The Role of Women in Church Leadership

INTRODUCTION

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.[1] This article intends to clarify and uphold the Bible’s restrictions on the role of women in church leadership. Thus, it will focus exclusively on what women cannot do in church leadership. In addressing its subject, this article will not offer a lengthy discussion of the broader subject of the role of women in church leadership, nor of the more general subject of the role of women in church life. Such discussions would be well beyond the scope and purpose of this article.  However, a brief survey of the Biblical examples of women in leadership roles will be in order.

Two Questions

In undertaking this endeavor, it will be necessary to consider two questions. First, does the Bible place restrictions on women in church leadership? Second, if it does, how should these restrictions be understood and applied today? In answering these questions, this article will draw from a number of sources; however, the Bible shall be the ultimate and final authority.

THE BIBLICAL RECORD

Women in Leadership Roles

Does the Bible offer any examples of women in leadership roles? Certainly it does. For example, women are cited by Patricia Gundry in her work, Woman be Free! as being judges,[2] diplomats,[3] prophetesses,[4] Bible contributors,[5] church leaders[6] and businesswomen.[7] Thomas D. Lea, in his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, adds other examples such as helpers,[8] fellow workers with Paul[9] and teachers[10] to the list. Although most of the references cited by Gundry and Lea are from the Old Testament, some examples of women in leadership roles in the New Testament church are included. To this point, Gordon D. Fee in his New International Biblical Commentary 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, concludes that deaconesses “served the church in some capacity.”[11] Phoebe is also mentioned in Scripture as having served as a deaconess.[12]

Question 1: Does the Bible Place Restrictions on Women in Church Leadership?

That the Bible records instances of women having held positions of prominence, influence and leadership in the church is without question. What is in question is whether or not the Bible records instances of women having held all positions of church leadership without restriction, and whether or not the Bible specifically limits the role of women in church leadership. According to the Biblical record, there are certain positions of church leadership to which women have not been appointed and in which they have not served. Specifically, there are no instances in the Old Testament of women being appointed to or holding the office of priest. In fact, neither are there any instances in the New Testament of women being appointed to or holding the offices of elder, pastor, or teacher. Susan T. Foh, in her essay, A Male Leadership View: The Head of the Woman Is the Man, further points out that “nowhere in the New Testament is a woman specifically depicted as evangelizing or preaching.”[13] Moreover, Jesus Himself refrained from selecting women as His apostles. Indeed, Charles Caldwell Ryrie in his book, The Role of Women in the Church, notes that Christ, “limited their activity by not choosing one of them for official work.” [14] If women were intended to be elders, pastors, teachers or apostles, the absence of instances in the Biblical record of women in these specific leadership roles is curious. Why doesn’t the Bible depict women as holding the office of elder, pastor, teacher or apostle?

The Pastoral Epistles

The answer may be found in the Pastoral Epistles, in which the apostle Paul gives specific instructions to Timothy and Titus regarding the organization, structure and leadership of their respective local churches. Within these detailed instructions are a number of references to the recognized roles of women in church life. Among them are guidelines regarding the conduct of women in public worship assemblies,[15] restrictions upon their freedom to teach and upon their exercising of authority in the church,[16] qualifications for deaconesses[17] and widows,[18] and instructions for the teaching of younger women.[19] These epistles are commonly referred to as the Pastoral Epistles because they are the only New Testament epistles that were written directly to the overseers of local churches for the express purpose of regulating church life. As such, they may be regarded as unique among the New Testament epistles as they contain the most comprehensive and concise treatment of the subject of church government and structure that is found in Scripture. Key in the discussion of the topic of this article is the fact the Pastoral Epistles consistently portray the role of women in church life as subordinate to that of men, going so far as to even restrict women from teaching men or exercising authority over them. Paul writes:

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. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.[20]

HERMENEUTICS AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

Question 2: How Should These Restrictions be Understood and Applied Today?

