Women Preachers and the Word of God

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Women Preachers & the Word of God

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

G

ender battles are an integral part of the social landscape today. Throughout this century a crescendo of voices have assured women that they were oppressed. Oppressed, they were encouraged to unite together with their sisters to cast off the bondage of patriarchal slavery. Bra burning during the sixties has given way to political action groups today. The pendulum appears to be swinging in the opposite direction today, however. Men are now organising into political groups, their express intention being the assertion of masculine rights in contrast to feminine rights. I am no prophet, but I am on solid ground when I say that such gender wars will continue at least throughout our lifetimes, and they will likely continue until the day Jesus comes.

It is tragic enough when these fights are ongoing in society. Ultimately they must affect each of us. For years we have been assured that men are violent and much more likely to harm women. Evidence demonstrating that women are at least as likely to engage in violent behaviour as men and that they were more likely to assault a man than vice versa was suppressed. We are assured that men use guns to kill women; on this basis we register all guns. It is of no consequence that a woman is more likely to shoot a man then is a man to shoot a woman—all men are suspect. Since men are the violent sex, the law in British Columbia, and increasingly throughout Canada, holds that a man must be jailed even on the strength of a rumour of a voice raised against a woman. Families are torn apart and lives are ruined, all because of the myth of male power.

If gender fights in society as a whole have such tragic consequences, consider what must happen when these same issues infect the Body of Christ. Women within the evangelical community are increasingly vocal in voicing their opinion that they have been excluded from power within the church. They will assume their place as leaders and even as overseers in the Body of Christ. In order to exercise this new-found power it has become necessary to dismiss the history of the churches. It has become necessary to explain away the writings of the Apostles and even the words of Jesus. Human rights and reason have replaced human responsibility and divine revelation. There are a plethora of voices today, each representing itself as a conservative commentator and each of whom is willing to reinterpret the Bible and even to explain away what is clearly said.

What cannot be explained away is the fact that within the Body of Christ, Christ and His Word are to prevail in leading us to peace with one another. I fear that instead of leading society, the church of this day is led by society. Instead of being the moral conscience for society, the church of this day has exalted the most strident voices as conscience for the Body of Christ. Brothers and sisters, this ought not to be. It is high time that the people of God grasped the truth that we are one before we self-destruct. To fail to heed the instruction of the Word is to ensure that we shall not long continue as a force against the darkness of this world. Listen, then, to the Word of God and discover with me what God has to say about gender and leadership in His church.

The principle — A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. The verse before us makes no reference to ability, but rather it speaks of the attitude which should be exhibited among women of God. The passage says nothing concerning the worth or merit of either gender. Neither does this statement infer that women are inferior in intellect, in spiritual perspicuity, or in capability. We have already established that before God both male and female have now received the full rights of sons. Each alike has already received divine adoption permitting access to the Father and ensuring each a place in God’s family. Women are not proscribed either from praying or from testifying in the services of the church, though they are taught to demonstrate propriety and a submissive spirit—beginning with their own husbands.

It would be a dreadful error for anyone to infer from these words that women have no ministry within the church. We have already demonstrated that women have received a vital ministry which is to a tragic extent neglected or ignored in this day. Women are responsible to teach younger women in the church—a ministry which no conscientious pastor dare undertake without exposure to serious consequence. Women are to teach their own children and they are encouraged to teach other’s children. Women may glorify God through sharing in the teaching of songs, hymns and spiritual songs [Colossians 3:16]. Women even baptised other women, as we have seen was the practise of early churches. In society as a whole they should witness to the grace of God, endeavouring to turn friends and neighbours to faith in the Risen Lord.

If it should be stated that women are excluded from leadership and by implication excluded from power and decision-making, I remind you that each Christian is to aspire to serve … not to lead! That one who will be a true leader of the people of God must become servant of all. If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all [Mark 9:35] are the words Jesus spoke concerning this particular issue. Later our Lord would make the case for voluntary servanthood stronger still. Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve [Mark 10:43-45]. Let women who think they are kept from power weigh this thought, even as men who are prone to abuse the responsibility of occupying the position of a pastor/teacher must also confront this truth.

The issue before us is as simple as the pronouncement of the Word of God which we must either embrace as His revealed will for us or which we must reject as culturally bound and thus irrelevant for this day. The issue is that of submission to the mind of God. The issue is whether we will be holy and separated to the will of God or whether we will be fleshly and surrendered to the imaginations of this fallen race.

