Time Stamp Video Map: 0:00 - Intro & Overview 1. 3:00 What egalitarians claims about women leaders 2. 7:18 Was Nympha an overseer? 3. 13:47 Were homeowners overseers? 4. 26:22 Were Euodia and Syntyche leaders? 5. 33:20 What about Priscilla? 6. 59:03 What is an overseer, elder, bishop or pastor? 7. 1:00:58 Were women “elders”? 8. 1:15:16 Were letter carriers approved teachers? 9. 1:23:36 Col. 3: 16 and women teaching 10. 1:26:24 Paranoid masculinity 11. 1:29:24 What exactly is a deacon? 12. 1:36:04 Was Phoebe a deacon? 13. 1:41:04 Egalitarian overreach on deacons. 14. 1:53:16 1 Tim. 3, deacons’ wives or deaconesses?

Anyone else blown away that Pastor Mike pretty much does an exhaustive research presentation like every week or two?? My husband and I are so grateful for this series and everything you do to help us all think more biblically about everything. We are praying for you!!

Pastor Mike at the end: ‘I hope this is a blessing to you’ I’ve been a Christian for 25 years and I study the Scriptures daily but the INCREDIBLE amount of work you put into these teachings puts me on warp speed to learn complex topics. You’re helping us dude…a lot. Say thanks to the better half and the 🐈 s for letting us borrow you brain.

Thank you for doing this study!!! It’s extremely helpful. I think about the many many hours you spent on this and I’m so grateful to have someone that can devote themselves to this. Having toddlers, I think about how long this study would take me if I just used the small amount of free time I have in a day. Being able to listen to your study while I go about doing dishes and laundry is helping me grow spiritually in a difficult time of life. Thank you.

Hey Mike, I'm a pastor on the other side of the world in South Africa. This has been a really big issue for our church and we spent 2 years discussing this as elders in consultation with some interested members in our church. It has been a hugely divisive issue for us, and remains a sensitive one... But I have found your analysis so helpful. It has been deep, insightful and thoroughly biblical and I have loved it so much. Thank you so much for the amount of energy and effort you put into producing (and researching) this. I appreciate it more than I can say!

Mike, my 19 year old son shared your videos with us and we now are listening to you as a family. I very very much appreciate the exhaustive and objective research you have done on this topic. It truly has and continues to be a blessing to our family. Thank you for your faithful service to our Lord and know your gifts are being greatly used in the kingdom. Thank YOU!

You asked if this is helpful - Yes! Immensely. I am an elder that inherited a lot of extra responsibility after our lead pastor left the church to be run by the elders. This question of what role exactly should Women have in ministry has come up multiple times, so this is an invaluable resource. So very helpful and on-point to what I have been seeking, I feel like this series was almost made exclusively for me. Keep up the good work and thank you.

This series is a huge blessing and help to me. I am a woman with teaching gifts who wants to serve the Lord in accordance with Scripture. I have always leaned complimentarian but want to be able to exercise my gifts to the fullest permissible extent. Soooo appreciate the deep dive. Thank you!!>

All I can say is thank you!!! As a female growing up in the church I feel like I’ve been left on my own to sort it all out. Leaders have no trouble telling me what I can or can’t do, but as soon as you ask for the Bible verse or clarification they just hand you some random book. I too have been overly frustrated with peoples random interpretations. Sorting through reasonably ideas, and the crazy. I spent a lot of time studying myself. It’s been super fun watching. You’ve brought out things I’ve missed, as well as tied a few loose ends that I didn’t know what to do with.

Bro. Winger, you need to put these large, amazing series of yours in book form! These videos are so informative and it'd definitely be helpful for ministers and laymen for acquiring biblical understandings of various topics. Books are really cool too (:

THANK YOU! For throwing yourself on the grenade of this topic in order to save the Church from the shrapnel it creates in the Body of Christ! I am not alone in my appreciation for all the work and time necessary for a thorough, balanced, BIBLICAL teaching. God bless you, Pastor Mike!!! 🙏🏼✝️

Thank you for this. When I was born again I “felt” God called me to minister but that doesn’t mean He wanted me to be a pastor. God actually showed me that men has spiritual authority that no woman can replace and that authority is important for protecting the “flock”. Many of my friends and my husband’s “Christian” family push back on me about this but after God working on my heart for 10 years I cannot in good conscious willingly pastor over men as a woman. And it saddens me to know many churches are not upholding the Bible as the ultimate authority over their church because they want to be seen as “nice, open minded, progressive, etc.” which causes many to fall away and hurt the children growing up in the church.

