Just What Is a Woman’s Role in the Church?

by Royce Mitchell, Jr.

“Over the years, I have been consistently troubled by the seeming disparity in the way that women are “dealt with” as compared to how men are treated in “the Church.” This discrepancy seems to have come from a myopic interpretation of certain scriptures within the confining context of societal predispositions. I have admittedly been complacent on the issue—due to a lack of being directly affected—yet, when challenged on this, it became clear that the time was overdue to find out exactly what God has to say.

In order to gain a clearer view of God’s perspective as it relates to women in His Church, one must first look deeply into what God has placed within the authority of women. That is best done by first checking the Old Testament scriptures which relate to women. We should find the answers to the following questions as we search: “What can a woman do and not do?”, “What have women done under the approval of God?”, “Is a man the head of a woman, or is the husband head of the wife?”, “Why is the distinction of man and husband important?”, “When does a man become the head of a woman?”, “What does it mean to be the head?”, and “Does a woman ever have authority?”. Let’s begin at our beginning….”

(this article is an excerpt from the September—October 2000 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 16, click this link: https://biblesabbath.org/tss/485/tss_485.pdf