There is a reason Christians have wrestled with women teaching and preaching for too long.
Some believe women may teach, preach, and lead, not because they set Scripture aside, but because they are trying to read it carefully. They look at the words, the setting, and how each part fits with the rest of the Bible, instead of lifting a line out on its own.
When you slow down and read the key passages in context, they are not as simple as they are some make it sound.
In First Timothy 2, Paul is writing to a church dealing with false teaching. He says, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.” 1 Timothy 2:11. That is a call for a woman to learn matters. It was not assumed in that one setting. However, it shapes how the rest of the passage needs to be read.
In First Corinthians, Paul does not treat silence as a rule. Earlier he speaks of women praying and prophesying in the gathering. “But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.” 1 Corinthians 11:5. Later, in chapter 14, he tells different people to be silent at certain moments so that things do not turn into disorder.
The same letter also shows how Paul sees men and women in relation to each other. “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.” 1 Corinthians 11:11 to 12.
In Ephesians, the call to submit begins with everyone. “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21. What follows grows out of that shared command.
Titus 2 speaks about older women teaching younger women. That will help to give guidance for that situation, but it does not say that women are never to teach anyone else.
Across Scripture, women are not absent from the work God is doing. Deborah judged Israel. “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.” Judges 4:4. Huldah spoke the word of the Lord to those sent by the king. “So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess.” 2 Kings 22:14. Priscilla took part in teaching Apollos more accurately. “He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” Acts 18:26. Phoebe is named as a servant of the church. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.” Romans 16:1. Junia is spoken of with honor among the apostles. “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles.” Romans 16:7. And women were the first to speak of the risen Christ. “Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.” Luke 24:10.
Some may disagree with this post. But it is not fair to say that those who hold it are ignoring Scripture or bending it to fit their views. What is happening is a struggle to understand passages that are not simple, while still holding to the authority of the scriptures.
If the conversation is going to be honest, then it cannot rest on a few verses read in isolation. The setting, the language, and the way Scripture speaks all have to be taken into account.
In his grip!