I got saved in a church culture that women and men had equal roles. It was a Baptist church. As I studied the Bible I became convicted that this both preacher role wasn't biblical. I asked the women leaders about this. I wind up leaving and going to a Calvary Chapel. After moving I went to a Baptist church with complementary roles. My culture was the equality thing. Only the Bible led me away from that not influence.

Thank you for calling out the fact that women need women in church leadership. Even if we don’t call them pastors or elders - deacons, official Biblical counselors or leaders are needed roles. Fully see the complementarian view in scripture, and also this practical application of study of scripture and the heart of the word.

The church I used to attend would not even let woman teach Sunday school with children. A woman could not even help her husband teach Sunday school. The woman in this church are not even allowed to pray out loud during the service when the men pray. The woman were to have their heads covered & remain silent throughout the whole service. This was my first church after I became a born again Christian. I was a teacher & loved kids but wasn’t allowed to use my gift in Sunday School. I felt so depressed & overcome there was a real weight that just came upon me & I lost my joy. Thank you Pastor Mike for such thorough in-depth teaching of the word.

Hey Mike! I am incredibly grateful for all this work. I recently went through a break up with a woman who is a Deacon and works closely with a female head-minister. In my love for her I was unquestionably egalitarian but after she treated me rather unfairly it was very tempting for me to become extreme complimentarian in my anger. But this video series appeared at the perfect time and I am now so able to come to the scriptures to seek God's conclusion on this very difficult and personal topic. I have therefore been able to surrender all my feelings to God with so much ease and I am so very thankful that God has done this by working through you. I am greatly at peace. You are an inspiration and a treasured gift in the body of Christ! Enjoy the conference!

"What's up guys, I'm Mike Winger, and this is my 4th attempt to get hit in the face by a feminist when I go shopping." Just kidding, I really appreciate your determination to honor God and to show grace as much as possible in everything you do, not to mention your commitment to exhaustive research! Like you, I was kind of hoping to be convinced of egalitarianism, but I'm more and more sure complimentarianism is closer to Biblical teachings.

We are absolutely LOVING this series - over in England!! Ever since you mentioned over the past couple of years that you were going to do this, I have kept checking to see if it had been done. Thrilled to bits to have it now!!! I eagerly await each week (keep checking) for the next one in the series to come on here! Fantastic stuff. We find you easy to trust because you are so thorough, Mike. We love the detail, ‘leaving no stone unturned’. Love that they are such long videos! Can’t thank you enough for the time, integrity and fear of the Lord that you have in doing this. Wow…

Your whole series has been a HUGE blessing in my life and my boyfriend and I look forward to the next video in this series every time you say it will be coming up! :) I found your channel about 2 years ago when I was searching for clear teaching against Calvinistic views and had been looking forward to women in leadership/teaching roles ever since you teased it back then. Your work is LARGELY appreciated and respected :)

This is so important for us to recognize our submission to authority. This applies to all men everywhere, including women. To identify and then submit to that Biblical authority should be seen as a blessing and not as oppression. We are all under authority and this is the very appreciation and recognition that should prevent us from making the same mistake as Eve and those at the Tower of Babel. It was pride and pursuit of self that gets us into trouble. Knowing how to be submissive and humble is to be desired and appreciated for wisdom and maturity . This isn’t just about women is it about desiring and pursuing a right relationship with God. We must trust His instruction, His order, His commands and rest in His design, even when told to be submissive. We should appreciate what it is to be submissive and to be in service of someone. How can we appreciate what it is to be a servant or a slave for Christ if we are not willing to submit to others? By not accepting these rolls we seek to elevate ourselves with Christ and this should not be. In our relationship with Christ I should desire to be submissive and honored to serve under authority.

My wife and I are watching these as dinner dates. It amused me that the reason for our disrupted dinner date schedule is that you are going to be involved in a marriage conference. We greatly appreciate your efforts to find what the Bible actually says about topics and your willingness to say when you think things are ambiguous. We also appreciate that you put so much time and effort into diving deep in these videos (even if we wish that didn't prevent you from posting them every week).

This is the first time I heard that some church traditions would not allow women to teach theology. No wonder many women write or teach mainly warm fuzzy material that appeals to the emotions only. 🤔 This is the main reason I avoid Christian women writers and women’s retreats. I think it’s important for women to learn theology and then TEACH it to others, men and women, because Christians are supposed to think about our faith.

You had my laughing today... As soon as you said there was one Translation, I was saying out loud that it has to be the Passion Transformation!!! The work you are doing on this is extremely helpful, even to those of us that might disagree ever so slightly. It is an honest approach, and rebuking footnotes that support nothing helps clear the clutter.

Pastor Mike, thank you for this series, and all your other videos. You put an incredible amount of work into these videos and it doesn’t go unnoticed. I have learned so much from your teaching. Thank you for your humility, your unbiased approach, and most of all for showing us answers from scripture and in proper context. Love the work you do, but please take time to rest! We don’t want you burning out! Praying for you!

