Women In The
Ministry
#3
WELCOME to message #3 in our series on
women in the ministry. Like I’ve said from the
very beginning of these messages, there are so
many women oppressed around this world by
false teachings concerning the role of women in
the Body of Christ. Entire church
organizations and many civil governments
are in bondage to the teachings that women
are second-class people.
SO let’s go back to Genesis chapters 2 and
3. As I’ve stated previously, Genesis chapters 2
and 3 are where you can find the beginning of
the entire school of thought that teaches that
women are second-class people and are under
a curse from God. We have already studied this
very closely and we have found that before the
Fall, God did not create man to be superior over
the woman at all. We studied the meaning of
“help meet”, and we are going to go back and
look at that a little more, and we’re going to
proceed to study a little more about headships.
SO, let’s go to Genesis 2:18 and read that
Scripture again where it says, “And the LORD
God said, It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him a help meet for
him.” Upon looking at the words ‘help meet’, we
see that the phrase goes back to two Hebrew
words, EZER and KENEGDO. Now these two
words together in the Hebrew mean “helper” and
were translated into the King James English as
“help meet”. But if you divide them up, you will
see that they mean two different things. The first
part, EZER, means “helper”. The second part,
KENEGDO, means several things, including
“front parts” in reference to a woman, and
“opposite” in regards to what another is lacking.
It also means “answering to each other”. Now,
if you put all these meanings together and
consider what God was saying when He
declared He was going to make a “help meet” for
Adam, it’s obvious that He was going to make an
opposite or a counterpart to fulfill what Adam
was lacking. Eve was in reality the
counterpart of Adam. He was not designated
the boss, ruler, chief or leader as we’ve taken it
to mean. She was the counterpart that Adam
needed to depict the fulness of God, because
God in the Spirit is both male and female.
AND when He made man, Adam and Eve,
male and female, He made them in the image
and likeness of Himself, depicting in the human
creation both sides of His nature. As we gain a
greater understanding of God’s original intention,
it becomes obvious that God never intended
that the man be considered superior because
he was created first and the woman inferior
because she was created second.
Nevertheless, that’s the way the majority of
mankind has taken it, and has gone off into
error. And that’s why women have been in
bondage to male oppression for generations.
FOR years this bothered me. It used to worry
me because my wife and I, we’ve always got
along good ever since we’ve been saved. We’ve
always wanted to help each other in the ministry.
We’ve wanted to complement one another in our
personal life as well as in our married life. I
never really wanted to rule over her and she
never really wanted to rule over me. We never
really understood how a man is supposed to be
a first-class citizen and the woman is supposed
to be inferior, even though that is what we were
taught. There was something in my spirit that
didn’t agree with that.
I’VE done some research on the words “help
meet” in several different commentaries. One
version said that “woman was to be similar in
nature to the man, corresponding as a
supplement to the incompleteness of man, and
every way adapted to be his co-partner and
companion.” What they are saying here makes
it clear that they saw beyond the oppression and
the superiority complex of the male.
WOMAN was to be a “help meet” insomuch
as to make man complete where he was lacking,
and to form a complete union with man,
representing the male and female sides of God.
“[Eve] was the counterpart that
Adam needed to depict the
fulness of God, because God in
the Spirit is both male and
female. ...And when He made
man, Adam and Eve, male and
female, He made them in the
image and likeness of Himself,
depicting in the human creation
both sides of His nature.”
NOW let’s go to First Corinthians chapter 11
and see what it says regarding the subject we’ve
been discussing. I want to start in verse 1 where
it says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also
am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that
ye remember me in all things, and keep the
ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But
I would have you know, that the head of
every man is Christ; and the head of the
woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
God” (vv. 1-3). Here is where we encounter the
hierarchy or structure of superiority that we’ve
always been taught in the Church.
--------------------------------------
The NEW TESTAMENT — An Expanded
Translation
Kenneth S. Wuest, Teacher Emeritus of
New Testament Greek, The Moody Bible
Institute
1 Corinthians 11:11-13
“Nevertheless, neither is a woman
[complete] apart from a man, nor a man
[complete] apart from a woman in the Lord,
for even as the woman came out of the man
as a source, thus also does the man owe
his existence to the intermediate agency of
the woman. But all things are out of God as
a source.”
