Women of the Bible

Before We Begin

You may already have an answer.

Women can preach.

Women cannot preach.

Women can teach children and other women but never men.

Women can prophesy but cannot teach.

Women can teach but cannot exercise authority.

Women can do anything a man can do in the assembly.

Women should remain quiet and receive instruction from men.

Maybe one of those positions has been taught to you so confidently that you stopped realizing it was an interpretation.

For this study, set the conclusion down for a little while.

We are going to do something more dangerous.

We are going to read.

Do not begin with a denomination.

Do not begin with feminism.

Do not begin with patriarchy.

Do not begin with what your pastor said.

Do not begin with what Sasha said.

Begin with the text.

And whenever possible, answer the questions before reading my comments underneath them.

You may discover that some things are much clearer than you expected.

You may discover that other things are considerably less clear than you were told.

Good.

That is why we study.

STUDY ONE

What Did Yehovah Say About Women Before Anybody Started Arguing About Them?

READ

Open Genesis 1:26–28.

Do not skim it.

Read it slowly.

Now answer these questions from the passage itself.

Who does Elohim say will be made in His image?

Write your answer.

When verse 27 says “male and female,” which of them is included in the image-bearing statement?

Write your answer.

Who receives the blessing to be fruitful and multiply?

Who receives the commission involving the earth and dominion over the living creatures?

Does the passage give the man dominion over the woman?

Or does it give male and female together dominion over creation?

Do not answer from theology.

Answer from Genesis 1.

Now Read Genesis 2:18–25

What does Yehovah say is “not good”?

Who identifies the problem?

Does Adam announce that he needs an assistant?

Or does Yehovah say the man should not be alone?

Now look at Genesis 2:18 in an interlinear, concordance, or Bible-study tool.

Find the Hebrew word translated helper:

עֵזֶר — ezer

If your tool allows it, look at several other places where ezer occurs.

Try:

• Exodus 18:4
• Deuteronomy 33:7
• Psalm 20:2
• Psalm 33:20
• Psalm 70:5
• Psalm 121:1–2

Who is described as a helper in some of those passages?

Does the word itself mean:

inferior?

servant?

assistant?

lesser authority?

Or does it simply describe one who provides needed help?

Now return to Genesis 2.

The woman is described as an ezer corresponding to the man.

WRITE IT DOWN

Based only on Genesis 1–2:

Can you support the statement “women are lesser image-bearers than men”?

Why or why not?

Can the word helper, by itself, prove female inferiority?

Why or why not?

Do not go farther than the evidence.

Genesis 1–2 has not answered every question about marriage or congregational leadership.

But it has already placed boundaries around what we are allowed to claim.

STUDY TWO

What Happens When Women Speak for Yehovah?

We are going to collect evidence.

Do not interpret it yet.

Just collect it.

Miriam

READ

Exodus 15:20–21

What title does Scripture give Miriam?

Write the exact title your translation uses.

What does she do?

Now read:

Micah 6:4

Whom does Yehovah say He sent before Israel when He brought them out of Egypt?

List the names.

Do you see Miriam?

ASK YOURSELF

If someone told you:

“Women were never given spiritually significant public roles in Israel,”

does Miriam make that statement easier or harder to defend?

Do not make Miriam into something Scripture never calls her.

But do not make her less than Scripture calls her either.

STUDY THREE

Deborah: Read the Text Before Someone Explains Her Away

READ

Open Judges 4:1–10.

Before continuing this study, answer:

How is Deborah introduced in verse 4?

Write both descriptions.

Where is she sitting?

Who comes to her?

Why are they coming?

Now look carefully at Deborah’s conversation with Barak.

Who summons Barak?

Who communicates Yehovah’s command?

Does the passage say Deborah invented the battle plan herself?

Whose command does she report?

Continue through Judges 4.

Then read Judges 5.

Who participates in the song?

How does Deborah describe herself in Judges 5:7?

Stop Here Before Reading Further

Have you ever heard this explanation?