There is no way l could do all the reading & research you do, your content is a massive blessing & l really appreciate it. Please dont exhaust yourself, l want your ministry to remain sustainable as it has helped me do exactly what you intended...by helping me think more biblically about everything 👍

Hi Pastor Mike. Just wanted to answer your question at the end: yes this is definately helping and blessing my wife and I. We found you a few months ago on youtube. We work together at night (so we particularly love your longer detailed videos) and have many of your videos downloaded via youtube that we listen to with earphones while we work, and we often discuss our thoughts afterwards. You have been helping us greatly to think biblically with many of your series such as the Jesus in the Old Testament series and your Q&As and others videos. God bless you and keep 'em coming.

Thank you Mike for doing this series! This topic has always weighed heavy on my heart and very few people are willing to do so much hard work to help with this issue. Gender is pretty evidently one the most difficult and important debates in the modern world, so many struggle with it. We need more empathetic, considerate, careful, and scholarly discussions like this! Men and women being different was meant to be a blessing, let's not allow it to be a curse! :)

Thanks so much Mike. It is indeed a blessing - especially the Greek words & how they get translated. I have listened to lots of your youtube videos but today I am moved to pray for you as you continue with this study as I think it is incredibly important as many of us genuinely "seek ye first the kingdom of God" and we want to be living out God's will in our lives & in our church as part of the body. May God bless you.

Has this been a blessing to our family? Yes! It’s been a blessing for my husband and I as we carefully analyze things we’ve been taught and examples we’ve seen against the scriptures and how you expound on them. Sometimes it takes something being pointed out or clarified in order to notice it, and your zeal to teach only what the Bible really says is what keeps us coming back. Beyond that, I truly appreciate your influence on our children as they get to hear someone besides us lecture about the importance of sticking to scripture. Your videos are often a conversation piece at our dinner table. Thank you!!

As a mama of a toddler and a newborn, I am so grateful for this. You just plain don't have the reading time you used to. Thank you so much. This has been a great big question mark for so long for me.

Thanks, Brother Mike. I left my parent's church 19 years ago for different reasons but my mom and two of my sisters preached as well as several other women. I haven't seen the positives of women preachers and pastors. Now I know that it's because of disobedience to Scripture and it's a slippery slope that brings several other railroad cars with it. Sadly we are seeing the fruit of this in the SBC. Thanks again for being obedient.

Thank you Pastor Mike you were on Fire 🔥 Today! I really appreciate your time and thorough study on this. As a woman in ministry this has always plagued me.

The past 4 teaching on women in ministry have been so helpful and eye opening! Thank you so much for your diligent study. Your sisters in Christ thank you, you have no idea how much we need this!

I think people reading into the fact that Paul calls people working side by side with him in the gospel means they must have an official position or role, is a sad indication of how institutionalised we are and perhaps how our flesh wants to view things in terms of power. Do we really think Paul would only describe someone as working side by side with him in the gospel if they were of high enough 'authority'?

Thanks for this teaching. I am "worship pastor" at my church and your conclusion does help me to know that I am really more of a deacon. It assures me that the role of what I am doing is not sinful, but perhaps what the church labels it is not clear. It's a good conversation to have. Thanks for all your research!

As a lay elder who works full time in another industry, I'm so thankful for Mike's work, especially in topics like this. I frequently reference his videos as I'm preparing lessons, sermons, or simply recommending content to members of my church who want to learn more about various topics. I so appreciate his thoroughness in study and explanations, even in the very rare instances when I disagree.

Mike managed to get a jab at the Passion Translation in! Lol

Thanks Mike again for all your work on this. I would recommend these videos to anyone - I think you've done a fantastic job of giving a balanced view of the arguments. This video has challenged some ideas I had heard from scholars (and accepted because I'm not a scholar - they get paid to do this research this stuff in detail). It's very helpful (particularly on elders, this has probably changed my thinking). I think this is a very helpful study - and importantly you are doing it in a manner which is gracious and loving to those you disagree with.

Thank you for doing the work to go through these ideas carefully. I grew up in a hyper patriarchal church where many of the men did not see me as a real person- just a breeder and a temptress to be wary of. Videos like this help me reclaim my humanity without reacting to the non sense I was taught. And for those of us who grew up like this, you aren’t just talking about gender. For us, you are showing God’s goodness. It’s appreciated.

