Role of Women in the Church One

Role of Women in the Church

One important thing to remember about the role of women today and in the past is that it is a dynamic relationship of various roles related to men, children, the household, and the general society of the time in question. This also relates to spirituality, Christianity, and the Bible. The Apostle Paul is notorious for his distinctions among the roles of women and men in the church. Many of today's churches, however, interpret these distinctions as manifestations of the society within which Paul lived and worked rather than as timeless, constant commandments from the mouth of God himself. Hence, for a female friend who is interested in going into the ministry, I would suggest that she first investigates the philosophies of the specific church she is interested in serving in this way. If the church itself places no limitations upon her role as potential leader, minister, or deacon, I would suggest that she enters whatever direction she feels that God has called her towards entering in terms of either leadership or service.

The truth remains, however, that there has been a centuries-long controversy about women and their roles in the church, precisely because of Paul's assertions (Simpson, 2003). According to the Apostle, for example, women are not allowed to teach mean (1 Timothy 2:12). Women are also not allowed to cut their hair and must wear a head cover as symbol of male leadership over them. The most excellent Christian good works that can be expected of women is raising children. Some critics, like the Valley Bible Church, acknowledge that, even in the Old Testament, women had prominent religious roles. Some cited examples include Deborah (Judges 4:4), who was a judge. Huldah and Anna (2 Chronicles 34:22) were prophetesses. There is therefore no doubt that women in the history of the Bible were indeed in prominent leadership positions. Yet Paul claims, on the basis of the hierarchy of Christ above man, who is above women, that women cannot so much as instruct men in the mysteries of religion. The same critics then argue, on the basis of this, that there should be a differentiation among the roles of women and men in the church, despite the fact that women and men were clearly created and regarded as equal throughout biblical and indeed leadership history. At the same time, those who hold these beliefs see no conflict between this idea and the fact that there are many female teachers and lecturers with both males and females in their classrooms. The question is then, are these teachers disobeying biblical and hence Christian teachings by being instructors of both males an females? Furthermore, this limitation appears to be based upon no more than gender, which is surely not acceptable in any context today. Paul does not claim that women are less able to teach men, but rather that they should be restricted on the basis of the fact that they are women and should be regarded as subordinate to men.