The Biblical interpreter must take a firm position regarding the authority of Scripture before approaching the question of how to understand and apply these restrictions. There are at least three ways to view Paul’s instructions. First, Paul’s instructions may simply have been his own opinion and not an inspired command. The result of such a view is the effective denial of the authority of Scripture. Can this be an acceptable view? How can an accurate distinction be made between Paul’s opinions and the inspired commands of God? The context of the passage and any clues in the text that may indicate that Paul is merely giving his opinion must both be given consideration before such a distinction can be made. The context in which Paul writes these instructions is to combat false teaching in a local church. In offering instructions regarding the preservation of orthodox doctrine, it can hardly be said of Paul’s instructions that they were merely his own opinions. His aim is not to advance a personal preference, but rather to defend the foundations of the faith. Further, there are no clues in the text that would indicate that the instructions are Paul’s opinion. When Paul offers his own opinions on a particular subject elsewhere in Scripture, he avoids confusion by sharply contrasting his opinions with the commands of God, drawing a clear distinction between the two.[21]

Second, Paul’s instructions may be attributed to the cultural setting of the day in which he wrote. Though this view may be competently argued, it tends “to relativize the Biblical commands to women,” [22] thereby undermining the authority of Scripture. The cultural setting in which Paul wrote was considerably different from that of the secular community in which the church to which he wrote existed. Within the church, the position of women had been elevated to an almost scandalous level compared to that of the secular community. Foh notes that, “In such a world, Jesus’ treatment of women was shocking,”[23] arguing that in nearly all respects, Jesus challenged the first-century cultural stereotype that women were second class citizens.[24] There are no clues in the text to suggest that Paul was catering to the attitudes of the prevailing culture. In considering this “cultural setting” view, the perspective from which the reader approaches the text should also be given equal consideration. Foh suggests that “One must be aware of the trends and controlling ideas in one’s own culture in order to refrain from reading them into the Biblical text.”[25] She observes that “Equality is a banner held high (it is un-American to speak against equality), and it is assumed to be an indisputable theme in Scripture.”[26]

Third, Paul’s instructions may be considered a universal principal. This view is by far the most conservative of the three views and upholds the authority of Scripture as absolute. Support for this position comes from Paul’s direct appeal to historical, doctrinal truth rather than to personal preference or the prevailing cultural attitudes in the day. Historical, doctrinal truth can neither be discounted as Paul’s opinion, nor can it be dismissed as a cultural attitude relative only to his day.

A Proper View of the Restrictions

Paul’s appeal to the Biblical accounts of creation and the fall of man are illuminating. Paul supplies two reasons for restricting women from teaching or exercising authority over men. First, Paul points to the order of creation when he writes:

For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.[27]

He reasons that it is improper for women to teach or exercise authority over men because women, not men, were created for the subordinate role. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul elaborates on this theme stating:

For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”[28]

Man was created to be the aggressor and woman to be the receiver, man the leader, woman the follower, man the initiator, woman the helper. God created men and women with their respective roles in mind. For example, it is generally accepted that men are the more aggressive sex and that women are the less aggressive sex. The male organ bears evidence of this design in that it is the aggressive organ and the female organ is the receptive organ. Along this line of thinking, it may be pointed out that of the two sexes, women have been designed to bear children and men have been designed to labor outside of the home. A foundation for this view was laid when God brought the curses upon man and woman after the fall, cursing the woman in childbearing and cursing the man in field labor.[29]

Second, Paul points to the deception of the woman when he declares:

And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.[30]

Here, Paul is referring to the fall of man. Prior to the fall, the woman readily accepted her subordinate role without reservation because sin had not yet entered into the world. Since she was unaffected by pride (a sin) prior to the fall, she saw her subordinate role as part of who she was, not as a humiliating and demeaning yolk to be thrown off and despised. Though “the principle of subordination prevails everywhere, and runs up into the life of heaven itself,”[31] and, thus, should not give women cause to rebel, as Ryrie reasons, is true, the fallen nature and its attendant pride are more powerful than reason. Then the woman sinned and her nature was changed. She was tempted through pride (her first sin) when Satan said to her, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”[32]

