Women of the Bible

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.