FAQ ID # 7369 - What does Calvary believe about allowing a woman to speak in the church?

FAQ ID # 7369

Last Update : 2010/01/18
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Question / Issue

What does Calvary believe about allowing a woman to speak in the church?

Answer / Solution

There are 2 passages in the New Testament which deal with women teaching in the church:

In 1 Corinthians 14:33-36, the apostle Paul exhorted the church in Corinth, “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak...and if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.”

This is qualified by his previous instruction 1 Corinthians 11:5: “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head” so we know he wasn’t prohibiting them from any speaking at all. He was addressing the problem that arose because the early church followed the custom of dividing the men and women, and some of the gentile women were calling out questions to their husbands during the service.

But 1Timothy 2:12 says, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” Both Wuest and MacArthur agree that this should actually be translated “I do not permit a woman to be a teacher”, where the emphasis is the ONGOING POSITION of authority. It’s obvious why that does not apply in the case of a guest speaker who does not take that role ordinarily, but it does restrict women from holding a position such as pastor or teacher where they regularly teach the entire congregation. So if a woman was out of order by holding such a position (such as senior pastor of a church), we would not invite her to speak, even as a guest, at Calvary.

But we did invite Anne Graham Lotz to speak to our congregation under our pastoral authority, by our invitation. She does not hold a postion as a pastor or teacher; we knew her subject, a message from the book of Isaiah, which she shared through her gift of prophecy. She did not come as either a pastor or an elder-- she delivered a message that God wants to speak to the entire body of Christ.

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