I am of the belief that when Scripture asserts a woman should not teach or have authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:12), it means exactly what it says. That is not to say she can never teach anyone, but she cannot teach men. That does not mean she has no authority, rather she has no authority over men. Of course, this is in a church setting, meaning women are not to be preachers, pastors, deacons, or elders of a local church. However, I do believe there is grace in the workforce concerning schools, boardrooms, and offices, and that the Apostle Paul only referenced a woman's authority in the order of the church and not life in general.
If a woman cannot teach or have authority at all, then we need to rip Titus 2:3-5 out of our Bibles. Older women are to teach younger women what is good, and how to love their husbands and children according to the Word, so that the Word be not reviled.
There are some in certain circles who rail against this mandate, claiming God has given them, a woman, a gifting to teach. Why would God do so if He didn't intend for them to pastor a church? They seem to believe that women teaching women is some lesser good, an oppression of sorts, or a second-rate job. God is holding something good back from them, and thus they often grow bitter toward Him.
They embrace the "cultural" defense, that Paul was speaking to the women of the day, not women of the church at large. But if Paul's words weren't for the entire church, he wouldn't hearken back to the Genesis account to ground his argument for why this is to be. And it is in the Genesis account where we see a very similar sin spring from the hearts of Adam and Eve, that in forbidding the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they believed God was holding something good back from them.
A woman with a gift of teaching has been given by our Lord to the women of His church, and this is a glorious gift, not something lesser. A woman who thinks less of the privilege to teach her sisters is the one oppressing these women, not Scripture. If she truly has the gift of teaching with a unique way of digging into the Word and an understanding of Christ not many others have, then grumbling against teaching her sisters is doing them harm, not good. It is not progress for women to refuse to teach only women. It is not honoring our sisters in Christ to complain about teaching them.
Often, theology circles are for the men. Men read dusty theology tomes, men read old, dead preachers, men study and dig in to Scripture, men go to Christian conferences, and men lead the church. Often this is because much is expected by Christ of His sons, not only to lead His church, but also to lead their wives and children as well. But imagine a woman who loves learning of God just as much, who reads dusty theology tomes, who adores old, dead preachers, who studies and digs in to Scripture, and who goes to Christian conferences because it is her passion, not because she's tagging along with her husband.
These are the women who are the gifts of Christ to His daughters.
Women often flourish under the spiritual headship of their pastors and husbands, but not all women have diligent husbands who wash them with the water of the Word. Not all women will understand their pastor's message. Not all women are scholars, not all have the same gifting to fall in love with theology. These are the women who are "stuck", for lack of a better word, doing arts and crafts for ministry, or who are stagnant in their faith, not sure how to grow closer to Jesus.
Who else but a woman can speak into their lives, who understands their same hardships? Who can make these specific hardships into illustrations for teaching? Can a man comfortably speak of breastfeeding, menstruating, or the minutia of childrearing from the pulpit? Can a man soothe her feminine heart if she has been rejected, hurt, or is terrified of men? Even our pastors know when it's time to step aside for a woman to minister to another woman, and this is the glory Christ has given His daughters to teach each other.
Where is Christ?
Church, hear me now:
We cannot do ministry for Christ apart from Christ. We cannot reach the lost for Christ at the expense of Christ.
This is the reason why a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This is the reason why she is more precious than rubies. A woman who knows her God and His Word is a priceless treasure for any church, because she will be the one who can train up the women in the way they should go. She is the one who can speak into their lives in a true and living way, who can capture their imagination from a woman's perspective. She is the one who can relate our Lord Jesus to her sisters in such a way that men cannot. She will know the heart of Mary of Bethany as she wept at Christ's feet and wiped them with her hair. She will know the stabbing pain of a woman who's lost her child who nursed at her breast. She will know the intense loneliness of widowhood, the burden of being unequally yoked, the pain of having no husband. Only women who've walked these paths can minister to women with these precious things.
This is one of those special graces I spoke about in another blog post, Does Christ Give Women a Special Grace? We are to comfort others with the same comfort we have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). There are some paths in life only women can walk down. Women need to know Christ just as fervently and urgently as men do. Yes, Christ gives women certain gifts with regards to teaching about Him and His Word, but these gifts are for His daughters, our sisters in Christ.
What do I have in common with a man that I can speak wisdom into his life as a leader of his church, his wife, or his family? What do I have in my heart if I wish to teach him outside of my knowledge other than rebellion and pride? And if I harbor this bitterness in my heart, have I just disqualified myself as a teacher of women by bringing reproach upon the Word of Christ? Shouldn't humility in our hearts and submission to God's Word be the fruit of our lives?
Women teaching women is a beautiful, wondrous gift from our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something lesser, as if God were keeping something good from us, no, this is a very specific glory, one that holds high our God and King in the hearts of His daughters. This is a privilege only women can do for other women. Imagine a woman, so in love with the King of Glory, her eyes so full of His light, her heart so on fire for His Word, her soul so passionate for His glory, that when she comes before other women in her church and reveals to them the splendor of Christ's majesty, how will our Lord move among His beloved daughters? She will be the match that lights the dry kindling of these women's hearts afire! Praise the Lord!
O, precious Yeshua, I ask for You to raise up mighty women of God who adore You high above all other loves, to find their courage and their voice to love You before their sisters, and to teach and inspire others to do the same. Give Your church women who will disciple other women in Your Word and the knowledge of who You are, that we, as daughters of Christ, might be filled with all the fullness of God!
Amen.
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