Here's what John Calvin has to say about Deborah...
...taken from his comments on 1Timothy 2:11-13:
A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
If any one bring forward, by way of objection, Deborah (Judges 4:4) and others of the same class, of whom we read that they were at one time appointed by the command of God to govern the people, the answer is easy. Extraordinary acts done by God do not overturn the ordinary rules of government, by which he intended that we should be bound. Accordingly, if women at one time held the office of prophets and teachers, and that too when they were supernaturally called to it by the Spirit of God, He who is above all law might do this; but, being a peculiar case, this is not opposed to the constant and ordinary system of government.
Calvin's comments here just as a reminder that, although the straightforward teaching of the biblical order of the sexes done on this blog strikes some of our readers as monstrous, it's boringly normal throughout all Church history. The only way to escape the suppressive egalitarian and feminist ethos permeating the Church today is to fall in love with our fathers and mothers who are long gone, feeding from their generous hands as they lead us back to the precious truths of Scripture--back to God and His Word.
