Richard Burgess, 10 June 2023.
Among Complementarians (those who are against women teaching men, or women being pastors), there is an endeavour to make a distinction in the type of teaching that Paul is referring to in 1 Timothy 2:12, “I do not allow a woman to teach…” and thereby exclude women from the role.
This it is argued, is different from what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians where he encouraged all, regardless of gender, in the many and varied ministry of the body: “When you assemble, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation” (1 Cor 14:26). Here it is argued Paul is talking about level 101 teaching, whereas, in 1 Timothy 2, it’s a higher and more responsible grade of teaching – authoritative, doctrinal teaching.
This doesn’t bear weight. At all. Paul makes no such distinction. All teaching should be, must be, rooted in the Word, empowered by the Spirit, and be theological and doctrinal, whether to children, youth, or adults, male or female. Yes, there will be differing levels of ability in that, but Scripture will not allow us to make a distinction on who does it based on sex.
Also, if we were to interpret it this way, it would mean that only properly recognised and ordained men should teach, across the board. If so, that would mean that women should not be teaching children, only the men – something that rarely, if ever, happens!
Then we have the fascinating case of Paul’s co-workers Priscilla and Aquila.
Priscilla and her husband Aquila were among Paul’s travelling companions – fellow workers in Christ. They were a dynamic and courageous couple. Of the seven times they are mentioned Priscilla is mentioned first five times, something uncharacteristic of the time, which suggests that she played a leading role. We read of the church meeting in their home (1 Cor 16:19) – that meant they were responsible for it. Paul it appears thought highly of them. When he wrote his second letter to Timothy in Ephesus, he sent greetings not only to Timothy but also to Priscilla and Aquila, as well as to the household of Onesiphorus (2 Tim 1:2; 4:19). No other Christians in Ephesus are greeted. This begs the question, were these four people the leaders of the Ephesian church – but that’s another subject. In Paul’s list of greetings to members of the church at Rome in the last chapter of Romans, Priscilla is listed first among 26 individuals – many of whom are women (Rom 16:3-16). Priscilla was obviously influential and highly regarded by Paul.
All of which leads us to Acts 18:26 where they were both involved in giving corrective, doctrinal instruction to Apollos at Ephesus. This is fascinating, given that correcting doctrine was considered to be the role of bishops or elders. Now some may argue it was in private, it wasn’t in the church. Some want to minimise this by saying it was private and a little bit of explaining. Whether private or public, it makes no difference, and it was more than a little bit of explaining.
Nowhere does scripture make any differentiation in the teaching ministry, it was open to both men and women. In fact, scripture had promised that in the age of the outpoured Spirit, God would pour out his Spirit on all flesh without distinction and male and female would prophesy. That age has come.
Prophecy, it should be noted, was more than a few words of encouragement (though it can be that). As Craig Keener observes regarding prophesying in the Old Testament, it was “the most common form of ministry with respect to declaring God’s word.”1 And Paul says regarding prophecy, “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted/encouraged” (1 Cor 14:31). Note that: “all may prophesy”, that is men and women, and “all may learn”, that is men and women.
In scripture, prophecy is connected to the Word, to the teaching of it. It is more of a forth-telling than a fore-telling, though it could and frequently did include both. As Moses wished that all the Lord’s people were prophets, Joel makes it abundantly clear that that is exactly God’s intention and that there should be equality in our experience and ministry of the Spirit, both male and female.
1 Craig Keener, Two Views on Women in Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001,2005), 207.
For more, please see my book, Exploring the Role of Women in the Church: A Journey of Discovery that Demands a Response.
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