There are plenty of reasons to not be on Twitter these days. But here’s something you may have missed this weekend that is worth your time. Andrew Hébert posted an excellent essay arguing for supporting women teaching in some mixed-gender settings in the church.
Two reasons I thought this was worth highlighting as a post for our readers: First, this is a pressing question for the SBC right now as a vocal group seems intent on limiting women’s leadership roles severely. Second, my interest is in commending women to use their gifts freely and without fear within a biblical framework, which I think Hébert does a great job of here.
As it was posted publicly, I trust Andrew won’t mind it being reproduced here for a slightly different audience. (Do you have to have a twitter account to even view this stuff these days? I can’t keep up.) Full text copied below for easy access.
Amen.
Along these lines, here is a humble attempt to explain briefly some of the reasons why I, as a complementarian pastor, support women teaching the Bible in mixed-gender contexts such as Sunday School, church-based training institutes, seminary classes, etc.
This is, in my… https://t.co/60bsqnQF55
— Andrew Hébert (@andrewhebert86) November 25, 2023
Along these lines, here is a humble attempt to explain briefly some of the reasons why I, as a complementarian pastor, support women teaching the Bible in mixed-gender contexts such as Sunday School, church-based training institutes, seminary classes, etc.
This is, in my view, a tertiary doctrinal matter, so Bible-believing Christians can differ on this issue while maintaining love for one another. But here are a few reasons I support this practice:
1) The Great Commission, which includes the command to make disciples by teaching everything Jesus commanded, is given to every believer in Christ, regardless of gender (Matt 28:19-20).
2) The NT contains examples of women teaching men in certain contexts, such as when Priscilla and Aquila instruct Apollos in the way of the Lord (Acts 18:26 – interesting also that Priscilla is listed first, giving her prominence).
3) Paul gives regulations for the manner in which women are to prophesy (I.e., ‘proclaim’) in the church (1 Cor 11:5), indicating that this was normative behavior in the church. This is reinforced with the presence of Anna the prophetess (Luke 2:36-38) and the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:8-9). This is in keeping with the OT presence of female prophetesses such as Deborah (Judges 4:4) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), and Joel 2 that says in the last days young women will prophesy, fulfilled also in Acts 2.
4) I believe Paul’s prohibition of women teaching and usurping authority (2 Tim 2:12) refers to the teaching office of elder, not to all teaching contexts. To apply this as a restriction from teaching mixed-gender classes is an overextension of the meaning and application of this text, in my view.
5) God gifts believers with many gifts to build up the church (not restricted to males), one of which is the gift of teaching. The gift of Pastor-Teacher is an office (as in Eph 4), but ‘teaching’ is also listed as a general gift to the church (as in 1 Pet 4:11, Rom 12:7), not always an office. To keep women from exercising a teaching gift withholds a blessing to the body of Christ. The church needs both its spiritual fathers and its spiritual mothers.
6) In keeping with Article VI of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, I believe the only limitation for female service in the church is serving in the office of pastor/elder/overseer. Therefore, I don’t believe females should be limited from teaching or leading men in other ways.
7) There’s a broad history of women teaching and leading in the context of Southern Baptist churches, including great female leaders such as Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, Bertha Smith, Sheri Klouda, Rebekah Naylor, Betty Criswell, and a whole host of others in SBC life.
8) It is inconsistent for pastors to use resources provided by females (such as hymns, biblical commentaries, other books that instruct the church) in public settings, but not to allow females to provide this kind of resourcing in person. If men use the words of females to instruct the church (such as in quoting a hymn) those words ought to be able to be spoken by the female who wrote them. If I’m comfortable singing a Fannie Crosby hymn, I should be comfortable having Fannie Crosby (were she alive) share these words (words that instruct) in person with the gathered church.
9) I’ve personally experienced the blessing of watching gifted female Bible teachers use their gifts to bless the church, always in deference to the office of the pastor, but joyfully as co-laborers in the gospel work God is doing. What a blessing they have been in my life!
