Should Women Preach?

I read a survey that says that said more than 12% of all pastors are women and that women pastors have increased over the years. Also, an article came out in the Washington Post on 10/ 2/ 2023 pointed out that women in the Catholic Church wanted to have greater say in the church; and one of the issues was that they wanted right to preach at Mass and be ordained as priests. But have you ever looked into the Bible to see what God reveals on this matter? Putting prejudice or personal feelings aside, let us honestly and carefully look at the Bible to understand the truth as to whether or not women has been called to preach and to be leaders over men in church.

Woman Created to be Helper to the Man

In Genesis 2:18, God declared that it was not good for man to be alone, and in verse 20 it tells us that “there was not found an help meet for him” (Adam). So, we know God created the woman to be man’s helper. These are not my words, but the words of God and the intent in which he created the women. I know there are women in today’s world that may take offense to this, but it happens to be true that woman was to be man’s helper.

But instead of being an help to the man, the woman (Eve) took her own initiative by walking over to the tree that had the forbidden fruit – taken of that fruit -disobeying God and then she tried to be the boss over the man Adam – by enticing him to also eat of the fruit – of which the weak man – Adam - who should be the head over the wife, did also eat. Because the women did this grave act of disobedience, God told the woman that he would multiply her sorrow and that her desire would be to her husband, and he would rule over her (Gen. 3:16). These are God’s words-not human opinion. God had made the man first-in His direct image, as God is always spoken of in the masculine gender. God had made the man physically stronger, and with every necessary quality to be the woman’s leader. Adam knew that the woman was to be his helper-and he the head over her, but now that the woman had taken the initiative without consulting her husband, and had sinned and then led the man to also sin, and because of this, God made their status very clear that it was the husband who should rule over the woman and not the other way around.

Today, we live in a world where men have given up their God given right to be the head or leader in the family – with all of this leading to broken homes, juvenile delinquency and an upside down family because the woman, in many cases, have become the boss or leader; the women wear the pants; the men, through weakness, have caved in – allowing women to become the boss; we are seeing this in all phases of life – especially here in the United States – where women have become leaders over the man – holding many positions of authority in the business world and in government; we are at this moment just one heartbeat away from a woman (Mrs. Kamala Harris) becoming the leader or president of the greatest single nation this world has ever known. In Isaiah 3:12, God says, “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.”

The heart of the matter is that God has ordained that man be the head over his wife, and when men and women forsake or ignore God’s system or standard of authority, then it is going to result in heartache and suffering; it will lead to broken homes; broken lives – affecting just about every aspect of the husband and wife’s relationship but I know that people, in general, does not consider these things.

Should Women Preach?

But now we come to the heart of the subject in question: Should women preach? Should they have a ministerial role as leader over men in this capacity?

In the Bible – especially in the Old Testament, men were regarded as the direct representative of God over the creation and the woman was recognized as his helper – from which she received honor and blessing through her husband who is the ordained or God constituted head of the family.

Think on this: God called Moses (not a woman) to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and when it came time for God’s priesthood, God chose Aaron and his sons; Exodus 29:9 says, “… and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.” In every case, God chose men to be the spokesman or leader; he did not choose women to be a leader or preacher. This is totally different than what we see in the world today. Now some may want to say the world of Moses’s time was old fashioned system, but this has nothing to do with old fashioned, but it is between our ways and God’s ways – as revealed in the word of God. In other words, it is people who have changed and departed from the ways God intended us to walk in - because God’s word is consistent even to our time.

I want to point out that while gentile nations have their queens or women ruling over them, but at no time did God ever appoint a woman as Queen or to any administrative office either in the nation of Israel or in the New Testament Church; just look in the New Testament scripture you will see no mention of a woman pastor or preacher of such kind.

Prophetess

You may reason saying -what about some women like Deborah and Miriam who were called prophetess, were they not part of God’s ministry? The answer is no. Those women who were viewed as prophetess in both the Old and New Testament were simply used to carry a message to one of his servants or people, but it was never in the capacity of preaching or exercising authority over them. For example, Exodus 15: 20;21 tells us that Miriam the prophetess “took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrel and with dances. And Miriam answered them, sing ye to the Lord, for her hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” As you can see, Miriam encouraged the women to sing praise to God, but she was never called to preach to men or to have any kind of authority over them.

If you also consider the case of the prophetess Deborah -who was on the scene in a time when “… there was no king in Israel, but everyman did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). This was a time when there was no man to lead and guide the people; they lacked leadership; and so, we read in Judges 4:4: “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.”

Since no man had the courage and leadership to master the situation and take the initiative, Deborah-being a prophetess and knowing God’s will- reminded Barak, “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded . . .” And she proceeded to remind him-not command him, because she had no such authority over the men - of what God had commanded should be done. Barak, being a weakling and too fearful to exercise his God-given responsibility of leadership, told her, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go” (verse 8). Knowing full well that Barak ought to be man enough to carry out this responsibility without having to cling to the skirt of a woman, Deborah told him: “I will surely go with thee: not- withstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (verse 9).

Deborah herself-a righteous a righteous and God-fearing woman-had no desire at all to usurp man’s responsibility for leadership, and her own words betray how ashamed she must have felt of her men, who were so weak that she had to “mother” them along to get them to carry out God’s will. She later sang of this national tragedy saying: “The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I arose a MOTHER in Israel” (Judges 5:7).

The truth is that women are not at all called to preach; they have not been called to be leaders over men. God has ordained that the man be the head of the family; it is man’s God given role and responsibility to do so, but in our society today, men have seemingly relinquished this authority – allowing the women to step up and become the leader; men have become weak – lacking the will or the knowledge to understanding why and how they should be the head of the family; God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge …” (Hosea 4:6).

God made man the head not because the man is better than the woman; No, not at all, God ordained it this way so it would bring humanity happiness and the joyful way of living for the man and the woman, and it would be an example to the children on how to live so they too would come to bring up their own families in a God ordained way. God expect the man to cherish, honor and respect his wife in every way; man has not been called to be some kind of tyrannical head over the wife, but to be a loving, respectful man who honors and cherishes his wife; and she in turn, would prove to be a wonderful help meet to the man. But women of today wants no part of what God says, they want to be the boss over men; they want to take the lead and feminize the man as much as they can. We have come to the point in our society where it is considered ridiculous to say the man should be the head of the family; who knows, maybe some who read this article may even scoff and jeer at what is said here, and may even want to think of me as someone having a kind of male chauvinistic kind of thinking or ideology, but that would be far from the truth. What they are failing to see that God has given the man and woman relationship to bring us happiness and a peaceful and productive way of living, but this world has rejected that, and it is the reason what we have so much broken homes and juvenile delinquent in this nation. Thankfully Jesus Christ is coming to set up the Government of God over the earth – where humans are going to be taught the right and proper way to live; in this soon coming worldwide Government of God, women will no longer seek to compete against the man, but will come to learn that the way which truly produces lasting happiness peace in the home and society - is to live the way God intended man and woman to live. No, women are not called to be preachers.