastor.

In the Old Testament, God used Deborah to win a victory for Israel over her enemies.

The verses in the New Testament that people have misunderstood to mean women should not be pastors or in the five-fold ministry are actually addressing particular situations and reflect the culture of the day.

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. I Timothy 2:11-12 (KJV)

In this situation, Paul was addressing a certain group of women who were false teachers who had come in and were trying to take over. He was saying that they should come under the authority of the man in charge, in this case Timothy. He was telling Timothy, “I wouldn’t let these female false teachers take over.” He was speaking to their unruly behavior and unwillingness to come under the authority of leadership. It just so happened that this group of false teachers were women. Paul’s statement is about making them come under authority, including the authority of their husbands. God has set up a structure in the home with the man being the head and the woman in partnership with him but deferring to him as the final decision-maker. This structure ensures order in the home. And Paul expected the women in the church to also come under the authority of the person in charge of the local church so they could learn the truth of the Word and not be deceived. However, it did not mean that women could not preach or be ministers- or even be the pastor in charge of the local body of believers. As women (as well as other believers) submit to the authority of those God has placed over them, God will use them to teach, preach, sing, prophesy, etc.

Let your women keep silence 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. 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. I Corinthians 14:34-35 (KJV)

The background for this passage is that there were women in the Corinthian church who would interrupt the service by asking their husbands questions about what was being preached. And because in the culture of the day men sat together in front and women usually sat together in the back, this meant the women were shouting questions up to their husbands. Paul is simply telling them to wait until they get home to discuss such things.

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

God calls people to serve Him, regardless of whether they are male or female. God will use whomever He chooses in whatever role He chooses to fulfill His plan in the earth.

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For further study: Acts 10:34, John 20:11-18, Romans 16:3-5, Judges 4