Out of thousands of verses in the Bible, basically only two passages have been used against women in Christian ministry. One says women are to be “silent in the church,” and the other is a short statement Paul made to Timothy, “I do not permit a woman to teach.”
In the first passage, it is much more likely these were not the words of Paul, but rather a quotation from the letter he received from the Corinthian believers. That point is carefully explained in this book.
In the second passage, Paul’s statement about a woman in Ephesus (where Timothy was ministering), who was not permitted to teach, apparently involved a unique situation. It is difficult to understand why some take these few words about “a” woman to mean “all” Christian women in the world!—as though it was a command of God forever forbidding women to teach!
As the people at Berea were commended for “searching the scriptures,” that is what has been done in this book—from Genesis to Revelation. In doing this, we have not found any scripture to support the doctrine that women must be silent in the church. This is weighty! But a bias against women in ministry (and in other ways) is deeply rooted and, for some, is not easily set aside.
