Does the Bible say that women can't have leadership roles in society?

In ancient times there were great women leaders of Israel. Miriam was one (Micah 6:4). Deborah was another (Judges 4:4). This makes it all the more remarkable that in Christianity, while women have an honoured place, leadership is reserved for men.

Scripture is very plain as to the place of the woman (1 Cor. 11:1-16). We do not believe it to be according to nature or according to revelation for a woman to be prominent either in the Church or in the world. It is our deeply cherished conviction that there is no sphere in which the woman can move with such grace and dignity as in the shade and retirement of the domestic circle. There she can prove herself the helper of the man in all good works. Home is preeminently the woman's place. The Holy Spirit has distinctly assigned her work when He declares that she is to “guide the house.” There may be exceptional cases in which the Christian female, having no special home duties, may devote herself to outside work with real advantage to many, but such cases are few and far between. The general rule is as plain as possible (1 Tim. 5:14).

The model woman has a house to keep. “Chaste keepers at home”, is the expressed command of God concerning women who would please Him (see Titus 2:5). She does not gad about, engaged in social settlement work, thrusting herself into the public affairs of the world, or demanding equal rights with the men for her sex. Her labours are purely domestic; and it in this circle that she finds her hands happily and ever full, as every true wife and mother most surely will. Food and clothing for her household occupy her fully — the preparation of wool and flax for the distaff and loom, and meat for her household; she apportions work also for her maid servants, suffering none to dwell with her in idleness.

The public ministry of women is an example of this. In evangelizing publicly the world, in teaching the Church, in leading the assembly in prayer, or in discharging the office of an elder, men were recognised in the early Church as qualified for and called to such service. Not that every man was qualified and called to such work; but it was everywhere owned to be the work of the men. Were women ever acknowledged and sanctioned if engaging in such service? Throughout the Acts and the Epistles there is not a hint of a woman being sent of God to preach to the world, or of hands being laid on her to have fellowship in such work. Gaius (3 John) shewed hospitality to those who went forth to preach, taking nothing of the Gentiles [or, as some would read, heathen], but those labourers are described as men. The language in which the elect lady is addressed (2 John) leads to the conclusion that men only were in contemplation; and Jude, who speaks of the apostasy, speaks clearly only of male teachers. (Ver. 4.)

As in Christ all, both men and women, shared in the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. As in the Church all were to be in subjection to the Head. Both men and women were endowed with the spirit of prophecy. Agabus and others amongst men, the four daughters of Philip the evangelist amongst women, are illustrations of this sovereign favour of God. But the possession of a gift, and the right use of it, are different things. The manifestation of the Spirit was given to every man to profit withal; and to each the Holy Ghost divided severally as He would. It was sovereign favour at the outset to receive any manifestation of the Spirit; and, received by those in union with the risen Head, each was to be regulated, in the assembly at least, by the commands of the Lord. It has been observed that women were employed as the first heralds to announce the Lord’s resurrection. Granted. But they were never commissioned to preach to the world about it. We know that Mary was sent by the Lord to tell His disciples of His approaching ascension. We know that the women were commissioned by the angel to advise the eleven of the empty tomb. We know that they discharged their mission faithfully. (Luke 24:23.) We know that the Lord appeared to them on their way to the city, and entrusted them with a message to His brethren. (Matt. 28:9-10.) Yet we receive not the authoritative announcement of that wonderful event on the word of women. It was gracious that, since Eve was the first who gave ear to the serpent, women should be the first to announce the Lord’s victory over death; but in 1 Cor. 15 all mention of their testimony is omitted, and the proof of His resurrection is made to rest on what Cephas, James, others, and, last of all, Paul saw. Is not this silence about the women expressive? Was it forgetfulness on the part of Paul, or design on the part of the Spirit of God?

