January 28, 2007

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Why Can’t Girls Lead in Worship?

 

Introduction

 

I was asked a good question by a nine-year old girl recently.  At the end of our Wednesday Bible Study, a little girl came up to me and asked, “Why can’t I lead singing, read scripture, and serve communion like boys do?”  She evidently wanted to do these things and sincerely wanted to know the answer.  I gave her a brief answer then, but I want now to more fully answer her question.

 

In our democratic society, there are no limitations in regard to gender.  Recently, Nancy Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives, was elected.  In the last Congress, 85 were women—71 in the House; 14 in the Senate.  A woman could be elected President of the United States for the first time.  We have had women who served as Secretary of States, Ambassadors, and Governors.  In the business and corporate world, women fill positions in all levels of ownership and management.  In the religious world, many women now serve as elders and fill the pulpits in churches.  Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, is a preacher.  Her argument for women preachers is that if God calls a woman to preach, she has the right to preach.  But is she sure that women are “called” to preach?  Would the Bible say, No, to women preachers, then God call them violating the Bible?

 

In other countries and cultures, women are treated as inferior to men.  They are not permitted to go to school.  They must wear veils over their heads and faces in public.  Mohammad taught that women are inferior to men (Koran); such is not true.  The Bible does not teach such a view of women.  The cultures of the world, even our own, cannot be our guide in how we establish our homes and churches.  We must get that direction from the Bible alone. 

 

We really need to study the Bible more and learn it well. Then, we need to respect what it says.  It claims to be from God.  (2 Tim. 3:15-17, 1 Cor. 14:37.)  Human wisdom is not better than divine wisdom.  Our answer should not be based upon what we want or what our customs have been.  What does the Bible say about the home and the church?  About the roles of men and women in the home and church?  The home and church are inseparably connected in regard to those roles.

 

Not Based upon the Following: Our reasons for not allowing young girls to read Scripture or women to serve as elders/preachers/leaders are not based upon traditions, desire of males to dominate or suppress the females, because we think males are superior or more intelligent or even more capable than females.  Our single reason is based upon our understanding of what the Scriptures teach.  There is no other motive or reason.    

 

Some Important Facts to Remember

 

1.       The Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh—Jew and Gentile, men and women, bond and free.  (Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28-29.)  But not everyone—Jews or Gentiles, men or women, bond or free were baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Some of each group received the Spirit on Pentecost and afterwards.  (Acts 2 & 10.)

 

2.     There were both prophets and prophetesses under both covenants.  Deborah was both a judge and prophetess.  (Judges 4:4.)  Anna, of the tribe of Asher, was a prophetess.  (Luke 2:36)  Philip the evangelist had four daughters who prophesied.  (Acts 21:8-9.)

 

3.     Women had the gift of prophecy.  (1 Cor. 11:5.)  Prophecy was one of nine miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the first century church.  (1 Cor. 12:7-11.)  Prophesying was speaking for God by the Spirit of God.

 

4.     Yet, women were not permitted to teach or preach.  “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.  But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Tim. 2:11-12.)  “Commit thou to faithful men.” (2 Tim. 2:2.)

5.     Therefore, because we have both 1 Cor. 11:5 (where women prophesied) and 1 Tim. 2:12 (where women could not preach or teach publicly), there must be a difference between preaching and prophesying.   Otherwise, there is a contradiction in the Bible.  One act, prophesying, was accomplished by the Spirit; the other, teaching, comes by studying. 

 

6.     There are no women preachers in the first century church.  We know the men by name: Paul, Timothy, Titus, Silas, Luke, Peter, James, John, etc.  What women preached on Pentecost?

 

Why Were Women Not Permitted to Preach?

 

The little girl wanted to know why?  Why can’t I participate in the worship assemblies like boys do?  There are biblical reasons why.

 

Paul explained that to the Corinthians.  He wrote, “But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.”  (1 Cor. 11:3.)  A woman cannot preach because there is spiritual authority in preaching that does not belong to the woman.

There are multiple passages that teach male leadership and headship.  “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body.”  (Eph. 5:23.)  In this section, the relationship between the husband and wife is based upon the spiritual relationship between Christ and the church.  You may as well change the headship of Christ as to try to change biblically the headship of the man.  It is not culturally bound.  It is forever connected to Christ and the church.

 

Power or authority?  Is there a difference?  Yes.  Power is self-centered and self-serving; authority is delegated and accountable.  Jesus has all authority, but it is the way of the cross.  So also with the man who should love his wife and give himself for her as Jesus did the Church.  This matter of headship and authority is often misunderstood and abused.

