Replies

God calls us to abide by his Word.

a) God and Jesus have never broken any rules.

Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

b) Female Judges - First, a Judge is a civil government role, not an ecclesiastical (Church) role. Deborah as the only female judge among 13 male judges, so it is not normative. As far as church government, the Old Testament and New Testament are consistent in permitting only males as leadership of the Church (this would be the priesthood in the Old Testament, and elders in the New Testament).

c) Female prophetesses - Prophets are a case of special revelation, the choosing of these women does not set any normative standard in ancient Israel, it simply shows us that God can and does speak through whom he pleases; in the Old Testament this was through the Prophets. There was only Huldah, Deborah and Miriam, so they were far more the exception than the rule, even as prophets. The fact which has bearing on Church leadership is that none of them were priests; Miriam was a prophetess and the sister of Moses and Aaron.

d) The woman with five husbands: Jesus did not send her; he simply told her who he was. Not only did she not preach, she was so astounded that she was unsure if she had indeed spoken with Christ:

John 4:29 “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

This hardly qualifies as a teaching role.

e) Mary Magdelene did not teach either.

Providing a report of events that one has heard or seen or felt is most definitely not teaching on the subject of Scripture, it’s just relaying an eyewitness report.

True Biblical teaching is only done by those who are ordained to do it throughout the Bible.

Evidence for male-only headship:

The amount of Scripture that implicitly and explicitely contradicts women functioning as Church elders or teaching elders is great indeed, and the New Testament, in setting up the model for the Christian Church, is quite clear.

I leave the research of all that scripture as an exercise for the reader, with the simple hint to start in Timothy, and the strong suggestion to find quality commentary on the subject to use as a study guide.