I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
(1 Timothy 2:8-14 ESV)
I can't think of a more difficult Biblical topic to tackle in our day then the issue of Female Pastors. Women are in leadership positions all over the general society and have been for quite some time. There have been Queens who ruled without the aid of a King; there have been C.E.O's, C.I.A. Agents, Soldiers, Professors, etc. all leadership positions in society. Because of this, most, if not all of the Mainline Churches (the largest denominations of the various Protestant sects) have ordained Females into the rosters of the Clergy for sometime now. And yet, I am a Pastor of a Church that still believes that a woman cannot be a Pastor?! And I believe that my Church is right on the issue!? Why the difference? Why the forbidding? I'll do my best to try and answer the difficult questions with as much Biblical data as God gives. To start off, let's get down to the fundamentals and work our way out from there:
1. God is Creator of all- We believe, teach and confess that God is Creator. He created the universe, the galaxies, the stars, the fish, the birds, the mammals, the people: "Male and Female He created them." As Creator and Ruler over all of His creation, He makes the rules.
2. God Has Spoken- We believe, teach and confess that God the Creator has spoken in His holy Word, the Bible. Because it is God's Word (though penned by individual human authors), we believe that this Word cannot have error, as God cannot have error. If "all Scripture is God breathed" as Paul insists in writing to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:15-16) then like His initial creation, it must be perfect.
- This is a point at which the Mainline Churches and Evangelical Churches disagree; long ago, mainliners gave up the idea of "an inerrant Bible" preferring to use the word "inspired." That sounds fine, but what that practically ended up meaning was "Sure, God wrote through these authors, but their own opinions, errors and limited thinking unfortunately got into the mix as well." But then, where does this "finding of errors" stop? What or who becomes the authority in determining what is error, and what is true? Science? Theologians? Me? You? The doctrine of inerrancy hinges on God's perfect Personage, and His claims to have written this book. As 2 Peter describes it:
"And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:19-21 ESV)
3. God's Word is Binding- So then, if the Bible is God's perfect word, what it says has ultimate authority for faith and conduct. It tells us what to believe and what to do. It does not tell us everything (for example, that vitamins are good for us), but what it does clearly speak of, we are obligated to obey whether it makes any sense to us or not.
4. God's perfect Word says- In the Church, "a woman is not permitted to teach or exercise authority over a man." So then, God is the Authority; in His authoritative Word He says women can't teach or exercise authority. Because the position in the Church where a person both teaches and exercises authority over a man is the position of Elder, we hold that a woman cannot be an Elder/Pastor (in the New Testament they are the same office). A woman can teach a class at Church to a group of men; a woman can teach and exercise authority over children and other women, but she cannot be an Elder/Pastor.The only question that remains is "Does this passage really say what it appears to be saying?" Tomorrow, I'll take that up.
As you can imagine, there are many, many objections to this point of view from both Godly people and not so Godly people. Let me list a few, and tomorrow, I'll try and answer them:
1. Isn't this just a command for that time and place? (There are indeed commands like that)
2. Isn't this sexist? Are you saying that women aren't as smart as men?
3. Are you saying women can't be leaders in the rest of society?
4. I thought Galatians 3 said that in Christ "there is neither male nor female." What gives?
I'm sure there's more I'll think of by tomorrow, but if you have any comments or feedback you'd like to share on this issue, please let me know, and I'll be happy to discuss it....
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Erick
RECEIVING FROM CHRIST....GROWING IN CHRIST....GOING WITH CHRIST...
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