Some Thoughts on Women and Teaching (Part 4)

In Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this miniseries on women and teaching I've sought to explain that God forbids women from teaching in the church, and have then sought to clarify what teaching means in this context. I now want to turn to some ideas on how we can honor God in the way we handle this issue with others. Before I do, a quick addendum to part 3:

As a practical way of determining whether a woman was teaching or is planning on teaching at your church, i.e. to distinguish between teaching and not teaching, is to just think of the past 5 sermons you've heard preached on a Sunday. Surely those represent Bible teaching (or else you should go to a different church!). If you can't find a real difference between those sermons and the one you've heard the woman give, it's probably teaching.

Now, onto part 4: I would like to consider 3 general scenarios where the way we approach this issue really becomes a question of practical importance: 1. When discussing it with women 2. When a ministry/church we are involved with does not seem to us to be holding to this standard 3. When a ministry/church we aren't involved with does not seem to us be holding to this standard.

Before I get into those 3 issues, I want to share two passages that have helped me in thinking about this:

"Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes." - Proverbs 26:4-5

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." - Ephesians 4:29

The 2 verses in Proverbs seem to contradict one another but I think what they really do is express practical wisdom: sometimes it's wise to respond to a fool, sometimes it is not. So there is some sense in which our reponse to folly depends on the occassion. Ephesians 4:29 further supports this by qualifying talk that does not corrupt as talk that "fits the occassion." What does it mean for talk to fit the occassion? That it would give grace to those who hear. So we should not assume that our response will be the same in every scenario. That said, I think there are some guiding principles we can apply. Now, for my thoughts on the three scenarios:

1. Guys, we really need to be careful in how we discuss this with women. I'll start by saying that I don't think we need to be evangelists about this. As the issue comes up we should certainly address it with what God's said on it, but I don't think after reading 1 Tim. 2 we need to find every girl we know and make sure they're aware that God doesn't want them teaching. I find with many guys that they are more than happy to beat girls down with arguments in this but too scared to share the gospel with a co-worker. These things ought not to be so.

God made men a women differently. 1 Timothy 2:11-14 reflects this by assigning men and women different roles. But the reality that men and women are different also means that as men we need to consider the way we approach women differently from the way we approach men. With this particular issue, I think that comes out in our rhetoric. When discussing these issues with guys I have a fairly high degree of freedom to exercise rigorous logic and harsh rhetoric. In general (and I stress in general, some guys like this style of discourse less and some girls don't mind it) this gets me in hot water with women. Often their feelings are hurt and they are intimidated. They don't feel honored or cared for and they certainly don't feel respected enough to offer a response. I've basically taken the situation and directed it completely for my ends: getting my opinion out there and smashing theirs to shreds.

Basically, myself and any guy who talks to girls like this is a jerk. Men are called to be gentle and not harsh towards women (Col. 3:19, 1 Pet. 3:7). I think the alternative is to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). We still take a stand on the issue, to not do so is to submit to cowardice, but we do so in a way that inentionally seeks to honor the women we're discussing it with. Some characteristics of that speech might be:

• Pointing out the good ways in which God has made men and women different.
• Reading the Bible together rather than turning it into a "me vs. you" "guy vs. girl" argument
• Letting women know how much you appreciate their many gifts that you aren't gifted in (in my case: compassion, warmth, mercy, listening, multitasking, child care, emotions, practicality, to name a few)
• Emphasizing that God and you do not consider those in public, visible positions (teachers) to be of any greater value to the church than those in other roles. In fact, in 1 Cor. 12:21-25 Paul argues that greater honor should be given to those in less "glamorous" roles in the church. A difference in role does not equal a difference in worth.
• Thinking intentionally with them of the best ways to help them put the spiritual gifts God has given them into practice in the roles God created them for.

