Ask Your Preacher - Archives
“Feminine Ways Pt. 2”
Categories: MEN & WOMEN, PREACHING/TEACHING, RELATIONSHIPS, THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH, WORSHIP[This question is in response to “Feminine Ways”]
How do you view Deborah in the Bible? How do you explain why God mentions her at all? She judged both men and women in Israel. I'm not convinced that God will be boxed in to whom He can use at any given time. God Bless.Sincerely,
Thinking Outside the Box
Dear Thinking Outside the Box,
The only rules God is “boxed in” by are His own. The Bible is full of women that taught and shared God’s wisdom… Deborah is just one example of them. Miriam, Moses and Aaron’s sister, was a prophetess (Ex 15:20), and so were Philip’s four daughters (Acts 21:8-9). The problem is not with women teaching; it is the venue in which they do it.
We didn’t make 1 Cor 14:34 and 1 Tim 2:12 – those are God’s laws, not ours. We also didn’t make the qualifications that an elder be a man – the Lord authored Tit 1:5-9 and 1 Tim 3:1-7. The qualifications for an elder restrict women from being pastors, but it also forbids young men, unmarried men, and those without children. It isn’t a matter of the value of people; it is a matter of what God’s law says.