This series has been such a blessing to me so far and I can’t wait until the rest of the videos are released! I really appreciate your in-depth Scripture-based approach to tackling the huge and often divisive subject of women in ministry. I think it’s crucial that we go to the Bible as our primary source of knowledge on these matters and apply a critical thinking lens to other scholarly sources that have been produced. The amount of time and research you’ve put into studying this topic is evident and I’m so glad that you present both sides of the argument by comparing and contrasting common claims to the Bible. The transparency is so needed! As a woman who has felt called to start a women’s ministry and to take on a greater leadership role with the youth at my local church, I had really struggled with whether this was acceptable to God based on my gender and I never felt I got a clear answer from pastors on the subject. Thank you for the much-needed clarity you’ve been providing through this series! God bless you, Pastor Mike!

As a women these are hard truths. As someone who formerly worked in a church and felt my role to be minimized and subjugated by insecure male leadership, I want to read into the Bible things that aren't there. In spite of this you, Pastor Mike, are gentle and affirming in your approach. I wish that the elders in my church had been as kind and understanding in there approach to conflict. With a more life affirming attitude towards women in general many women including myself would not exit from ministry with a wounded spirit. In a perfect sinless world, men in leadership would never need correction and women would feel supprted and become coworkers in the ministry to the glory of God without a power play. We all of us need to care for each other in love in the same sacrificial way within the church body as we profess to do with non believers. So thankful for a Godly man to make difficult concepts understandable while upholding womens importance in the family of God. You are healing my past hurts with your words and the support of Biblical principles with a humane, tender loving and inclusive approach. You have my gratitude. I will carry your teaching forward in my own work in ministry while trying to honor the Biblical role I play in a difficult and sin bound world. God bless.

I’m greatful for your careful teachings of these subjects! I am starting to feel that frustration you voiced now when I am evaluating anyone making claims and supporting them with scripture. It is definitely a process to be learned and you’re helping so many of us learn that. God bless you and your ministry; people, use your resources to support this!

I caught the middle of this so I gotta go back and give it a listen. I'm hoping you see this, A BIG THANK YOU for your extensive research. Anything that has anything to do with a pridefilled spirit, I personally refuse. But your take, and humble spirit, I greatly appreciate and hold high. Thanks!

This is so extremely helpful for me. I'm a 27 year old woman dedicated to live out what God has in store for me, and using biblical teaching to inform weather or not my heart aligned with God's in what I do. This is very difficult when I don't have the knowledge to go in depth into what the obvious difference between men and women in the bible, means for me today. I want to honour God in obedience, but had no idea how to do so in relation to leadership in the church.

This study has echoed my own understanding of the pertinent scripture which I've pondered over several decades.I like the thoroughness of Mike's approach

Mike, thank you so much for this series. It is very helpful. I am an Elder in my local church and have wanted to be able to work this through thoughtfully and biblically and am finding this to be an answer to prayer. I have also been grateful for the other content that you've posted on other topics - e.g. marriage and divorce. Go well at the conference and look forward, in God's goodness, to the next one when you are able to put it out. Have a great Easter time too. Serving together!

Love you teaching us to think...think biblically... and to actually read...just if people just read well, so many of the questions are answered. I think often people just don't want to know. Thank you Pastor Mike...I am looking so forward to Hebrews as well...

Excellent, thorough teaching, as usual. Thank you Pastor Mike! I am really enjoying this series and am deeply appreciative of the way you are covering all the relevant scripture.

Pastor Mike, I wanted to thank you deeply for your work and faithfulness in bringing this in-depth study of women’s roles in the Bible. It has been so helpful for me personally. I serve as a Worship Leader and Deaconess in my church and have often wrestled with these issues. Our church’s views are very similar to your own conclusions, so far, but I have often wrestled myself with different passages of scripture because more than anything, I want to honor God through honoring and obeying His Word. This series has brought me to tears at a few point at the goodness of God. Thank you so much for digging deeply into this topic and thank you to your family who shared your time so you could prepare it. Praying for your ministry and greatly looking forward to the rest of this series. Thank you! Amanda

Great work once again Pastor Mike! This series is blessing me.

Mike this has helped me tremendously. I heard a sermon about how women should stay home and be silent in church. I was upset. I work and want to be an active member of my church but I was hesitant. I didn't want to go against God's Word.

THANK YOU for this series! I (Rachel) have largely ignored some of these scriptures that quite honestly bothered me but am now hungry to dig deep. Thank you for all your time and devotion to study the Word of God. Blessings. 💞🙏🏼

Your commitment to biblical thinking, regardless of whether or not you agree with it prior to your research is inspiring. It is incredibly difficult to maintain a consistent way of thinking and apply it with integrity. In regards to this series, I love it. I have been wrestling through some of these issues for some time and I really appreciate your careful and logical review of the arguments, evidence and biblical guidance. Thank you for your ministry.