After the fall, pride became a part of her nature. As such, she was blinded to spiritual reason, reduced to carnal reason, and motivate by vanity to rebel against her subordinate role. After the fall, in Genesis 3, God tells the woman, “Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”[39] The indication is that by the vanity through which she fell she will now desire to control her husband, and that her husband will have to struggle to maintain his leadership role. The same phrase is used in Genesis 4 when God tells Cain, who refused to offer a blood sacrifice as prescribed by God, but rather in his vanity presented to Him the work of his hands, “sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”[38] This “battle of the sexes”[33] continues to be waged today, even in the Church, where pride drives women to seek roles of teaching and authority over men, including their own husbands. In his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, J. H. Bernard asserts that “there can be no doubt that the distinction which (Paul) makes between the respective duties of men and women lies deep down in the facts of human nature.”[34] A woman’s rebellion against her subordinate role exposes her vanity and is ultimately rebellion against God.

Teaching and Authority

Teaching and authority go hand-in-hand. Neither can be extricated from the other in the context of the Body of Christ. There is no teaching without authority. Knowledge is the apprehension of truth. Wisdom is the skillful application of knowledge. The teacher imparts knowledge and/or wisdom to students lacking one, the other, or both, and authority is implied. When students, who may even be colleagues, ask questions, or express their understanding of what is being taught, they are acknowledging the authority of and giving tacit approval to the teacher. In the context of the Church, teachers are presumed to be authorized to teach by their church’s leadership, or in the case of the clergy (elders and pastors), by the consent of their congregations. Authorization is the transfer of authority. Consent is the acquiescence to authority. In daily life, we heed what we read, hear, or learn because we consider the source authoritative. Without authority, there is no teaching.

Teaching in the context of the local church leads to official positions of ministerial leadership, including the clergy. This is true for men and for women. When churches authorize people to teach the Bible, lead small groups, or even sanction them as counselors or disciplers, they promote those who appear competent or successful. When biblical restrictions are ignored, whether in the cases of men who do not meet the qualifications established in the Pastoral Epistles, or women who transgress the limitations of the Pastorals, those who do not qualify eventually become pastors and elders.

Aspiration alone is not calling, and calling always conforms to Scripture. Men and women must submit to Scripture regarding their roles in the Church. One’s aspiration to teach or pastor does not alone constitute one’s calling to do so. God does not call people, men or women, to roles in the Body of Christ to which in His Word He has limited or restricted them from serving. God’s Word is the ultimate arbiter of one’s calling to teach, lead, or pastor, and God never acts inconsistent with His Word. One may aspire to teach or lead, the local church may affirm one’s desire, but Scripture must also authorize by qualification. Aspiration + qualification + the affirmation of the biblically grounded Church = calling. If any one of these components is absent, the person is not called.

Paul’s Intention and the Nature of Man

Paul’s specific restriction of women teaching and exercising authority over men was a protection against false teaching. Not only would women teaching men undermine the authority of men in their households and in the church, it would also foster more false teaching. Paul’s emphasis on the deception of the woman indicates that women are more susceptible to false teaching than are men. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul underscores this point when her refers to those who fall prey to false teaching as “gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”[35] This is not to say that men are not susceptible to false teaching as indeed they are. Nor is it to say that women cannot comprehend true doctrine as indeed they can. But rather it is to say that women are more prone to the fallacy and that, at least in the case of the only Pauline epistles devoted almost entirely to the subject of false teaching, it is women who are singled-out for admonishment in this regard. Men on the other hand are also singled-out for admonishment, restriction and instruction throughout the Scriptures for sins that they are more prone to committing than are women.

