Women Preachers? A Response to Perry Noble

Perry Noble’s Advocacy of Women Preachers

Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring church in South Carolina, has recently defended the idea that women should preach. You can read his defense here.

He writes in a friendly spirit and says that he wants to clarify the situation rather than argue about the matter. Such friendly discussions are important, and I hope it should prove helpful to clarify why I think Noble’s reasons fail to persuade.

Let me begin by summarizing Pastor Noble’s reasons for thinking that women can preach. First, women were commissioned by Jesus to preach that he was raised from the dead. Second, women were among those who preached on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Third, some passages in the Bible (like Deut. 25:11-12) no longer apply today. Fourth, many women had leadership positions: Deborah was a judge and spoke God’s word; Esther was a queen; Philip’s four daughters prophesied; Phoebe was a deacon; Priscilla was also clearly a leader. Fifth, it is inconsistent to allow a woman to teach Sunday School and then forbid them to preach. Sixth, we should be focusing on more important things when there are more than 3 billion people out there who don’t know Jesus. Read more