“Deborah only led because there were no godly men available.”

Now return to Judges 4.

Find the verse that says that.

Take your time.

Did you find one?

If not, write:

The text does not say ____________________________.

That does not mean Deborah’s situation was ordinary.

It does mean we should distinguish between what Scripture says and what we have supplied to make Scripture fit a system.

WHAT CAN WE ACTUALLY SAY?

Deborah is explicitly called a prophetess.

Deborah is explicitly judging Israel.

Israelites come to her for judgment.

She communicates Yehovah’s command to Barak.

Those statements require no speculation.

Now ask:

Does the existence of Deborah prove that women may hold every biblical office?

No.

Does it prove that Scripture can depict a woman exercising real spiritual and civil authority without condemning her for being female?

Write your answer.

STUDY FOUR

Huldah: Who Do the Men Ask?

This one is especially important because the circumstances are extraordinary.

READ

Open 2 Kings 22:8–20.

A scroll has been discovered.

King Josiah hears the words and tears his garments.

Now answer:

What does Josiah tell his officials to do in verses 12–13?

He wants them to inquire of whom?

Now look at the delegation.

Are men included?

Are religious officials included?

Now read verse 14.

Whom do they go to?

What title does the text give her?

Write it.

Read Huldah’s message through verse 20.

Does she merely offer personal advice?

Or does she speak a message presented as coming from Yehovah?

Who receives that message?

Where is it taken afterward?

Now compare the parallel account:

2 Chronicles 34:22–28

Same question.

Who is consulted?

ANSWER BEFORE CONTINUING

If women are inherently prohibited from communicating authoritative divine truth to men, what do you do with Huldah?

Do not answer:

“She was an exception.”

That may be an interpretation.

First answer the textual question:

Did Yehovah use her in this way or not?

Yes or no.

Then ask a second question:

If Yehovah Himself uses a woman as a prophet to address male leaders of Judah, can we responsibly create a universal principle that says:

“A man should never receive spiritual instruction from a woman”?

Write your answer.

STUDY FIVE

Abigail: Can a Woman Correct a Man?

Open 1 Samuel 25.

Yes, the whole chapter.

Meet Nabal.

Meet Abigail.

Meet an angry David.

Now answer:

What is David planning to do?

What does Abigail do when she hears?

Read her speech carefully in 1 Samuel 25:23–31.

What subjects does Abigail speak about?

Look for:

• vengeance
• bloodguilt
• Yehovah
• David’s future
• David’s conscience
• what kind of man David should become

Now read David’s response in verses 32–35.

Whom does David bless first?

What does he say about Abigail’s discernment or counsel?

Does David reject her words because she is a woman?

Does he change his actions?

WRITE YOUR OBSERVATION

Finish this sentence from the narrative:

Abigail spoke to David about ________________________, and David responded by ________________________.

Now ask:

Does this prove Abigail was an elder?

No.

Does it demonstrate that receiving wise spiritual correction from a woman is inherently unbiblical?

What does the story itself suggest?

STUDY SIX

Who Teaches Wisdom?

Open Proverbs 1:8.

What two sources of parental instruction are named?

Father’s what?

Mother’s what?

Now read Proverbs 6:20.

Again, what comes from the father?

What comes from the mother?

Now open Proverbs 31:1–9.

Who is receiving instruction?

Who taught it to him?

What subjects does she address?

Look carefully.

Sexual conduct.

Alcohol.

Kingship.

Justice.

Defending the poor and vulnerable.

Now answer:

Is the learner male or female?

Is he a child?

Is he a king?

Who teaches him?

If someone says:

“A woman must never teach an adult man about righteous living,”

what passage might you ask them to read?

Do not overstate it.

Proverbs 31 does not identify King Lemuel’s mother as an elder of an assembly.

It does something much simpler.

It preserves a woman teaching wisdom to a man.

And Scripture apparently thought the teaching was worth keeping.

PAUSE AND LOOK AT YOUR NOTES

We have not reached Yeshua.