Remember that the whole of this chapter focuses on the church at worship. Restating the principle, a woman is to exhibit a spirit of gentleness and submission … especially in worship. When the Apostle writes of a woman [singular] he sets forth a principle embracing all women and not married women only. The principle is binding, then, on all Christian women … married, single, formerly married or never married.

The second point emphasised by this principle is that a woman should learn … and not teach. Clearly the Apostle says nothing at this point about women as teachers, but he does say clearly that women are responsible to learn. All Christians are to grow, and especially would we expect growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [2 Peter 3:18]. Paul’s words are not an excuse for men to cease growing, but it is focused on women at worship and they are expected to learn.

The manner in which a woman should learn is in quietness and full submission. There is nothing in this statement we haven’t already discovered in the manner of life expected of all Christian women. A wife is to be submissive to her own husband. Such an attitude of gracious, voluntary submission honours Christ and is considered a virtue before Him. In fact, to refuse to be subject to one’s husband is sinful. Just so, an unmarried woman is to reveal a submissive spirit to the leadership God has appointed in the church.

The Prohibition — I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. Bear in mind that we are considering the church at worship. The instructions deal with the people of God assembled as a church. Simply stated, a woman is permitted neither to occupy the office of a teacher nor to wield authority over men. This prohibition is clearly based upon the principle previously stated. The permission for a woman to “learn” is contrasted with the proscription for them “to teach,” while “all submissiveness” is paired with “not exercising authority over a man.” The submission in view, then, [should be understood to be toward] men, since verse twelve bans women from exercising authority over men… Women are to learn with all submissiveness from the men who had authority in the church and manifested that authority through their teaching.[1]

J. B. Phillips in his masterful translation of the New Testament translates the twelfth verse as follows. I don’t allow women to teach, nor do I ever put them in positions of authority over men—I believe their role is to be receptive.[2] The principle states that a woman should learn in quietness and submission. We would thus infer that this divine command reflects her position in the home as well as her role in the church. A submissive spirit honours the Lord; this is especially true when exhibited in the life of a Christian woman.

Perhaps you misunderstand what a submissive spirit entails, but it assuredly does not require that a woman be a doormat. No woman should ever tolerate threats or abuse, nor does Paul’s teaching imply that a woman should accept such any such abuse. Likewise, a submissive spirit does not preclude thinking or holding one’s own opinion. A Christian husband is responsible to consider his wife’s view and to treat her with consideration, and that means that he must solicit her views and give due consideration to her needs and to her desires within the family when he exercises his responsibility. A submissive spirit does mean, however, that ultimately it is the husband which must bear responsibility for the direction of the family and for the decisions made in the home.

Similarly, in the church, a submissive spirit recognises that Christ the Lord is ultimately responsible for the direction of the church and for decisions made in the church. He has, for reasons which shall shortly be stated, chosen to assign that responsibility to those whom He appoints to be shepherds and elders and overseers. Those who He has chosen cannot be women according to His own Word, but they must be men. In 1 Timothy 3:2 we are commanded that the overseer must be a one-woman man [literal translation of mia'" gunaiko;" a[ndra]. Specifically, the overseer must be a male. On the basis of this verse alone, women are excluded from consideration as overseers, elders or pastors.

As a vital aside, the terms overseer, elder and pastor each refer to the same office in the church. Peter employs all three terms interchangeably within a few brief sentences. To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock [1 Peter 5:1-3]. Peter’s words were addressed to the elders with Peter presenting himself as a fellow elder. The elders are to be shepherds [poimaivnw – pastors] of God’s flock. The manner in which elders accomplish this apostolic charge is through serving as overseers. Thus the terms elder, overseer (or bishop) and pastor are used interchangeably in the New Testament, unlike the situation in many denominations today. Pastor refers to the work God assigns. Elder refers to the dignity which should attend the office. Overseer speaks of the responsibility with which God’s man is charged.

I direct our attention once again to the text. We have discovered that two actions are forbidden for a woman by this text: teaching and exercising authority over a man. Although women can, and should, learn, they are not permitted to teach. The teaching which is in view entails the authoritative and public transmission of tradition about Christ and the Scriptures. This teaching is what we would today recognise as preaching. That this is the case becomes evident from consideration of a variety of verses in the New Testament. Among such verses are 1 Corinthians 12:28, 29. In the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers… Ephesians 4:11 presents the same information concerning the fact that Paul is speaking of public office and public duties. It was [the ascended Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. 2 Timothy 3:16 and James 3:1 support this position that church office is in view.