I was raised in a stricter complimentarian church background (with some ppl going super strict), but never being told why. Now, cue me just wanting to know what's biblical and true, this video was very intriguing and gave me a lot to think about. Thank you for your careful research, Pastor Mike!

Hi Mike, I hope you see this. It's long, but please bear with me! First of all, thank you so much for this careful and thoughtful study, it's been informative and helpful for me and I'm sure it will be for countless others for years to come. It is an excellent and accessible resource that is much needed. However, I have two issues with this video: 1) I am glad that you brought up the difference between an elder (aka bishop, presbyter, overseer) in the Biblical sense and a pastor in the modern sense, but there *is* a Biblical sense of the word pastor that I wish you would have gotten into. I don't agree that we ought to use the term "pastor" to describe elders today, because that isn't how it was intended in the Biblical sense. I think calling elders "pastors" will only breed further confusion. As I understand it, Biblical pastoring is described in the same way as praying, prophesying, evangelizing, singing, etc., meaning that (again, in the Biblical sense), it's a job/task/role that virtually anyone can do, namely, it does not require appointment or recognition to do it, nor are there restrictions or qualifications on it-it is something to be done as led by the Holy Spirit, as any other Spiritual gift. As you may know, the word means "shepherd," and it is mainly used of Jesus to describe the way he cared for others. Granted, shepherding *is* something Paul expects (or at least exhorts) elders to do, but I do not believe shepherding (Biblical pastoring) is limited to elders. My opinion is that the modern use of the word pastor is unfortunate, because it is too detached from the original meaning for us to be using the same word. It causes confusion. I'm not sure whether we should return to the original use of the terms and coin new terms for the positions we have today, but I think it's very important for every believer to know first that a modern pastor ≠ a Biblical pastor, and a modern elder ≠ a Biblical elder, and second to know what the Biblical sense of the words actually mean. 2) I know you promised to make a stronger case in your next video, but it seems to me that your argument that elders must be male in *this* video is based on the fact that the description of elders in 1 Tim 3 uses masculine terms. To me, this is a weak argument, because it is not unusual for masculine terms to be used to describe both men and women. For example, not to equivocate, but to cover both senses of the word "masculine," on the grammatical level, ἄνθρωπος is a grammatically masculine word that refers to men and women. More importantly, regarding the masculine pronouns, even today we will use the word "he" when we mean someone either male or female (though that is increasingly rare). For example, I might say "a competent musician can tell you his favorite scale," even though not all musicians are male, nor would I be suggesting that by using the word "he." An expert on koine Greek and first century Greek culture could tell us if that is a fair way to interpret Paul's writing in this passage (and likewise in Titus 1). I would not go as far as to say the terms are gender-neutral-I agree that they are masculine-but I would say that the gender is incidental, not essential. Secondly, we know that we cannot take 1 Tim 3 to be a list of strict requirements, because in that case all elders and deacons must be both married and have children. Yet, Paul calls himself an elder, and is neither married nor has children. This means that 1 Tim 3 must be outlining guiding principles for appointed roles, which are based on godly character. We cannot say based on this passage alone that elders *must be* male without also saying that they *must be* married, otherwise we are not being fair with the text.

Thank you so much for doing this series! Me and my friends are definitely being encouraged by this!

This series is very helpful! Thank you so much for the time you give to it. I think this video and the first video have been my favorites so far.

Wow. @41:00 was 🔥🔥🔥. Women- we MUST have deep theology. And in order to learn it we must TALK about it- even with others outside our immediate household!

Love your videos, way helpful you're an awesome teacher. Definitely anointed for this. God bless Mike 💙🙏

Love this series- it clears up a lot of misconceptions about women in ministry

Love this series Mike! The depth is absolutely needed

I'm an elders wife and leader in our local church and the ladies in our body are very divided on these issues and this has been so helpful understanding all the points of view. I feel pretty much the same way you do according to my own study. The most bizarre part is that the men don't have any issues in this area. Thank you so much for this. 😀

Great video, Pastor Mike! As one greatly interest in how a biblical church should be run, I find this series very helpful!

Yes this is helping me. One year later. So glad you did this series. I wasn't overly interested in the actual topic but it's helping me think bionically about everything. I'm complimentaryan but didn't really know what that was till listening to you. I'm learning lots of new words.

Mike, I have studied this topic off and on for 20+ years and have found your treatment on the subject the most thorough, thoughtful, and balanced of all that I have seen. It is as if the two sides of this debate don't really debate, but talk past each other, to prove their own stance rather than stand back and let the Bible speak for itself. This is what I have come to appreciate about your teaching. You let the Bible say what it says and rarely allow your own preconceptions to have the final say. I thank you for your very gracious manner of expressing the various views and your careful handling of Scripture. May God continue to bless you.

