The Place and Function of Women in the Church: Part 3

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

The Place and Function of Women in the Church (Part 3)

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

In our previous message we shared with you some of the implications of the oneness that should exist between husband and wife. Then we shared part of my wife, Linda's, testimony as to how she received revelation concerning that oneness, how she walked in that revelation, and the abundant fruit that resulted. In this message we want to continue to stress the necessity for wives to see and fulfill their major calling. Then we will look at most of the scriptures which pertain to the function of women in the Church.

Men and women stand as equals before God. However, without making one inferior to the other, God calls upon both men and women to fulfill the roles and responsibilities specifically designed for them, a pattern that can be seen even in the Godhead (1 Corinthians 11:3) which says that God is the head of Christ. In fulfilling the divinely given roles taught in the New Testament, women are able to realize their full potential because they are following the plan of their Creator. Only in obedience to Him and His design will men and women truly be able, in the fullest sense, to give glory to God.

A married woman can find fulfillment in the church by doing what she was designed to do. There is a rather significant passage in Genesis 1:26. 

"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion [or rule] over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Notice that God said "Let them rule." Now there are two ways that we can interpret that phrase of "let them rule." First, them can refer to many men, not a single dictator. Second, them can refer to both man and woman. We believe both interpretations are true. Man and woman were to rule over God's creation, and thus both were to be made with God's image in mind. Woman's subordinate role no more keeps her from participating in ruling the creation than our Lord's subordination to the Father restricts Him from rule. But how is the woman to participate in ruling over creation? That is given in Genesis 2:18: 

"Then the LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a help meet [suitable] for him." 

Man was not complete without woman. God made woman for man, Eve for Adam, in order that she might complete him, and more importantly, that she might help him to carry out his intended task. Woman does rule, but as the helper of her husband. No wonder it is assumed in the New Testament that elders are married. No wonder that in 1 Timothy 3 a part of the qualification of both deacons and elders is that their wives be godly women.

Here we come upon one of the great problems of the liberation movement, for it seems that both men and women are facing an identity crisis in which they want to know who they are. Men and women want to marry without losing their identity. Too many couples want the advantages of married life without any sacrifice so far as their individual rights are concerned.

A woman cannot find her fulfillment in doing her own thing, going her own way, even in having her own ministry; she is to find fulfillment by helping her husband to rule and to lead. She should view herself as her husband's helper in ruling the home, as well as in ruling and ministering in the church. All too often husbands and wives are going their own individual ways, even in church ministry, when they should be serving and ministering together. Women should find their ministry in conjunction with their husband's gifts and abilities and desires. The motivation for the godly wife should be to advance her husband and his ministry. One aspect of this is allowing him to assume leadership in the home and in the church. The other part is to encourage your husband to discover his spiritual gifts, and then seek to discover how your gifts complement and reinforce his. Far too many of us have been obsessed with "our ministry" when we should be seeking to help others discover their ministry. The amazing thing for the wife is that as she does this she will have a ministry for herself as well.

A woman will fulfill her ministry in the church when she operates in the sphere which God has ordained for her, which is the home. Now some wives are better mechanics than their husbands, and some husbands are better cooks than their wives. But this does not do away with the fact that God has ordained the home as the primary sphere of the woman. In his instructions to Timothy, Paul has this word concerning young widows: 

"I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." 1 Timothy 5:14 

We find a similar expression in Paul's letter to Titus where the older women are to teach the younger women to: 

"... love their husbands, to love their children, to be sober, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed" Titus 2:4-5.

As with most difficulties in understanding Scripture, we need to go back to the book of Genesis. What men call the Old Testament contains the same principles that we find in the New Testament. Further, the Book of Genesis contains God-given principles that were set forth before the Mosaic Law was given.