--------------------------------------
BUT the verse that I really want to get at is
verse 9, where it says, “Neither was the man
created for the woman; but the woman for the
man.” Here we go again! So many men take
this Scripture out of context and will tell you that
because the woman was made for the man, that
the man is supposed to rule over the woman.
That is a very common teaching that you will find
today in the Body of Christ. But in verse 11 it
says, “Nevertheless neither is the man
without the woman, neither the woman
without the man, in the Lord.” This goes back
to the Hebrew idea that in order to have a
complete union, you’ve got to have male and
female. That’s the way God intended it to
be—male and female compliment each other.
And verse 12 sums it up, saying, “For as the
woman is of the man, even so is the man also
by the woman; but all things of God.” What
does this mean? It is referring back to Genesis
where the woman came out of the man’s rib
section. But that was only a one-time deal,
because when they started having sexual union,
then the men started coming out of the women.
ONCE again, let us go back to the claim
made by many that since woman came out of
man, that he is superior, and therefore should be
the ruler. Well, if that’s true, then what about all
the men that have come out of women ever
since the Beginning? If we are going to stick to
our principles, then the women should be ruling,
because ALL men after Adam came out of
women! Fortunately, Paul ended verse 12
above by saying, “...but all things of God”,
meaning that God did not make one superior to
the other just because one came out of the
other. Men and women are supposed to be in
union and work together for the glory of God.
NOTES ON “HELP MEET” — Woman Made
a Helpmeet
DOESN’T helpmeet or helpmate mean she was
created for man’s sake, to be his helper under
his authority? Wasn’t she made specifically for
man? “...man is the head of a woman...” (1
Corinthians 11:3). “For it was Adam who was
first created, and then Eve” (l Timothy 2:13).
It’s true God “fashioned” woman from man’s
side, “And the rib, which the LORD God had
taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:22), but
this doesn’t make her a lesser person to be
subjugated. We must ask a simple but relevant
question: Why did God make woman?
God said, “lt is not good for the man to be
alone: I will make a helper suitable for him”
(Genesis 2:18). As soon as man saw her, he
said, “This is now bone of my bones, and
flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman
[Ishah], because she was taken out of Man
[Ish]” (v. 23). To be fully happy and complete,
mankind needs relationships and communication
between equals. As humans we can enjoy
animals; they can afford some companionship,
but they are not communicators. God foreknew
Adam’s need for oneness with an equal
companion, but Adam needed to recognize that
need himself. Genesis 2 reveals how God made
that need known. —C. Trombley
HELPMATE. The Bible does not use the
expression “helpmate”. The reader will notice
that a different expression is actually used in
Genesis 2:18. “And the LORD God said, It is
not good that the man should be alone; I will
make him an help meet for him.” The word
“help” means helper and “meet” means suitable.
Adam was given a helper suitable for him. At
some point in the evolution of language, these
two words became merged into help-meet, then
helpmeet, and finally helpmate, as though meet
and mate were the same! Consequently, today
we have two words, helpmeet and helpmate,
both of which are used interchangeably for a
person’s marriage partner. —R. Woodrow
* * *
IN the beginning, God didn’t just give the man
dominion. It says He gave “them” dominion,
both of them together. They were supposed to
be co-workers, laborers, partners in the work of
the Lord. And of course all that was determined
before their Fall into sin. After the Fall, the curse
came about and changed things SOMEWHAT.
But I want to tell you something. If Christ did
away with the curse, then we have no reason
to still be living under it! Why are we still
trying to operate in the realm of the curse, with
man claiming to have superiority over the
woman? Many ministries still operate under that
curse, even though they believe that they have
been delivered from the curse of sin. They can’t
see that they are in bondage to false teachings
which constitute a curse over their lives.
