50 Crucial Questions - Question 37

If a church embraces a congregational form of governance in which the congregation, and not the elders, is the highest authority under Christ and Scripture, should the women be allowed to vote?
Yes. Acts 15:22 says, “Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch.” This seems to be a biblical expression of the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; cf. Matt. 18:17). The reason we do not think this is inconsistent with 1 Timothy 2:12 is that the authority of the
church is not the same as the authority of the individuals who make up the church. When we say the congregation has authority, we do not mean that each man and each woman has that authority. Therefore, gender, as a part of individual personhood, is not significantly in view in corporate congregational decisions.