We know that God took a rib from Adam and made woman and brought her to Adam. So the woman is OF the man. God made Eve to be a help meet for Adam. But the man is also BY the woman (not of the woman). God intended that the woman should bring forth the man spiritually. How? by her intercession and her behavior... by the hidden man of the heart. The man "gets the spotlight"... the man is out in the workplace. The man gets the applause of men. The woman receives little credit for being "just a mother and keeper of the home" and being out of the limelight. But it is the woman who builds the house. The woman gets the applause of God, provided that she walks in the word of God with a clean heart. The greatest ministry a wife can have is to help to bring her husband forth spiritually by her intercession and her behavior, NOT by her words! In turn, he brings her forth spiritually. My wife and I have experienced that truth.

When Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she then gave to Adam to eat and he also ate. At that point she became the provider for the family and in the process she interrupted God's order. God always had His order in mind from before the foundation of the world. How can you have a right relationship when you reverse the functional order that has been ordained by God? How can you have a right relationship when you assume the wrong role within the family and within the Church?

In the natural realm, a woman travails in labor as she brings forth a new-born baby. Likewise, a pattern of travail exists as a woman, in her help meet ministry, as she intercedes for her husband to come forth spiritually into a place of maturity in the Lord. When he DOES come forth, great joy erases whatever anguish she endured.

It is NOT by chance that the serpent came to tempt Eve, rather than Adam. Women, by nature, are more sensitive to the spiritual realm than are men. The first woman, Eve, was taken out of man, from his innermost being. Women, in general, are more sensitive to the things of the Lord, but they are also more sensitive to things of wrong spirits. Eve's great sin was NOT that she was deceived, but that she unilaterally acted on that deception ... she never bothered to, "Go, call your husband." She saw that which she judged to be good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to make one wise, but she lacked the spiritual discernment that would have been available through Adam, her husband.

Before the fall, the Lord gave naming rights to Adam. Adam gave the name to every living creature (Genesis 2:19-20). Adam also gave his wife her name of woman. After the Lord made the woman from one of Adam's ribs, 

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:21-24

After the fall, Adam did an about face. He apparently no longer saw the woman as one with him. Immediately after the fall, when the Lord God confronted Adam and Eve about their sin, 

And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12

Sounds like Adam had a problem with both Eve AND with the Lord. He pointed his finger at everyone except himself. Adam appears to have said, "Lord, you gave me the wrong woman." But of course, the Lord NEVER makes a mistake. Likewise, wife, you have the right husband. Therefore it is fair to say that SIN was what caused Adam to see himself and his wife as TWO, not ONE. The serpent played on the (false) separateness of Adam and Eve to deceive Eve into partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Very shortly after that,

And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Genesis 3:20

Please note that this is the FIRST time that Adam called his wife by the title of Eve, which means "mother of all living." So Adam saw her then as the mother of his children, but they had lost the sense of oneness. From henceforth throughout history, Satan has played on that separateness of a man and his wife, as if they are two entirely different, separate people. Trace all of the major events in history and you will see how the enemy has tried to destroy all thought of the oneness that a husband and wife should have. 

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him;

2 Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Genesis 5:1-2

Please note that God called THEIR name Adam, in the day when they were created ... BEFORE Adam ever called his wife by ANY name! Here we have the scriptural basis for a woman changing her last name to that of her husband after she gets married. MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, God always saw and still sees a husband and wife as ONE, NOT AS TWO!!! The worldly man sees husband and wife as two. Unfortunately, most Christians see husband and wife as two! Granted that this oneness is somewhat of a mystery, but do we dare to look at ANY thing differently than the way God sees it?

In reality, when we aspire, either by belief or function, to function in a place wherein we have not been called, we are saying, "Lord, why didn't You give me a different gift or ministry?" I have seen a number of godly men try to function in a ministry to which they were never called. It will never "work." We must be content to function in the place wherein we have been called.

Further, each gift and ministry is important. What is very important is that each of us must function in that place in the body where God has set us. That is true both naturally and spiritually. 

1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

4 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

6 Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. 1 Peter 3:1-6 

3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

1 Corinthians 11:3-9

When a man marries, he does NOT obtain a servant or a doormat but a companion in Christ. In many parts of Africa, the Middle East, and India, women are treated as little more than objects to be owned, traded to others, etc. This is clearly NOT the scriptural view of women! In the heathen world the wife is commonly a servant; in the nominal Christian world outside of Christ the wife is frequently a rebel; only in the realm that is in Christ can the true relationship of the home be established. The husband has a high responsibility. He is the high priest of the home and is responsible for family worship and the spiritual tone of his house. God will hold every man accountable for this God-given privilege. We believe that no woman will ever have any difficulty being in submission to a husband who is willing to be crucified for her.

