The great irony of our day is that sense church leadership is designated for male stewardship only, then the bible must be an oppressive prescript against women. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no written word in the history of the world that elevates women to a higher view than the Holy Word of God.

During the first century, Roman Greek and Jewish culture relegated women to a second-class citizen standard. Buying selling and trading of personal property in most Roman and Greek culture was forbidden. Women were by law, custom and culture reduced to not much more than personal property. In Jewish custom they were not instructed by the rabbi’s given any elevated status of being worthy of personal instruction in the law, privy to conferences of vital spiritual or national interest. The Jewish Talmud and other rabbinical writings show much disdain for women in society. One writing states that it would be better to burn the Torah than to instruct a woman from its pages.

Then along came the master, Jesus Christ, and everything changed. Not only did he include them in his ministry, but he also sought them, favored them, instructed them even as he would men, allowed them to travel with him, healed them and even allowed them to touch him, and bear witness to him (John 4; Luke 10:38; Luke 13:10; Luke 8:1-3; John 20:1-18) This inclusion of women in his lie and ministry was revolutionary and an indictment against the popular mindset of women in that day. Truly, Jesus Christ and the New Testament has set forth for us the proper view of women in society today and if it were not for the grace of God in the life of women, they would by this society be reduced again to nothing more than personal property.

In the Epistles of Paul, the marriage union of husband and wife is that of a mutual love and submission to each one’s role in the marriage. The husband has the highest standard of all standards to meet within the bounds of matrimony. He is bound by the word of God to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. There can be no higher elevation of a wife than this. Husbands are to love their wives like Jesus has loved them. This is a staggering responsibility and one that cannot be met without complete submission to Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:21 & 25).

Now for the wife’s role within the family, she is called to a life of voluntary submission to her husband. Four times we have this imperative recorded for women in marriage. (Eph. 5:22; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:5; I Peter 3:1). This submission is voluntary and is not to be enforced by anything more or less than the word of God. Whether the wife submits or does not submit to her husband in a voluntary manner has no bearing on the husband’s responsibility to Love his wife as Christ loved the Church. Neither is the wife’s submission to her husband conditioned upon her husband loving her as Christ loved the Church. This is the New Testaments message concerning the role of husband and wife in the marriage.

Although leadership roles within the church are reserved for God called men to that office (I Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-7), there is no prohibition upon gifted women ministering to the church of Jesus Christ. In fact we find the Apostle Paul was continuously accompanied with women of the faith assisting, working and witnessing within his ministry (Acts 1:12-14; 9:36-42; 16:13-15; 17:1-4 & 10-12; 18:1-2, 18-28; Rom. 16; I Cor. 16:19; 2 Tim. 1:5; 4:19). Just because they are not on the forefront of leadership will never diminish their value to our savior or the contributions they have made in the economy of God.