 

Why was the woman to wear a veil while praying and prophesying?  And the man was told not to wear a veil?  In both passages, the answer is given: they would dishonor their head. (1 Cor. 11:4-5.)  The woman would be dishonoring the man; the man would be dishonoring Christ.  Wearing the veil in the first century would have had no purpose if both men and women could preach and serve in public leadership roles of the church and home.  In the first century when the spiritual gifts were shared by both men and women, women had to wear a veil to show their submission to their husbands.  If women could participate in the worship assemblies in the same manner as men, then the women would have to wear veils, according to these texts.  The veils were worn by women because they had some of the same spiritual gifts.  Women do not wear veils today because no one has miraculous gifts and because women cannot preach or serve as elders.

 

In 1 Timothy 2:11-15, Paul gave two reasons why he did not allow a woman to teach.  They are: “For Adam was formed first then Eve, and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”  God chose male leadership.  There are three possible choices in leadership: male, female or co-leaders (egalitarian).  Egalitarian refers to equality among men and women in social, political, economic areas.  However, the Bible does not teach egalitarianism in spiritual leadership.

 

It is wrong for a man to fail to lead his family spiritually.  It is likewise wrong for a woman to take that lead away from him.  Just because a man might not be all that he should be in the home or church does not mean that the woman can assume his role as head.

 

Violating Headship

 

There are numerous ways in which the headship of man is violated and God’s will is thwarted in the home and church.

 

First, society makes the changes.  We cannot control the whole society.  Our culture changes marriage from man and woman to same sex.  They allow polygamy in Muslim countries and even in Utah.  We elect women to high political positions.  All of this puts pressure on the little community church.  The society seems broad-minded and moving on.  The church is made to look backward and ignorant.

 

Secondly, we make subtle changes like having husband and wife to co-teach in a seminar.  After all, this is on Friday and Saturday night instead of Sunday.  But they are teaching on the home and marriage, of all things!  Why do they co-teach?  Why not just let the woman teach one night and the husband the next night?  Because that would look too much like teaching and preaching, which is forbidden in 1 Timothy 2:11-12.  So to soften the blow, they co-teach the seminar.  At the very least, this is egalitarian teaching.

 

Thirdly, we have devotional meetings, not on Sundays, but on a weekday.  It is held in a member’s home or maybe in the fellowship hall.  But families are there—men, women, and boys and girls.  They all participate in worship—leading songs, reading scripture, saying prayers, and presenting lessons.

What could possibly be wrong with that?  We are training the children to sing, pray, read the Bible and worship.  If that is done within the family, in your home, I would not argue against it—so long as the man is recognized as the head of that family.  But we are confusing our children when the mother and wife becomes the head of the family.  We are confusing our children when we fail to teach them that there is a difference between boys and girls.

 

Where Should Children Be Taught to Pray?

 

1.       The Bible tells us where little children should be taught to pray, to know God’s will and learn to worship.  Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 teach that it should be done in the home.  Parents should teach their children to worship.

 

2.     Jesus taught “closet praying.”  “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.  Thy Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.”  (Matt. 6:6.)

 

3.     There is a danger in “public prayers.”  This is the reason why Jesus taught closet praying.  The Pharisees loved to pray on the street corners to be seen of men.  (Matt. 6:5.)  Do not worry so much about learning to pray well in public; learn first to pray in secret.

 

4.     Girls should not be concerned about leading public prayers.  Paul wrote to Timothy in the same context above: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.”  (1 Tim. 2:8.)  The word for men is aner, which refers to the male and contrasted with women in the next verse.  In 1 Timothy 4:10, Jesus is called the Savior of all men (anthropos, which refers to man generally, men and women).  Men should conduct the public worship services.

 

5.     There is a difference between praying in public worship, which everyone Christian should do, and leading public prayer.  Men and women should pray publicly and privately.  But only men should lead public prayers based on 1 Timothy 2:8.  During our worship assemblies, only a few lead us, but all participate.  The emphasis should be on our spiritual participation in worship, not on who leads it.

 

Conclusions

 

1.       Injustices against women by men in the past is not a sufficient reason for overturning God’s will for the home (man as the head) and church (male spiritual leadership).

2.     Galatians 3:29—there is neither male nor female—is incorrectly used as a proof text for egalitarian leadership.  If no distinction is to be made, then why are elders limited to men who are the husbands of one wife (likewise for deacons)?  Why should we commit the Gospel to faithful men, not faithful women, to preach?

3.     Jesus Christ exalted the role and status of women in the first century.  Women owe Jesus a great debt of gratitude.  He changed centuries of abuse by his teaching—husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.