We have not reached Paul.

We have not reached the early assemblies.

Already you should have observations concerning:

• female image-bearing
• ezer
• Miriam
• Deborah
• Huldah
• Abigail
• mothers teaching wisdom

Now answer this without reading ahead:

Based on the Tanakh alone, is this statement accurate?

> “Biblical women were expected to remain spiritually silent while men taught, judged, counseled, and spoke for Yehovah.”

Yes?

No?

Partly?

Write why.

STUDY SEVEN

What Did Yeshua Do With Women?

Rather than beginning with what somebody says women are allowed to do, watch Yeshua.

Women Travel With and Support the Ministry

READ

Luke 8:1–3

Who is traveling through cities and villages?

Who are the Twelve?

Who else does Luke name?

What are the women doing?

Does Luke treat their presence as embarrassing?

Does he hide the fact that women materially supported the ministry?

Write down the names Luke gives.

STUDY EIGHT

Mary Chooses to Learn

READ

Luke 10:38–42

What is Martha doing?

What is Mary doing?

Where is Mary positioned?

What is she listening to?

When Martha objects, whom does Yeshua correct?

What does Yeshua say about Mary’s choice?

Now answer:

Does Yeshua send Mary away from His teaching because theological learning belongs to men?

What does He defend?

ASK A HARDER QUESTION

If our theology produces women who are afraid to study deeply, ask theological questions, reach conclusions, or become biblically knowledgeable, does it resemble what Yeshua does with Mary here?

Write your answer before continuing.

STUDY NINE

The Samaritan Woman Talks Theology With Yeshua

Read John 4:1–42.

Do not read only the famous lines.

Follow the conversation.

List the subjects that appear:

Water.

Jacob.

Marriage.

Prophets.

Worship.

Jerusalem.

Messiah.

Spirit.

Truth.

Now ask:

Does Yeshua avoid theological discussion with her because she is female?

What does He reveal to her?

What does she do afterward?

Read verses 28–30.

Whom does she address?

What happens?

Now read verses 39–42.

Why do people initially come?

What happens after they hear Yeshua themselves?

OBSERVATION

The woman does not become the final authority.

She points people toward Yeshua.

That distinction matters.

But answer the simpler question:

Does her testimony bring men toward Messiah?

STUDY TEN

Who Carries the Resurrection News?

Open John 20:11–18.

Who encounters the risen Yeshua?

What does Yeshua tell Mary Magdalene to do?

Whom is she told to go to?

What message is she carrying?

Now read Matthew 28:1–10 as well.

Who discovers the tomb?

What are the women told to do?

Who receives their message?

WRITE IT DOWN

Yeshua Himself sends women with spiritually significant news to _______________________.

Do not turn Mary Magdalene into an office Scripture never names.

But do not turn her into a silent spectator either.

STUDY ELEVEN

Sons AND Daughters

Open Joel 2:28–29.

Make two columns on your paper.

MALE

Write every male category mentioned.

FEMALE

Write every female category mentioned.

Now open Acts 2:14–21.

Peter says what is happening fulfills or corresponds to what prophet?

Does Peter remove the daughters from Joel’s promise?

Does he remove the female servants?

What will they do?

Now read:

Acts 21:8–9

How many daughters does Philip have?

What do they do?

ANSWER

Can a theology of the Spirit say that women are never given spoken spiritual ministry?

What would you have to do with Joel and Acts?

STUDY TWELVE

Priscilla and the Man Who Knew His Bible

Read Acts 18:24–28.

First, describe Apollos.

Was he biblically ignorant?

Was he unintelligent?

Was he timid?

Was he already teaching?

Write every positive thing Luke says about him.

Now identify what he does not yet understand completely.

Then answer:

Who hears him?

Who takes him aside?

Who explains the way of God more accurately?

Does the verse name only Aquila?

Look carefully.

Where is Priscilla?

Now read what happens afterward.

Does Apollos's ministry collapse because a woman participated in correcting his understanding?

Or does he continue becoming useful?

