Have you heard? Apparently God is a “male chauvinist.” Or maybe it’s that “the Bible is an archaic, out-of-date book.” Or perhaps the report that you’ve heard is that “the church of Christ is stuck in the past” and is only interested in “blind traditions.” Have you heard any accusations like these when the subject of the role of women in the church is raised? Such statements have actually been made, unfortunately.
In our culture today, it is highly unpopular to draw any lines and differentiate at all in the roles that men can have and the roles that women can have in anything. However, the subject of the role of women in the church is not one that can or should be dictated by what “our culture” thinks or says. If Biblical matters were always subject to and shaped by the culture, then the authority would reside in man and not in God. However, you know that man has no authority in the determination of Biblical truths (Matt. 28:18; Jer. 10:23).
Therefore, let us remind ourselves of some foundational principles. Every word in the Bible is chosen by God (2 Tim. 3:16). Those words represent the final revelation of the will of God (Jude 3), and they supply mankind with everything he needs to know to serve the Lord acceptably in every time and every culture (2 Pet. 1:3; 2 Tim. 3:17). Truly, “the word of God…lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23). God’s truth is “settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89), and it is not to be changed by any person in any culture (Gal. 1:6-9; Rev. 22:18-19).
The distinction of roles for men and women in the church, as detailed in the New Testament, is not difficult to understand. Males are to be chosen as elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:2, 12), and males are to take the lead in the “everywhere” assemblies of the church (1 Tim. 2:8). “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to be remain quiet” (1 Tim. 2:11-12). Males are to take roles of leadership in the church, including teaching in the assemblies of the church, and women are not to take those roles.
God does not identify different roles out of hatred or chauvinism. God does not have a higher view of or place a higher value upon men than women. They are roles that He has defined for His church to operate in the manner He has designed. But these roles were not cultural and are not subject to cultural changes. God tied these roles all the way back to the creation order and to the woman being deceived and introducing sin into the world (2:13-14).
The difference in roles is not chauvinistic, out of date or a blind tradition, nor can they be shaped by a culture. They are fixed, just as the entirety of God’s will is. Do we trust God to know what is best (in His eyes) for His church?