Paul will later encourage Timothy to devote himself to, among other duties, teaching [1 Timothy 4:13; cf. 1 Timothy 4:16] as part of pastoral responsibility. This same emphasis is discovered through reading 1 Timothy 6:2; 2 Timothy 4:2; and Titus 2:7. Elders are to labour in teaching [1 Timothy 5:17], so that they can refute false teachers who advance heresy [1 Timothy 1:3; 4:1; 6:3; 2 Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9, 11].

Again, let me emphasise that women are not proscribed from teaching other women or from teaching children. A woman may testify (i.e. prophesy), may witness to the grace of God, and may urge others to believe on Christ the Lord. However, no woman may fulfil the revealed will of God and yet function in the role of a pastor, elder or overseer. Underscore in your mind this truth which is under assault in this day—women are prohibited from the function of public and authoritative teaching of men.

This opposition to female leadership in the church is strengthened by Paul’s earlier statement that he wanted men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer [verse eight]. The word “men” is preceded by the definite article in the Greek text. Paul means that the men, as opposed to the women, should conduct public worship.[3] The contrast between a[ndra" in verse eight and gunai'ka" in verse twelve shows that the former refers to males.

I would not wish any women to become offended and cease to serve the Lord. Some women may initially react in choler. “If I can’t preach,” they may assert, “then I can’t speak at all.” They misconstrue the latter clause of the verse. When Paul says women must be silent, we know that he is not prohibiting women from praying, because he has already given instructions for their participation in prayer [1 Corinthians 11:3-10]. Similarly, he has encouraged prophecy, equivalent to what we today speak of as testimony meetings or sharing that which God has revealed through devotions and meditation. The realm in which women must be silent is solely that of authoritative teaching. Nevertheless, it should be evident that if a woman cannot, by divine decree, preach, then neither should the churches consider ordination for that woman.

The Purpose — Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. Why would God make what appears in the estimate of many today to be an arbitrary ruling based on gender? Why should He seem to give freedom with one hand and appear to take away freedom with the other? Paul appeals first to the created order. Referring to the account of the creation of man and woman in Genesis 2, Paul concluded that the order in which Adam and Ever were created signalled an important difference in the respective roles for men and women.

Clearly this distinction looms large in the thinking of the Apostle as this is not the only time he has appealed to this priority in created order. You may remember the reference from the message last Sunday in which he makes the same appeal. Man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man [1 Corinthians 11:8, 9]. It is a modern, democratic, Western notion that diverse functions suggest distinctions in worth between men and women. Paul presents the case that men and women are equal in person, equal in dignity and equal in value, but he also taught that women have a role distinct from that of men. Those who argue otherwise are attempting to impose a foreign view on the revealed Word of God. Before God, differences in role and function do not preclude equality of persons.

In order to strengthen the prohibition against women occupying an authoritative teaching position within the church by appealing to the created order, the Apostle additionally includes the fact that Eve was deceived. He appeals to the account of the Fall which is recorded in Genesis 3. When the Lord God confronted Eve He asked her, What is this you have done? She replied, The serpent deceived me [Genesis 3:13]. Both in the Genesis text and in the text before us this day, the emphasis is on what transpired in Eve’s heart … deception! Neither can you deduce that Eve was at a disadvantage because she was uninstructed. Again, the emphasis is on the fact that she was deceived. Her deception is not attributed to her lack of education. Eve was deceived, not because of intellectual deficiency, but because of moral failing.

The emphasis is not upon Eve as a sinner. She was a sinner, but Adam’s sin of rebellion (choosing to follow the woman instead of leading her) plunged the race into sin. In approaching Eve the serpent subverted the pattern of male leadership and interacted only with Eve during the temptation. Though Adam clearly appears to have been present throughout the exchange, he did not intervene. The Genesis temptation, then, is a parable of what happens when male leadership is abrogated. Eve took the initiative in responding to the serpent … and Adam permitted her to do so! The appeal to Genesis 3 serves to remind us what happens when God’s ordained pattern is ignored or undermined.

