Her Liberty to Preach

This article was co-written by Katie Blaylock.

The early Christian community was defined by their progressive stance on the cultural issues of the time, especially with regard to women’s rights. At a time when it was “better to burn the Torah than to teach it to a woman,” Christianity emerged with its liberating message that societal restrictions based upon ethnicity, class and gender were mitigated by the iconoclastic messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

Women, who were seen as little more than slaves, were alienated and oppressed by men. Jesus, however, showed no partiality in his ministry. Jesus’ barrier-breaking ministry is exemplified in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well.

The fact that Jesus was even at the well, when society had deemed drawing water to be a woman’s work, demonstrates his disdain for societal restrictions. Not only did Jesus choose to converse with this woman, but he offered her hope – hope of a better future that would transcend social impediments.

Sadly, the Western church often no longer represents such progress, but, in fact, stands as a conservative bastion against the so-called liberal and secular trends of today’s culture. As traditional models of gender roles are challenged both inside and outside the church, conservative Christians often flee to the Bible to reassert their position that women do not belong in the pulpit.

Admittedly, there are passages of Scripture that seem to condemn women who would seek leadership roles in the church. In one harsh letter, Paul acknowledges that he does “not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.” He bases this regulation on the orders of creation and transgression, “for Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

However, any interpretation of Scripture that oppresses can hardly be called authoritative. We must be suspicious of any reading of Scripture that demeans the revelation of God to women and reconsider our assumptions based upon the whole of the biblical witness.

The Bible seems to indicate that many women held leadership roles among God’s people.

It was Shiphrah and Puah who disobeyed the Egyptian king’s order to kill every male infant. Deborah, the prophetess and judge, and the woman Jael were responsible for liberating Israel from the tyranny of Jabin, king of Canaan.

Luke recalls the impact of the prophetess Anna when Jesus was presented at the temple. Mary Magdalene is remembered in the Christian tradition as a woman of great influence in the early church.  Pricilla was a partner with her husband Aquila in leading the early church at Ephesus. And Paul refers the woman Junia as an apostle in his epistle to the Romans.

Since the testimony of Scripture celebrates women in leadership, it seems unnecessarily discriminatory to restrict women from preaching from the pulpit. If a female pastor is leading a church that is truly fruitful, then who has the right to deny her that position?

God is no more limited by society’s predetermined gender roles than Jesus was by contemporary expectations of what role the messiah would play. Instead, our God is the God of possibilities. And so we write this in the hope of the possibility that one day our brothers and sisters in Christ will come together and embrace the gifts and talents that God has given all of God’s children—regardless of their gender.