WOMEN TEACHING?
WOMEN TEACHING?
Dear _______
I wanted to ask you something .. i’m sure you can answer it. It concerns the scripture below. I know it’s not right for a woman to preach the gospel or to teach in church .. but what about outside of it .. such as this list. I don’t mean preaching or teaching ... just glorifying God .. praising His name. Is that wrong? I don’t want to usurp authority over man and hope I haven’t done that in anyway in the past. I just love talking about the Lord and saying what is on my heart. That’s all .. I don’t have the knowledge and understanding of the bible the way all of you do. It’s so hard not to say anything about the Lord .. I love Him so much. I wish I were a man .. i would preach like crazy. Anyway can you give me your thoughts on this?
Sis _____
1 Timothy 2:12 "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man; but to be in silence;"
Dear Sister __________
I find this interesting for when I looked up the text I noticed that the two words "usurp authority" are from one Greek word. I’d never known that before as best I remember. The Greek word according to the Online Bible definition of Strongs 831 SGreek: 831. authenteo shows the 2nd definition of "one who acts on his own authority, autocratic" and this corresponds to approximately the same thing I had in mind for the meaning of this text to start with. All put together I think the verse is saying that the woman is not to act on her own authority. As long as a sister is not speaking privately with another person (or on a list like this) and acting authoratatively nor beligerant then I think she is entitled to do so and even write articles for our papers, etc. such as has been done in the past by a lot of sisters. When she gets to the point that she thinks though that it is ok for her to publicly preach then she has become one who is trying to usurp authority over the man - authority which the LORD never gave the woman. A companion scripture with this one is1 Corinthians 14:34"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law."
I think this scripture can be run into the ground. This IMHO should be taken with1 Timothy 2:12and would mean that the woman is not to speak in a teaching way thereby usurping authority over the man who is the only one that God ever calls to preach as the ministerial qualifications lay out one thing that a sister can never fulfill in1 Timothy 3:2"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;"
Maybe other brethren will go ahead and post their thoughts on your question also. They are free to peacefully voice opposition to the things which I have written and I invite them to do so.
Bro ________
.. thank you for your response. Here is an example of a woman praising and glorifying God. That’s all I want to do .. praise honour and adore Him for what He has done for me. God is worthy to be praised. Psalms 18:3... I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. My only desire is to serve and please the Lord for the remainder of my days here on earth. I know I can’t do it to perfection because of this flesh but I’m going to make a great effort of praying to the Lord for grace to do the very best I can. We are blessed. :)
Sis _______
Luke 1:46-49 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
1 Thessalonians 5:19- Quench not the Spirit.