DO NOT OVERSTATE IT

Acts 18 does not say:

Priscilla was an elder.

Priscilla was the senior pastor.

Priscilla preached the Sunday sermon.

Acts 18 does say:

Priscilla and Aquila helped an educated male teacher understand the way of God more accurately.

So answer precisely:

Can this passage support the statement:

“A woman may never teach a man anything about Scripture”?

Why or why not?

STUDY THIRTEEN

Meet the Women Paul Actually Knew

Before we use Paul to tell women what they cannot do, perhaps we should meet the women Paul talks about.

Open Romans 16:1–16.

Get a pen.

Every time Paul names a woman, write her name down.

Do not read my list first.

Find them yourself.

How many did you find?

Now go back and write beside each woman what Paul says about her.

Pay special attention to:

Phoebe

What terms are used for her?

What does Paul ask the Roman believers to do for her?

What has she done for others?

Prisca/Priscilla

What does Paul call her and Aquila?

What had they risked?

What exists in their house?

Mary

What did she do?

Tryphaena and Tryphosa

What are they doing?

Persis

What does Paul say about her work?

Now read Philippians 4:2–3.

What does Paul say Euodia and Syntyche did with him?

Write the phrase.

NOW ANSWER

Does Paul's own description of women sound like:

passive spectators?

Or active coworkers in the work of the gospel?

Do not decide yet what offices they held.

Simply use Paul's vocabulary.

STUDY FOURTEEN

Before “Women Must Be Silent,” Read What Women Are Already Doing

Open 1 Corinthians 11:2–16.

We are not studying head coverings in depth today.

We will save that adventure for another cup of coffee.

Instead, find verse 5.

What two activities does Paul describe a woman doing?

Write them:

1. ---

2. ---

Does Paul say here that her praying is forbidden?

Does Paul say here that her prophesying is forbidden?

What issue is Paul actually discussing around those activities?

Now turn to 1 Corinthians 14.

Do not jump immediately to verse 34.

Read verses 26–40.

What is the overall concern of this section?

Look for words or ideas involving:

edification,

order,

peace,

taking turns,

interpretation,

prophecy.

Now find everyone Paul tells to become silent.

First:

Read 1 Corinthians 14:27–28.

Who must be silent under a particular condition?

Then:

Read verses 29–30.

Who else must yield or become silent?

Then read:

verses 34–35.

Who is now told to be silent?

PUT THE PASSAGES TOGETHER

Here is your problem to solve:

In chapter 11, Paul acknowledges women praying and prophesying.

In chapter 14, Paul says women should be silent.

Can “be silent” in chapter 14 simply mean:

“A woman may never speak during a gathered assembly under any circumstances”?

If that is your interpretation, explain chapter 11.

Write your answer.

Do not evade the tension.

Work it.

ASK BETTER QUESTIONS OF 1 CORINTHIANS 14

Look carefully at verse 35.

What activity is specifically mentioned?

What are the women told to do at home?

Who are they told to ask?

Does the wording specifically mention wives/husbands in your translation?

Now ask:

Could disruptive questioning be involved?

Could the evaluation of prophecy be involved?

Could Paul be prohibiting some specific form of speaking rather than all female vocal participation?

Could chapter 11 occur in a different setting?

Could Paul distinguish prophecy from authoritative teaching?

Several interpretations have been proposed.

Our job is not to choose whichever one makes our previous theology easiest.

Our job is to ask:

Which interpretation accounts for the most Scripture with the fewest things we have to pretend are not there?

Write your current conclusion.

You are allowed to write:

I am not sure yet.

That is an acceptable Bible-study answer.

STUDY FIFTEEN

Now We Are Ready for 1 Timothy 2

Not before now.

Now.

Because now you have a biblical evidence set.

Read 1 Timothy 1:1–11 first.

What problem is Timothy dealing with in Ephesus?

What are certain people teaching?

What are they occupied with?

What relationship does Paul say some of this bad teaching has to Torah?