Awesome job with this. I am reminded of the wife of an appointed elder being in my opinion the best teacher in a rotating group of teachers of an adult sunday school. She didnt assume an authority over us yet I preferred her teaching talents over all the other teachers which were men.

Mike, I find your argument for women deacons to be very strange. It seems like we’ve glossed over 1 Timothy 3:12 here. In the ESV it says “Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.” I’m sure it’s pretty obvious at this point that a woman cannot be “the husband of one wife”. I’ll even grant that Phoebe is in the biblical office of Deacon, just for the sake of argument, but what this likely means in context is that Paul is following the Old Testament rule of having a general principle which is to be followed, and then making room for exceptions, similar to the comments of Jesus on divorce and remarriage that you discussed. Most of the egalitarian arguments seem to be focusing on passages that are unclear at best, when we have clear and direct teaching in 1 Timothy. Should we not be using the clear teaching to interpret unclear passages, especially when we need to be distinguishing between descriptive and prescriptive text? I assume you’ll likely be addressing this later, and I think this might be first time I’ve ever disagreed with your interpretation of something, Mike. No hard feelings, of course. I consider this a family matter discussed respectfully between brothers in Christ. I so appreciate your ministry, Mike. Your ministry has been one of the greatest blessings for which a believer who is learning to think biblically could ever ask.

I appreciate that you prioritise scripture above tradition, scholarship, and cultural pressure, when considering how we ought to think about these issues. I don’t think these videos are too long, as complicated topics deserve time to unpack and understand.

Thank you, Mike, for your very careful explanations. I greatly appreciate the work and time you put into this teaching. As a woman who has always felt like a teacher, and much more so after being saved, I've really struggled with my seeming contradictory belief that only men should be pastoring. It's an unpopular view for women to have, but I never saw any support for women pastors in the Word. Sometimes I wish these things were not true...it seems it would be so much easier to find my role. But our job is not to do what's easy or popular, but rather to do as God instructs. The egalitarian view is impossible to accept, and I can finally lay the issue to rest in my mind. If we look at the Word in its context, and accept that we can find God's will in it even if it disagrees with our preferences, we have a better chance of knowing truth rather than the error that pleases us. May you be richly blessed, and continue to help us rightly divide the Word of Truth.

Thank you for another addition to this excellent study series! This IS helpful and much needed for us all in the Church. Thank you Mike! From what I'm learning about these two views, I would say I certainly fall more in the complimentarian standing. And I've noticed that it seems the egalitarian view tends to heavily reach and scavenge for scripture and translations and commentary that will support its presumptions of the scripture, meanwhile the complimentarian view tends to try too staunchly to avoid women having authority over men to the point that it tends to bar women from even properly equal roles and activity in the Church. It's nuanced but it seems that all of these topics around women in ministry call for us to think biblically and really consider what the text is actually saying, and to seek for the right working unity and harmony and submission to one another in the right roles and standings that are healthy for the church to operate as a unified family above all else.

I have always been complimentarian, just based on upbringing and my own study of scripture. I went to Asbury Theological Seminary (which I would highly recommend). I was always unconvinced by the egalitarian arguments presented (Dr. Keener and Dr Witherington for example), but wanted to really do a detailed study to see where I came down. This series has been immensely helpful in really putting words and cohesion to many of my issues with the egalitarian arguments.

Thank you for your series of Women in Ministry; it has been a blessing!

