Can a Woman Be a Leader in a Church?

Tough Questions. Real Answers.
Can a Woman Be a Leader in a Church?

I. Introduction

A. Paul, Women & Wives by Craig Keener

B. The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr

C. “I would have given the Church my head, my hand, and my heart. But the Church would not have them.” (Florence Nightingale)

D. I Timothy 2:9-12 (NLT) ⁹And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. ¹⁰For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. ¹¹Women should learn quietly and submissively. ¹²I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

II. A Few Rules for Approaching Scripture Regarding Women’s Roles

A. Women’s roles are to be determined by first looking at and redemption.

1. Genesis 1:26-27 (NLT) ²⁶Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” ²⁷So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

2. Galatians 3:26-28 (NLT) ²⁶For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. ²⁸There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

B. Women’s roles are to be determined by spiritual .

1. The Holy Spirit of God is among us!

2. Acts 2:18a (NLT) In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike.

3. Spiritual gifts are the result of the will of the !

C. Women’s roles are to be determined with an eye to the Kingdom of God.

1. Matthew 6:10 (NAS) ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’

III. Background to I Timothy

A. The rise of the “ woman.”

1. You could tell who identified with this movement of the New Roman woman by what they .

B. The rise of teaching in the church.

1. I Timothy 1:3 (NLT) When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth.

2. I Timothy 6:20-21 (NLT) ²⁰Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. ²¹Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.

3. II Timothy 3:6-7 (NLT) ⁶They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. ⁷(Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.)

IV. The Particular Meaning of I Timothy 2

A. Women’s

1. I Timothy 2:9-10 (NLT) ⁹And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. ¹⁰For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.

2. I Timothy 2:12 (NLT) I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

B. The woman’s

1. I Timothy 2:11 (NLT) Women should learn quietly and submissively.

2. I Timothy 2:2 (NLT) Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

C. The woman’s

1. I Timothy 2:12 (NLT) I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

2. “Authentein” – – “to over”

3. Paul is prohibiting a certain kind of female that was characteristic of the New Roman woman!

D. The woman’s

1. I Timothy 2:13-14 (NLT) ¹³For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. ¹⁴And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.

E. The woman’s

1. I Timothy 2:15 (NLT) But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

2. “Modesty” – – “being respectable within your culture—rather than being scandalous.”

3. I Timothy 2 is a prohibition against women—and against men—from doing anything—in any place—which would the mission of the gospel!

V. Conclusion