The Ministry of Women

The question as to the place and scope for the public ministry of women is one that occupies rather a prominent place in the minds of many at the present time. Undoubtedly there have come to the front in Christian testimony many very devoted and godly women who have marked gift and ability in opening up the Scriptures, and to numbers of God's people it seems unthinkable that their ministry should be in any sense restricted. Are their minds not fully as good as those of any of their brethren? As to the ability for public utterance, are they not fully the equals of their brothers in Christ? Is it, then, true that the Word of God actually limits their testimony in a way that it does not limit those of men?

It is important that all of us realize that it is not for us to decide what our work for Christ is to be. We are told that the Holy Spirit divideth 'to every man severally as He will' (1 Cor. 12:11), and that it is He who, through the written Word, has given instruction as to where and how such gifts should be used. In the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, for instance, we have very clear and definite instruction as to the use of the gift of tongues, once very prominent in the Christian church. Also, the same chapter makes clear the place of the prophet, that is, the one speaks to edification, to exhortation, and to comfort in the assembly of God.