What The Bible Says
Introduction
Few subjects in the religious world generate more discussion—and often more heat—than the role of women in the church and in the home. In an age that prizes autonomy and rejects almost every form of hierarchical order, the New Testament teaching on this subject stands in sharp contrast to the spirit of the times. Churches of Christ have historically sought to approach this question the same way they approach every other question of faith and practice: by asking what the Scriptures actually say and then submitting to that revealed will.
This study is not an exercise in cultural preference or tradition for its own sake. It is an attempt to listen carefully to the apostolic teaching preserved in the New Testament. The goal is neither to elevate women above the place God has assigned them nor to diminish the high honor Scripture places upon them. Rather, the aim is to honor the design of the Creator who made both male and female in His image and who has the right to order the relationships within His church and within the home.
The New Testament presents a consistent picture. Women are equal with men in value, dignity, and access to the blessings of salvation. At the same time, God has established distinct roles for men and women in the home and in the public assembly of the church. These distinctions are rooted in the order of creation and in the relationship of Christ to His church. Faithful Christians receive both truths with gratitude.
- Equality of Value and Standing in Christ
Any discussion of role distinctions must begin with the clear affirmation of the equal worth of men and women before God. The gospel does not create a spiritual hierarchy of value. Salvation is offered freely to all who obey the gospel, without regard to ethnicity, social status, or gender.
Galatians 3:26-28 — “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Paul is not erasing all distinctions in this passage. He is declaring that the barriers that once separated people from full participation in the covenant people of God have been removed in Christ. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female stand on the same ground of grace. All who are baptized into Christ are clothed with Christ and share equally in the status of “sons of God.”
1 Peter 3:7 — “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”
Peter describes the husband and wife as “heirs together of the grace of life.” The wife is not a lesser heir. She shares fully in the inheritance that belongs to the people of God. The husband’s duty is to honor her, understanding both her physical vulnerability and her equal standing as a joint heir.
This equality of value is foundational. Role distinctions in the home and church do not imply that women are spiritually inferior, less intelligent, less capable, or less loved by God. They simply reflect the order God has established for the good of His people and the glory of His name.
- The Role of Women in Marriage and the Home
The New Testament presents marriage as a relationship ordered by God, reflecting the greater relationship between Christ and the church. Within that relationship, the husband is given the role of head, and the wife is called to a posture of respectful submission.
The Husband as Head
Ephesians 5:22-24 — “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”
Paul does not base this instruction on first-century culture. He bases it on the relationship of Christ to the church. The husband is head of the wife in a manner analogous to Christ’s headship over the church. This is not a license for tyranny. Immediately after establishing the husband’s headship, Paul places a heavy responsibility upon him:
Ephesians 5:25-29 — “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”
The husband’s headship is defined by sacrificial, Christ-like love. He is to nourish and cherish his wife. Any exercise of authority that is harsh, selfish, or demeaning contradicts the very pattern Paul sets forth. The parallel passages reinforce the same balanced picture:
Colossians 3:18-19 — “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.”
1 Peter 3:1-6 — Wives are called to be submissive even to husbands who do not obey the word, so that they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. Peter points to the holy women of former times who trusted in God and adorned themselves with a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. Sarah is cited as an example of one who obeyed Abraham, “calling him lord.”
The Instruction to Older Women
Titus 2:3-5 — “The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
Paul assigns older women a vital teaching role—specifically toward younger women. They are to train them in the practical virtues of Christian womanhood: love for husband and children, discretion, purity, devotion to the home, goodness, and submission to their own husbands. The purpose is that “the word of God may not be blasphemed.” When Christian women live out these qualities, the gospel is adorned; when they neglect them, the gospel is brought into disrepute.
The home is presented as a primary sphere of a woman’s influence and service. This does not mean that every woman must be married or that every married woman is forbidden from any activity outside the home. It does mean that the New Testament holds up the care of the household and the nurturing of children as honorable and God-ordained work.
- The Role of Women in the Public Assembly of the Church
The most contested aspect of this subject concerns the participation of women in the public worship assembly. The New Testament contains two extended passages that directly address the matter.
1 Timothy 2:8-15
Paul is giving instructions for the conduct of the church. After addressing the manner of prayer for men, he turns to the women:
1 Timothy 2:9-10 — “In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.”
The emphasis is on modesty, propriety, and the adornment of good works rather than external display. Then comes the more specific restriction:
1 Timothy 2:11-12 — “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.”
Two activities are forbidden: teaching and exercising authority over a man. The setting is the public assembly where men and women are gathered for instruction. Paul does not base this prohibition on temporary local problems in Ephesus. He immediately grounds it in the order of creation and the events of the Fall:
1 Timothy 2:13-14 — “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”
The priority of Adam’s creation and the fact that Eve was deceived form the theological foundation for the restriction. Because these reasons transcend culture and time, the restriction itself is not limited to the first century. Verse 15 then offers a word of hope and dignity: women will be saved (or preserved) through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness—pointing again to the significant sphere of influence God has given them in the home and family.
1 Corinthians 14:33-35
In the context of regulating the use of spiritual gifts in the assembly, Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 14:33b-35 — “As in all the churches of the saints, 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. 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.”
Several observations are important. First, Paul presents this as the practice “in all the churches of the saints.” It is not a local peculiarity of Corinth. Second, the command is to keep silent and not to speak in the assembly. Third, the alternative is to ask questions at home. Fourth, the practice is said to be consistent with “the law,” likely referring to the Old Testament principle of male headship established in creation and reflected throughout the Law.
Taken together with 1 Timothy 2, these passages teach that women are not to take a public teaching or authoritative role over men in the mixed assembly of the church. This includes preaching, teaching adult Bible classes that include men, leading the assembly in prayer or song in a way that exercises leadership over the congregation, or serving as elders.
Garland Van Dyke, Minister
Do you have a Bible question, prayer request, or comment? Email me!
Send me an email on this or any Bible topic (I only speak English)! garland.churchofchrist@gmail.com.
Join us for a virtual Bible study as we open God’s Word together.
