Deaconesses

Dr. Couch, did the early church have deaconesses?

ANSWER: The earliest of the churches followed the NT which does not call for deaconesses. The word diaconnas means servant. So there were women who did things for carrying out the ministry of the church but there were no deaconesses officially in the congregation. However around the third century some churches began to form deaconess boards, but in the west, in the Latin churches this ended around AD 441. In the Greek orthodox churches it ended around the 12th century.

The churches began to have problems with the women who wanted to lead the men. This is happening today with the liberal churches. Women are not to lead men. However in some conservative seminaries today (with some in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) they are supposedly training women “to be leaders.”

In the church Council of Orange around the fifth century they banned women from being officially deaconesses. It was not biblical nor was it working! Women who want to be elders/pastors are foolish and are stepping out of their key roles as wives and mothers. Yes, women can help around the church to help serve or clean up the church but this is not an official position. It is women who think they are “men.”And they are not! Can you believe what is happening in our military! Some women are taking our military to court because they won't let the women go into combat. Can you imagine the men who think it is ok to place women into harms way! It is now acceptable to allow the women to defend the men! It is ok to kill wives and mothers on the front lines. Women are 50% less physically capable of doing what men do. They have only 50% upper body strength and have only 50% stamina that men have. So it is a social agenda and a social argument that wishes to place them where only men are supposed to go!

Some women who are very ignorant try to use Romans 16: 1-2 to argue that there were women deaconesses in the early church are just plain wrong. The passage says that the church was to receive Phoebe “who was a servant (deaconess) of the church at Cenchrea.” But then it says she was to be received “in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.”

She was to be accepted as an ordinary “saint” or church member, not as one in a special role of a formal deaconess. She certainly did have a ministry, and she must have traveled about doing special spiritual work but this does not mean she was formally a deacon of an assembly.

Think carefully when you read a passage of Scripture! Don't read into it what is not there. Some women have a hidden ambition to rule over men and to take their positions.

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch (6/11)

Women Teachers

Dr. Couch, I see that from time to time you receive criticism from younger women about your views on women teaching men, or teaching mixed groups. I know of some very talented women teachers who are teaching men. How do you answer?

ANSWER: It does not matter what they are doing. It does not matter how much talent they have as teachers. It matters what Paul, the inspired apostle, says. 1 Timothy 2:12-15 is as clear as it can get! Women have wonderful abilities and ministries given them by the Holy Spirit but to teach over men, or to have pastoral authority, these roles are not given to women. As a principle, men are more objective than women and less emotional. This is how the Lord has constructed the differences between the sexes. In Paul's argument that women are not to "teach or exercise authority over a men." He adds the reason why. He writes "The woman (Eve) being quite deceived, fell into transgression" (1 Tim. 2:14). "Quite deceived" is one Greek word. She was REALLY deceived by Satan, the Greek text notes! Adam was simply deceived, though he was responsible for the family and the culpability was greater against him because he was the first created.

I find that a lot of younger Christian women get upset about this issue because they have been brainwashed by the culture. "No matter what the Bible says, we want it our way!" And, they do not hold the inspired Scripture with its full authority. They are not willing to do what it says—to obey its principles.

So, often I take a hit but I sleep well at night because I want to obey what God has said!

Verse 15 tells us how the woman is to be elevated by the Lord. She is "saved" or protected through child bearing, that is, by having children that gives her important responsibilities and that keeps her in check. But too, she must continue in strong faith, love, and sanctity, with self-restraint. These last values mentioned here will be greatly honored by the Lord. They are spiritual values that allow the woman even to go before the man in spirituality. We see this in women. They are more spiritual when they follow God's patterns and don't try to be men, in the affairs of the culture and in the affairs of the church. But it's hard for women to see this. And that proves Paul's point. Women are more emotional about this discussion. They do not relate objectively to what Paul is saying. They get upset quickly about what the Lord is teaching the church. This is not Dr. Couch theology. It is Pauline theology!

The great Greek scholar A. T. Robertson notes: "Paul has in mind that child-bearing, not public teaching, is the peculiar function of woman with a glory and dignity all its own." Women today do not see the greatness of pouring themselves into their children. But what a privilege in creating spiritually the next generation!