But there is more here. "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness." This clearly is not limited to the assembly; as the apostle traces the ground of it in the constitution and natural character of woman. "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." Her subsequent formation out of the man is never to be forgotten by such as fear God and believe His word. All other thoughts are presumptuous theory in forgetfulness of the truth which goes up to the beginning. An individual woman may be comparatively able and well-instructed; but under no circumstances is leave given for a woman to teach or to have dominion over a man; she is to be in quietness. Thus absolutely does the apostle guard against any reaction from the abject place of women in ancient times, specially among the heathen; or any imitation of the peculiar prominence given to her sometimes in oracular matters, as among the Greeks and especially the Germans of old.

Had then women no seemly or suited, no good and useful, place in Christianity? None can deny that they have, who see how honoured were some of them in caring for the Lord Himself in His ministry (Luke 8:1-3), who know how He vindicated Mary that anointed Him when the apostles found fault under evil influence. Certainly He put no slight on Mary of Magdala, if His resurrection interrupted the plan of those who brought their spices and ointments after His death. Not otherwise do we find the action of the Holy Ghost when the Lord went to heaven. Mary the mother of John Mark gives her house for the gathering together of many to pray; and the four daughters of Philip were not forbidden to prophesy at home, though even there authority could not be rightly exercised over a man. Lydia is a beautiful example of Christian simple-heartedness and zeal; her house too has honour put on it for the truth's sake. Nor was Priscilla out of place when she with her husband helped the learned Alexandrian, mighty in the scriptures, to know the way of God more thoroughly. Romans 16 pays no passing honour to many a sister, from Phoebe who served the church at Cenchreae, commended to the saints in Rome as a succourer of many and of Paul himself. Prisca or Priscilla again is coupled with her husband as his fellow-workers in Christ, who not only for his life laid down their own necks, but wherever they went opened their house for the assembly. But need we dwell on all the cases and the beautifully discriminating notice taken of them?

We may say of Evodia and Syntyche that there is not the smallest reason for conceiving them preachers, because they shared the apostle's labours in the gospel (Phil. 4:2). That they joined their efforts with Paul in that work is no warrant for the inference that they preached. In those days a woman's preaching must have seemed far more egregious than her venturing to say a word in the assemblies of the saints. Even in private where they might exercise that which was given them in the Lord, they must never forget the form and the reality of subjection. In public all teaching was forbidden. Such is the testimony of scripture, and nowhere with greater precision or breadth than here.

The apostle adds another reason, "Adam was not deceived; but the woman quite deceived is involved in transgression." The man may have been in a certain sense worse. He followed the woman in wrong against God, where he ought to have led her in obedience; and he did it knowingly. She was beguiled outright; he was not. Her weakness therefore, and its dangerous effect on man, are urged as an additional plea, why she should be in quietness, neither teaching nor ruling; let her own sphere be at home (1 Tim. 5:24).

The fact stated in the 9th verse deserves full consideration. Philip had four unmarried daughters, of whom it is declared that they prophesied; that is, they had the highest form of gift for acting on souls from God. Such prophesying was yet more than teaching or preaching. We cannot doubt, therefore, that they used their gift on the one hand; and on the other that it was forbidden to use it in the assembly. 'It is shameful', had Paul written in his First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 14:34-35), 'for a woman to speak in [the] assembly.' At Corinth it seems that some were bold enough to attempt this and other innovations: but it also seems to have been at that time a very unusual and unheard of notion.

In general, Christian women understood their place better in these early days. Still, there might arise some such desire here or there. At any rate, the apostle found it necessary in his First Epistle to Timothy to write (1 Tim. 2:12), 'I permit not a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness.' The word αὐθεντεῖν does not convey the sense of 'usurpation', but the possession or exercise of power, where it does not mean committing murder. The woman is not set in authority, nor is she to act as if she were. As to this, there can be no dispute for subject minds. 'If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize the things which I write to you, that it is the commandment of the Lord' (1 Cor. 14:37). The Lord's will for us is on record unmistakably, if indeed we respect scripture.

