The so-called “Traditional View” of women in the church is nothing but a theological straitjacket tailored by patriarchs for their own comfort. It’s not divine. It’s not holy. It’s not even consistent. It’s a rigged doctrine propped up by a handful of carefully selected verses, yanked out of their dusty tombs and weaponized like sacred brass knuckles to keep women quiet, compliant, and out of the damn spotlight.
Let’s stop pretending it’s subtle. It’s not. The verses they lean on don’t whisper—they bark. And what do they bark? Submission. Silence. Second-class humanity.
Take 1 Timothy 2:11–14, the golden ticket for every misogynist in a clergy robe. “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.” Not a suggestion. Not a metaphor. A command. And it just gets dumber from there: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man.” Why? Because Adam was made first, and Eve got tricked. That’s the whole rationale. A cosmic game of first come, first served and she believed a talking snake, so now every woman forever has to sit down and shut up. Brilliant theology. Totally unhinged, but brilliant if you're trying to justify a gender hierarchy with ancient campfire stories.
Then there's 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, another hammer from the arsenal. “Women should remain silent in the churches... it is disgraceful for a woman to speak.” Disgraceful. Let that sink in. Not wrong. Not inappropriate. Disgraceful. And if a woman dares to have a question? Too bad. She’s supposed to ask her husband at home. Because clearly, men are the divine gatekeepers of all sacred knowledge. These verses aren’t vague. They’re explicit, cold, and drenched in the rot of patriarchy pretending to be piety.
This is the bedrock of their doctrine. Not love. Not truth. Just ancient, male-centric control mechanisms baked into “Holy Scripture” and served up as the divine will of God. But if you dare to dig deeper—and I mean actually read the damn thing—you’ll find something even more disgraceful to their worldview: women leading, preaching, teaching, correcting men, and getting called apostles.
Let’s Burn Their Fortress to the Ground
Start with Phoebe. Romans 16:1–2. Paul doesn’t call her a helper, a handmaid, or a glorified usher. He calls her diakonos—the same word used for male ministers. A deacon. A leader. Not only that, but she was the one entrusted to carry Paul’s letter to the Roman church. That means she read it aloud and explained it. In other words, she taught the early church the very words of Paul that would later be twisted to silence women like her. Irony is dead.
Then we meet Priscilla, the theological powerhouse. Acts 18:26 shows her and her husband teaching Apollos, a charismatic preacher, correcting his theology. That’s not some “behind the scenes” whisper. That’s a woman taking an educated man of God aside and giving him a doctrinal upgrade. And Paul himself, in multiple places, lists her name first—before her husband. In a time where men were always named first unless something major was happening, this is a glaring signal. Priscilla wasn’t just present. She was respected.
And let’s talk about Junia, the apostle they tried to erase. Romans 16:7. Paul calls her “outstanding among the apostles.” Apostles. Not followers. Not assistants. Apostles. But somewhere along the line, Junia became “Junias”—a conveniently male name invented by translators who just couldn’t stomach a woman holding that much authority. The original Greek exposes the fraud: Junia was a woman. An apostle. A leader. And their revisionist history crumbles under the weight of the truth.
And then there’s Mary Magdalene, the woman the Church tried to reduce to a footnote, a harlot, a misunderstood groupie—anything but what she actually was: the first preacher of the resurrection. Let’s talk scripture. John 20:17–18 lays it bare. Jesus says to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them…” Tell them what? “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” That’s not a cute little message. That’s the climax of the gospel. That is the sermon.
And what does verse 18 say? “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’” Congratulations, boys. Your entire religion was jumpstarted by the testimony of a woman.
While Peter was still wiping sleep from his eyes and Thomas was off somewhere sharpening his doubt, Mary was preaching the resurrection. She wasn’t told to sit down. She wasn’t told to wait for a man to do it. She was given the task directly by Jesus himself. The first Christian message—the one about a risen Christ—was delivered not in a synagogue, not by a priest, but by a woman standing outside a tomb. And that, my friends, is the stone the builders rejected.
What They Preach Is Not Truth—It’s Tactic
The “Traditional View” isn’t theology. It’s a tactic. A deliberate strategy of selective reading, sustained ignorance, and misogynistic comfort. It’s the same two or three verses on repeat, cherry-picked to uphold a power structure that’s terrified of letting women speak. And why? Because when women do speak, the contradictions come flooding out. The truth shines through. And their whole paper-mache pulpit starts to smolder.
They say the Bible is clear. They’re right—but only about the intentions of the men who compiled, edited, and weaponized it. The contradictions are there. The erasures are documented. The hypocrisy is loud. And the only way to keep the “Traditional View” alive is to keep women in the pews and out of the pulpit.
This isn’t about scripture. It’s about control.
And they know it.
Further Reading (for those who dare):
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Paul and Gender – Cynthia Long Westfall
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The Rise of Christianity – Rodney Stark
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Reclaiming Her Story – Jon K. Newton
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Beyond Sex Roles – Gilbert Bilezikian
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Women in the Earliest Churches – Ben Witherington III
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