The Role of Women: Part II

Role of Women in the church

I don’t want to be a broken record so I am not going to continue to delve into what all God’s people are called to do, but I will reiterate it once again…all are to serve in the church in some way, including the women. They are to employ their gift to help the body of Christ.

Specifically we find the role of the woman in Titus 2.

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Titus 2:3-5

Notice how verse 3 is set up. It is the prerequisites of the older women so that they can live out verses 4 and 5. We see this with the term that is used in verse 4, “so.”

It is like me saying, I took this aspirin so I my headache would go away. I read my bible, so I will know how God wants me to praise him and live my life.

So, older women are to be reverent in their behavior: Which is really a term that is used to show that their actions are on target with sound doctrine. They are showing by their actions, their understanding of Scripture.

Not malicious gossips: (not just used with women, Romans 1:29; 2 Cor 12:20) This is just as it sounds. They are not people that look to others and their faults and then go and tell others about them. But older women are to be Christ like, they are to build up the body not tear it down. This term is actually the term used to define Satan: it is to falsely accuse, to slander

Enslaved to much wine: Just like the elders of the church the women are not to be drunkards neither are the older women.

Teaching what is good: This is interesting that this is what is a prerequisite of an older woman. They are to teach what is good. This can be both doctrine, as it is flowing from the above mentioned qualification of being reverent in behavior and also practical things as well.
It is the antonym of the use of “false teachers” in other parts of Scripture. This term is used for one who teaches things that are both good and right.

Think of it this way. A woman comes to an older, or more mature woman and tells her, “My husband shows me no respect, what am I to do?”

The more mature woman would teach her the doctrines of understanding what it means to be a godly wife, the doctrines of who God is, the doctrine of who the woman is, namely a sinner. She could teacher her how she has been forgiven of these sins because of the cross. Then comes what is spoken of in Titus 2:4,5

so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Titus 2:4-5

She can show how the woman should love her husband because of this and then give her some practical ways to live this out. This all comes from the understanding though that the younger women will only come to this older woman if she lives out her doctrine in reverence, if she doesn’t gossip, not addicted to wine and is a woman who teaches what is good.

The other role that we find for the woman is in 1 Timothy 3:11

Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.
1 Timothy 3:11

This verse comes right in the middle of the description of the qualifications of a deacon. We find the word women in 1 Timothy 3:11 and some translations will have “their wives” as though this was referring to the deacon’s wives. This would seem odd. The reason being that this would mean that the deacon’s have more qualifications than the elders do. There is no mention of the elder’s wives at all in the previous passage or anywhere else that elders are mentioned.

The term here for “wives” or “women” are used interchangeably elsewhere, so we would be best guided by the passages context. In this context it would seem that this is speaking of another part of the church’s office, namely deaconesses. We also see that the term “likewise” is used here to show a continuation of thought of the roles of the deacons to extend likewise to the deaconess.

What is interesting is that most churches employ deaconesses in their churches, they just call them something different. They call the ladies “nursery coordinators”, “children’s ministry coordinators” etc. The ladies are doing exactly what a deacon is called to do: minister to others so that the elders and pastors can devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4)

Lastly the reason that we find it okay for deaconesses is because the only thing that differs from elders and deacons is the ability to teach. The elders are called to teach, preach sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. Women are called to not teach or preach over a man in the church. We find this in 1 Timothy 2:11-14.

You will notice that Paul takes this back to Adam and Eve to his present day. Paul is speaking specifically to Timothy and how the church is to be run throughout this epistle. So, when Paul states this, it is not because he was influenced by his culture. His culture said that women were worthless, yet Paul continually defends women and says something pretty profound in this very passage. He says, “a woman should learn…” This is far reaching to that culture. Paul was giving the women the right to learn, something that the culture frowned upon highly in his culture. Later we find that women had a prominent role in Paul’s ministry, so he would have had no issue in making them elders, if that was the plan of God. The fact is that Paul could not be more clear in the woman’s role in the church. This is why he takes it out of his own culture and points all the way back to the original parents: Adam and Eve.

Women have a great role in the church, it just happens that God has stated that one of their roles is not to be a pastor or elder in the church. The same is found in the Old Testament that the highest role in the church was the priest, and no woman was allowed to be a priest either. Paul gives us the reasoning in showing an example in Adam and Eve. Women should not take this as a degradation, but should understand that this is just how God has determined it to be. There are also many men who will never be a pastor or elder either because they have different roles as well. We see this through everyday life too. Men and women are just different in many ways. This isn't bad, it is sometimes just physics. I don't yell at God because I can't have a baby. Mostly, I thank him because of it :).

The desire of the women to have authority in the church is seen thoroughly in the today's church and is derived from the same reasoning that we see when we spoke of the woman "desiring" her husband. Part of the curse employed the woman to desire to usurp the God given authority that has been laid above her. Sadly, many women find this to be a slap in the face to be told that they cannot be an elder or pastor in the church and find some very strange exegesis of Scripture to try and give reasoning on why Paul was teaching something either different or plain wrong.

In our next post, we will look at how Christ is the perfect example to the woman in their role that God has given them.