Thanks for asking.
—Dr. Mal Couch (4/11)

Women Bible Teachers

Dr. Couch, can you explain the popularity, and the seeming endorsement by pastors and churches, of women Bible teachers? They seem to have a "body wide ministry." Is there any scriptural support for this?

ANSWER: There is not a problem of women teaching women the Word of God and giving practical biblical guidelines for living the Christian walk. But to be quite frank, I sense that the women teachers that are so popular like to show off their talent. While they attract women to their ministry, I feel that they often also enjoy the fact that some men tune in and like their expositions of Scripture.

Older women have a place in teaching younger women. Paul writes that they can "encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be dishonored" (Titus 2:4-5). This ministry would set the pattern for what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:4-5). The woman can pray and prophesy, and it would be obvious that this would be with women, and not with men or in a mixed group. "Prophesying" would be teaching in this context, not foretelling of future events that are coming. In this 1 Corinthians 11 context, Paul still puts the woman teacher under the authority of the man or of her husband. She is not to operate alone in her ministry.

Paul adds, "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet ('unemotional')" (1 Tim. 2:12).

The liberal feminists try to say that the above verses are cultural and not applicable for us today, but this is not so. Looking at the passages closely we find that he is not arguing from the standpoint of culture but from the position of biblical doctrine. These verses stand as guidelines for women today. Women are more emotional and not as objective as men. God wants male leadership in the churches and not feminize the congregations.

Finally, women can teach women, and they should! We can respect this, though I think that there is a not of showmanship going on with the popular women teachers that are seen on TV today.

Thanks for asking.
—Dr. Mal Couch (2/11)

Feminine Movement

Dr. Couch, what is your view about "liberated" Evangelical women who buy into the Feminine Movement? ANSWER:  It is better to get the opinion of a well-educated Christian woman who knows her Bible, like Dr. Lacy Couch. She can't stand the fema-Nazis that are influenced by the culture. We find it funny that they want to appear so liberated but they actually are not. They go along with the crowd and throw the Bible to the wind.    It's like the kids today who want to be so liberated and uninhibited but again, they are not. They do what the crowd dictates and wear what everyone else is wearing.    Dr. Lacy Couch points out that the unsaved women, and the fema-Nazi evangelical women, are really ignorant of Scripture. They mix up the difference between VALUE and ROLES. Men and women  are loved equally by the Lord; they have the same VALUE before Him. But their ROLES are entirely different. And the dumb fema-Nazis can't seem to get that. They actually want to do what the guys do. So far it is 100% of men I talk to in the military who make it clear that the women in the military who try to be like the guys just can't make it! Behind their backs the guys just laugh. They put the gals in the motor pool to change truck tires, which they can't. So they give them the easier jobs and the gals think they are equal but again, they are not! The men just laugh behind their backs.    Statistics and biological facts make the difference. Men have 50% stronger upper-body strength, have 50% more stamina, and can run on the average 50% longer than the little girls. That's facts!     Each sex has its own ROLES. And this is the perfect plan of God. He knew what He was doing! We have concluded that the women just like to be in the company of the men. That's why they want to push the feminist agenda. Dr. Lacy Couch has had many of this kind in counseling and finds that they really have been brainwashed (but they don't think they have been!).    The prophet Isaiah blasts the feminist movement when he writes about what the tribulation will be like. He says "O My people! Their oppressors are children, and women [will] rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray" (Isa. 3:12), and, "Seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, 'We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name, takeaway our reproach'" (4:1).    By the way, there are women today who want to keep their maiden names but this last verse points out that the women have always wanted to take the names of their husbands, which has always been done until recently when the fema-Nazis took over!    If you want some books that will really open your eyes, I suggest the classic on the subject, "Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth" by Wayne Grudem (Multnomah) and a fully researched volume entitled "Co-Ed Combat" by Kingsley Browne (Sentinel). The book is endorsed by Dr. David Buss, professor of psychology, University of Texas. One endorsement read: "Praise for Kingsley Browne's Biology at Work" volume!    On the issue of the women as Pilot-esses Browne points out "on flying, the highly differentiated sexes, one can only conclude that the temperamental difference between the average fighter pilot and the average women is huge!"    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (10/10)