Should Women Be Ordained? - Part 8

This is part eight in a series on what the Bible says in regards to the ordination of women in the church. Again, instead of rewriting what I believe has already been well laid out, I am sharing Dr. Jim Feeney’s writings on the subject for your edification. You may disagree, and that is your right, but please be able to point to the Bible for your reasons and not the culture.

Argument #8: “Sister ___’s prophetic ministry is so powerful, how could we deny that gift of God in her life by failing to recognize her as a prophet?”

A Biblical Response: As mentioned earlier, having a spiritual gift in one’s life — even at a very high level of anointing — is not the equivalent of holding the related Ephesians 4:11 fivefold ministry office. The illustration we gave was that of the evangelist Philip’s “four unmarried daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21:9). Despite that spiritual gift of prophecy in those young women of faith, when God wanted to deliver a major prophetic word to the apostle Paul, He led to that very home “a prophet named Agabus” (vss. 10-11), who delivered a vital prophetic word to Paul. The young ladies’ gift of prophecy did not make them prophets like Agabus.

•• Revelation 2:20, KJV   Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

• The New Covenant was established by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And the New Testament record subsequent to the Cross names only one “prophetess” — Jezebel of Thyatira. And she was clearly a self-appointed, false prophetess — “which calleth herself a prophetess”. Furthermore, Jesus was rebuking the church’s senior minister for permitting this false prophetess to have a teaching ministry to the church — “...thou sufferest that woman Jezebel ... to teach and to seduce my servants”. To any church leaders reading this, I urge you to consider the consequences of permitting women in your churches, with your permission, to violate 1 Timothy 2:11-12 by allowing them to teach men and/or to have authority over the men of the church.

• In sum, the biblical record of the New Covenant under which we live shows no record of a God-called, New Testament, female prophet/prophetess. That is entirely consistent with Paul’s apostolic command that women not teach or have authority over men.