Now read 1 Timothy 2:1–15.

Do not begin at verse 12.

Start at verse 1.

Who is Paul addressing throughout the chapter?

What instructions are given specifically to men?

What instructions are given to women?

Now stop at verse 11.

WHAT DOES VERSE 11 COMMAND?

Does Paul say:

“Do not allow a woman to learn”?

Or does he say:

“Let a woman learn”?

That matters.

Write it down.

Paul expects women to ____________________.

Now continue into verse 12.

What two actions are involved in the restriction?

Teaching.

And what else?

Check several translations.

You may see:

• exercise authority
• have authority
• assume authority
• usurp authority

Why are translators not all using exactly the same English wording?

That is worth investigating.

WORD STUDY: AUTHENTEŌ

The Greek verb is:

αὐθεντέω — authenteō

This is an unusual word in the New Testament.

In fact, this is its only New Testament occurrence.

That means we need humility.

Do not type the Greek word into the internet, find the definition you prefer, and announce that the case is closed.

Instead ask:

What range of meanings do reputable lexicons give?

How does the grammar connect “teach” and authenteō?

Is Paul prohibiting two separate activities or one combined activity?

Does the word itself clearly mean abusive domination?

Does it clearly establish every form of normal authority?

Record what your tools actually say.

Then return to the sentence.

Context before concordance.

Always.

KEEP READING

Now read 1 Timothy 2:13–14.

What reasons does Paul give?

Where does he go?

Ephesus?

Roman law?

Artemis?

Or Genesis?

Write the answer.

That matters.

Any interpretation that says:

“This was merely a random local custom,”

has to account for Paul's appeal to Adam and Eve.

Do not skip it because it complicates your preferred conclusion.

Now ask another question.

Why does Paul mention Eve's deception?

Is he making a universal statement that women are naturally more deceivable?

If so, where else does Scripture teach that?

Are men in Scripture ever deceived?

Frequently?

Spectacularly?

Apparently we are equal-opportunity sinners.

So do not claim more than Paul claims.

NOW READ VERSE 15

Slowly.

If someone tells you this entire paragraph is obvious, ask them what verse 15 means.

What does your translation say concerning childbearing?

Now compare two or three translations.

Write down what changes.

Ask:

What does “saved through childbearing” mean?

Physical preservation?

Faithful vocation?

Reference to the birth of Messiah?

Something else?

You do not have to solve it yet.

The point is important:

This is a difficult paragraph.

Difficult does not mean meaningless.

Difficult means we approach it without swagger.

NOW READ THE WHOLE LETTER

At minimum, continue through 1 Timothy 3.

What qualifications are given for overseers?

What qualifications are given for deacons?

What gendered language appears?

Now ask carefully:

Does the male language establish a male-only office?

Many believers conclude that it does.

Others argue the language describes the normal candidate rather than establishing sex as an absolute qualification.

Which interpretation do you think best fits the text?

Write your reasons.

But do not quietly turn this into a different question.

Whether women may serve as elders is not identical to:

“May a woman ever teach a man?”

“May a woman speak in an assembly?”

“May a woman explain Scripture?”

“May a woman prophesy?”

“May a woman correct a man?”

We have already read passages relevant to those questions.

Keep categories separate.

STUDY SIXTEEN

Paul Explicitly Tells Women to Teach

Open Titus 2:1–5.

Who are the older women instructed to teach?

What are they told to teach?

Does Paul oppose women teaching as an activity?

Obviously not.

He commands it here.

So revise the question.

The question cannot simply be:

“Does Paul allow women to teach?”

He does.

The real questions include:

Whom?

What?

Where?

Under what authority?

In what office, if any?

What kind of teaching is restricted in 1 Timothy 2?

Those questions require more than one verse.

STUDY SEVENTEEN

Galatians 3:28: What Does It Prove?

Read Galatians 3:23–29.

Do not read only verse 28.

What is Paul's subject?

Faith?

Torah?

Messiah?

Sonship?

Inheritance?

