Women and Men in the Church Today

Does the New Testament restrict the roles of women in the church?

How do we figure out the meaning of certain Bible verses?

How do we reach a biblical position - we look at the 'preponderance of evidence in Scripture.'

To understand the context of confusing passages, we need to look the original audience. Understanding the differences between how Jewish culture treated women, how Roman culture treated women, and how Greek culture saw the 'place' of women.

Look through the book of Acts to see how the early church treated women

Acts 21 - 7 daughters of Philip who 'prophecied.' Prophecy comes from the Greek word (propheteuo) which means to speak the authoritative word of God. This would be seen as an authoritative and 'teaching' role. 

Acts 18:18 - Pricilla and Aquilla. Wife and husband team. The one named first in the Bible passage (and in that culture) is the one seen as being the "lead" (or the one in authority).

In Romans Phoebe carried the letter (Book of Romans) to Rome and she would be the one to answer and explain any parts that are not easily understood.

Then we look at 1 Timothy 2 - How do we interpret this confusing passage? In regards to 1 Timothy 2:13-14 - in the creation account woman (Eve) did not have first hand teaching from God about the tree - Adam did and she learned it from Adam.

In 1 Timothy 2:15 - we have to remember the context  - Artemis was the goddess of the town - and the people sacrificed to her in hopes of having healthy babies. So right here Paul is reminding people that they need to trust Jesus because God is the one who will save you - not Artemis.

Galatians 3:28 is in response to the ancient Jewish prayer - "Blessed art thou God who didn't make me a gentile, a slave or a woman." Instead, the parallel corrective is "There is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female... we are one in Christ..."