Man was first formed and is God's representative and head and should maintain his rightful position as leader and teacher. Because Eve took the lead in transgressing and was deceived by Satan (manifesting that she was a poor leader), in God's government women are barred from taking the place of authority and teaching. They are to learn in silence and subjection. A woman, then, is never to take a public place as a recognized teacher of God's Word or to teach in the Assembly or anywhere in mixed audiences where she takes a place of equality with or is set over men, for then she is usurping authority over man.

We find, however, that Titus 2:3, 4 instructs elder women to be "teachers of good things," and "That they may teach the young women," etc. Here elder women are given the right to teach, but the sphere is defined to young women and the teaching is rather of an informal character on practical subjects pertaining more to the home and family (v. 3-5). Helping ignorant women on Scripture and free intercourse with them on the Word is quite proper. One would encourage sisters to labor diligently for the Lord in such spheres. Even the quiet communication of the Gospel in conversation with men is proper for a woman, if done in a modest becoming way Such work, of course, may slip into formal teaching, and then a woman is out of her place. If she sets up a regular public teaching lecture on Scripture, even if only women were present, we believe it would be taking the place of a teacher and a violation of I Timothy 2:12" I suffer not a woman to teach."

Now, the positive teaching of Scripture regarding the woman is that "she is to be in subjection," to "learn in silence with all subjection;" "not to speak in the assembly." "For I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence (compare 1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:11).

From these Scriptures, then, it is very evident that (1) If the assembly be gathered as an assembly, in which teachers may teach, or exhorters may exhort, women are NOT to speak; (2) Whereas a teacher may invite saints to a meeting over which he may assume responsibility, and may instruct them as an authoritative teacher — the woman is not allowed to take such a place; and (3) It is equally contrary to the mind of the Lord for the woman to appear before the world as an authoritative evangelist.

Here the instructions are not confined to the assembly, and forbid women to teach men in religious matters. It does not hinder their speaking to their own sex, and what happy, useful work women have done in this way.

The prohibition of the public spiritual ministration of women to men is given under two heads. First, the order of creation. Adam was first formed. Man is the head of the woman. Second, woman was first in the transgression.

Moreover, this was not the only symptom of Israel's low condition in these inauspicious days. For if outwardly they were ruled over by their enemy, what was the state of government within? Committed to the hands of a woman! At the outset, as the Word of God teaches us, the oversight of the church locally was committed to elders, appointed for this purpose by the apostles or their delegates, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The order of the assembly, in that which pertained to it locally, fell to their charge. Dropping for a moment man's imitation of this divine institution, would there be any exaggeration in saying that the tendency to entrust government, wholly or partially, into the hands of women is becoming increasingly marked amongst the sects of Christendom in the present day? It is even boasted of, and Christians go so far as to state and seek to prove that such a condition of things is of God, and shews the flourishing state of the church. They quote Deborah in favour of their opinion, but let us see what she was like.

Deborah was a remarkable woman, a woman of faith, one deeply impressed with the humiliating condition of the people of God. She sees that it would be to the shame of the leaders in Israel, that God should entrust a post of public activity to a woman in their midst. She says to Barak: "I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour, forJehovah shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." (v. 9) But, in all her exercise of authority for God, to the confusion of this people rendered effeminate by sin, Deborah maintains, in circumstances which might have proved a great snare to her, the place assigned by God in His Word to woman. She would not, otherwise, have been a woman of faith. This chapter gives us the history of two women of faith, Deborah and Jael. Each maintains the character in keeping with the position assigned by God to woman. Where does Deborah exercise her authority? Is she seen, as other judges, going in circuit over the land of Israel, or placing herself at the head of the armies? Nothing of the kind; and it is not without reason, it seems to me, that the Word says: "She dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah... and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment." (v. 5) Prophetess and judge though she was in Israel, she did not step out of the sphere God had assigned to her. Instead of going to Barak, she sent and called him to her where she dwelt.