Hello Myrtle,
To your 1st comment my thought is & point was, God himself placed a women in leadership & Paul did as well.
2ndly: I did say primary use & separated the thought with the traditional OT meaning.
I completely agree with your view on respect. And believe we can balance scripture with scripture OT (Gen 3:16 & NT 1 Cor 11:3 & Eph 5:23). Two verses later (Eph 5:25) God tells the man, not the woman, to put higher value on his wife's life then on his own. Telling me God doesn't see the woman as 2nd class or of lessor value.
Back to what you said about Deborah. Hagar was mistreated & left Abrahams house . God told her to go back. Jonah tucked & ran & God grab him & sent him to Nineveh anyway. God wanted Deborah in a leadership role. Amen
I believe the fundamental purpose of every Christian is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And anyone that gets in the way, try's to impede that. Is doing injustice, to God, themselves & the lost person that remains lost.
Finally, I personally see no problem with a women prophet, preacher, deacon, teacher. However, I still vacillate over a woman as pastor. If the Holy Spirit doesn't help be with that answer. I be sure to Ask Jesus when I soon see him. Best wishes, FD
Yes, we all need to seek to interpret all scripture as correctly as we know how to, and if we don't - it means we don't have a right relationship with God, as it shows a lack of wholeheartedness in obedience towards God. On the other hand we can't expect all sincere Christians to be able to sincerely agree on all Bible doctrines. And also none of us can hope to have as much spiritual wisdom while on earth, as compared to as when we get to heaven.
Ok here's a list of the Bible verses you mentioned - I'll start out with that in my commenting:
Gen 3:16
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
KJV
Comment: So yes, I see it to say that husbands are to "rule over their wives" - "be the boss" - "wear the pants" whatever term one might call it.
1 Cor 11:3
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
KJV
Eph 5:23
Comment: So God is the top "boss" - and below Him as "boss" is the husband, and under the husband's rule - God has placed the wife.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
KJV
Eph 5:25
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
KJV
Comment: Yes, husbands are to be wiling to love and care for their wives, just as Christ loves the church. And we are all to be willing to lay our lives down for other Christians, when and if necessary. Though yes, men are stronger than women - so are better able to protect others, as compared to women.
I got these verses on the subject from the online open bible:
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
1 John 3:16
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
I understand that Deborah, for a time, was allowed to be judge over Israel. But it has never happened again in stories of the Bible. And reading the chapter about Deborah and Barak, and taking note of how in the book of Judges, there was always just one person whom God selected to be judge in that period of history. And I've noticed how people always fell away from every time each judge God chose - died. And it was hard to find people who did well spiritually - enough to be capable of being led well by God in a leadership role. it is no surprise that a time finally came, when there wasn't even one man suitable - no not even one solitary "Noah" - to take over this time. So God allowed Deborah to take that role, due to that reason. Though God preferred that a man take that role, I believe. As I said - it is indeed, extremely rare in Bible stories - for women to have been told by God to take a leadership role. Notice how Deborah had to urge Barak to go ahead with what God had told Him to do. He should not have needed all that urging, if he'd had as good of a relationship with God as Deborah had, I believe.
True - Philip's daughters prophesied. But prophesying doesn't have to mean always - public type of preaching or teaching. Think of the woman at the well who spoke with Jesus - how she went home after that conversation and told the people of her town about her unusual conversation with Jesus. It helped to prepare them better for when Jesus finally did come to their town to preach.
And it's true that women were often not treated fairly in Bible stories. But we can be sure that God sees men and women as equal in value, and that God wants all people to be treated fairly.
Gal 3:28
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
KJV
I know that one big reason Christians often sincerely come up with different interpretations of the scriptures - is the difficult wording there is in many parts of the Bible. They are not expressed with the same clearness that modern language expresses things. So again, we are to overlook others' sincere differences of doctrine in things, as long as they agree on the important thing - the way of salvation through Jesus, according to the scriptures. As for ourselves, we are wise to daily rely on God's help in guidance in daily life and in our reading and hearing the scriptures (or preaching). God bless you!