Old FashionedGender Roles in the NT

Question No. 1Is there any distinction made between the roles

found within the New Testament Church?

Ephesians 5:22-25

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church;

and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let

the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just

as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.

First Timothy 5:1,2

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older

women as mothers, young women as sisters, with all purity.

Titus 2:1-8

Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine...that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate...the older women

likewise, that they be reverent in behavior...that they admonish the younger

women to love their husbands (and) children...exhort the young men to be sober-

minded...

First Corinthians 12:12,14

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is

Christ...for in fact the body is not one member but many.

See also the discussion about a hand & eye arguing in verses 20-21.

First Corinthians 12:28-30

God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,

help, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all

teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with

tongues? Do all interpret?

We All Have a Role

The Church has been and will continue to be full of people who have a specific role to

play. That role sometimes means they occupy different tasks from another person within the church. God has done nothing to honor one role over another. The roles we all play individually is what makes the Church function properly (i.e. our physical bodies).

Question No. 2What is a woman’s Role in the New

Testament Church?

First Corinthians 14:33-35

...as in all the churches of the saints. 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.

First Timothy 2:11-14

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. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but

the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Submission

Please note that submission doesn’t imply a loss of dignity. Jesus Himself willingly

submitted to the Father when He came to this world (i.e. Philippians 2:5-11).

Did Jesus give up His role, importance, divinity, or dignity by becoming a man? In

fact, I’d say He didn’t embrace His role until He became “under submission.”

Authority

Authority resides in man because: (1) Adam was made first, and

(2) Eve sinned first.

These facts don’t suggest that any woman is inferior to any man. It merely confirms

that she is to be subordinate to her spiritual leader (as Jesus was in the garden

of Gethsemane, i.e. Lk 22:42).

In New Testament Church

Within the roles allowed for women by the Scriptures, we have examples of them

serving the early Church as:

(1) Teachers (i.e. Priscilla in Acts 18:26) (2) Prophets (i.e. Acts 21:9)

(3) Hosts to the Church (i.e. Acts 16) (4) Servants to Apostles (i.e. Romans 16:1,2)

Question No. 3Why do some Congregations allow women to

Preach and Teach Publicly today?

Justification

Jesus never spoke about women’s roles, only the Apostles. Jesus (in fact) attacked 1st century chauvinism by addressing the

Samaritan woman at the well (i.e. John 4:27); by refusing to condemn the adultrous

woman (i.e. John 8:7-12) and gave women equal rights when the victim of marital

infidelity (i.e. Matthew 19:9; Mark 10:11,12).

Justification

Paul’s (and the others Apostles for that matter) commands can’t be considered to be

on the same level as those of Jesus.

Preacher - “What the Bible does is tell me about Jesus, and I don’t read Jesus through Paul. I read Paul through Jesus. And I think the churches of Christ are getting this, that we no longer read all of the Bible as equal.”

Justification

College that trained her for ministry –

“We do not claim to support or be against females preaching. We educate our students to broaden their horizons and develop their

own opinions regarding religion.”

An Answer

Jesus is the centerpiece of all Scripture (i.e. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5); but all Scripture (even

that wrote by non-Saviors) is inspired according to 2 Timothy 3:16. Jesus Himself said the Holy Spirit would “...guide (the

Apostles) into all truth” in John 14:25. So, how can the teachings of Jesus be more

important than the teachings of the Apostles? It can’t and it doesn’t!

The Problem

There is a lack of male spiritual leadership in these congregations!

Women feel the need to lead in areas where genuine leadership is lacking. They are

longing to fill the roles they aren’t encouraged or allowed to fill in Scripture

because they’re going unfilled!