Women as Leaders and Teachers In the Faith Community

Men and women clearly have God appointed Biblical roles, and Scripture assigns neither sex to the role of subjugation.

This needlessly divisive subject is solved very simply by allowing the meta-narrative of Scripture to inform our understanding in the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Many decontextualise and misuse the writings of Paul in order to subjugate women. Likewise many well-meaning, humble women practice self-deception regarding their roles and God given Biblically established gifts. Thus, they come under bondage to the doctrines of men rather than experience the freedom of Messiah.

What follows is a concise article that shares the view of Scripture in its entirety, as it pertains to women in leadership and teaching roles:

John, “the disciple Yeshua loved,” addresses his latter letters to the leaders of the respective communities he is writing to. John writes his second letter (2 John 1) to "the chosen lady", a female believer and clearly the leader of the community he is addressing his instruction to. If, as some foolishly teach through a lack of context regarding certain scriptures, that women should not lead, teach etc. why is John honouring the "Chosen lady" as a female leader, a "Pastor"?

In his writing to the community of Corinth, and in his instruction to Timothy concerning the orderly worship of his community in Ephesus, where cultural and religious context play a key role in understanding the text, Paul doesn't make a general rule banning women from such roles as teaching and speaking, but addresses wives who are demeaning their husbands in public worship and women who are compromising their gender roles according to practices gleaned from pagan worship.

Elsewhere in Paul's writing he is clarifying gender distinction rather than the subjugation of women. (1 Corinthians 11) The key to understanding Paul’s writing on this subject is to look at the wider context and consider that he is addressing disorder in the communities in question and not making general arbitrary rules for the subjugation of the female gender.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) which include teaching, prophecy etc. are given to each one as the Spirit chooses. The gifts are nowhere named as being gender specific. How then is it possible that a woman having been given the gift of teaching by the Holy Spirit could then be refused the opportunity to utilize that gift? Those who decontextualize these Scriptures in order to proliferate a misogynistic agenda are under Judgement.

I think it’s interesting that in all the arguments I've heard that claim women should not be in leadership, I have not once heard a Scripture from the TaNaKh (OT) employed in support of such views.

Here's why:

Miriam was a prophet and led the women of Israel in worship (Exodus 15:20).
​
God chose Deborah to lead as a prophet, and judge. Additionally she led the men of Israel into battle (Judges 4-5).

Huldah the prophetess was sought by Josiah to inquire of the LORD. In this role under God's authority Huldah therefore, led Josiah the king of Israel (2 Chronicles 34:20-33)

Esther instructed Mordechai, who passed on her instruction to all the Jews of Persia, thus Esther led Israel under God's authority (Esther 4:14-17).

In 2 Samuel 20 the wise woman of Abel takes the role of leader and calls on Joab from atop the fortified city wall in order to strike a deal for the city’s safety. Joab promises to leave the city if Sheba, the man he is seeking, is handed over to him. The woman speaks to the people of the city, and they behead Sheba, throwing his head over the wall, thus, Joab departs. This unnamed woman therefore led the men of the city in this account.

The wife of Isaiah is called "the prophetess (Isaiah 8:3)

These are just a few of the many leadership and prophetic roles women had in the TaNaKh.

In the New Testament we read of Phoebe, Romans 16:1, a woman who taught in the Cenchreae faith community as a “diakonos.” Paul uses this term often to refer to a leader of a community and applies it elsewhere to Yeshua the Messiah, Tychicus, Epaphras, Timothy, and to himself.

Junia was considered outstanding by Paul and was among the circle of the apostles (Romans 16:7).

Chloe (1 Corinthians 1:11), Nympha (Colossians 4:15), and Apphia (Philemon 1:2) all led house churches.

Euodia & Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3) were labours in the Gospel with Paul.

Priscilla was a church planter (Romans 16:5; Acts 18:26) and was highly regarded by Paul. She instructed Apollos in key doctrine. If women are not allowed to instruct men, why is she esteemed by Paul, who is speaking by the Holy Spirit?

Philip’s four daughters were all identified as prophets (Acts 21:8,9). Biblical prophecy is exercised by way of public proclamation.

All these women were influential leaders, teachers, prophets, judges as detailed in Scripture both explicitly and implicitly.

The two passages most often misused by misogynistic teachers to subjugate women are:

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 & 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Let’s take a concise look at these texts:

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

The chief deity in ancient Corinth was Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. Thus, women held positions of power and held sway over their husbands in secular Corinthian society. Paul wasn’t just instructing women who were denigrating men to be silent; he was also calling for those who spoke in tongues and prophesied to do so in an orderly fashion. Paul was simply instructing orderly worship within the Corinthian body of believers.

Due to the secular societal norms in ancient Corinth it’s likely that certain wives/women were being disrespectful within the community of faith, rudely asking questions that disrupted the worship gatherings. The Greek word translated “speak” in these verses is used to address prophecies and tongues earlier in the chapter. In both cases, it specifically refers to more than one person speaking at a time. It is therefore consistent to understand that more than one woman was talking at a time and thus disrupting the meetings. It’s also possible that women were talking amongst themselves during sacred parts of the worship gatherings and thus desecrating the sanctity of the community by disrespecting teachers and distracting others.

Therefore, Paul is not making a general command about women speaking but rather about disrespectful conduct from women during corporate gatherings of the believing community.

As previously stated, based on multiple scriptural references, Paul was an advocate of women in their God appointed roles in the early body of faith. Paul had already clearly outlined ministry roles to both genders in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14:3-5. Additionally in 1 Corinthians 11:5 Paul alludes to women being participants in both prayer and prophesy in the corporate gatherings of believers.

See my article:
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary/bald-women-kippot-1-corinthians-112-16

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Elsewhere, as I’ve established, Paul affirmed women in ministry roles. Therefore, in the context of this passage He’s once again addressing the subject of order.

Paul is writing to his son in the faith Timothy, who is a young leader of a faith community in Ephesus. Like Corinth, female deity was at the forefront of the consciousness in Ephesus. A temple in honour of the goddess Diana stood in Ephesus. As a result of the influence of the pagan religious worship of Diana Ephesus had become a matriarchal society that stood in opposition to the traditional Biblical Hebraic family unit.

It’s known that the most prominent teachers of Greco-Roman spirituality in the city were women. Thus, women teaching satanic doctrines. One such doctrine taught contrary to Scripture that woman was created first. This is probably one of the reasons Paul addresses this subject in verses 13-14.

Consider the secular thinking some of the new women believers were unlearning as they attempted to interact with the Messianic faith community. It stands to reason that they may have needed clarity on what was and was not appropriate according to a Hebraic Messiah essential worldview.

The Greek word translated, “teach” is “didasko” and refers to the exercising of the office of a teacher. This is clearly a polemic against those pagan female teachers in Ephesus who were teaching a satanic agenda. In other words, “Don’t bring pagan practice into the community of faith!”

In conclusion, men and women clearly have God appointed Biblical roles, and Scripture assigns neither sex to the role of subjugation.

Copyright 2025 Yaakov Ben Yehoshua