Thomas Schreiner points out an important issue which should not be overlooked. Generally speaking, women are more relational and nurturing and men are more given to rational analysis and objectivity. Women are less prone than men to see the importance of doctrinal formulation, especially when it comes to the issue of identifying heresy and making a stand for the truth. Appointing women to the teaching office is prohibited because they are less likely to draw a line on doctrinal non-negotiables, and thus deception and false teaching will more easily enter the church.[4]

Women are not intellectually inferior, or Paul would not have permitted them to teach other women and children. Neither do women have less worth in the sight of God. What concerns the Apostle are the consequences of allowing women to occupy the authoritative teaching office because their kinder, gentler nature inhibits them from excluding people for doctrinal error. Women are prohibited from the teaching office, then, not only because of the order of creation but also because they are less likely to preserve the apostolic tradition if permitted to inhabit the office.

The Pronouncement — Women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. For the sake of completeness for this message, I am compelled to consider this fifteenth verse. I haven’t time to consider all the varied thoughts which have been advanced to explain it. Therefore, it must suffice for me to present what the verse does clearly say.

Childbearing is a synecdoche which cannot be understood to imply that believing women will never experience harm during childbirth. Godly women have died during childbirth in years past. Though it is true that our Lord is the Seed of the Woman promised in the protoevangelium, Paul makes no reference to the birth of the Messiah in these verses. Neither does the Apostle say that women must bear children in order to be saved, for that would be a good work and unnecessary for salvation. He assuredly does not imply that good works are necessary for a woman’s salvation. He does, however, say that women will not be saved if they do not practise good works as an expression of changed lives.

The reference to propriety looks back to the same word in verse nine. The word also functions to tie the entire text together. One indication that women are in their proper role is that they do not reject bearing children as evil, but bear children in keeping with their proper role. The virtues described are evidence that salvation is genuine. The genuine nature of salvation for a woman is indicated by the fact that she lives a godly life which conforms to her God-ordained role. Such submissive views are one indication that she belongs to the redeemed community. These words are a reminder that a woman’s deepest satisfaction comes from her accomplishments in a Christian home. Paul here teaches that women prove the reality of their salvation when they become model wives and mothers whose good deeds include marriage and raising children. His comments assume that motherhood is a divinely appointed role to which women should aspire.

Our problem with this text is not primarily exegetical; it is rather practical. What Paul says is contrary to modern points of view. We are confronted with an alien and a shocking Word from Scripture causing us to recoil. This Word should modify and correct both our thinking and our behaviour. Instead, many of us have determined to rationalise how we can make the Word conform to our thinking and behaviour. Thus the push among the churches of this day to place women in the pulpit.

In its views on the issue of women’s roles, the western church in recent years has followed the world’s lead instead of exercising godly leadership in this issue. For over 1,900 years evangelical churches were united in presenting the biblical view that God sets out so very clearly in the text reviewed—that men are appointed to lead in the church. The feminisation of the church followed the first steps to feminise North American society in the 1960s and 1970s. Conservative evangelical Christians are not unaffected by feminism. Many of them view the philosophy of feminism as a valid adjunct to their faith. They believe that the basic tenets of feminism are supported by the Bible and that feminism can naturally, easily and homogeneously be combined with Christianity… They believe in the Bible, but also believe in feminism.[5]

The tragedy of this retrograde thinking is that we call into question the veracity of the Word of God and we no longer have a sure foundation on which to base our Faith. God’s Word, for us, is neither inerrant nor infallible. It is instead liable to error and thus unreliable. If the Word of God is in error on this point, then we cannot be certain that it has not presented error on any other point. If Paul wrote his opinion and that opinion was culture-bound, how do we know that anything he wrote is not similarly contaminated?

If that which Paul has written is tainted by his cultural views, then the whole of the Word is potentially contaminated by the same deadly uncertainty. Paul has said in a similar context: As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church [1 Corinthians 14:33b-35].

Peter, likewise, addressed this issue of gender in the church. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear [1 Peter 3:3-6].

Society has changed markedly in the past three decades. A revolution has occurred and there is no turning back, though adjustments need to be made. Both genders have sinned grievously against the other. Divorce rates more than doubled from 1970 to 1980 and sexual infidelity accompanying the breakdown of marriages accelerated in a corresponding fashion. Parents sin against children as they each pursue their right to be. Adult women are adversely affected economically, but in other critical areas as well. Between 1980 and the end of 1992 the number of women in federal prisons in the United States increased 275 percent.[6] Women have gained great freedom – but at what price? The determining factor [of women’s increasing social plight] is social, not economic: the weakening tie between men and women as a result of the increasing incidence of childbearing out of wedlock (whether by teenagers or by adults), divorce, and the growing likelihood that women will become widows.[7]

Yet somehow the implicit assumption has been and continues to be that changes in society require parallel changes in the church. Nowhere has this been truer than in the area of biblical teaching on sex and gender roles. All that I have said addresses only the situation in the church and in the Christian home. I have made no pronouncement concerning the role and function of women in society. That is not my place as a preacher of the Word, though I do hold to the view that were society to reflect a Christian worldview many of the problems I cited would be effectively and swiftly addressed.