Men and women were created ontologically equal, but emotionally, physiologically and psychologically different. Women, by their nature, are more emotional and are motivated more by their feelings. Conversely, men, by their nature, are more logical and are motivated more by their reason. On the whole, false doctrine is more easily advanced among women because false doctrine appeals to the emotions rather than to the intellect. That is not to say that women are less intelligent than men. It is just that women are motivated differently than men. Paul clearly makes his case for the restrictions on the role of women in church leadership by appealing to historical, doctrinal truth rather than to opinion or culture.

CONCLUSION

This article has fulfilled its purpose of clarifying and upholding the Bible’s restrictions on the role of women in church leadership. It has also considered and answered the two questions it posed. First, does the Bible place restrictions on women in church leadership? Second, if it does, how should these restrictions be understood and applied today?

The Bible is Clear

The Bible clearly restricts the role of women in church leadership and does so on historical, doctrinal grounds. Women may neither teach men nor exercise authority of them. These two restrictions effectively deny women access to the positions of elder, pastor and teacher and may have implications for other positions of church leadership not explored here.

The Bible Is the Final Arbiter of Truth

The Bible should be taken seriously, especially regarding issues considered so fundamental to church life as teaching and authority. If the Bible is not taken seriously, what then shall be the final arbiter of truth? Experience? Reason? Practice? Throughout the church today, the authority of Scripture is continually questioned and often attacked like a cancer that chokes its victim from within. The only antidote is trusting in the Bible as the infallible, inerrant Word of the living God.

Paul was called to be an apostle by Christ Himself and was given authority to bring His message of truth to the Gentile world.[36] Peter attests to the authority of Paul’s letters,[37] which were canonized by the church. Without Paul’s letters, the New Testament would be incomplete. In an age when science textbooks, through the development of technology and the advances in science, often become obsolete before they are published, Paul’s letters have stood the test of time. The church must unequivocally embrace the authority of Scripture, for it cannot thrive in the confusion wrought in the wake of incompetent and dishonest textual criticism.

[1] 2Tim. 3:16-17 AV (King James Version).

[2] Patricia Gundry, Woman, Be Free (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977), 91.

[3] Ibid., 93.

[4] Ibid., 97.

[5] Ibid., 99.

[6] Ibid., 101.

[7] Ibid., 103.

[8] Thomas D. Lea, The New American Commentary 1, 2 Timothy, Titus (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992), 104.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11]Gordon D. Fee, New International Biblical Commentary 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), 88.

[12] Rom. 16:1 AV.

[13] Susan T. Foh, “A Male Leadership View: The Head of the Woman Is the Man” in Women in Ministry: Four Views, eds. Bonnidell Clouse and Robert G. Clouse (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 100.

[14] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Role of Women in the Church (Chicago: Moody Press. 1970), 38.

[15] 1Tim. 2:9-15 AV.

[16] 1Tim. 2:12 AV.

[17] 1Tim. 3:11 AV.

[18] 1Tim. 5:3-16 AV.

[19] Tit. 2:3-5 AV.

[20] 1Tim. 2:12-14 NASB (The New American Standard Bible).

[21] 1Cor. 7:12, 25, 40 AV.

[22] Foh, Women in Ministry: Four Views, 70.

[23] Ibid., 77.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid., 70.

[26] Ibid.

[27] 1Tim. 2:13 NASB.

[28] 1Cor. 11:8-9 AV.

[29] Gen. 3:16-19 AV.

[30] 1Tim. 2:14 NASB.

[31] Ryrie, The Role of Women in the Church, 67.

[32] Gen. 3:4-5 NASB.

[33] Foh, Women in Ministry: Four Views, 75.

[34] J. H. Bernard, The Pastoral Epistles (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980), 48.

[35] 2Tim. 3:6 NKJV (The New King James Version).

[36] Rom.11:13, 1Tim. 2:7 NASB.

[37] 2Pet. 3:15 NASB.

[38] Gen 4:7b

[39] Gen 3:16b

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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