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)
Let me start with my usual disclaimer when I speak about this subject and that is that it brings me no joy. I know women who can preach the paint off the walls. It is a silly argument to try and say women can't preach or serve in leadership roles in the church because clearly, they can because clearly, they are. The issue is not can they but should they. The issue should always be, what has God said, on any given topic. I only write about this in direct response to people who twist the bible to fit their desired answer to these questions. I do so because people are easily misled by deceivers with agendas. I have no such agenda on this subject except to say what God has clearly said. In many cases I say I do not know why God decrees what He does but, in this case, He actually tells us. Proponents of women in church leadership contort themselves into theological pretzels to avoid what the text says. They seek out deep cultural arguments to dismiss scripture, much the way the world does to excuse sin. They turn biblical heroes like Paul into misogynist women-haters completely eviscerating the doctrine of divine inspiration. When we read the key verse, or any verse for that matter, we believe God divinely inspired the words. That means God wrote them, not Paul. One of the most egregious bible twisters in this area is Eddie Hyatt, who spends all of his writing insisting women should be in leadership and rewriting American history to achieve NAR dominionist goals. Debunking Eddie is easy because he is so transparently bad at understanding scripture and history. He also has this hysterical habit of citing himself in his articles, which is absurdly irrelevant and not vaguely academic. What he is trying to do is lead people to buy his own books. Once again, laughably transparent. So let us reason together once more beloved.
'Sixty-one percent of the delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis voted for a constitutional ban on all churches that have a woman on staff with the title of pastor. The vote, however, fell short of the required two-thirds majority necessary for a constitutional amendment.
The amendment would not have changed the SBC's position on female pastors but would have added teeth for enforcing its stance. The denomination's position is still that put forth last year by the executive staff, which quoted Paul's words in 1 Timothy 2:12a (NKJV), "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." Based on a superficial reading of this passage, the executive staff then declared that Paul "Concludes women cannot have a pastoral position, or perform the pastoral function, for that puts them in authority over men in the life of the church."' - Eddie Hyatt
By "superficial"; Eddie means actually reading the words. As we will see what Eddie likes to do is play games with the words, read into them things that are simply not there, and use linguistic games to muddy the waters. Nothing however changes the actual words. The actual words say - I do not permit - period. There is no equivocation in the words. There is no grey area. For the umpteenth time also, these are not "Paul's words." They are God's words and maybe you shouldn't be messing around with them to accomplish your carnal beliefs. The other thing Eddie conveniently leaves out is the context, which I provide in the key verses above. It is like God knew, which He would of course, that there would be people trying to twist His word. So, in an effort to be abundantly clear, God tells us the "why" for this decree. Man was formed first and it was the woman that was deceived and became the transgressor. You can parse this anyway you like but you cannot deny what it says.
'Based on this "authority myth," this year's annual meeting expelled the First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, from the SBC because of its embrace of female pastors. Messengers also voted not to accept the requests for reinstatement from Saddleback Church in Southern California and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, both of which were excommunicated for having women pastors. For the SBC and all churches that ban women from leadership roles, "authority" is the central issue. The titles may change, but authority is still the issue. For example, one megachurch allows women to be pastors but does not allow them to be on its board of elders because the elders govern their church and "women cannot function in governing authority."' - Eddie Hyatt
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