Pastor Mike, I have only watched the first three videos of this series on women in their entirety (not to mention two of your videos on Calvinism) and I must say that I am thoroughly impressed with your extremely fair and balanced treatment of the issue, your respect toward all of the parties involved in the debate, and the fact that you never seem to attack anyone's character or suggest his ulterior motives, but always retain your indignation for the misinterpretation and misapplication of Scripture alone. You are a champion. I come from a contemporary charismatic background in a bilingual Church where a man pastored half the church in one language and his wife pastored the other half in the other language (albeit under her husband's General oversight). As I spoke both languages, I was involved equally in both congregations. I was involved in visitation and in leading the music. Curiously, at that time, I saw myself in agreement with every doctrine in that church except for the issue of the leadership, the teaching, and the pastoring of a woman over men (including young men). I was a brand-new believer with no particular religious background, no predjudice, I had no one to steer me one way or the other on this issue (other than some mildly-egalitarian preaching on occasion, but not even much), and I had no ax to grind, either. I simply saw one thing in the Bible in my private readings, and another thing in practice, in my own church, when it came to this one issue alone. I got along with everybody and was happy to have this church as a home and knew that everybody at this church cared about me, including the pastor and his wife, but I still could not reconcile what I found in the Bible with what I saw in the church, but, again, only on this one issue. In fact, I saw it as a relatively small issue, as I do today, but whose violation can produce tremendous consequences throughout the world of Christiandom, by forcing culture onto the church, turning women into men and men into women, robbing boys of their manhood, denying leadership to those who are otherwise biblically qualified, and giving it to those who had promoted themselves based on cultural pressure alone. Of course, another consequence is that contemporary Bible teaching is now tainted throughout the world, with emotion based on psychology rather than on Scripture, and, all for the simple reason that we now have leaders in the pulpit with highly emotional rather than rational inclinations, that stem from their very physical nature. Coming from a person who had egalitarian inclinations at the onset of the discussion, you make arguments that are particularly convincing. In fact, I appreciate the fact that you leave the inconclusive passages inconclusive, offer possible explanations, and leave it at that. What else can a reasonable person do? It is helpful to remember that whenever Christian people find themselves joining sides on the issue of feminism, with politicians and cultural icons who support other issues that Christians do not even agree with (such as abortion, socialism, and homosexuality), the very fact that they are strange bedfellows, in itself, should make it clear from the onset, that's something is wrong, and that the issue is not necessarily whether this handful of Bible passages can be interpreted one way or another, but rather that there may be an underlying spiritual issue in the lives of these proponents, that needs to be resolved, before they can see clearly on this issue. In the case of a Christian woman writing a book on Church leadership, for example, but who was often sexually abused as a child, or physically beaten by her father countless times, or who grew up with a single mother that always spoke disparagingly of the girl's father, or of men in general, or a woman who was always told since her childhood, by her parents, since the day she was born, that her parents had always wanted a boy instead of a girl, how can she be expected to have a completely unbiased biblical worldview, untainted by increasingly-feminist secular news and culture, when she writes her book on the subject of Biblical leadership? And why was she sitting at her computer anyway, writing this book, while other members of her church were out sharing the gospel from house to house, saving people from eternal damnation, or teaching the Bible to children in the streets, or taking part in missions trips to Haiti and other poor countries, or discipling teenage girls in broken homes who had been the victims of sexual abuse themselves? Was she perhaps more concerned with getting back at God for the way that she was treated, by teaching hundreds of her readers to live lifestyles that contradict God's clear teaching? Pastor Mike, please take courage and continue the good work that you are doing, and don't let the back-sliders wear you down.

In this thoughtful, careful presentation, (much appreciated) you summarize a vast amount of background study, and some things necessarily don't get included due to time constraints. If you could, please comment on the requirement for deacons to be husbands of one wife, and how this might bear on the translation of the word for wife/woman. 1 Timothy 3:12 says (ESV) "Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well."

Bro your highlight from Titus 2 on the lack of generational teaching in the church, particularly men to men and women to women. Ive been waiting for a pastor to teach that for years! Do an episode on just that lol

This is super helpful! I really appreciate the detailed and yet concise descriptions of the arguments. Even if it is a lot to go through! It’s totally worth it.

Your work is a blessing and this series is very much appreciated. Thank you! Your ability to reason out the scriptures and to divide them accordingly is so impressive. Your commitment to accuracy, consistency and harmony are very comforting and inspiring. Your loyalty to the truth of scripture before any other man is rare and convincing. What I mean is that you are not distracted by titles but bound to truth. Thank you!!!

It has been very helpful and I thank you so much for the time and energy you’re putting into this study. I hope that at the end you’ll consider bringing your egalitarian scholar friend on to discuss some of the feedback he has on your presentation of this material. Thanks for all that you do.

Very well done, I’m curious though because it seems like you push obstructively hard against the egalitarian tendency to pluralize some of their examples like the teaching of ministers and deacons. Through out the entire video it feels like when the ambiguity leans more in favor of complimentary views, you allow those ambiguities but when the other way you seem to tend to shut it down much harder. If it happens once in scripture, how does that not allow for that thing can be happening multiple times? It just seems like you are noticeably more critical of those things for one side then the other. Thank you for taking all the time to dig deep. Appreciates you Mike

You say you hope it is a blessing. yes! As many others have testified it is, very much appreciated.It’s like having a good meal when you’ve been eating junk food.I’ve spent many years wanting to understand these things. I’ve been cautious about studying because things get crazy and you know it’s not scriptural, you can ditch a lot of books. I’ve looked to women in the church whom I’m close to for advice but it’s encouraging to have a man thoroughly researching and I get to tag along. This has been greatly needed. Thank you

Just finished this one. These are SO GOOD, brother. I know you know this is a huge issue in the church, and I've seen fallouts over this very thing. I'm so very happy that you've taken the time to do this deep dive, and I know you said this isn't the entertainment channel, but I find this to actually be very interesting.

But what about in 1 tim, when it says "deacons must be husband's of one wife"? How then could women be deacons? I don't remember you addressing how it would make sense for Paul to talk about the qualifications of men deacons, the "women" not wives, then back to men needing to be husbands?