Now identify the three pairs in verse 28.

Jew/Greek.

Slave/free.

Male/female.

What conclusion follows in verse 29?

What are believers in Messiah?

Whose seed are they connected to?

What are they according to promise?

NOW ASK

Does this passage teach that women receive a lesser inheritance?

No.

Does it teach that ethnicity determines access to Messiah?

No.

Does social status determine one's standing in Messiah?

No.

Does Galatians 3 explicitly discuss who may serve as congregational elder?

No.

So do not make it answer a question Paul is not discussing.

But do not miss what it does establish:

Women are not second-class heirs.

NOW BUILD YOUR OWN EVIDENCE CHART

Do not read my conclusion yet.

Take a sheet of paper.

Make three headings:

CLEARLY PERMITTED OR SHOWN

Under this heading, record the things women actually do in Scripture.

Go back through your notes.

CLEARLY RESTRICTED

Record any activity Scripture clearly restricts and the exact passage.

Do not paraphrase more broadly than the verse.

STILL REQUIRES INTERPRETATION

Place the disputed questions here.

You might include:

• scope of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35
• meaning and scope of 1 Timothy 2:11–15
• relationship between teaching and authority
• whether elder/overseer office is male-only
• how prophecy differs from teaching
• whether particular restrictions are universal, local, or both in different respects

Now look at your page.

That page matters more than my conclusion.

TEST THE CLAIMS YOU HAVE HEARD

CLAIM:

“A woman should never teach a man spiritual truth.”

Test it against:

• Proverbs 31:1–9
• 1 Samuel 25
• Acts 18:24–28

Does the absolute claim survive?

Write your answer.

CLAIM:

“Women should never speak in a gathered assembly.”

Test it against:

• Joel 2:28–29
• Acts 2:16–18
• Acts 21:8–9
• 1 Corinthians 11:5
• 1 Corinthians 14:34–35

Can you make all of those passages fit absolute silence?

Explain how.

CLAIM:

“Women never exercised meaningful spiritual authority over men.”

Test it against:

• Judges 4–5
• 2 Kings 22:11–20

What do Deborah and Huldah require you to account for?

CLAIM:

“Because women did important things in Scripture, no sex-specific distinctions remain.”

Test it against:

• the Aaronic priesthood
• the Twelve
• 1 Timothy 2:11–15
• 1 Timothy 3:1–7
• Titus 1:5–9

Does Scripture permit us to solve one extreme by ignoring the evidence used by the other?

No.

Keep studying.

☕ Coffee Break With Sasha

Now imagine we are sitting at my kitchen table.

Your Bible is open.

Your notebook looks like it has been through something.

There are arrows everywhere.

Deborah has caused problems.

Huldah has caused more.

Priscilla has wandered in and corrected Apollos.

Paul has now entered the room and made everybody uncomfortable.

Excellent.

This is Bible study.

Suppose you tell me:

“My church says women cannot teach men.”

My first response should not be:

“That is ridiculous.”

It should be:

“What exactly do they mean by teach?”

Can a mother teach her adult son Scripture?

Can a wife tell her husband his interpretation is wrong?

Can a woman write a Bible commentary that men read?

Can she teach biblical Hebrew?

Can she explain the gospel to a man?

Can she prophesy?

Can she testify?

Can she teach a mixed Bible study?

Can she preach to a gathered congregation?

Can she serve as a deacon?

Can she serve as an elder?

Are all of those the same question?

No.

But Christians regularly answer all ten of them with one verse.

That is not careful enough.

And ladies, we do not need to make Paul disappear in order to demonstrate our value.

If Yehovah drew a boundary somewhere, I want to know where it is.

I will obey it.

But I am not volunteering to live inside twelve additional boundaries somebody else drew around His.

And gentlemen, if a woman opens her Bible and shows you that you have misunderstood a passage, you do not need to protect biblical masculinity by reaching for 1 Timothy 2.

Check the passage.

Maybe she is wrong.

Maybe you are.

