Much has already been written, said and argued about women in the community (church). Not only by men, but also by women themselves. Can a woman speak in services or must she remain silent? It is not directly important what I think about it, but as a Christian who wants to live according to what the Bible says, it is important to discover where tradition determines my view. I want to make it clear in this article what it actually says.
Can a woman be a pastor in a church?
In conservative church circles this question will as a rule be answered in the negative. A female pastor is pretty much like swearing in church. An impossible thing. A woman in the pulpit goes against God’s Word! It’s wrong, it’s sinful.
But can this statement be substantiated from the Bible, God’s Word? Does God’s Word say that the Lord forbids this? In 1 Corinthians 11 it says the following:
- verse 4) Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his own head;
- verse 5) But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her own head, for it is one and the same as if her hair had been cut off. (States translation)
Now this is apparently primarily about the way people in the church dress as men or women or how their hair is cut. But one should pay attention to what the man and what the woman are doing in the church. What do they do during the service?
- The man: he prays and he prophesies,
- The woman: she prays and she prophesies.
Is this about worship, is the next question?
Of course. If one thinks differently about the clothing or hairstyle (whatever it is about), Paul says:
- verse 16) But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such habit, nor the church of God.
In short: Every man and every woman may pray and prophesy in the meeting, but we do not argue about clothing and hairstyle in church, that is not our custom.
What does Paul mean by prophesying?
1 Corinthians 14:3) But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. (State Translation)
According to the annotations, prophesying is explaining. The form for confirming the ministers of the Word states, among other things, that the pastor’s job is to: teach, comfort, rebuke. The same thing Paul means by prophesying.
Conclusion:
Both men and women may lead prayers and preach in the congregation meeting. There is no evidence to the contrary in the Bible.
But what happens in church practice?
Is there a congregation that organizes worship according to Biblical rules?
Usually there is only one man (sometimes only one woman) in the church who is allowed to prophesy. (now we call it preaching instead of prophesying)
What is left of the Pauline precept that everyone may contribute to worship as stated in 1 Corinthians 14:
- verse 26) Whenever you come together, everyone has something, a psalm or a teaching, etc.
It seems that our tradition (one person saying something) is stronger than the Biblical precepts. In fact, we have simply cast aside part of the Bible as unusable and completely unsuitable.