Does She Have a Role in the Church? A Man Perspective (Part 2 of 2)
“A Man Perspective by Nate Hunter
Perspective is a funny thing, it can be reality or it can be perceived as reality. When we talk about a man’s perspective of a 
woman’s role in the church, we have to address the Biblical reality verses the socially accepted roles for women. The very thought of a woman standing at a pulpit and teaching men is similar to a child teaching adults, it’s very disgraceful and anti-Bible. I have heard many men state women are incapable of leading men or being pastors because God created the man as the leader (head). They have quoted the Apostle Paul by saying that a woman should not teach nor usurp authority over the man. If Deborah the prophetess were properly analyzed we would see she was a judge, prophetess, mother and the head over the army. In order to be a judge you have to be an expert in the law and a deliverer. She was not just a regular judge; she was a chief judge just like Samuel, therefore, she, just like all of the other chief judges operated out of the temple (Deut 17:8-12). As a woman she had a Biblical testimony that the children of Israel (male & female) came to her for judgment, and Barack as a warrior would not even go to war without her present (Jud 4:4-10). Most men get tunnel vision when it comes to Deborah and say she was a mother, this is true, but she was not limited to that office only. Nowhere in the Bible, (Old and New Testament) can we find anyone that made the argument that Deborah should not have been judging men, going to war or leading men in the different ways God authorized her to.
Huldah, who was a prophetess during the time of king Josiah, inspired one of the greatest revivals in the history of God’s people. King Josiah sent Hilkiah the High Priest and a few other noblemen to inquire about the word of God. Let’s think about that for a minute, women who according to modern teaching of ancient times had no voice and it was shameful to have them lead men taught men what they needed to do in order to be saved (2Kings 22, 2Chr 34). Most men would argue the nation was in idolatry and no men where around so God used a woman, yet, the Bible tells us that Hilikiah the High Priest chose Huldah instead of Jeremiah, the great prophet who was prophesying for seven years before this revival started (2Ki 22:3-4, 12-14, Jeremiah 1:1-2).
Prophets and prophetesses had an intimate one on one relationship with God and were commanded to speak to all of God’s people, male and female. When Anna the prophetess entered the temple during the circumcision of Jesus, men, women elders, priest and prophets were all present, yet no one commanded her to be silent in the congregation, temple, or presence of men as she taught them all (Luke 2:21-24, 36-38).
Men have a hard time separating Godly order in marriage from the ministry, God made the man head in marriage therefore a woman cannot illegally usurp (take his authority) because God gave it to the man forever (Gen 3:16). Where the ministry is concerned, God used women (just as he would a man), not only to lead men but to also teach his will. If you look at all three of these women as an example, their husbands are mentioned by name or description (Judges 4:4, 2Chr 34:22, Luke 2:38) acknowledging who their head is in marriage, but Deborah, Huldah and Anna were superior to their husbands in the ministry. If there is neither male nor female in Christ and he gives the spirit of God to both, who made the man superior to the woman in the ministry? Superiority in the ministry is by the election of God to do his will and neither male nor female possess this without God giving it as a gift.
The last two arguments that most men have are; a woman has a cycle and because of that, she could not serve at the altar or pulpit and there were only few women leaders. Women were not rejected as priest nor excluded from certain offices because of their cycle. The requirements to be a priest and serve at the altar were as follow: one had to be from the tribe of the Levites, a son of Aaron, and not have any uncleanliness. This is why Christ, the Apostle Paul, Daniel, nor any other man outside of Aaron’s sons could not have been a priest; they did not meet all of these requirements of serving as a priest. No person or animal was to come into the temple with any uncleanliness, period; regardless as to whether it was natural or unnatural. If Isaiah or Jeremiah had uncleanness, they were not to enter the temple. We should not look at the amount of women that were chosen worthy to be recorded in the Bible and diminish how God used them to lead his nation due to the fact that men out numbered them. What we should do is think about how important God felt their testimony was to inspire women of all ages to work and be leaders in his ministry. We are always to remember that his ways and thoughts are higher than ours and if he used women as leaders over men in the past, he will continue to do it because he never changes.