Apollos was apparently able to survive the horrifying experience of learning something from Priscilla.

I believe in you.

NOW ANSWER THE ORIGINAL QUESTION

At the beginning of this study, we asked whether the Bible teaches women to remain silent and avoid teaching men.

Do not read my answer yet.

Write yours.

1. Does Scripture depict women speaking for Yehovah?

List examples.

2. Does Scripture depict women giving spiritual wisdom or instruction to men?

List examples.

3. Does Scripture depict women prophesying in the New Testament?

Give references.

4. Does Scripture contain restrictions concerning women, teaching, speech, or authority?

Give references.

5. Are those restrictions easy to interpret without considering the rest of Scripture?

Explain.

6. Does Scripture support the statement that every man has spiritual authority over every woman merely because he is male?

Find the passage if you believe it does.

7. Does Scripture support treating women as spiritually inferior?

Find the passage if you believe it does.

8. Does Scripture settle every modern debate over elder/pastor offices in one verse?

Explain your answer.

Now read your own notes.

What conclusion did the evidence you collected lead you toward?

What the Evidence Allows Us to Say With Confidence

Now I will tell you what I see.

Women are full image-bearers of Elohim.

Women are expected to learn.

Women are expected to know truth.

Women receive spiritual gifts.

Women prophesy.

Women communicate divine messages.

Women teach other women.

Women sometimes instruct men.

Women sometimes correct men.

Women testify publicly about Messiah.

Women labor beside the apostles.

Women play substantial roles in the work of Yehovah.

Men sometimes need to listen to them.

None of that requires creative interpretation.

We just read it.

At the same time, Paul places real restrictions around something involving teaching and authority in 1 Timothy 2, and he gives instructions concerning women's speech in 1 Corinthians 14.

We do not get to erase those either.

The responsible question is therefore not:

“Are women allowed to have spiritual voices?”

Scripture has already answered that.

They do.

The harder question is:

“What specific boundaries, if any, does Scripture place around particular congregational roles, teaching functions, or authority relationships?”

That question deserves careful study.

And believers who love Scripture may reach different conclusions while genuinely trying to honor the evidence.

What We Cannot Responsibly Say

We cannot say:

“Women were created as spiritually inferior humans.”

Genesis will not let us.

We cannot say:

“A woman may never speak divine truth to a man.”

Huldah will not let us.

We cannot say:

“A woman may never instruct a man.”

Priscilla and Abigail will not let us.

We cannot say:

“Women never exercised authority in Scripture.”

Deborah will not let us.

We cannot say:

“Paul prohibited every kind of female teaching.”

Titus 2 will not let us.

We cannot say:

“Paul prohibited every kind of female speech in worship.”

First Corinthians 11 makes that extraordinarily difficult.

We also cannot simply say:

“Because women prophesied and taught, every congregational office must therefore be open to women.”

The evidence we studied does not establish that conclusion by itself.

And we cannot say:

“First Timothy 2 is irrelevant because Paul was talking only about some strange Ephesian situation.”

Paul's appeal to Adam and Eve deserves more respect than that.

See what careful study does?

It keeps taking our slogans away.

One More Question

Why do you think Scripture gives us so many spiritually active women if Yehovah wanted women to understand their primary spiritual responsibility as silence?

Sit with that.

Then ask the opposite question:

Why do you think Paul included real restrictions if all distinctions between male and female function became meaningless in Messiah?

Sit with that too.

We do not need to be frightened by either question.

Truth can survive an open Bible.

Final Thought

Maybe the biggest mistake we make in this discussion is asking Scripture to choose between two modern boxes.

One box says a faithful woman proves her submission by becoming small, quiet, dependent upon male spiritual interpretation, and careful never to know too much in the presence of a man.

The other says any distinction involving men and women must be oppressive and therefore every difficult passage needs to be explained away.

The Bible does not fit comfortably in either box.

Its women are too strong for the first one.

Its restrictions are too inconvenient for the second.

So perhaps our job is not to make Scripture fit our system.

