This is probably one of the most controversial topics in the body of Christ.

On one side, there are believers who think women should be silent in the church based on Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

On the other side, there are believers who think women can minister the gospel. They use several scriptures showing women ministering the gospel.

-God made Deborah a prophet over men and women (Judges 4-5).
-Huldah was a prophet (2 Kings 22:14).
-The Samaritan woman at the well spreads the gospel (John 4:39).
-Mary Magdalene was the first to spread the gospel after the resurrection of Jesus (Mark 16:9-10).
-Priscilla, the wife of Aquila, assisted her husband in educating a male preacher about the gospel (Acts 18:26).
-Two women, Euodia and Syntyche, telling others the gospel of Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:3).

Then, there are believers who fall somewhere in between. They believe women can minister the gospel, but not in the presence of a man or in a church setting.

So, what’s right? Can women minister the gospel? Based on scripture, in context, they can.

For those who point to 1 Corinthians 14 as evidence for women not ministering, we must look at what was going on in the church at Corinth. The church was chaotic and out of order. People were prophesying, speaking in tongues, and speaking out loud at the same time. Paul was establishing order specifically in Corith.

We know Paul didn’t have a problem with women speaking because he comments on the appearance of women when they pray or prophesy in 1 Corinthians 11:5-6. If women shouldn’t speak at all, Paul shouldn’t have mentioned anything about their appearance when they publicly pray or prophesy.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 was Paul’s letter to Timothy about the church at Ephesus. It states women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

Like the church at Corinth, this was for a specific instance. In the same chapter, he talks about the praying posture. Most, if not all of us, aren’t raising our hands every time we pray and no one says anything, but some want to magnify women not teaching men. That’s hypocritical.

If we’re to take this literally, that means all women college professors, supervisors, accountants, and mothers of adult men are wrong for teaching men. Oh, you think Paul is talking teaching in church settings? Well, that can’t be right because Priscilla educated a male preacher without being condemned and Paul literally had women with him ministering the gospel in Philippians 4:3.

God calls men and women to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Christ, there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28).