I love this series so much! I greatly appreciate all of the work you have put into this.

I've watched many of your videos with intent to watch them all. I appreciate all of the time that it takes for you to compile all of the data for an average 2 hour video. I pray for conviction when I watch or listen to any Bible teacher/Pastor etc and I have never been convicted by anything I've heard you say. Sometimes I have even finished your thought. I believe that The Lord is with you 💯. God bless and keep spreading the Good News 🙏.

I KNEW the translation supporting Phoebe as Pauls “leader” was gonna be the Passion translation! 🤣

Amazingly well researched explanation of the roles of various women in the early church. I am still missing the explanation as to why we should see them as models for the church today. Given the total subservience of women in that society, it's surprising there are as many examples of prominent women in the early church. Most of Mike's argument seems to be, this is how it was done then, so this is how it should be done now, 2000 years later. Why? where does God say that? I feel we should look primarily to the example of Jesus. He had nothing at all to say about gender roles, or men having authority over women, but he did model some pretty shocking behaviour for the time of treating women as equal. He went out of his way to honour women, and some of them were his closest friends (though in that society they could not possibly have been one of the 12 apostles). That to me - looking at Jesus, pondering on his behaviour - is more powerful than digging into semantics about whether Phoebe was a deacon. But thank you Mike for all your detailed research, it is fascinating.

Watching over and over. I really appreciate Mike's teaching.

Loving the series! I need to go back and watch the first three videos again...God bless you and your wife.

I have loved the video series so far. There is respectfully one point of contention that I have with this video. When discussing the 1 Tim 3 qualifications for elders/overseers you mentioned how they were all male-oriented qualifications, including being the husband of one wife. However, when you were discussing 1 Timothy 3 qualifications for Deacons, you completely neglected that verse 12 says that deacons also must be “the husband of one wife”.

Hi Pastor Mike, Thank you so much for doing this series and truly taking scripture at its word and guiding us in seeing the truth of God’s intended roles! I did have a question about 1 Tim 3:12: “Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.” For overseers, you use this similar wording (V. 2,4) as grounds for overseers being masculine-one wife and managing households and children-yet the verse was not discussed when talking about deacons, and I think this verse complicates the idea that a woman could be a deacon. I completely understand your reasoning behind woman deacons, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this verse being included in deacon qualifications as well as overseer qualifications. Thank you so much for your ministry and faithful stewardship of the Word of God!

This is hugely helpful Pastor Mike!!! It’s hard to find anyone who will talk about this subject let alone from a point of view that isn’t bent on their own bias. I somewhat recently started looking into all this myself on a deeper level and it’s nice to see that I wasn’t off on my findings. As a woman in ministry this is a hard subject that needs careful handling as I don’t want to step outside of what God wants into what I want. Thanks for doing this!!

Another wonderful video - Pastor Mike breaks this all the way down. The table at the end had me LOL as he showed us when he says thorough he means it. Thank you 😊

Hey Mike. You didn't address 1 Timothy 3:12 where it says that "let deacons each be the husband of one wife". It seems to me that this implies a deacon should be a husband which is male, and I guess that a deacon should also be married? I'd like to hear your explanation of how this verse can be interpreted to still allow the word for women/wives to be women and not just wives. Also, it seems that the flow of the passage is interrupted and goes back to just talking about men which is odd. Thanks for your ministry!

Q. First I wanna say I appreciate how much work you've put in to this. Your explanation behind female deacons makes a lot of sense to me, and gave me a lot to think about. I wanted to believe it bc ot made a lot of sense. However, looking at the text, there was one huge thing I didn't see you mention much, being vs12. How do you reckon the clear distinction in the Greek, "Deacons, be of one WIFE"? The word I see there is the same one used for women/wives in v11. Again, thank you Pastor Mike for all your hard work!

My husband and I really appreciate all the work you are putting into this. Thank you.

I sent this series to my brother, so good. I’m enjoying the pace of this topic as it’s such a huge topic

“….and it’s in the Passion Translation” 👀

We had a Bible study group in our house. My father wasn’t a believer and would sit out. Mum was the hostess, but she didn’t lead the meeting. But the meeting was named after our family.

Watching your videos that are concerning women has truly changed my attitude and approach to my husband and my role as a Christian wife and my role in the church. I really had to repent, but oh it so freeing once you get the Truth! Thank you for taking all the time and energy to make the videos and being bold and having the courage to stand in the light among the darkness of false teachings. May God bless you ABUNDANTLY!!!

Thanks Mike for the teaching. I appreciate all the long hours of study you have put into this. I am learning the truth about this subject and its liberating. God bless you.