Perhaps our job is to let Scripture correct it.

If Yehovah calls a woman prophetess, let her be a prophetess.

If He depicts her judging Israel, let the text say what it says.

If a woman gives a king wise counsel, listen.

If Yeshua tells Mary to carry a message to His brothers, let her go.

If daughters prophesy, let them prophesy.

If Priscilla helps Apollos understand accurately, do not pretend Aquila did all the talking.

If Paul commends women as coworkers, let them be coworkers.

And if Paul establishes a boundary, do not erase that boundary because you dislike it.

Find it.

Define it carefully.

Keep it exactly as wide as Scripture makes it.

And no wider.

Because “Yehovah gave you boobies, therefore please stop having biblical thoughts where men might hear them” is not a doctrine.

It is a caricature.

We can do better.

We have an open Bible.

Don’t take my word for it.

Open yours.

Continue the Study

Before deciding where you land on women and congregational leadership, study these passages together rather than individually:

Creation and vocation

Genesis 1:26–28; Genesis 2:18–25; Genesis 3

Women speaking and leading in the Tanakh

Exodus 15:20–21; Numbers 27:1–11; Judges 4–5; 1 Samuel 25; 2 Samuel 20:14–22; 2 Kings 22:11–20; 2 Chronicles 34:22–28; Proverbs 1:8; 6:20; 31:1–9; Micah 6:4

Women around Yeshua

Luke 8:1–3; Luke 10:38–42; John 4:1–42; John 20:11–18; Matthew 28:1–10

Spirit and prophecy

Joel 2:28–29; Acts 2:14–21; Acts 21:8–9; 1 Corinthians 11:2–16

Women in apostolic ministry

Acts 18:24–28; Romans 16:1–16; Philippians 4:2–3

Difficult passages and congregational order

1 Corinthians 14:26–40; 1 Timothy 1–3; Titus 1–2

Identity and inheritance in Messiah

Galatians 3:23–29

Study Notes

Ezer

The Hebrew word ezer in Genesis 2:18 means help/helper. Because the same word can describe help supplied by Yehovah elsewhere in Scripture, the noun itself cannot legitimately be used to prove inferiority. That lexical observation does not, by itself, settle questions concerning marital structure or authority.

Deborah

Judges explicitly identifies Deborah as both prophetess and judge. The text does not state that she held the role because no qualified man existed. Readers are free to develop theological explanations of her unusual role, but those explanations should be identified as interpretations rather than quotations from Judges.

Huldah

Second Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34 depict royal and religious officials consulting Huldah regarding the discovered book of Torah. The narrative presents her response as a prophetic message from Yehovah.

Priscilla

Acts 18:26 includes both Priscilla and Aquila in explaining the way of God more accurately to Apollos. The passage does not identify Priscilla as an elder or congregational pastor, but neither does it support an absolute prohibition against a woman giving theological instruction to a man.

First Corinthians 11 and 14

Any interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 should be reconciled with 1 Corinthians 11:5, where Paul discusses women praying and prophesying. Chapter 14 also uses silence language for other speakers under particular circumstances as Paul regulates orderly participation in the gathering.

Authenteō

The verb authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12 occurs only once in the New Testament. Its precise nuance should therefore be studied cautiously through lexical evidence, syntax, immediate context, the rest of 1 Timothy, and the wider biblical record rather than being treated as a self-interpreting technical term.

First Timothy 2

The passage includes both a command that a woman learn and a restriction involving teaching and authenteō in relation to a man. Paul's appeal to Adam and Eve must remain part of the interpretation. The surrounding context of false teaching in 1 Timothy should also remain part of the interpretation. Neither element should simply erase the other.

Offices

This study intentionally distinguishes the broad question of women's spiritual speech, instruction, prophecy, and ministry from the narrower debate concerning elder/overseer office. Those questions overlap, but they are not identical and should not be collapsed into one another.

Continue Studying

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Study Torah — תּוֹרָה

A Guided Hebrew Word Study