I am simply, as the pastor,
answering a sincere question we occasionally receive. If, after reading, you do
not have the same conclusion as me on this issue then I am perfectly fine with
that, and hope you will be as well.
As Augustine once said, ““In
essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
I do not have a problem with
women preaching the Gospel because Jesus did not have a problem with them doing
so.
It was women that were first
commissioned by Jesus to preach that He was alive after His resurrection.
When the Holy Spirit fell on the
believers in Acts 2:1-4, Scripture
clearly says He filled everyone in the room, and they all began to declare the
Gospel.
If your blood is beginning to
boil and you are screaming, “What about what Paul said?”
I would ask you the same thing.
If we take the totality of
everything Paul said in all of his letters, and then also look at the fact that
he mentioned women and their actions/behaviour in the church—we would find that
he speaks about the issue five times (at the most, depending upon
interpretation).
One of the things I am learning
when reading the Scriptures is, even though I believe every word of it is true
and can be fully trusted, there are passages that had more relevancy at the
time they were written than they do today.
(For example—Deuteronomy 25:11-12 speaks
to the issue of how to deal with women when it comes to an incredibly sensitive
issue; however, that’s not a verse we quote or put on coffee mugs today!)
So while I acknowledge Paul addressed
the issue on a limited basis, I really do believe that to base our view of
women on these few passages means we have to ignore an enormous portion of
Scripture that validates the preaching, teaching and leadership of women.
Deborah (Judges 4-5) was clearly
called/used by God in a leadership and speaking capacity (her song made the
Bible in Judges 5—if God allowed her
words to speak to us, can we not allow women to speak as well?).
Esther was clearly put in a
position of leadership (and had a whole book named after her!).
In Acts 21:8-9 we see that
Phillip had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
Paul clearly says in Romans 16:1 that Phoebe is
a deacon (leadership position) in the church.
Then there was the amazing
husband and wife team of Priscilla and Aquila. (If women were always supposed
to be silent in every situation, then why does Paul mention her name
specifically on three separate occasions in his writings? If it was all about
the men then why not just leave her name out altogether?
I’ve often heard people call
these ladies “exceptions”—but I see them as examples as I honestly do not
believe women are forbidden to preach the Gospel.
(And, just a side note, so many
of the people who hold the anti-woman preacher viewpoint grew up in
church where the Sunday school teachers were mostly … wait for it … WOMEN!
Good gosh, if it were not for women there might not even be a church!!!)
Bottom line—there are over 7
BILLION people on the planet and over half of them do not know Jesus. I
think our focus should be on the fact that someone is trying to reach them
rather than telling them they can’t because they do not have the proper body
parts!
Let me conclude this article by
once again saying I will not debate this, nor will I allow a theological
cesspool to form on my FB page. This is simply my statement, and my focus
at this point is NEXT SUNDAY.
Once again, you do not have to
agree with me on this. This is an open-handed issue that I love to
discuss but refuse to end a friendship over. #PerryNoble
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