This past Sunday something very disturbing happened in our worship service. Our song leader said that he as a man in the church was giving permission to a woman to lead a song. I was very disturbed by this because I don’t believe that a man has the authority to usurp what God has put in place as far as the woman’s role in worship. Can you please address this for me? Does a man have the authority to allow a woman to lead in the worship service and if so can you show me the scripture that allows this?<\/p>\n\t
You know the answer. Men never have been given the right to override God. To give permission to another to break a law of God is a sin. “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says<\/em>” (I Corinthians 14:34). It isn’t a popular rule, but it is the rule God gave.<\/p>\n What the song leader mistakenly believed is that as long as he gave permission, then the woman would not be usurping authority as Paul taught against in “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). The King James Version says “usurp authority,” but this translation is misleading in modern English. “A recent article (1984) by George Knight (“Authenteo<\/em> in Reference to Women”) thoroughly analyzes the occurrences of\u00a0authenteo<\/em>, and shows that in its earliest uses (First Century B.C. to Second Century A.D.) it means simply “to have authority.” “The authority in view in the documents is understood to be a positive concept and is in no way regarded as having any overtones of misuse of position or power, i.e. ‘to domineer'” (pp. 150-151). Even as late as Sixth Century A.D., this basic sense still predominated.” [The Complete Biblical Library<\/em>]. However, a second flaw is that just because he gives permission to have a woman over him, it does not imply the entire church gives permission. But the real point is that he cannot give permission where God has not.<\/p>\n What I don’t know is why you did not stand up and rebuke this brother for his sin, and if not accepted by the congregation, walk out.<\/p>\n\t Thank you for your prompt and thorough answer to my question. You are absolutely right, I did know the answer. I am meeting with the leadership this morning to air my disapproval of what was allowed to take place. Depending on the results of my meeting I may be looking for a new church home. Please keep me and my family in your prayers.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: This past Sunday something very disturbing happened in our worship service. Our song leader said that he as a man in the church was giving permission to a woman to lead a song. I was very disturbed by this because I don’t believe that a man has the authority to usurp what God has…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,82,84],"class_list":["post-35777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-womens-roles","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24215,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-sign-for-the-deaf-during-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":0},"title":"Can a woman sign for the deaf during worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand why women are not to lead singing in worship services. My question is:\u00a0 Can a woman stand before the congregation and sign for the deaf during singing?\u00a0 If she could do this, could she also sign for the preacher or for anyone else? Thank you. Answer: The\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":5067,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-woman-can-say-amen-then-why-cant-she-say-i-disagree\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":1},"title":"If a woman can say “Amen,” then why can’t she say “I disagree?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If there is such a thing as a \u201csmell\u201d test, I think the \u201cAmen\u201d at least invokes a whiff. If you accept that a woman can randomly and audibly say \u201cAmen\u201d (meaning \"I agree\" or \"I concur\"), why could she not randomly and audibly say \u201cNo!\u201d meaning \"I don\u2019t\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":5069,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-speak-out-in-response-to-a-question-or-say-amen-during-the-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":2},"title":"Can a woman speak out in response to a question or say “amen” during the worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it scriptural for a woman to speak out during a public worship service to answer a question asked by the preacher? Is it scriptural for a woman to say \"amen\" at the close of public prayers?\u00a0 I have noticed this being done lately, and I thought women were\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":9335,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-lead-prayers-at-home-when-her-husband-is-present\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":3},"title":"Can a woman lead prayers at home when her husband is present?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand why men lead prayer in public and not women (I Timothy 2:11-12; I Corinthians 14:34). But what about my wife and I praying together in private, is it wrong for her to lead us in prayer? Answer: The passage in I Corinthians 14 deals with the worship\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":2872,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-young-boys-lead-singing-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":4},"title":"Should young boys lead singing in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The congregation I am meeting at has, on the last Wednesday night of the month, a singing night. We don\u2019t have classes that night. We come together in the auditorium and sing songs, pray and someone gives a short ten-minute lesson. We let the boys get up in front\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":19809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-stay-with-a-congregation-that-pays-its-song-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":35777,"position":5},"title":"Should I stay with a congregation that pays its song leader?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I attend a small church of Christ.\u00a0We have no elders or deacons.\u00a0We\u00a0pay a man to lead singing, which obviously is wrong.\u00a0What should I do?\u00a0 Will this cause him to lose his salvation?\u00a0Will I lose mine if I continue to worship there?\u00a0He is the only one among the men capable\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\/35777","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=35777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n