Bulletins
May Women Speak in Church?
In most churches today women preach and in other ways take leadership roles forbidden to them in past generations. What does the Bible say on this subject?
The Scriptures direct all Christians, men and women, to sing in the public worship assembly (1 Corinthians 14:15,23; Ephesians 5:18-19). When women do so, they both speak and teach in church (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16).
But two passages limit the woman’s role in the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul commands: “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 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.” To Timothy the inspired apostle wrote, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:11-12).
The Scriptures, being truth (John 17:17), do not contradict each other. In both passages, Paul defines the kind of speaking he forbids by demanding its opposite. In the church, women must not speak in a manner that violates their submission to men (1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:11-12). Thus, since preachers must address the church “with all authority” (Titus 2:15), women cannot preach. Women may not participate equally with men in making decisions for the church. A woman cannot be a teacher over a class containing men. In Bible classes, women should be careful not to violate their role of submission. The inspired Scriptures are our standard, not the modern philosophy of gender equality.
(Scripture quotes are from the NKJV; Taken from Searching the Scriptures 3-31-24, edited by Ethan Jennings)
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