Faithful Women

The first question needing an answer is; faithful to what? The
most complete answer seems to be, faithful to the Word of God, in which He
tells us what His intended role for women is. The part I want to cover here is
the womens role in the work of God.

There are and have been many faithful Godly women in Gods
Work. Praise God ! The Bible is filled with stories of women who were used by God
in a great way. They were and are obedient to the Lords calling, and those
from the past received a prominent place in Gods Word. Most of them living now
will receive their reward at the coming of Jesus. To mention a few from the
past, in the Old Testament, Debora, Ruth and Esther come to my mind. While in the
New Testament, connected to the birth of Jesus, Elizabeth, Mary and Anna are
prominent. In 2nd Timothy, Lois and Eunice are standing out and in Romans 16
Paul has a whole list of virtuous women who were helpful to him.

To find the Lords intention for creating women, we have to go
back to the beginning. In Genesis 2-18 it tells us that God decided to make a
help meet for Adam, "because it is not good that man should be alone".
Therefore it is biblical to say that womens primary purpose was to be a help meet to
men. As result of the fall I believe, that God ordained women to bear children
and bear them in sorrow and pain. We can conclude from this, that a womans
additional purpose is to bear children. God added " you desire shall be for your
husband And he shall rule over you. [Gen.3~ 16] .


The best biblical picture of a virtuous woman can be found in
Proverbs 31, which list her role as house wife and help meet to her husband.
It is safe to say, that mostly Gods Word pictures the woman as wife and mother.
Therefore we have to ask our selves, what about unmarried and childless
women? One thing is for sure, we should not judge them as cursed by God. They could
be in that situation because of several different reasons in which the Lord
has His Hand. By the Lords great Mercy, there is also a great Godly purpose to
be found for the unmarried and the childless. Those roles can be varied from
case to case, but still comply with the idea that she is a help meet to
mankind.

In the family setting, the Bible tells us clearly that the
wife should be subject to her husband. He is the head of the house as Christ is
the Head of the church. As far as a womans role in the church is concerned, 1
Tim.2~9/12 is an important decisive scripture." I do not permit a woman to
teach or to have authority over a man, but be in silence." This is strong direct
language that hardly can be misunderstood. However, those in opposition
still manage to
reason it away with man made hermeneutics. It is becoming more and
more political incorrect to obey what it really says. The practical outworking
of this ruling is, that there can not be a woman with leadership authority in
the church and this is the reason one canot find any women elders in the New
testament .

Those disobedient people, who are still ordaining women
elders, are claiming Romans 16-7 as proof that Junia was an Apostle among the
Apostles. However, in most all trust worthy translations, it says only that
Adronicus and Junia were well regarded among the Apostles. ! Actually It is not
even sure that Junia was a female, but if she was, most likely the wife of
Adronicus. One must be very desperate to claim this as reason to disobey 1 Tim 2.

It is true however that husband and wife teams are mentioned
some times, with the woman ministering under the authority of her husband.
That could be done today , but one has to view this case by case for being
correct, because it is being mis-used also. Disobedience to Gods Word is increasing
rapidly in these last days. Mainly because of our modern culture and the
thinking that some of Gods Word does not always apply to us today. Disobedience
has eroded the true faith in our churches to the point that some now are even
ordaining homo sexuals ! Yes, a woman can and should do vital important
mininstry in the church, but NEVER should take a position as a leader with authority
over men.
Very remarkable, that God gives the reason for His
ruling in 1 Tim. 2. He does not do that very often! However in verse 13 He
explains why. He apperently found an explanation necessary. "for Adam was first
formed, then Eve:. Verse 14: "And Adam was not deceived but the woman being
deceived was in transgression" Some people feel that God is being unfair and holding
on to an old grudge. But remember, He is our sovereign God and His ways are
higher than our ways ! A virtuous woman who submits herself to God and her
husband is truly being and going to be blessed by God. I can testifY to that
because of my own faithful wife for 54 years. Praise the Lord Oh my Soul. ! Amen

Johannes G Weiss


S1NCERELY , IN CHRIST, JOHANNES G. WEISS