The Evangelical Burqa - Part 7

What does Paul mean when he says women must not teach and exercise authority over a man? Consider what is being implied by how this is applied today.

NOTE to Reader: My apologies for the one-month span between Part 6 and this Part 7. The Christmas season is rather demanding on a pastor. Today, I am continuing to release portions of my work addressing the legitimacy or illegitimacy of women involved in local church ministry and beyond. I will assemble a complete version of this in book form in the coming months. You can go back and read the other parts here on my Substack, Small Town Pastor.

WHAT IS “EXERCISING AUTHORITY OVER A MAN?”

This question about “exercising authority” is where I began to get more clarity on this whole issue. First, let me attempt to paraphrase this verse as seems consistent with the contemporary interpretation and application of this verse: “Women must remain silent in Church services or similar gatherings, and are never allowed to teach or preach from the Bible when men are present. The reasoning here is that when a woman does so, she is exercising authority over the men who are present.”

Many Evangelical pastors, teachers, and denominational leaders spout such warnings about women preaching or teaching as if, simply by expounding on some of the wonderful truths in Scripture in front of men, the woman has hijacked a man’s role and, in so doing, she has attained some form of authoritative spiritual dominion over the men in the audience.

Even if my above interpretation is not exactly how these evangelicals view this verse, it is how they apply it.

REALITY CHECK

I have struggled with this interpretation (or at least the implication) about women teaching or preaching from the Bible because of what I see as an apparent fallacy. That fallacy is the suggestion that a woman gains (or takes) spiritual authority over others through biblical oratory.

I have taught the Word of God through hundreds of sermons and Bible studies for over forty years, and yet I have never been able to “exercise authority” over anyone. Every pastor, teacher, and elder would have to admit that their simple, yet consistent act of teaching Scripture has not granted them any authority over those who were in the audience. The proof of how powerless male preachers and teachers are in “exercising authority” over a congregation is plain in how easily people hop from Church to Church whenever they choose.

This same scenario is endemic to the American Church. If someone gets offended, feels excluded, wants better programs, or does not like some of the teachings from the pulpit, they get up and find another Church. Where is this “authority” of the preaching and teaching male pastor over congregants, as these religious leaders allege (when a woman preaches or teaches with men present)? If I, as a man, could not gain any form of controlling spiritual authority over others by preaching and teaching them, then how could a woman do so?

One could refer to the end of the book of Hebrews, where the writer commands the Jewish believers to “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you” (13:17 NIV84, emphasis added). However, the only authority held by these leaders is that which is willingly granted to them by their hearers, not unconsciously infused within them by the leader’s teaching of Scripture.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is: if men do not attain the ability to exercise spiritual authority over their listeners by their act of teaching truths from the Word of God, then women do not “exercise authority” over men when they do the same. How is this not self-evident?

• More to come, and I hope to finish this by May of this year.

• © by Timothy B. White, Small Town Pastor, All Rights Reserved, January, 12, 2026