This relationship, rather than being something harsh, represents the grace and mercy of God toward women. If a wife cannot submit to her husband whom she HAS seen, how can she submit to the Lord Whom she has NOT seen? For the true Church, spiritual Israel, we do well to consider Who the true Ruler is. The name Israel means God rules or God orders or God commands. 

13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city [Philippi] by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. Acts 16:13-15

Note that Paul, Silas, and Timothy spoke unto the women by the river side in Philippi. There were no men! The women had assembled to pray, but there were no men! This is typical of today at the beginning of a new work and even in many long-standing works. Please also note that after Lydia heard Paul, the Lord opened her heart. Lydia was thirsty for God! She undoubtedly knew what Isaiah had prophesied, 

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground" Isaiah 44:3. 

But she went back and told her household, who believed what Lydia told them, and they ALL were baptized.

Let us apply the principle of oneness to the Church and look at some VERY controversial scriptures.

12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. 1 Timothy 2:12-15

Some say that Paul did not mean what he said in Verse 12. The word "teach" is the Greek didasko, which means to teach doctrine publicly, i.e., in church gatherings. No doubt the great majority of believers dismiss those Verses in one of several ways. Many believers, particularly those older in years, have heard some seemingly powerful messages through women. Therefore they reason that Paul did not mean what he said, above. But it is not what some women have the ability to do. It is a matter of what God will honor. We do not believe that God will honor the work of anyone, male or female, if they try to function in a place where they have never been called. We have seen numerous examples of that. Other women may say that to abide by those Verses make women feel like second-class citizens. But that is a lie of the enemy based on our lack of understanding of the mystery of the oneness of husband and wife. Some other women probably say, "Well my husband refuses to take his rightful place in the home and in the church, so I will do it." Two wrongs do not make a right. 

34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak [preach] in the church.

36 What? came the word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only?

37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 

1 Corinthians 14:34-37

The Southern Baptist General Convention in the year 2000 adopted a faith statement that opposed female pastors and said wives should "graciously submit" to the servant leadership of their husbands (The Washington Post, page B9, June 7, 2003). More than 40 Southern Baptist missionaries lost their jobs in May of 2003 because they refused to endorse that faith statement. Two missionaries to Japan who were fired said they could not affirm the faith statement because, they said, it denigrates the role of women. They said the statement reflects "blatant sexual discrimination" and "rewrites the role of every missionary woman in the field. Its marriage and ministry restrictions spell a setback of generations for the liberating power of Christ in the lives of women."

Other critics say the faith statement is sexist and elevates the Bible over personal experience. We do not know for sure what those critics mean by "personal experience." Peter, James, and John had a rather dramatic personal experience when they saw Jesus transfigured and heard a voice from God the Father. But Peter said:

We have a more sure word of prophecy [than that experience]; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19

Almost all charismatic Christians believe that the "more sure word of prophecy" that Peter refers to is the Bible. So if it comes to choosing between Scripture and our personal experiences, we must choose Scripture because our natural senses can be misleading. We believe that is what Peter means in the above verse. 

1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:1-5

Note that there is only one verse, Verse 2, that Paul tells Titus what to speak to the aged (old) men; whereas three verses speak of what Titus should say to the aged (old) women.

The word "teach" in Verse 4 is the Greek sophronizo, which means "to make of sound mind, i.e., to be self-controlled, to discipline or correct." The word, sophronizo, should not be translated as "teach." The word "teachers" in Verse 3 is a Greek word which denotes a teacher or instructor of what is intrinsically or ethically good.

In our next message we hope to share with you what the Bible says about prophetesses. Then we will conclude our messages on the place and function of women in the church by looking at how the assembly of believers should function.

So until next time ...