Stigma of Inferiority: Women’s Roles in the Church

My dad was an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention. He disapproved of women preachers. We disagreed on women’s roles in the church and women in church leadership. If he were still alive, I’m sure we would argue over this point still to this day. He and I were so much alike that we had intense disagreements over various issues. Particularly, after I went off to college and began learning more about the world, seeing things from a different perspective and interacting with people of different ethnic and religious groups, we argued over our increasingly different perspectives and worldviews.

Don’t Just Read a Verse

However, I honored and valued my dad’s advice. One of the most valuable lessons my dad taught me was to never take a verse, or even a book of the Bible, out of context. When I was a teenager, I was reading Revelation and thoroughly confused (which is not unusual for that book). As I often did with religious and Biblical questions, I went to my dad. He did not like discussing Revelation because it is a difficult book to interpret and understand, so he could have been trying to avoid answering my questions, but he dropped some wisdom on me that I ascribe to even today: “The Bible must be read and understood as a whole. You can’t take one book out of context much less any individual Scriptures. You must read it and understand it as a whole.” I have recently been reading How (Not) To Read the Bible, which confirms my dad’s point about not taking a verse out of context and understanding the Bible overall. As true as it was with understanding Revelation, it’s also true with 1 Timothy.

The Character of God

When you read and study the Bible as a whole, you start to see and understand the character of God. With that foundation, read Paul’s letters – all of them. When you read the entire Bible and all of Paul’s letters, you learn the stigma of inferiority is man-made, not God-made. The stigma attached to a woman’s role in the church is not from God, it’s not found in the Gospels, and it’s not evident by any of Jesus’ actions toward women. The stigma created by man has turned many women away from the church and ultimately from God. When a young woman doesn’t see her full value in God and God’s representatives on earth, she will look elsewhere. We Christians will use the term “world” in a derogatory manner to refer to everything that’s not contained in the four walls of the church or revered in the Bible. However, the world can teach us a few things that are in line with God’s character. The world, at least within the borders of the United States of America, embraces the idea of women in leadership roles, upholding women with value independent of their spouses and children. Ultimately, the American courts have embraced the idea that women are not inferior to men.

Gender Equality in the American Courts

American law recognizes that sex classifications stigmatize when women are excluded from occupations thought to be more appropriate to men. Women were once told they couldn’t be lawyers because the court system was too ugly and nasty for women’s sensibilities. We women lawyers have shattered that misconception. A 2019 survey concluded that almost 40% of the lawyers in the United States are women.[1] Likewise, women in the church have been told leadership and the pastorate is not suited for their sensibilities of compassion, mercy, and kindness, which make them more vulnerable to deception.[2] When women were told they couldn’t receive the same military benefits that men received because it was inconceivable that a man would need assistance from a woman, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened and delivered an opinion that stripped away that stigma.[3] When a mother was told she couldn’t be the administrator over her son’s estate because she was the mom and not the dad, the U.S. Supreme Court again delivered an opinion that dealt a blow to that stigma.[4] When women were told they couldn’t meet the standards required for military service and the grueling admission and course requirements at Virginia Military Institute, the U.S. Supreme Court again intervened and stripped away the stigma of inferiority.[5] The United States is fortunate to have recognized the value of women in the military, because we have some truly “badass women” protecting our country. 

We The People: All Means All

In the United States, we have a mandate found in the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution known as the “Equal Protection Clause.” This Amendment became law only after a very bloody and deadly Civil War, being ratified in 1868. This Amendment mandated “We the People” such that the laws of the United States are to be equally applied to all United States citizens. That is, all citizens are equally protected under the laws of the United States of America. Significant blood was shed and lives lost by soldiers and civilians for “We the People” to have no exception for women, or people of color. Likewise, Jesus shed blood for the freedom of all, with no exception for women or people color. All means all.

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[1] “Legal Services: Share of lawyers by gender U.S. 2019,” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086790/share-lawyers-united-states-gender/accessed January 17, 2021

[2] McArthur, John. “Does the Bible Permit a Woman to Preach?” Youtube, uploaded by Grace to You, 8 Nov. 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ncOf82ZJ0&feature=emb_logo accessed January 10, 2021.

[3] Frontiero v Richardson 411 US 677 (1973)

[4] Reed v Reed 404 US 71 (1971)

[5] U.S. v Virginia Military Institute 518 US 515 (1996)