Can you talk about Romans 16 7? A lot of people are trying to use this verse to defend female
preachers saying Junia was a woman apostle. In Romans 16, and just to give you context,
the apostle Paul is signing off in his letter and he's giving a verbal thanks to all kinds of
different people. He's naming just, he's just name dropping all kinds of different individuals
that have helped him. And it says in verse seven, salute Antonychus and Junia, my kinsmen
and my fellow prisoners who are of note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me.
In just the simple reading of this verse, notice a couple different wordings here, my kinsmen.
That doesn't give me any kind of indication that these individuals that are mentioned here
are women whatsoever. Notice another fact says who are of note among the apostles who also were
in Christ before me. So it stands to reason that they themselves are apostles. If so, they would be
men. So I personally believe that Junia could certainly be a man, that there's no indication
from just reading the text that that's actually a woman's name.
Several names in our current culture go both ways. Even names that seem a little bit
feminine. Here's an example for me is a name like Stacy. Whenever I hear the name Stacy,
I typically think of a woman. That would be my initial reaction. But there's a lot of men named
Stacy. There's a lot of men with all kinds of different names. And so just because Junia may or
may not even be a feminine name in our current culture, personally, I don't even know because
I've never even heard someone with this name. I don't see any indication that this individual
is actually a woman. That's my personal interpretation of this verse is that Junia
is a man. But let's just for sake of the argument, let's just say Junia was a woman.
Number one, how does this verse by itself say anything about Junia preaching or being a pastor?
It doesn't, number one. Number two, there was plenty of women in the Bible who preached the
gospel. And I have nothing against women who preach the gospel. Of course, if you look at
verse three, it says, greet Priscilla and Achilla, my helpers in Christ Jesus. Now,
this is a husband and wife combination who went out and preached the gospel to all kinds
of different people. Also in verse one, I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of
the church, which is in Chantria. There's no question that Phoebe is a female. And it says
that you receive her and the Lord has become a saints and that you assist her in whatsoever
business. She had need of you for she had been a sucker of many and of myself also. So in this
particular passage, we actually have clear females. We don't even have to wonder if they're female or
not. Yet, neither of these passages illustrate for me them being a pastor or being what we would
consider the preacher of the pulpit. But why would I go to a passage that certainly doesn't even
bring, it's not talking about pastors, it's not talking about who should be preaching behind a
pulpit. It's simply saying these are just great Christians. And in fact, Phoebe was a wonderful
Christian that the Apostle Paul is wanting people to help her and her work to the Lord.
So there's nothing wrong with a woman being in the ministry in a sense, in the sense that she's
serving people, helping people, loving on people. Of course, many women ministered
unto the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry. But what we don't have is that great
sermon preached by Mary Magdalene. We don't have that great sermon preached by one of the female
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were there to minister. And of course, they spoke.
Of course, Mary Magdalene was the first person that Jesus Christ is showing himself unto and
wanting her to go out and tell the whole world about the gospel. But we don't see Mary Magdalene
being the pastor of a church. And what's clear, there's clear verses in the Bible. If you go to
1 Corinthians, chapter number 14, it's actually going to settle this dispute instantly for us.
We don't even have to wonder whether or not women should be the pastor or the main preacher of a
church. It says in verse 33, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all
churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted
unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame
for women to speak in the church. Honestly, I don't believe you could get any clearer.
This is as clear as you could possibly have of a passage to say, when the whole assemblies
gathered together and were there to be edified by the word of God, it is a man's job to get up
and be the one who preaches the Bible. The Bible makes it clear in 1 Timothy chapter 3
and Titus chapter 1, that the qualifications of a pastor is the husband of one wife. It does not
provide any provision for a woman to be the pastor. We see no women pastors in the Bible.
We see no women deacons in the Bible. We see no women evangelists in the Bible. We see no ordained
positions of authority for women in the Bible because they're just not ordained positions for
women. Now, when it comes to them being ministers, yes, everybody's supposed to be a minister. When
it comes to them evangelizing, yes, women should go out and evangelize. When it comes to preaching
the word of God, hey, let women preach the word of God to people that are lost and need to hear
the gospel. Let women preach the word of God to their children. Let women study and meditate on
the word of God. Let it be dwelling in them richly. When a woman opens her mouth, let her
open her mouth with wisdom of the scripture. I'm all for women speaking the Bible and preaching the
Bible to those who are under her authority. But the Bible does not provide a situation in which
women are to be in any kind of authority position in the church, especially not over men.
1 Timothy 2 makes that clear too. But if someone doesn't agree with what I just showed you now,
usually they're not going to be persuaded by the Bible. They need to get my first question,
which is about your authority. Who are you trusting? Your own understanding
or the word of God and the Bible? We adhere to the King James Bible as our final authority
and the King James Bible is clear that men are the only preachers.