THERE are many Scriptures you can look up
in reference to the curse. Romans 6:14,
Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:15 and Romans
8:1 will explain that after we are born again, we
are no longer under the curse of Satan. We’re
not under the curse of satanic rulership. We’re
not under the curse of worldly oppression. God
freed us of those things. He cleared the slate
and we’ve become new creatures. So then, the
point is, that if we’ve become new creatures,
then we’re going to go back and live the way
God originally intended, as co-laborers,
co-workers, male and female complimenting
each other, right?
SOME people actually believe that it is a
man’s world, and that women don’t have any
part in it. But everywhere we’ve been, in all the
third-world countries we have visited, we have
personally made it a point to break through this
demonic oppression on the women. We’ve seen
so many women that were treated just like dogs.
All they did was have kids and were never even
allowed to participate in anything. They couldn’t
do anything in the assemblies, and they were
treated just like they were second-class. Some
of them were sitting in the churches and they
were not even saved. And all the time the men
act like big kings, sitting on their thrones with big
crowns on. We have made it a point to break
through these false teachings about women
whenever we encounter them, and set the
women free.
NOW we’ve got a mess in America because
we’ve gone to the extremes of liberation. The
women were tired of being oppressed by the
men and so they rebelled. The problem is that
they’ve gotten off on a tangent and have become
total Jezebels. They’ve gotten off into an ugly
spirit where they won’t submit to anybody, and
that’s wrong too.
I want to say this, that I’ve always fought for
women’s rights, and I don’t believe that men are
greater than women. Just because many men
hold more important positions than women does
not mean that men are created superior. One
human being is no better or worse than another
human being. Some may be more talented,
some are more educated and some may be
better looking, but as far as one person being
greater than another in God’s eyes, it’s just not
true.
NOW I do believe that some women go
overboard and try to run things when they’re not
supposed to. A lot of women run the churches,
and the men are like little wimps running around
saying, “Yes, ma’am . . . No, ma’am.” That spirit
is wrong. Whenever you have one spirit trying
to outdo and overrule the other, things get off
and people get into the wrong spirit. What we
need to understand is that if both sexes are in
Christ, then they can respect each other’s
position in the Lord and achieve a balance.
AND some men are absolutely bullies, and
they try to rule by force, which drives the women
to rebellion. But not all men are bullies. Some
men respect their wives, giving them positions
and letting them have their way because the
Bible says so. They understand how God meant
it to be, male and female working together as a
team. Yet overall, we’ve got a real mess today
in the Body of Christ.
IN discussing the subject of headship we are
going to be asking, “Who is the head?” and
“Who is the headship?” I was taught years ago,
just like I read in I Corinthians chapter 11 verse
3, that the head of every woman is the man. So
I naturally took it to mean that the man was the
boss, he was the chief, he was the leader. But
now, what I want to do is go into the Scriptures
and find out if that was what Paul actually meant.
“Whenever you have one spirit
trying to outdo and overrule the
other, things get off and people
get into the wrong spirit. What
we need to understand is that if
both sexes are in Christ, then
they can respect each other’s
position in the Lord and achieve
a balance.”
DID you know that Paul knew Hebrew, Greek
and Aramaic? He was a Pharisee, which meant
that he was brought up under intense study of
languages and the Scriptures. Also, he was
born in Tarsus, which was a Greek-speaking city,
and so he spoke Greek. When it came to
Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek words and their
different meanings, Paul was not mixed up about
it like we are. Many times we read certain words
in the King James version and we just take for
granted that they mean what they appear to
mean in English. But if you get a concordance
and study those Biblical languages, you will find
out that the meanings of many of the original
words are different than what you may think.
FOR example, when it says that the man is
the head of the woman, we take it to mean that
he is supposed to be the boss. Well it doesn’t
mean that at all. And Paul knew that it didn’t
mean that, yet we’ve taken it to mean just that.
Some people will try to tell you that because
Paul said it, that it has to be true. Yet what they
are failing to realize is that the Greek words Paul
used, carry different meanings which did not
come out in their fullness in the English
translations. They also fail to realize that Paul
used particular words for specific reasons, and
he knew exactly what they meant.
THIS is where I want to pick up the text. I
want to start in Galatians chapter 3, verse 28.
