Can you tell me your belief or understanding of the Bible on whether a woman can or cannot baptize someone?<\/p>\n\t
“And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence<\/em>” (I Timothy 2:12).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The problem is that baptism is done with the authority of Christ.<\/p>\n
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen<\/em>” (Matthew 28:18-20).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For a woman to baptize another woman would not be a problem. But for a woman to baptize a man would be taking on authority for the time. It is not an authority of teaching or telling someone what to do, but it is an action by authority. It would be better to find a man to do the baptism to avoid any impropriety. I would object to a woman baptizing in the presence of men because of its authoritative role and because there are men available who could do the baptism.<\/p>\n
The authority for baptism rests with Jesus. Who does the baptism isn’t important. What is important is how the baptism is done. It is more likely that another Christian will know how to properly baptize another, but when there isn’t a Christian available, then you do what you can with those available. It has to start somewhere.<\/p>\n
In the same way, in very rare instances there are times when a man desires to be baptized and all who are available are women. It would be better for a woman to baptize the man to fulfill the command of Christ than to wait. It isn’t the ideal situation, but it does have to start somewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Can you tell me your belief or understanding of the Bible on whether a woman can or cannot baptize someone? Answer: “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence” (I Timothy 2:12). The problem is that baptism is done with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,82],"class_list":["post-24405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-womens-roles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-baptize-if-there-is-no-man-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":0},"title":"Can a woman baptize if there is no man available?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need to ask you about what a person should be baptized for. I was baptized. My reasons were: for the washing of sins, to confirm my faith in Jesus, because it was a commanded, and because it's necessary for salvation. And the pastor baptized me in the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91770,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-can-perform-a-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":1},"title":"Who Can Perform a Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Samuel Matthews \"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-confession-need-to-be-taken-before-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":2},"title":"Does a confession need to be taken before baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are having a problem with words in our congregation. When you baptize someone should you say the words \"I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins?\" Or should you just immerse them and say nothing?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44531,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-was-baptized-by-a-female-priest-was-it-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":3},"title":"I was baptized by a female priest. Was it legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was baptized a year ago. Since then I've been a bit worried about something. My question might sound a bit silly, but the Bible tells us that women must keep silent in church. I was baptized by a female priest. Have I been 'officially' baptized? Am I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23716,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-proper-thing-to-say-as-you-are-baptizing-someone\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":4},"title":"What is the proper thing to say as you are baptizing someone?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I read an article that asks what does someone says before they baptize someone else. It almost answered my question but not completely. I have always been taught that it is not a proper baptism unless the proper things were said. After taking their confession and then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68100,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-qualifications-for-who-performs-baptisms\/","url_meta":{"origin":24405,"position":5},"title":"Are there qualifications for who performs baptisms?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, May I ask for further clarification? You stated, \"There is nothing in the Scriptures listing out a requirement on those doing the baptism\" in the article \"What is successionist baptism?\" My query is, when Matthew 28:19 says, \"Go and make disciples,... baptizing them..\" doesn't it imply that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}