WOMEN IN MINISTRY Part 1
1 Timothy 2:11, 12, " Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence."

Every word of God is Yes and Amen and profitable for reading, meaning no part of the Word of God should be taken for granted. Instead of ignoring some parts or verses of the Bible, it is better to seek God's face for spiritual understanding.

Apostle Paul gave instructions about women in the church and ministry; these instructions are scriptures not human opinion. Every verse of the Bible is part of the scripture and must be obeyed by every child of God. So, the Bible says, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence." What does this actually means, if we should ask? Does it mean women are not permitted to become ministers, to teach or preach in the church?

Some churches interpret it just like that, they say women are not permitted to teach or preach in the Bible, they do not allow their women to minister or become ministers, and so they claim to obey the scripture as Apostle Paul stated. But the truth is that, if we should literally follow the instructions, they go beyond women teaching and preaching. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35, the Bible says “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church." So the matter includes women asking questions in the Sunday or Bible Study, women singing or probably reading Bible. Then no church really obeys these instructions, because churches that disallow their women from teaching and preaching in the church do permit their women to ask questions or to read Bible in the church.

So does that mean we are all disobeying the Word of God or we should ignore this scripture out rightly? I don't think that will help either because every verse of the Bible is part of the inspired scripture, word of God settled in heaven. I think the best solution is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand what these scriptures mean.

WOMEN MINISTERS IN THE BIBLE
These Bible passages do not imply women cannot teach, preach or say something in the church, I think they have deeper and more serious meaning. I believe women can teach, preach, prophesy and minister in the church because God used several women to minister in Old Testament, where gender laws were even stricter, and New Testament. So then the instructions the Holy Spirit used Apostle Paul to give in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14:34 are not to ban or disallow women from ministering in the church or in ministry. In Old Testament, there were several prophetesses used by God to lead men and the whole nation of Israel. In Exodus 15:20, we read about Miriam the prophetess. In Judges 4:4, we read about Deborah, a prophetess who judged the whole nation of Israel for forty good years. Judges 5:7, 31. We also read about Huldah the prophetess in 2 Kings 22:14. In Nehemiah 6:14, Noadiah was a prophetess. There was a prophetess in Isaiah 8:3. In the New Testament, there was a prophetess called Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. Luke 2:36. Evangelist Philip had 4 daughters who were prophetesses, “Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. “Acts 21:9.

Being a prophetess is greater than being a teacher or pastor. Ephesians 4:11, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers". If the Spirit of God could ordain women to be prophetesses, then the same Spirit of God cannot disallow them from preaching and teaching.

WHAT TO LEARN: TOTAL SUBMISSION
So what can we get or understand from those two Bible passages about women in the church? Let's start from 1 Timothy 2: 11, 12, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence." From these Bible verses, by the help of Holy Spirit, we can learn women should be submissive, especially ministers' wives. The fact that a woman is the wife of a senior pastor or G.O does not automatically makes her to be the second in command. These Bible passages may be more directly or particularly to the wives of ministers in the churches and ministries. 1 Timothy 2:12 says, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission." Here we see "all submission", that is the wives of pastors, senior pastors, Bishops, General Overseers or Apostles/church founders should submit to all the leadership of the church. 1 Corinthians 14:35 says, “And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home.” That means their husband must be godly people who really understand the Word of God, so that may be applicable to the wives of the ministers. But does that means the wife of a pastor cannot ask question in church? No, but they cannot interrupt or usurp. All women can ask question during the question time, but if time does not permits, the women can ask the ministers after the program and the wife of the pastor can ask her husband at home.

It is biblically wrong for a church's senior pastor or founder to make his wife second in command; a godly woman who is a wife of the pastor must be submissive to the leadership of the church, not just to her husband, the Bible says "all submission". The system where the wife is next to the husband as a pastor is wrong. In most churches today, the wives of pastors are automatically next to their husbands, and that is wrong. God does not make those wives to be the next, but the husbands or the church system did. It is wrong for ministers wives to seat above authority. The system where the wife of the senior pastor is above the assistant pastor is ungodly; the system where the wife of the senior pastor seats on the altar beside the husband is wrong, the wife ought to seat behind, not beside. Most denominations make the wives of the pastors above the assistant pastors, such system is not biblical. Some churches make the wives of the senior pastors next to the senior pastors, so when the senior pastors die, their wives take over the authority, such system is unbiblical.

....Continues in Part 2.

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