What does the Bible Teach about Women in the Church?

Paul made a few statements about women in his letters which have often been misinterpreted to either suppress the role of women in the church or to label the bible as sexist. For example,

1 Corinthians 14:34-36

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

The context of the chapter here is vital to understanding what Paul is actually saying here.
If you read the chapter from the beginning, you’ll see that the overarching issue that Paul is addressing is how to properly handle spiritual gifts. Certain people in Corinth who had the gift of speaking in tongues were using their gift selfishly just to show off. Paul states that no one should speak in tongues unless there is also someone there to interpret, so that the congregation could benefit from the gift (verses 18), and that prophesying (which more accurately means explaining scripture, not making future predictions) is a better gift to be used among believers (verse 22). Paul concludes in verse 26 that spiritual gifts are indeed a blessing, but that they should be shared in a responsible and orderly way. Verses 27-33 go on to explain how this should be carried out in practice, laying out how many people should speak, what to do if someone else has a revelation during the service, and how they should go about taking turns.

Then, with this backdrop, we get to verses 34-35, where it says that women aren’t allowed to speak in church, but “if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home.” From the context given, we can see that the church services were more or less an open forum – recall verse 30: “if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.” So it appears that the actual point of these verses is that women were prohibited from participating in the instruction that took place during church services, and this included, in particular, asking questions during the service.

It's important to note that this is very different from the modern format – most churches today do not have an open forum for discussion as their church service, and so this particular point about women asking questions during services is moot. These verses don’t in any way indicate that women should be silent before or after a church service. Another aspect to examine though is whether or not women were allowed to be the ones doing the speaking to begin with - were women allowed to be the ones prophesying or speaking in tongues during services? 

While there are many examples in the bible (both old and new testaments) of women prophesying (again, this usually means explaining scripture, not having visions), Paul made it very clear that women should not be preaching in church in another of his letters, in another verse that is often misinterpreted:

1 Timothy 2:11-12

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 

This is obviously not saying that every woman should be subject to the authority of every man in every situation and never allowed to teach men. If women were never allowed to teach men, this would imply that women wouldn’t even be able to have in-depth spiritual conversations with a man if she knew more than him because she might accidentally teach him something! Furthermore, Acts 18 gives record of Priscilla and her husband Aquila teaching Apollos together in private. If you're still not convinced, then go back to the fact that there were female prophets - if they were regarded for their ability to explain scripture enough to be labeled a prophet, then how is it that they were not teaching men at some point? Therefore, the conclusion that we must draw is that these verses do not apply in general terms to how women should act in everyday situations. Taking into consideration what is said in 1 Corinthians 14, it is clear that Paul does not allow women to teach during church services.

These scriptures are the basis for women not being permitted to be ministers or pastors. To supplement this teaching, there is no record of any woman being ordained as an elder, minister, apostle, or evangelist. There is record, however, of women having positions of authority in the church as deaconesses (Romans 16:1 – some translations say “servant,” but the word is actually deaconess) and prophetesses (Acts 21:8-9). Women can also serve by teaching the younger women (Titus 2:3-5) and teaching children (Proverbs 1:8 & 31:1). A good analogy for why God does not allow women to be speakers in church services is found in the Old Testament priesthood. Recall that only Levites could be priests in the Old Covenant. Being born into the tribe of Levi didn’t make someone any more capable of these duties than anyone else, but God appointed it that way for a reason that we do not understand. Similarly, women are simply not supposed to be pastors, but not because of any lack of ability or value. 

Lastly, it should also be noted that women are given the exact same promises of eternal life as men: “God is not a respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34), and “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” (Galatians 3:28). The fact that women have a different role in serving the church does not in any way devalue their service to God or the promise that they are to receive. It is not up to us to decide how we serve God and the Church of God - as long as we are dedicated to service with humility, God will determine our function:

1 Corinthians 12:12-19

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink... if the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.