2. If you're in an egalitarian church/ministry (i.e. a church that does not even support the view that men and women have different roles or that teaching is a role restricted to men), my recommendation would first be to discuss the issue with your leaders. Ask them questions, find out why they believe what they do. Then ask them if you can share what God's been teaching you through His Word in 1 Tim. 2. If they're open, praise God, continue. If they're closed off to it and stuck in their view, I honestly think considering membership in a church that takes more care to derive their practice from Scripture is a wise choice. In Wayne Grudem's Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? he makes what I consider to be a convincing argument that churches who sacrifice this Biblical issue tend to sacrifice others as well. Not all slopes are slippery, but history suggests this one might be.

If you're in a complementarian ministry that draws the line differently on where teaching is (the issue discussed in Part 3 of this miniseries), I would tend to err on the side of charity. I don't find the scriptures to speak with a high degree of clarity on exactly what qualifies as teaching, though I do think we can follow some general guidelines. Therefore I think if you feel your ministry has or is considering crossing the line, that you should discuss it with your leadership. But don't do so assuming the worst about them. Don't assume they're doing this because they really just want to find loopholes in 1 Tim. 2 and play people-pleaser to the feminists in your ministry. Try to understand where they're coming from. Acknowledge that they have wisdom as well that you can learn from and that maybe you're the one whose view needs correcting. In that context I think you can also feel the freedom if you are still convinced of your position to share why you feel that way and to ask the leaders to reconsider. If in the end they are still complementarian but just differ in small ways as to where that line is drawn, I think we can submit to their leadership still, as there is certainly a Biblical precedent for that (1 Peter 5:5).

3. If you're just visiting a church and there's a female pastor, I think this is one of those scenarios where we don't need to feel like we have to rebuke the pastor. I think if we know someone attending that church we can ask them if they'd be open to searching the scriptures with us and encourage them to flesh this out in their church, but I don't think it's "fitting of the occassion" for us to come in to someone else's church on a temporary basis and point all the stuff that "I the expert" find wrong with the way "you the heretics" run your church.

Well, I really think that's about all I have for the time being on this issue, so no part 5! I hope this series has been to your benefit. I pray that we as the church would pursue Biblical faithfulness in this issue and trust God that what He has set out for men and women is really the best thing for us. I pray we would believe that these words have been given for our joy (John 15:11), so we don't have to try to find loopholes in them, but can joyfully submit to God's Word. I pray that men would honor women through the outworkings of this, and that God would conform all of us to the image of Christ for His glory.

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them"

- Genesis 1:27

Some Thoughts on Women and Teaching (Part 3)

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this miniseries I attemped to demonstrate from the Bible that God does not permit women to teach the assembled church. Now I'll consider the basic question, "what is teaching?" That is, what did Paul mean to prohibit women from doing when he prohibited them from "teaching"?

As is usual when going from theory to practice, this is a bit more complicated. In the theoretical realm you can deal in absolutes more freely: "God does not permit women to teach the assembled church." But then you take it into practice and the issue takes on more shades of gray. On the one hand, I think there is a tendency to deny the presence of gray and just not let women ever open their mouths in church. On the other hand, I think there is a tendency to make everything so gray that 1 Timothy 2:11-14 basically has no bearing on our practice. I think a biblically faithful application of the text will avoid either extreme. Now for my thoughts on what Paul means by "teaching" here:

A simple greek word study here does not seem to me to do justice to the issue at hand. The greek word didasko is used pervasively in the new testament. The best I can do is offer some trends I noticed in my less than exhaustive look at it:

• In the gospels, Jesus is often described as teaching (didasko) large crowds and in the synagogues. In these instances his focus seems to be on doctrine or ethical command (i.e. he's not "teaching" them a story about his life as a 20 year old, he's "teaching" them that the Son of man must suffer many things, or that adultery is a heart issue) (Mat. 4:23, 5:2, 7:29, 9:23, Mk. 8:31, 11:17, 12:35, Lk. 4:15, 31, 13:10, 19:47, Jn. 7:14, 8:2, 18:20)
• In the gospels Jesus' opponents are also described as teaching false doctrine (Mat. 5:19, 15:9, Mk. 7:7)
• In Acts where we find the action of teaching by the NT church, in many cases teaching refers to the statement of what is true for the sake of instructing others (Acts 5:42, 15:1, 21:21, 21:28). They don't say "this is how Jesus changed me," they say "Jesus is the Christ!"
• This teaching in Acts also seems to have attachment to the Word, although it is used more broadly than this in Acts (Acts 15:35, 18:11).
• In Paul's usage, he teaches in the church (1 Cor. 4:17), attaches teaching to preaching the Word and warning (Col. 1:28, 3:16), describes the content of teaching as the apostolic message (2 Thess 2:15, 2 Tim. 2:2) and instruction in doctrine (1 Tim. 4:11, 1 Tim. 6:2).