We’re going to talk about the new order. The
new order canceled the old. When Christ came
He set in a new order. He says all things
become knew, the old things have passed away.
He broke down the middle wall of partition.
There is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free in
Christ. We are all new creatures, which
means that we are going to go back to the
original plan that God had arranged before
the Fall.
SO in light of what Christ has done, we can’t
hang on to the old traditions of the Pharisees.
And this is the area in which Paul was dealing.
He was dealing with some of those Jewish
traditions which said that the women had no part
in anything that had to do with God. He was
dealing with Jews that refused to do away with
the old Law, even though it had been
disannulled by God; he was dealing with those
who wanted to bring the old Law into the New
Kingdom of Christ. So, knowing this, it becomes
more clear that what Paul was doing was
refuting many of these old customs of the
Traditional Jews, not enforcing them.
ALRIGHT, let’s read in Galatians chapter 3,
verse 28, where it says, “There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus.” This goes back to
Genesis and the concept which we were
discussing earlier, where God created man and
woman. Although they were biologically different,
God did not set the male above the female as far
as superiority goes. And Paul is referring to that
when he says there is neither male nor female in
God. Paul does not respect one sex above the
other sex like we do because of the error in our
teaching. And you can find the counterpart to
this Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
17, which tells us that in Christ, ALL THINGS
become new.
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“Verse twenty-eight. The individual
differences between Jew and Greek,
between slave and free, between male and
female, are merged in that higher unity into
which all believers are raised by the fact
that they all have a common life in Christ
Jesus. One heart now beats in all. The
pulsating life of the Lord Jesus is the
motive power. One mind guides all, the
mind of Christ. One life is lived by all, the
life of the Lord Jesus produced by the Holy
Spirit in the various circumstances and
relations of each individual believer’s
experience.
Translation. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there isneither slave nor free, there
is neither male nor female. For ye are all
one in Christ Jesus.”
--------------------------------------
SO what Christ did when He died and rose
again was to set in a new order, and make
salvation available to everyone, regardless of
their sex, race, nationality or position. God is not
a respecter of persons, and if you’re in Christ,
YOU ARE A NEW CREATURE. But as far as
things go, that deal with mankind and his
problems, there are many distinctions made.
Obviously, a General is not a Private in the army,
and it needs to be that way. You can’t have all
Generals, and you can’t have all Privates. There
needs to be distinctions made according to
experience and ability, in order to make things
work smoothly and get things accomplished.
BUT when it comes to our relationships in
Christ and the question of whether or not God
recognizes one sex as superior to the other, the
answer is that WE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST.
I am not dealing with the question of position.
I’m dealing with the question of actual
worthiness. Are men more worthy in God’s eyes
than women? Does God view men as superior
and women as inferior? No! God is not a
respecter of persons. We need to realize that
there is a difference between the position a
person holds and the actual value of that person
in God’s eyes. We are all created equal in God,
and we all have equal access to salvation in
Jesus Christ.
NOW I want to go to another Scripture, found
in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22. It says,
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands as unto the Lord.” Once again we
are faced with the false concept that men are
superior to women. All the men love this
Scripture because they think, “My wife is
supposed to submit to me and get under my
feet, and I’m supposed to take dominion over
her.” The Scripture goes on in verses 23 and 24,
saying, “For the husband is the head of the
wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands
in every thing.” The problem is that most men
stop here and don’t read verse 25 that says,
“Husbands love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for
it.”
LISTEN, if you love your wife like Christ loved
the Church, you’re not going to treat her like a
dog. If you love your wife, you’re not going to
put her under your feet. If you love your wife,
you’re not going to oppress her and abuse her!
If you love her, you’re going to treat her like God
would treat you—equally. And we need to keep
that in mind.
ALL these men that like to rule over their
wives, they don’t read that Scripture (v. 25
above). They get a spirit of hatred and a big
macho-man spirit. They think that they’re God’s
gift to women.
