Women Leaders in the Bible

I have been interested in learning about women in the life of the church since my teenage years when I became a Christian.  My views have been challenged and stretched; modified and changed over the years.  In college I remember struggling with how women could be college professors if indeed the New Testament forbade them to teach men.  When it was explained to me that women would teach men anything but theology, I accepted that.  However, when I heard about a woman who taught New Testament Greek it got me wondering again.  Certainly learning Greek would not be considered theology, however, I knew from my own Greek classes that I had learned a great deal from the Scriptures because of the fine teaching my male Greek professor was doing.  If a woman could teach the scriptures from a Greek text, why could she not from an English version?

One of the things that helped me move beyond the line drawing that seemed inevitable in my earlier years, was the example of women leaders in the Bible.  God didn't seem concerned at drawing lines, he would use women in all kinds of capacities.  When I came to understand the true nature of the Gospel as re-creating God's ideal, things began to make more sense.  As was mentioned Sunday evening, sin corrupted what God created.  What was formerly a beautiful picture of equal partnership in accomplishing the tasks God had given the humans became a battle to see who could dominate the other.  Since men are physically stronger, the history of the world has been men ruling over women.  However, in Christ, God's intent is being recreated. 

There are three more sessions to go in our series.  Next Sunday I will speak on the changing role of women in contemporary culture in the morning and will address the restrictive texts in context on Sunday evening.  At our final session (Sunday, July 22, 6pm) we will be hearing the voices of our sisters.  All of our ladies are invited to speak for two minutes telling us what it has been like in your experience to be a woman in the Church of Christ.