Does the Bible Forbid Women to be Preachers?

How Scripture Portrays Women's Roles in the Church

© Rebecca Craig

Oct 7, 2008

For centuries, 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 have been utilized to uphold the practice of forbidding women to have leadership roles within the church. What few realize, however, is that scripture passages like these seem to fly in the face of other scriptural passages that uphold and edify women’s roles as leaders. So how are people to interpret these passages in light of the rest of scripture?

Paul and the Women of Corinth

If 1 Cor. 14 is to be upheld as a church-wide mandate, Paul has problems within the context of his own letter. In 1 Cor. 11:4, Paul sets out a standard of dress for women who pray and “prophesy.” Now many would argue that to “prophesy” is different than “preaching,” but in the Greek, the word “propheteuo” means “to proclaim God’s message,” “to preach,” and “to speak God’s message intelligibly” (as opposed to speaking in tongues).[1]

Given the need for a covering over their heads, it is apparent that men were present when these women were preaching. Thus, either Paul suddenly gets amnesia when he makes the statement later in chapter 14 that women should remain silent, or Paul is addressing an entirely different issue. The latter seems the most likely, since by chapter 14, the topic of conversation has shifted to the subject of spiritual gifts and, in particular, the inappropriate use of the gift of tongues. Given the ecstatic, frenzied nature of the pagan rituals that many of the Corinthians would have been partial to, maintaining order and putting the best face on the church as possible was of the utmost concern to Paul. If that meant women needed to refrain from the act of speaking in tongues, then so be it.

Problems with False Teachers in Ephesus

The 1 Timothy text finds itself in a similar situation. Timothy’s congregation was located in Ephesus, an equally pagan city that, as referenced earlier in Timothy, had been subject to many false teachers who were leading the congregation astray. Certain women in the church were falling prey to these false teachers, who were then, in turn, teaching the same false doctrines and drawing men away from the true teachings. This was creating a lot of disorder and dissension within the church, and Paul needed to establish some kind of rules to re-establish order in the church at Ephesus.

Other Scripture Passages that Uphold Women’s Leadership Roles in the Church

With these contexts in mind, one can now look at all the other places in the Bible where women were very clearly involved in leadership roles. In fact, Paul gives a litany of women who worked hard in the cause of the gospel in Romans 16, even going so far as to call one of these women, Junia, an apostle! In Philippians 4, Paul again lists several women who struggled beside him in the work of the gospel. Given the “gospel” is telling people about Christ, such work undoubtedly involved preaching and teaching. Interestingly, two of Paul’s prized students are a married couple, Priscilla and Aquila, but Priscilla is always mentioned first—an odd structure for Paul’s day. In Acts 18:25-26, both Priscilla and her husband Aquila take Apollos aside to instruct him on baptism. Priscilla is obviously involved in teaching a man here.

Acts 9:36 tells us of a female disciple, Tabitha (also called Dorcas). Given the definition and purpose of a disciple was to learn and eventually become like the Rabbi they were learning from, if women were not to become teachers or ministers, then they would not have been allowed to be disciples, either. Philip’s four daughters are also referenced as being prophets.

Jesus and Women

In the gospels as well Jesus treats women on a much more equal standing than was the custom of his day. The Samaritan woman was told to go tell the men of her town what she had seen and heard. Mary of Bethany sat at the feet of Jesus just as the male disciples did rather than doing traditional “women’s work” like her sister Martha, and Jesus’ response was that Mary was doing the better thing. And of course, one can’t forget that the very first evangelist to spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection was, in fact, a woman—Mary Magdalene. If Jesus himself felt a woman was worthy of preaching such wondrous news, it seems shameful that so many churches have stifled this role.

Early Church Schism

In fact, women were very instrumental in the early church—that is until the schism between the Montanists[2] and the Orthodox church over two of Montanus’ female prophets, Maximilla and Prisca, who told of visions of Christ in the form of a woman. Because of this, by the fourth century, female prophetic activity ceased to be officially recognized, as female prophets were now regarded as especially suspicious, despite the history of female prophets throughout the Bible (Philip's daughters, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, etc.).[3]

In the end, the question that must be asked is: which texts seem the most normative? The majority of the bible which upholds women as preachers and teachers, or these two texts that are pulled out of their context?

[1] UBS Greek Dictionary

[2] Montanism was a 2nd century Christian movement started near Phrygia by Montanus, who claimed to have received direct revelations from the Holy Spirit. For more information on this early Christian movement, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10521a.htm

[3] Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds., Women’s Bible Commentary, (Louisville: Westminister John Knox Press, 1998) p. 477

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