I'm not a greek scholar so I don't want to go too far with that, but that's just a little survey of the use of didasko in the NT. Some trends I would pull out: It takes place among the assembled church, it is based on the Bible, its goal is instruction in doctrine and the application thereof. At this point I think it's also worth noting what teaching is not:

Teaching is not praying or prophecy. In 1 Cor. 11:5 Paul suggests that it will be normal in the church for women to pray or prophesy. This is nowhere prohibited in scripture, though 1 Cor. 14:33-36 does prohibit women from testing the spirits of the prophets (see D.A. Carson's chapter on this in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood). I think I need to at least give a quick description of Biblical prophecy and how it's different from teaching, while acknowledging that this is another can of worms that I can't really do justice to within this miniseries of posts:

• 1 Cor 14:3 says that "the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation." So the goal of prophecy is not instruction in doctrine and the application thereof or exposition of the Biblical text. It is to speak words of encouragement basically.
• 1 Cor. 14:29-30 suggests that the source of prophecy is revelation from God, which is delineated from a "lesson," presumably the source of teaching, in 14:26. In the description of events in 1 Cor. 14 it seems such revelation is of a more spontaneous character than a "lesson." So the source of prophecy in the NT is spontaneous revelation from God.

All that finally brings me to my tentative conclusion: In 1 Tim. 2:12, teaching refers to a prepared message delivered to the assembled church, the function of which is to instruct the audience in doctrine and the application thereof by exposition of the Biblical text.

Now that still leaves room for gray, which is again not something I'm trying to avoid, but I do think it gives us some guidelines by which to evaluate whether teaching is occuring:

1. Does it take place in front of the assembled church? So I don't think Paul has conferences, seminars, classes, even potentially small group Bible studies in view here. I think he's generally referring to any situation where people are assembled under the notion that at this meeting there will be a Christian message delivered to the audience. This would then also not restrict the scenarios in view to Sunday morning church, but would also include meetings of parachurch ministries and others like it. It is certainly a loophole of loopholes for a parachurch to do the exact same thing a church is doing and then say "ah-ha, we're a parachurch, so we don't need to submit to God's will in this area!"
2. Is the content a prepared lesson? Has the speaker spent her time preparing instruction, i.e. "here's the beliefs I want people to leave with, or the actions I want people to change" or has the speaker focused on words on encouragements, i.e. "here's something God's done in my life that I want to encourage others with."
3. Does the message teach doctrine? By this I don't mean to ask if the message uses doctrinal buzzwords like "propitiation" or "substitutionary atonement." Certainly plenty of doctrine is taught without the use of such terminology. I mean is the content propositional? Does it assert truths to be believed or does it share words for encouragement and upbuilding? Consider "Jesus is Lord over all creation" versus "I experienced great change in my life when I submitted to Jesus' Lordship over my relationship with my family." A word of caution at this point: it won't do to teach doctrine and just preface it with phrases like "in my life God showed me this: Jesus is Lord over all creation." That's still doctrine.
4. Does the message make specific general application to its hearers? By this I'm referring to instruction in how we are to live differently as a result of the message. Consider "because Jesus is Lord over all your life, I'd encourage you to consider what areas of life you aren't submitting to him and to seek repentence in those areas" versus "what it looked like for me to submit to Christ's Lordship over my family was to seek reconciliation with my mom."
5. Does the message exposit the Biblical text? Notice I'm not saying women shouldn't be allowed to read scripture aloud. I think women can use the Bible as they speak and should in fact be encouraged to do so, as long as the focus does not fall on explaining in propositional terms its meaning. Consider "1 John 4:10 really shows that our love is ultimately rooted in God's love for us in the death of His son" versus "God used 1 John 4:10 to show me how great His love is for me and how amazing Jesus' sacrifice is." The same words of caution apply here as in (2). Just because the speaker isn't using exegetical language like "aorist tense" doesn't mean she isn't doing exegesis, and simply prefacing what is really exegesis with "this is what God showed me" won't do.

