Cheryl Schatz

Hi CLC,
No I do not think that Mike is saying that he believes that women are allowed to teach men. He is just saying that 1 Cor. 14 isn’t a good passage to use to disallow women to teach men. He would pick 1 Timothy 2:12 instead. Mike very much believes that for men to listen to women teach is a sin and for women to teach men is a sin. Mike does believe that evaluating prophecy is a “role” assigned to men alone as he has accepted the teaching that this is what is forbidden for women to speak in the assembly (1 Cor. 14:34, 35).

You asked a good question about what if it is a woman prophesying? He has said that women may judge other women, but he has not made it clear how they can do this without usurping this “authority” that belongs to the male alone. Then apparently it isn’t just a man’s “role” after all. It does come across as confusing and with twists and turns that really do make a Christian Talmud necessary to get all the answers to these questions if one wants to be a good complementarian. After all if the scripture is silent about these “role” rules, then how will we know what to forbid women to do?

I also believe that the overseer maintained order in the church. I also believe that overseers were like watchmen on the wall. They saw the wolves coming and they sounded the warning. Their work is to protect when harm is seen in the distance. Their job is not to lord it over the congregation nor is it their job to create another list of sins that isn’t in the bible. The Holy Spirit is capable of directing each of us without another list of sins.