What is a women’s role in the ministry of the local church? This is a question that demands an answer. We can clearly see in the Bible that women serve an important role in the life of the church. It is of great theological importance to understand the roles of women and men in order to answer the question. Historically, the church has fallen on different sides of the debate. While there is some room here for difference in application, we must first and foremost stay true to the Scriptures.
Titus 2 and I Timothy 2 are two passages that give direct reference to the role of women in ministry. Titus 2 tells us that, “Older women…are to be reverent in behavior, no slanderers, or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands that the Word of God may not be reviled.” This gives us a vivid picture of the character, conduct, and role of godly Christian women in ministry. Likewise, I Timothy 2 affirms the same character qualities along with further insight. I Timothy 2:11 says, “let women learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a women to teach or exercise authority over a man, rather she is to remain quiet.” So, it is clear that there is a place for women to teach other women and children but they are not teach or have authority over men in the church.
Paul also makes the theological point clear in I Timothy 2:13-15. It’s not a matter of value but a creation principle. “Adam was formed first, then Eve; And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” Therefore, there is a priority of leadership within the roles that God established since creation. This does not imply that God or Paul were chauvinists but that he has given us different responsibilities and different levels of accountability. This is apparent in the fact that although Eve was the first transgressor, it was Adam’s willful sin that plunged the human race into depravity.
Historically women have been greatly used in God’s great plan of redemption from Eve into the present day although there has always been a struggle to maintain the roles that God has ordained because of the curse of sin. Culturally and ecclesiastically, the roles of men and women have been challenged and are being challenged like never before. The 1960’s began a cultural revolution that sparked a feminist movement that has greatly influenced our society and affected our churches for the worse. Although the world does not understand the things of God, the church must submit to his will and strive for godliness at all costs by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I believe that women’s ministry in the local church is critical and essential. Both man and woman were created in the image of God to display his glory. God has given us different roles and has equipped us with different gifts and abilities in order to accomplish his will. Women are forbidden to teach or exercise authority over men in the church but women are to faithfully pray, to teach other women and children, to be involved in mercy ministry, and to love and support their own husband and children. May God give us the grace to fulfill our God given roles for his glory.
*For further reading: Women’s Ministry in the Local Church, by J Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt
*The Danvers Statement of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a helpful statement of the proper biblical roles of men and women.
Both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).
Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).
Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).
In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.
The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18; Gal 3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community (Gen 2:18; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.
In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands' leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission-domestic, religious, or civil-ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).
In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God's will.
With half the world's population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (1 Cor 12:7-21).
We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.
*For more information go to www.cbmw.org
