The following was in response to my answer to a previous question about whether the prohibition on women preachers was simply a cultural requirement.
I have no problem with the truth. If you say Paul meant today, I respect that.
So are women preachers sinning today then, shouldn’t it be stopped then.
I just wondered, because I do have a great gift of delivering gods word. Where does one use this then? Many men don’t always have this. If a woman knows the word better than the man preaching, isn’t it wrong for me not to correct him?
Again, I have no desire to go against what god wants. I was interested in what you had to say on this. I respect this answer, yet I have some hesitation in my heart for today. I do respect men, and feel they should be the head, but it does seem like a great gift going to waste, if a woman can’t tell truth to save people to many.
One can be in the church but have to remain silent. That part I don’t understand.
But I will respect your answer, but keep researching this to fully see for myself. In the meantime I will choose to not preach in a church setting, until I would feel it was ok. I will not go against God’s wishes.Thanks again.
Answer
Women preachers today are ignoring Paul’s clear indication to the church that women are to keep silent in the assembly and not to take authority over a man. If she ignores the teaching of the New Covenant on that, what else might she be ignoring?
Where does a woman use her talent in delivering God’s word? Perhaps the best use is in teaching the lost. There is no restriction on a woman teaching unbelievers. Perhaps we have an example of this. In Acts 16:7 we find that God did not allow Paul to preach in part of Asia Minor. Instead, Paul went to Macedonia as the result of a vision. While in Philippi he taught a woman named Lydia. She was from the area where Paul had been forbidden to preach. That area, however, later had many believers. It is probable that Lydia and her household went home and taught their newfound faith. In fact, her home congregation of Thyatira is praised in the book of the Revelation (Revelation 2:18-28).
If a woman knows the word better than the man preaching, isn’t it wrong for me not to correct him? It would be wrong not to correct him. However, the assembly of the church is not the place to do so. In fact, we have evidence of a woman correcting a preacher (Apollos). “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” (Acts 18:26) From this we can conclude that it would be best that anyone, man or woman, correcting the preacher do so after “they took him unto them” privately.
It would indeed be “a great gift going to waste” if a woman can’t tell truth to save people. The New Testament does not teach that a woman can’t tell the truth to save people. Every Christian is encouraged to teach others that they may be saved. The restriction is not on teaching the truth, but on having authority over a man, including speaking in the assembly. If you want to save souls you would do better to use your talents in teaching the lost privately. Very few people come to salvation through someone preaching in the assembly. They come by individuals showing an interest in their souls, not as part of an impersonal group.
I encourage any woman to use her talents in teaching the word of God to do so. But I encourage them to do so in obedience to the word that they are teaching, rather than in defiance of it.