NOW I want to go to First Timothy, chapter 2,
verse 11. This is one of the most abused
Scriptures when it comes to understanding a
woman’s role, and is one of the most used to
oppress women. It says, “Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection.” Then verses
12-13 say, “But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be
in silence. For Adam was first formed, then
Eve.” Let’s look at these Scriptures, one part at
a time.
ONE point that is very popular, and which
many men use to justify their superiority
complex, is that Adam was created first and Eve
second, thereby making Adam superior, because
he was created first. And so, they deduce, that
means all women are supposed to be in
submission to the men because women were
created second.
READING in verse 14, it says, “And Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression.” Tonight
while I was praying, I was thinking of this very
Scripture. So many men use this Scripture to
blame the women for the Fall of mankind into
sin. They claim that Eve caused Adam to sin.
Wait a minute! If you read the account closely,
you will see that Adam was right there with Eve
when the Devil offered her the forbidden fruit.
They were together! Adam was not somewhere
else; he was right there. Now I want to ask, who
committed the greater sin?—the man who knew
better, or the woman who was deceived? It says
plainly that the woman was deceived, but on the
other hand the man rebelled, because he knew
better. God told man personally not to eat of
that fruit, so his sin was much greater because
he openly rebelled against the Word of God. He
totally refused to obey God when the serpent
was tempting Eve. He was right there when
Satan was tempting Eve and he totally
disobeyed God’s Word.
Now if the men really want to get picky, we
can analyze this situation and see that it is
actually the man’s fault that the woman fell into
sin, because he should have interfered and said,
“Wait a minute! God said don’t touch that fruit.
If we touch it, we’re going to die.” You see, Eve
had the idea that if she partook of that fruit, that
she perchance might die, that maybe she would
die. She didn’t understand what God had said,
therefore she was easily deceived. But not
Adam. He was not deceived. He was
responsible because he knew better. But
because the Scripture says that the woman
being deceived was in transgression, we think
that it was all her fault. That’s not what it’s
saying at all. The man was at fault, not the
woman.
NOTES ON SIN IN THE GARDEN
IT is commonly assumed that when Eve ate of
the forbidden fruit (at the suggestion of the
serpent), that Adam was somewhere else. Then
later, when he returned, he also ate of this fruit.
But the fact is, Adam was right there with her:
“And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food. . . she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
WITH HER; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6).
Now I ask you: was her husband there “with
her” or not? Yea, he was. So, men, we cannot
blame all the trouble in the world on women!
There is no indication that Adam tried to stop her
and no indication that he was somewhere else at
the time!
The result of them both eating this fruit was
this: “And the eyes of them BOTH were
opened, and they knew they were naked”
(Genesis 3:7). It does not say her eyes were
opened first, and his at some later time. No, the
transgression involved “both” of them.
The idea that the forbidden fruit was an apple
may have developed from the fact that in Latin
the word which means “evil” is exactly the same
word as “apple.” Jerome translated the Bible into
Latin in 405 A.D. and the idea may have passed
on down from that time. But the Bible does not
mention the apple in this connection. —R.
Woodrow
* * *
NOW let’s go to one more Scripture—Titus
chapter 2, verses 3-5. It says, “The aged
women likewise, that they be in behavior as
becometh holiness, not false accusers, not
given to much wine, teachers of good things;
that they may teach the young women to be
sober, to love their husbands, to love their
children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at
home, good, obedient to their own husbands,
that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
Many men wrongly use these Scriptures to prove
to the women that a woman’s place is in the
home. And I’m not saying that women don’t
have obligations and responsibilities in the
home, because they do. But that is NOT the
ONLY position they are limited to. They have a
part to play in the ministry and they can be
actively used by God. But still many men persist
in believing that their women should remain little
mealy-mouthed weaklings that stay at home and
cook for their fat belly. And then he’ll kick her
once in a while and tell her, “Do this!” or “Do
that!” I’ve known many men that did this to their
wives, and their relationships were always a big
mess.
This is an interesting study because it is
going to set a lot of people free who are in
bondage to these false teachings. And some of
you men who think you have to rule over the
women, these messages will set you free. And
some of you women who think that the man has
to be that way, these messages are going to set
you free too. Amen.
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