Question:
I have a question regarding having women as elders and preachers. Is this
biblical? Willow Creek Community Church, led by Bill Hybels believes so.
Answer:
The answer is clearly that it is "not" Biblical to have women in
positions of leadership in the church. A woman as an Elder or a Preacher
is a clear violation of Scripture.
In the context of the Church,
God says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a
man; she must be silent." [1 Timothy 2:12]
This is pretty clear, and a person does not need a seminary degree to figure out
its meaning. The context is the Church, and it plainly says that women are
not to be in any leadership or teaching roles in the church that affect men.
It does not prohibit women from teaching other women and children (as prescribed
by other Scriptures), for they are commanded to do that.
Now, one might wonder why then would a church like "Willow Creek"
openly violate such a clear teaching of Scripture? For one, we need to
remember that the church does not live in a vacuum, and that the enemy (Satan
and the demons) constantly seek to corrupt God's people and His chosen bride the
Church. Church leaders have to remain constantly vigilant against the
introduction of error. But Church History reveals that for the majority of
churches and denominations, they failed and false doctrine came in and
eventually destroyed their effectiveness.
Jesus said, "You nullify the Word of God by your tradition."
[Mark 7:13], and this is, in a sense what happens. Man begins to input his
ideas and traditions into the teachings and practices of the church, and in time
the Word of God has no effect because it is watered-down.
Our society has put a lot of pressure on the churches to expand the roles of
women in the churches, and instead of holding true to God's Word, many churches
and denominations, having lost discernment, have yielded to the society, by
trying to create a more "seeker-friendly" church, therefore hoping to
increase attendance and thus bring more souls into the kingdom. However,
what they fail to remember is that we must do it God's way, and His way only.
I am a firm believer that if we will just teach and preach the truth of the Word
with boldness and courage, always "lifting Christ up," then the Holy
Spirit will draw men and women to the cross and bring about plenty of
salvations. That is what the great preachers of the past did.
Spurgeon, Whitefield, Ryle, Edwards, and Bunyan preached Christ, and they had
churches full of people and saw many, many souls come to Christ. God
hasn't changed, the saving power of the Gospel hasn't changed, and the
unbeliever hasn't changed (still blind and deaf to spiritual things), so the
only element that has changed and is preventing the fields from being harvested
is the Church. The church no longer preaches a pure gospel and doctrine,
therefore they have little impact or growth. Instead of the church turning
to God's Word and repenting of their sins, and correcting their doctrines, they
instead turn to the world for the answers on how to increase Church growth.
They
incorporate marketing tools and shows, plays, carnivals, etc., to attract a
crowd (I recently saw a "clown" outside a church, standing by the highway on Sunday
morning, trying to get people to come to their church service!). These
worldly techniques work, as far as increasing numbers, but they never bring in
the elect of God. They attract the non-elect, who don't really want
Christ, but only to be religious. Spurgeon once said, "If you have to
give a carnival to attract people to your church, then you must continue having
carnivals to keep them!"
One of the very basic reasons for starting Bible Bulletin Board, many years
ago, was to provide the Church exposure to truth, as preached and taught by some
of the most godly preachers I was aware of. I chose not only the great
preachers of the past, but also John MacArthur, truly God's chosen instrument
for this generation. In fact, I even started putting the sermons of the
great preachers of the past on tape and CD, to assist even more. My heart grieves over the teachings
and doctrines of many churches today.
Also see new sermon posted on "Women
Preachers" by R. L. Dabney (1820-1898) with updated English. In
addition, this sermon is available on Audio cassette and CD (preached by Tony
Capoccia) goto: www.gospelgems.com
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Tony Capoccia's Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986