Difficult Divine Decrees: Women as Leaders
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Difficult Divine Decrees: Women as Leaders
Difficult Divine Decrees: Women as Leaders
This question came in from someone in our congregation.
Oh, won’t this be fun today!
Generally, there are four views on this question:
Let your women keep silent
The head of the woman is the man
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy
There is no male and female
Book: Women in Ministry: Four views (Clouse, Bonnidell)
1 Corinthians 11:1-16, the head covering passages.
Is it about appearance?
Is it about protection?
Is it about survival?
Suggest, should you read it, pay close attention to the differentiation between man, husband, and woman, wife.
NOTE: The women in this passage pray and prophesy in the church, the discussion is the manner in which that is done.
1 Corinthians 14:34-37, the women keep silent passages.
Since 1 Cor 11 says women will pray and prophesy in church, this passage cannot mean women are to never speak in any situation.
Have you heard certain church choirs that have young boy’s singing the sopranos part?
That was done so that a woman’s voice would not be heard in church
If the church is the tabernacle of God, then how can we allow women to attend in any form?
Unless the Levites that served included women?
1 Timothy 2:8-15, Paul does not permit women to teach a man.
Galatians 3:28, Neither male AND female
Meaning, male AND female share in the inheritance.
Inheriting what?
But one that goes missing in these particular discussions from Men ruling Women is
1 Peter 3:7, which addresses husbands and their prayers.
So, you can see it is complicated.
And I have not addressed all the issues or passages.
Some argue that a woman should not be given pain relief during childbirth because you are skirting the so called curse of God
Yet, those same men don’t argue that farm machines should be forbidden so that man does not escape the curse of the ground.
Can’t use roundup to kill the weeds!!!
We have examples of women leaders and prophets in scripture
Michah 6:3-4, God says he sent Aaron, Moses, and Miriam to lead the people
Deborah in Judges 4:4-6 is interesting because Deborah was a leader before Barak’s reluctance
Huldah is a prophetess who provides the Word of the LORD to the people (2 Kings 22:14)
Did God just forget that he does not teach or communicate through women?
How is it an entire nation heeds her words?
Mary was a disciple (student) of Jesus, something quite unheard of.
Did Jesus err in doing this?
Peter in Acts 2:17-18 contains a quote from Joel 2:28-32, saying your Sons and your Daughters will prophesy.
Was Peter wrong? It was, after all, the very FIRST sermon ever given. Perhaps he did not prepare adequately.
In the 1 Corinthians 11:5 passage about the head covering, women are, in fact, praying and prophesying in the church. Paul is reprimanding them for the manner in which it is done, not for doing it.
And we don’t have time to cover the church fathers.
Sexual arousal was a sin and only sex for procreation was not a sin.
Thus, a couple past the age of childbearing who had sex were sinning
But the wives of the patriarchs cannot have children, and the answer to this is left wanting
And, it was only men who were made to sin by the beauty of women, so women, must be reduced.
Okay, let’s wrap this with three things we have discussed before.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This passage is referred to as the ‘creation mandate.’ It is absolutely the desired good that God intended.
To follow the command is obedience to God.
The challenge is subdue and dominion
Subdue and dominion over what? Other humans?
The author picks to specific words that have nothing to do with the ruling of a king.
They are to rule in subjection to God because God is the one who gave the command.
One of my favorite poorly understood verses follows in the Genesis 2 narrative.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Let’s look at how they translate that word ‘fit’
‘Fit’ for him:
Suitable. Just right. Partner. His like. Corresponding to. Suitable companion. Well-matched. Counterpart. Comparable. Complementary.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
When you understand the word behind ‘helper’ and ‘fit’ you will never again read scripture regarding women the same way.
neged, higid, to declare, authority
Of course none who teach men have authority over women refer to Genesis 2:24.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Once the man and woman rebel with the original divine rebel, things change…
Or do they?
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
The translation is horrible. The term contrary does not exist in the text.
Literally ‘your desire is to your husband.’
The ‘shall rule’ is not quite correct either.
It is ‘will rule’
A perfectly good translation could be:
אֶֽל־הָאִשָּׁ֣ה אָמַ֗ר הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ עִצְּבוֹנֵ֣ךְ וְהֵֽרֹנֵ֔ךְ בְּעֶ֖צֶב תֵּֽלְדִ֣י בָנִ֑ים וְאֶל־אִישֵׁךְ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָתֵ֔ךְ וְה֖וּא יִמְשָׁל־בָּֽךְ׃
Okay, just kidding, but let’s look quickly.
To the woman He (God) said, “I will surely increase your anxiety and your conception. With anxiety you will raise children. And your desire is your husband. And he will rule with you.” or “And he will rule through you.”
The bet preposition is used 13,800 times in the Hebrew Bible.
8700 times it is translated ‘in’
4540 times it is translated ‘with’
282 times it is translated ‘through’
Now, we need to discuss this verse in context of what was said previously.
Genesis 3:15–16 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.””
And interesting thing happens. The man does not have a seed, offspring, in this proclamation.
I contend that all scripture should be viewed through the lens of these opening chapters.
Difficult Divine Decrees: Women as Leaders
Difficult Divine Decrees: Women as Leaders