A survey of Acts and related letters shows that, along with household matters, women have their roles that are equally important:
- Women suffer for Christ (Acts 8:3; 9:2; 22:4).
- Dorcas serves widows with her sewing (Acts 9:39 cf. the church’s duty in 1 Timothy 5:3, 5, 9).
- Priscilla (Prisca) and her husband Aquila take Apollos “aside” to help him learn more (Acts 18:26). Priscilla is listed first, which may reflect on her initiative and knowledge, but the setting is private. She and her husband often feature in Christianity’s advances (Acts 18:2, 18; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19).
- Women are hospitable, even hosting the church in their homes (Acts 12:12; 16:15; Colossians 4:15; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19).
- Influential women are converted to Christ (Acts 16:13-14, 40; 17:4, 34 cf. Acts 13:50).
- Mary, Euodia, Syntyche and others are co-workers with Paul (Romans 16:6, 12; Philippians 4:2).
- Older women are to teach younger women (Titus 2:3-4).
- The mother of Rufus is a mother to Paul also (Romans 16:13).
- Women accomplish many good works (1 Timothy 2:10; 5:10, 14; Titus 2:3-5).
1 Timothy and Titus share these passages about women’s roles:
So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander (1 Timothy 5:14).
[Older women] are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled (Titus 2:3).
In Titus 2:5, the New Testament Greek word for “working at home” is oikourgos which means workers at home, busy at home, keepers at home. In 1 Timothy 5:14, the Greek word for “manage” is oikodespoteo which literally means house-rule, thus, to rule a household, to keep house. (Oikos means house or household and despoteo is a verb for rule.) The wife has managerial responsibilities at home and should be allowed to fulfill her role (as compared with being micro-managed).
Does that mean the wife cannot work outside the home? Such a view says much more than these verses say. Moreover, such a view contradicts Proverbs 31:10-31. That famous passage pictures the “excellent wife.” She cares for her husband and her children by, in part, conducting successful businesses. She works in textiles, garments, trade and real estate, all while she prepares food, helps the poor, teaches with wisdom and “looks well to the ways of her household.” What is her relationship with her husband?
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life…. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. [Her husband] praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” … Let her works praise her in the gates (Proverbs 31:11-12, 28-29, 31).
Is she a good manager at home? Absolutely! Does she operate outside the home? Absolutely! Is she highly respected in the community? Absolutely! Her praises are heard even in the local court (held at the city gates). Who sits with the elders? Her husband. His role and her role complement each other for a healthy, well-supplied family.