Several people have written to The Refiner's Fire to ask our opinion on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12, which supposedly show that women have subordinate roles in church:

Bottom line up front: If a woman can be an apostle like Junia, a disciple like Tabitha/Dorcas, a deacon like Phoebe, evangelists like Euodia and Syntyche, or a judge like Deborah who headed the army of ancient Israel, why can't she be a pastor or a rabbi? (See Female Prophets, etc.)

Judges 4: 4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading [a] Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

Philippians 4: 2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Luke 2: 36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

There have been many debates about what the Bible says about women teaching men, and many try to use the following Scriptures as proof that women should remain in subordinate roles:

1 Corinthians 14: 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

1 Tim. 2: 11 Let a woman learn in peace, fully submitted; 12 but I do not permit a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over him; rather, she is to remain at peace.

Although exceptions existed in antiquity, women were generally far less educated than men. Although Jewish women might have heard the teachings in the synagogue, they were not accepted as students for study under the rabbis or other Jewish teachers. There is evidence of only one woman fully trained as a rabbi in early Judaism, and most male rabbis refused to heed her. In such a context, the admonition for women to "learn in silence" (1 Tim. 2:11) might prove more striking for its emphasis on learning than for an emphasis on doing so quietly, which was considered the appropriate way for all novices to learn.

Understanding the situation addressed in the letter of 1 Timothy helps explain the instruction not to "permit a woman to teach" (1 Tim. 2:12). Men rarely respected and still less often promoted women's leadership. Minority sects like Christianity were sometimes accused of subverting the traditional Roman social order, which supported male dominance. If female authority was allowed in the church, opposition may have increased against the small Christian community.

First Timothy 2:11–15 does not teach that women cannot exercise their spiritual gifts when the body meets. We know that women can, and are to do so (Acts 2:17; 1 Cor. 12:7; 14:26). Instead, the passage has a more narrow focus on the role of a ruling elder. To "teach" (1 Tim. 2:12), as defined "with authority" is an elder's function. This particular function in the body of Christ ­ and only this function! ­ is reserved for men.

More significant was the local situation in the church. False teachers had apparently found support in homes headed by widows (1 Tim. 1:6, 7; 5:13–15). False teaching was apparently still a problem for "gullible women" when the letter of 2 Timothy was written (2 Tim. 3:6-7). So the instructions for a woman to "learn" but not to "teach" was aimed at keeping the women, who in this congregation had proved particularly susceptible to false teaching, from spreading it.

Paul, therefore, says, "I do not permit a woman to be a teacher." The context here has to do with church order, and the position of the man and woman in the church worship and work. The kind of teacher Paul has in mind is spoken of in Acts 13:1, I Corinthians 12:28, 29, and Ephesians 4:11 - God-called, and God-equipped teachers recognized by the Church as those having authority in the Church in matters of doctrine and interpretation. This prohibition of a woman to be a teacher, does not include the teaching of classes at the pastor's request, or children in a Sunday School, for instance, but does prohibit the woman from being a church elder.

How important that today we, like Paul, affirm believing women and lift them up to become full participants as partners in our homes, and as ministering persons in Christ's church!

Put another way:

1 Tim. 2: 12 but I do not permit a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over him; rather, she is to remain at peace.

When we look at the grammatical notation for "to teach" we find that it's a present infinitive which means that it speaks of a continuous or repeated action. So what Paul said to Timothy was that a woman was not to continuously teach a man, which would be seen as not being submissive (when looking at this verse in context), because if she was always teaching the man, he'd never have time to teach her.

At the same time, because the grammatical notation is a present infinitive, it would show that Paul did not say that a woman could not teach a man at all. So from a Scriptural standpoint women are allowed to teach men, just not continuously. Priscilla is seen in Scripture helping her husband teach Apollos the way of God more perfectly (Acts 18:24-26) and yes, even as we see in Scripture, there sometimes are exceptions to this as seen in Deborah (Judges 4 and 5), when there were no men spiritual enough to do the job - but not very often.

In conclusion, we know that women are allowed to teach other women and children (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15; Titus 2:3-5) and that it is permissible for women to teach men, though it is not to be a continuous ministry. Sometimes God does raise up a woman to fill in a gap where men weren't standing to fulfill His good purpose.

Consider also the following:

• In Paul's letter to the Galatians, Paul had said that in Christ, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one." (Galatians 3:28) For more details, see also Galatians 3:28 at The BibleTexts.com Bible Commentary.
  
  
• In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he refers to women praying and proclaiming God's message in public worship. (1 Corinthians 11:5, see TEV)
  
  
• In Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus (Romans, chapter 16), he recognized and introduced the woman Phoebe as not only a "deacon" (not a deaconess) but also the president of the Christian church in Cenchreae. (Romans 16:1,2) For more details on this, see BibleTexts.com's "The role of women in the Christian churches of Paul's day".
  
  
• In the same letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul refers to the woman Prisca and her husband Aquila as his coworkers, who also host the church at their house. (Romans 16:3-5) Earlier when he was in Ephesus writing his letters to the church in Corinth, he also had referred to the church in Ephesus as being in the home of Prisca and Aquila. (1 Corinthians 16:19)
  
  
• In the same letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul also addressed the woman Junia and her husband Andronicus as apostles - even as "prominent among the apostles." (Romans 16:7)

Later Greek texts of the Western Text lineage display clear anti-women biases in modifications that were made. For more details, see BibleTexts.com's "The influence on the Textus Receptus and the KJV of the Western Text's 'anti-feminist bias'" and BibleTexts.com's "'Women should be silent in the churches' - Did Paul really write this?"