I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. - 1Timothy 2:12-14 (ESV)
It is something to watch when the Charismatic Industrial Complex defends the brand at all costs. Charismania is a billion-dollar industry and the number one thing that is not tolerated is friendly fire, that is criticism from other sectors within the active church. We saw this recently when the Southern Baptist Convention expelled Saddleback Church because their new pastor assigned his wife to be the "Teaching Pastor" upon the exit of Rick Warren. Kudos to the SBC, who has enough wrong but should get credit for correctly standing their ground for the sanctity of scripture. Now it is not surprising that the apostate charismatic church cares little about scripture. They have their own model based upon generating money and the fact is that women can fleece the flock just as well as men, so there is no reason to not allow them to do so. The first defense was offered last week by Rick Warren himself, who claimed that he had to "repent" for preaching correctly that women should not serve in leadership capacities within the church. Wouldn't you know one of the few times Warren correctly handled the word of God and he feels like he has to repent for it! Not contented with Warren's weak defense, his replacement is out with his own defense today, linked above. Charisma News also supported this with an article from renowned false teacher on the subject, Eddie Hyatt. As usual, Hyatt crawls down various rabbit holes to distract from the key verses today and these are at the heart of every discussion of women in church leadership roles.
It is embarrassing to have to explain why we believe in the inerrancy and sufficiency of scripture. The bible NEVER changes. You can try to massage it, write poor translations of it, or play games with paraphrases but at the end of each day it still says what it says. What these verses say is plain and clear. There is no ambiguity about them. I do not permit! Period! God even tells us the reason so we would not get it confused and still we do. Why? Because people do not like it. Those that make so much money from the organized church will not allow cash cows to sit on the sidelines. Still others cannot stand up to their wives and assert what God said. Still others confuse the carnal world and the "advances for women" made during this past century and want the church to do likewise, never once consider that maybe God has the better plan. Maybe God knows the better way. So let us reason once more through the above linked defense offered up by Charisma News and Andy Word, Rick Warren's replacement.
"Andy Wood isn't about to apologize for Saddleback's Church stance on appointing women to positions of authority in his church. Wood, who took over as lead pastor at Saddleback last fall for founding pastor Rick Warren, says that, despite the fact his church was expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention in February for its decision to hire a female pastor"his wife, Stacie, as a teaching pastor"Saddleback will continue to stick to what God's Word has to say on the subject. In a recent video on the church's YouTube channel, Wood pointed out several Scriptures in God's Word that proved that women indeed were allowed to take on such positions in the church." - Charisma News
Of course, Wood is not going to apologize. He has a pretty good gig going. Lead pastor at one of the largest churches in America and can bring a secondary salary into his house by naming his wife the "teaching pastor." There are God-ordained roles for all of us in every situation. The problem is many men have abdicated their responsibilities to their wives. Many do not like the patriarchal structure not because of the church but because that is how it is in society at large. While the past 50 years have seen role busting expansion in culture the church is not supposed to simply follow suit.
Section 6 of the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptism and Faith Message disagrees with Saddleback's decision and discusses the role of the church, which reads: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." Warren said he once held that belief for many years, but three years ago, he found the need to repent of those beliefs, citing three passages of Scripture to back up his turnaround.
One Scripture that often comes up in this discussion of women serving as pastors in the church is 1 Timothy 2:12, in which the apostle Paul says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to usurp authority over a man, but to be silent. Wood says the spostle Paul did not lead the local church in that manner, and says it's important for believers to understand the concept of spiritual offices and spiritual gifts found in the New Testament.