The feminisation of society has created grave hardship for both men and women. Spencer Perkins, with an eye to the African American inner-city scene, has commented: After three decades of civil rights laws, wars on poverty and drugs, and billions of dollars in urban programs we have not fewer but more dead young Black men, more babies born out of wedlock, and an overall decrease in the quality of life in our inner cities. And still we have been unwilling to look at the obvious connection between family break down and the growing instability of our cities.[8] Just so, the feminisation of the church has not made the plight of women in the church better, but it has ensured that the divide between the genders is exaggerated and that Christ ceases to be a consideration in our service to Him.

The following article appeared in a Religion Today news item two years ago.

The feminisation of mainstream Christianity continues to drive men from the pews, Leon Podles, author of The Church Impotent, said. As men leave, women are assuming leadership roles, putting greater emphasis on feminine themes. “It’s no longer politically correct to think of God as Father. So we come up with metaphors for God that is feminine or neutered. Men feel uncomfortable with that,” Catholic writer Mitch Finley said.

...Of [America’s] 94 million men, only 26 million attend services regularly, and some researchers say the number may be as low as 13 million, The Washington Times said. American men “are one of the massive pagan subcultures on earth today,” a Barna Research Group report said.

...A lot of men are driven away by sentimental sermons about “falling in love with Jesus,” Podles said. Most men want to hear about the Jesus “with lines on his face, blisters on his hands, and bruises on his knuckles helping me to fight temptation,” who “commanded the respect of Peter the fisherman,” Promise Keepers spokesman Steve Chavis said.[9]

I cite this article to point out the precarious situation in which the church stands today. Men have failed to learn, ceasing to grow. No doubt women have taken greater responsibility for the continuance of the Faith, but in the clear pronouncements of the Word of God they find no comfort for assuming such roles, and certainly they find no warrant for taking the reins of authority in the Pauline letters. As one voice has stated, we are fools if we depend on the same people that got us into the mess to get us out of it.

Some who have listened to me this day have had beliefs confirmed. Perhaps some have been confirmed in their prejudice. Should that be the case I apologise, for we should never fear confronting the truth. No doubt some of you have been challenged to rethink positions you hold and at this moment you are reeling in confusion. It is not my intention to hurt you, though I am unapologetic in my endeavour to demolish strongholds, to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God taking captive your thoughts to make them obedient to Christ [cf. 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5].

It is possible that some are angry as result of these messages and in particular are angry because of the message delivered today. If you are angry I would only ask you, Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth [Galatians 4:16]? More than anything I want you to reflect the glory of God as a congregation and as individuals. I can assure you on the authority of God’s Word that you shall never do so until you submit to His clearly revealed will. Though you may enjoy a measure of His grace and though you may know something of His great love, if you know what is right and refuse to do that same righteousness, how can you please God?

Some who are angry must surely know that their sense of outrage flows from the fact that they are thoroughly identified with this dying world. You may be religious, or perhaps religion is unimportant to you. Religious or irreligious, you are lost. You do not know Christ nor do you know what it is to be free of condemnation before Holy God. You are unsaved, without God and without hope in the world. To any such who share in this service this day my plea is that you would set aside all that I might have said to this point and remember this one great truth: Christ the Lord died because of your sin.

Hear the Word of God. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:17-21].

If you don’t know what these words mean but you find your heart strangely moved to discover more, won’t you speak with me or with any Christian following this service. As you speak with that Christian, consider these words from the Apostle. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13]. Amen.

The permission for a woman to “learn” is contrasted with the proscription for them “to teach,” while “all submissiveness” is paired with “not exercising authority over a man.” The submission in view, then, [should be understood to be] to men, since verse twelve bans women from exercising authority over men… Women are to learn with all submissiveness from the men who had authority in the church and manifested that authority through their teaching.

I don’t allow women to teach, nor do I ever put them in positions of authority over men – I believe their role is to be receptive.

