There is a lot of
disagreement in the area of teaching Bible. As I made it clear in my post Men Make Better Pastors, God ordained men to be the
preachers, elders and deacons in the church. Paul explains all of this in 1
Timothy. In fact, 1 Timothy 1:18-3:16 was written for the express
purpose of explaining how a the church should be managed. Those in authority in the church are to be
the husband of one wife, women are to be silent in the churches and not teach
or be in authority over men. In 1 Corinthians,
Paul states Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not
permitted unto them to speak; but they
are commanded to be under
obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask
their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church {1
Corinthians 14:34, 35}. These specific instructions are for in the church!
Some women believe that women should never teach other
women the Bible since they are the ones that were deceived as the
Bible states. This is the reason given that women should not"teach nor
usurp authority over the man, but be in silence" {1 Timothy 2:12}.
Remember, these instructions are for how the church should maintain order and
should be run. I agree that women are more easily deceived, therefore, when we
do teach other women the Word, we should definitely have some godly men in our lives who
approve of what we are teaching to women outside of the church and we must encourage the women who we teach to search the Scripture to make sure that what we are teaching is biblical. Most of what I teach when I teach the Word is what I have learned from Michael Pearl or John MacArthur since they are the two I have listened to the most.
There are some great female Bible teachers who have not fallen into heresy such as Nancy Campbell, Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Elisabeth Elliott. They also clearly teach Titus 2:3-5 and are not afraid to teach Truth boldly to other women. I love listening to these women. They are not wrong in teaching the Bible to other women as I am not wrong since there is liberty and freedom in Christ; not to disobey Him but also to be careful to not make up our own rules apart from Scripture. There is nowhere in the Bible that commands women not to teach other women the Bible. Older women are commanded to teach young women to be sober, love and obey their husbands, love their children, be chaste, discreet and keepers at home. In order to teach them these things, we must take verses from all over the Word to reinforce these commands. We should also be encouraging other women to know the Word and study it for themselves. If they have questions, we should be able to answer their questions or find a godly man who knows the answer. I go to Ken if I don't know an answer to a question. I have never heard a godly preacher teach that women should never teach other women the Word.
Some women think a man should never even read a book by a woman or learn anything from her. If he wants to learn to cook, clean, or any of the other "feminine jobs," it is fine for him to learn from another woman. Ken would have no problem learning from a female professor as long as she wasn't teaching the Bible. Therefore to say that a man can never learn from a woman is not biblical, either. I know some men read my blog. Some probably read it in order to make sure that what their wife is reading is okay or they wish their wife would read it or they wonder where they can find a woman who believes this for them to marry!
In saying all of this, I know I would never be comfortable teaching men the Word in a church or praying in front of them. It's way out of my comfort zone and I think this is a good thing. It may be because I know what God's Word says about this and I desire more than anything to walk in obedience to Him. However, let's try not to make up our own rules or define things in the Bible more narrowly than God intended them to be. He's very clear in the important areas He wants us to know and in those things that aren't clearly stated, we must give our brothers and sisters in Christ liberty and grace in doing what they are led to do.
