Category Archives: Women in Bible

These Bible studies teach me that God gives them all the gifts and roles in his Son’s Church

Women Really Did Work as–and Were–Overseers, Elders, Pastors: A Close Look at 1 Timothy 5:9-10

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This post has been thoroughly revised and updated. The verses we will look at describe male elders and overseers and pastors and elderly widows. Both men and women took care of the churches. Just like the men, the elderly women functioned as pastors, elders, and overseers throughout their redeemed lives, because they were those things. Scriptures: 1 Timothy 5:2, 9-10, 3:1-7, 11-13, 5:17; Titus 1:5-9; 2:3-5; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:1-5.

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Yes, Junia Really Was a Female Apostle: A Close Look at Romans 16:7

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The only reason this verse has become controversial and complicated is because Complementarians (those who restrict women from full participation in ministry) have made it controversial and complicated. But Romans 16:7 is straightforward and clear and easily translated. (I updated this post.)

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Women in Ministry: Replies to Objections

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Updated: Here are twenty-nine objections in a list that Complementarians raise. Replies are given to each one. Many important verses are discussed here, like Genesis 1-3, Galatians 2:28, Ephesians 5:22-24, 1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Peter 3:1-7, 1 Corinthians 7, 11:2-16, and Acts 6:5.

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Are Older Women Restricted to Teaching (‘Only’?) Young Women? A Close Look at Titus 2:3-5

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How restrictive are those verses in the title? Does the Greco-Roman household offer any guidance for reading them? What about other verses in the NT?

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Are Women Allowed to Teach Men? A Close Look at 1 Timothy 2:11-15

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Certain interpreters of those verses in the title have restricted women’s full participation in the teaching ministry. But are these restrictions truly biblical? Let’s take a deeper look at the verses in the title.

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Does Torah Really Order Girl to Marry Her Rapist against Her Father’s Will?

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Scripture: Deuteronomy 22:28-29 and Exodus 22:16-17. Is the titled question true? Or are there circumstances that clarify what was really going on? A parallel case in colonial Philadelphia is also included here.

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7. Torah and Slavery: Marrying Captives of War

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Scripture: Deut. 21:10-14. War was a fact of life in the ancient Near East. When a soldier whose army was victorious saw a woman he was attracted to, what could he do? The Torah regulates this cultural fact.

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5. Torah and Slavery: Protecting Slave Women from Injustice

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Scripture: Lev. 19:20-22. One OT scholar says that this law protected a slave woman when she was caught in the middle between three men.

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3. Torah and Slavery: Impoverished Father Sells His Daughter to Be a ‘Secondary Wife’

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Scripture: Exod. 21:7-11. In a culture of arranged marriage and widespread poverty, fathers in the ancient Near East did this long before the Torah existed. Now the Torah has to intervene and tell the men what the daughter’s legal rights were. This post also looks at polygamy.

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1. Torah and Slavery: Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar

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Scripture to be studied: Gen. 16:1-4. Hagar was a handmaid to Abraham’s wife, Sarah. Critics claim that Abraham could have sex with Hagar whenever he wanted because she was a slave. (This post also looks into polygamy. It also includes a case of a slave woman named Lucy and her three children in 1827-1828, South Carolina, America, just for a comparison.)

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Women Teachers: New Translation and Reinterpretation of 1 Timothy 2

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What if 1 Timothy 2:12-15 is not about women teaching and dominating men at church? What if it is about a husband and wife at home? Or does the house church merge the domestic and public spheres? What would that mean for church policy and women teachers out in public?

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Jesus Turns a Gentile Mother’s Desperation into Faith

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Jesus seemed to be “rude” to a Gentile (pagan, non-Jew, or foreign) woman, someone outside his outreach to Israel. Here’s an exegesis (close reading) that explains his reasons, in a little more detail, in his own cultural context.

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Works Cited

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Here is a list of the principal works referenced or used at this site. More will be added as time goes on, so please check back.

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