This position opposing women as leaders in the church is strengthened by Paul’s earlier statement that he wanted men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer [verse eight]. Kenneth Wuest provides the following comment on verse eight. The word “men” is preceded by the definite article in the Greek text. Paul means that the men, as opposed to the women, should conduct public worship.

Thomas Schreiner points out an important issue which should not be overlooked. Generally speaking, women are more relational and nurturing and men are more given to rational analysis and objectivity. Women are less prone than men to see the importance of doctrinal formulation, especially when it comes to the issue of identifying heresy and making a stand for the truth. Appointing women to the teaching office is prohibited because they are less likely to draw a line on doctrinal non-negotiables, and thus deception and false teaching will more easily enter the church.

In its views which address the issue of women’s roles, the church in the western world has followed the world’s lead instead of demonstrating godly leadership. For over 1,930 years the churches were virtually united in presenting the biblical view that God sets out so very clearly in the text reviewed, that men should be leaders in the church. The feminisation of the church followed the first steps to feminise North American society in the 1960s and 1970s. Conservative evangelical Christians are not unaffected by feminism. Many of them view the philosophy of feminism as a valid adjunct to their faith. They believe that the basic tenets of feminism are supported by the Bible and that feminism can naturally, easily and homogeneously be combined with Christianity… They believe in the Bible, but also believe in feminism.

Society has changed markedly in the past three decades. A revolution has occurred and there is no turning back, though adjustments need to be made. Both genders have sinned grievously against the other. Divorce rates more than doubled from 1970 to 1980 and sexual infidelity accompanying the breakdown of marriages has accelerated in a corresponding fashion. Parents sin against children as they each pursue their right to be. Adult women are adversely affected economically, but in other critical areas as well. Between 1980 and the end of 1992 the number of women in federal prisons in the United States increased 275 percent.

Women have gained great freedom – but at what price. The determining factor [of women’s increasing social plight] is social, not economic: the weakening tie between men and women as a result of the increasing incidence of childbearing out of wedlock (whether by teenagers or by adults), divorce, and the growing likelihood that women will become widows.

The feminisation of society has created grave hardship for both men and women. As Spencer Perkins remarks with an eye to the African American inner-city scene: After three decades of civil rights laws, wars on poverty and drugs, and billions of dollars in urban programs we have not fewer but more dead young Black men, more babies born out of wedlock, and an overall decrease in the quality of life in our inner cities. And still we have been unwilling to look at the obvious connection between family break down and the growing instability of our cities.

The following article appeared in a Religion Today news item this past Monday.

The feminisation of mainstream Christianity continues to drive men from the pews, Leon Podles, author of The Church Impotent, said. As men leave, women are assuming leadership roles, putting greater emphasis on feminine themes. “It’s no longer politically correct to think of God as Father. So we come up with metaphors for God that is feminine or neutered. Men feel uncomfortable with that,” Catholic writer Mitch Finley said.

...Of [America’s] 94 million men, only 26 million attend services regularly, and some researchers say the number may be as low as 13 million, The Washington Times said. American men “are one of the massive pagan subcultures on earth today,” a Barna Research Group report said.

...A lot of men are driven away by sentimental sermons about “falling in love with Jesus,” Podles said. Most men want to hear about the Jesus “with lines on his face, blisters on his hands, and bruises on his knuckles helping me to fight temptation,” who “commanded the respect of Peter the fisherman,” Promise Keepers spokesman Steve Chavis said.

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[1] Thomas R. Schreiner, An Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-15: A Dialogue with Scholarship, in Andreas J. Köstenberger, Thomas R. Schreiner, and H. Scott Baldwin (eds.), Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 (Baker, © 1995) p. 124

[3] Kenneth S. Wuest, The Pastoral Epistles, in Word Studies in the Greek New Testament Vol. II (Eerdmans, © 1952) p. 45 [cf. Newport J. D. White, The First and Second Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus, in W. Robertson Nicoll, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. IV (Eerdmans, n.d.) p. 107]

[4] Schreiner, op. cit., p. 145

[6] statistics cited in Robert W. Yarbrough, The Hermeneutics of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, in Andreas J. Köstenberger, Thomas R. Schreiner, and H. Scott Baldwin (eds.), Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 (Baker, © 1995) p. 164

[7] Martha N. Ozawa (ed.), Women’s Life Cycle and Economic Insecurity, cited in Yarobrough, op. cit., p. 163

[8] Samuel Perkins, Saving Our children in a World without Fathers (Urban Family (Winter 1994)) p. 12

[9] Religious News, September 28, 1999