I hope that is practically helpful. After all that, I would want to make sure I affirm two things loud and clear: the issue is still gray and men still have a ton to learn from women. Even my guidelines are subject to error both in their form (I'm far from God) and in their practice (they don't alleviate all the gray). As I discuss this with others I continue to see gray areas arise. Due to that fact and the fact that Paul does not go to great lengths to define what he means by teaching, I think charity is the best policy in the question of where to draw the line between what constitutes teaching and what doesn't (as long as we agree that there is a line that needs to be drawn, i.e. we're both committed and happy to support the complementarian position I've outlined in Part 1 and 2). In discussions with other complementarians I know we draw the line at different places, and while I obviously feel I'm right or else I'd change my position, I feel completely comfortable continuing in ministry and fellowship with them.

Also, women are an amazing gift from God. They have so much valuable insight and wisdom that myself and other men can learn from. I would never want to say that women have nothing worth saying or no avenue through which to say things. I would love to hear words of encouragement from any woman God has lead to share them.

I hope this has gone a long way to at least giving some guidelines for application of 1 Tim. 2:11-14. However, I don't think the application ends there. How are we to go about implementing this? What should we do if we're in a situation where we feel there is disobedience to this command of God? How should men interact with women on this sensitive subject? I hope to take up these issues in Part 4.

Some Thoughts on Women and Teaching (Part 2)

In Part 1 of my thoughts on women and teaching I basically outlined what I believe the Bible has to say about the specific issue of women teaching the Bible. Based on 1 Timothy 2:11-14, I concluded that God prohibits women from teaching the Bible to the assembled church. I would now like to attempt a response to the three most common objections I've encountered as I've discussed this issue with others:

1. Objection: In the time of Paul's writing 1 Timothy, women were not well educated, so obviously they were not permitted to teach. However, today women are well educated. Since the context has changed, the command no longer applies.

My response: It is true that if a Biblical command is context specific, we must consider how or if it applies to our context. However, I think this objection presupposes something that is not only not found in the text, but is specifically refuted by the text. The presupposition is that the reason for Paul's prohibition of female teaching is the lack of education for women at the time. But Paul gives us his reason, and that is not it:

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then EVe; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." - 1 Tim. 2:12-14 (ESV, emphasis mine)

Paul appeals to the order of creation and the events of the fall. Without going into the details of why Paul thinks these are good reasons to prevent women from teaching, suffice it to say that he does. It is therefore the truth of these premises that determines whether the command applies, not the level of education among women. As long as the premises are true, the command applies. No matter how educated a woman is today, man was still created first and it was still the woman who was deceived. Insofar as these premises are still true, women should still not be permitted to teach the Bible to the assembled church.

2. Objection: Many women honestly feel the Holy Spirit leading them into pastoral ministry or even to share a message on occassion that would involve teaching. How can you tell them not to when the Holy Spirit is telling them to?

My response: I certainly would not want to quench the Spirit, and I do believe He leads His children. However, between our own sin and the presence of satan, we often muff up the Spirit's leading. We see this tension in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21:

"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good."

The work of the Spirit and prophecies are both things given of God. If that's the case, why would we need to test them? It is because the way in which we interpret such things is often flawed. So we shouldn't just assume that because we feel the Spirit is leading us one way that He actually is. We should test it. What are we then to test it against but the inerrant written word of God? (cf. Acts 17:11), for nothing in scripture was given by anyone's interpretation, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). When I test this sensed leading of the Spirit by the written word in 1 Tim. 2:11-14, I find it to fail the test. The Spirit would not lead His children into an action that He expressly forbade when He inspired the words of scripture.

3. Objection: Paul says "I do not permit," not "God does not permit," so this command does not carry divine authority.

My response: The simple answer is that all scripture is God breathed, and Paul's writings in the NT canon are scripture (2 Peter 3:16). Therefore, all of what Paul says in his NT letters are God's word, and authoritative over our lives. That's the simple answer. But I'll also note that I think this represents a misunderstanding of Divine inspiration. When Christians say the Bible is divinely inspired, we don't mean to suggest that Paul woke up in the morning, talked to God, and then just wrote down what God said (so that some things are the stuff God actually told him, but then when it's just his opinion he writes "I do not permit."). Paul spoke words from his own mind but the Holy Spirit "carried him along" to ensure that he said what God wanted him to say (2 Peter 1:21). In that sense, everything Paul writes is in the context of "I permit," or "I do not permit." But because he was carried along by the Holy Spirit in writing those things, what Paul permits in scripture God permits, and what Paul does not permit in scripture God does not permit. At this point the conclusion is obvious: if in scripture Paul does not permit women to teach the assembled church, neither does God.

I hope these brief responses have helped to show that God has in fact revelead in scripture that He does not permit women to teach men in the assembled church, no matter what the time period, and that He will not lead them by His spirit otherwise. I know in academia there are more objections to the position I've outlined, but since I don't really interact with them in the average conversation with my fellow college students, I'll simply reference you to the extremely helpful book edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, specifically the chapter by Douglas Moo on 1 Tim. 2:11-14.

Now that the principle of God's prohibition on female teaching has been laid out, the question of application still remains. What exactly constitutes "teaching" in the sense that Paul is using it here? Does that mean women can't speak at church? What about at other meetings like those of parachurch groups? Does that mean they can't talk about the Bible at all? Where is that line drawn? I hope to take up this issue in Part 3.

Some Thoughts on Women & Teaching (Part 1)

I've recently had the privilege of engaging in fruitful discussion with some friends on the subject of women teaching the Bible. The impetus for the discussion involved exposure to some situations where women seemed to be teaching the Bible. So the question inevitably arose; "how are we to view this in light of what God has said in His word?" The others involved and I believe every word of the Bible is given by inspiration of God, and is therefore inerrant and authoritative over all areas of life (2 Tim. 3:16ff). The first important issue then was to discern what the Bible taught on this topic.

To my knowledge the most relevant passage in all of scripture on the issue of women teaching the Bible is in 1 Timothy 2:11-14:

"Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." - 1 Timothy 2:11-14 (ESV, emphasis mine)

God speaking through Paul here seems to be pretty clear. There are two things prohibited for women: teaching and exercising authority over men. The preceding verses (particularly v. 8) and really the context of the whole letter, suggest the context in view is the assembled church. So I don't take Paul here to be prohibiting women teaching 10th grade history etc. He also makes the audience in this case to include men, so I don't think Paul is prohibiting women teaching other women (in fact in Titus 2:3-4 commands women to do so). I also don't think Paul is saying that women can never instruct or correct men in contexts outside of the assembled church (see the example of Priscilla in Acts 18:26). What he means by "exercising authority" is another issue that I won't be really addressing except as it relates to teaching.

To summarize Paul's prohibition then with respect to teaching: women are not to give formal instruction to the assembled church (a mixed group of men and women).

I know there are plenty of objections to this position, but the 3 most common I've heard in discussing this with others are: 1. Women are more educated and able now, so hasn't the context changed? 2. Many women sincerely feel called to the pastorate, who are we to oppose the calling of the Spirit? 3. Paul says "I do not permit," not that "God does not permit," so is this command really authoritative?

These are great questions! I've wrestled through them myself, and after doing so I remain convinced that Scripture, and therefore God, does not permit women to give formal instruction to the assembled church. I'll attempt to explain why in Part 2.