Yes, I failed to mention that I never started on my research paper until this morning…and its due this evening at midnight. There was a bit of a miscalculation in the due date. So, for what it’s worth (keep in mind this is not a part of realapologetics.org scholarship, which is why I’m posting it on the blog), here’s the best argument against female pastors that I could come up with given the 12 hour time limit and 8 page space limit:

Does the Bible Teach that Women Can be Pastors?

The subject of female pastors and women in church/ministry leadership positions is one of the most well-known and passionately debated controversies within American evangelicalism today. Despite the emotionally-charged nature of the subject and its many misrepresentations on both sides of the debate, it will be our task to provide a concise, logical, and thought-out presentation that will be edifying for the people of God.

Summary of Position

My argument can be summarized in the following standardized form:

1. In I Timothy 2:12-15, Scripture prohibits women from teaching men and exercising authority over men – not just for the Ephesian churches Timothy was working with, but for the general church assembly of any time or location.
2. The Bible teaches that teaching and exercising authority over the entire (men and women) public church assembly is a position specific of the office of pastor/elder/overseer (not specific to deacon, prophet, etc.).
3. Women, therefore, are prohibited from being pastors/elders/overseers, although (generally) not deacons and other offices.

Premise I: In I Timothy 2:12-15, Scripture prohibits women from teaching men and exercising authority over men – not just for the Ephesian churches Timothy was working with, but for the general church assembly of any time or location.

1Ti 2:8  Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

1Ti 2:15  But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. (NASB)

1Ti 2:9  Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,

1Ti 2:10  but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.

1Ti 2:11  A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.

1Ti 2:12  But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

1Ti 2:13  For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.

1Ti 2:14  And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Many of us have knee-jerk reactions to this text.[1] Some of us might read this and think wow, Paul is so sexist, he’s so dangerously wrong,[2] or that only applied to the specific group Paul was writing to,[3] or this is the way it is; Paul is teaching transcultural doctrine.[4] Of course, each of these reactions (not to mention the countless other interpretations) assumes a particular meaning, a specific interpretation of what Paul is saying to begin with. It is therefore important to carefully examine this text with the best scholarship available.

Given that chapter 2 begins with admonitions on how to pray “everywhere,” scholars agree that the context Paul is addressing is probably public “worship,”[5] “corporate worship,”[6] or “worship and the order of the church”[7] in general. Indeed, there is no exegetical reason to limit “everywhere” in 2:8 (which is inarguably connected to 9 and therefore the text on women’s roles); Paul is in effect saying “wherever you go, it doesn’t matter, here’s what you ought to do and here’s how God’s people ought to behave.”

However, there are a number of objections to this fact by egalitarians who limit the extent or efficacy of the foundational instructions in 2:12.

Refutation of Egalitarian Interpretations of 2:12

If this text isn’t temporary, then that would mean women can’t teach at all. But we know that’s not true, because women are instructed to teach in chapter 3.

1. The grammatical construction renders the word “man” to apply to both “teaching” and “authority.”[8] Thus, Paul is literally saying “I do not allow a woman to teach a man or exercise authority over a man.” The “teaching” is specifically connected to teaching men, so the restriction is not all teaching. Indeed, Christian women are found teaching at various points in the New Testament (Acts 18:25, Titus 2:3-5, etc.).[9] Women can “partner together with their husbands to instruct other men in private situations (Acts 18:26)…teach other women (Titus 2:3-5),” and “teach young males who are not considered ‘men’ by the culture (cf. II Tim 1:5; 3:15).”[10] Although, in Scripture, women are never found teaching men in the public assembly of believers, and as I Timothy 2:12 clarifies, it is simply not proper for women to do.

The word “permit” or “allow” is in the indicative present tense, which means it should be rendered “I am not now permitting a woman to teach.” Therefore, the instruction is limited to Paul’s original audience and the church of Ephesus; women can teach men and exercise authority over men today.[11]

1. This isn’t necessarily true. Paul uses the same word, form, and tense elsewhere and it doesn’t mean a temporary instruction. For example, “I urge” in 2:1 is present indicative, but it doesn’t mean “I temporarily urge you to pray.” The same is true for Romans 12:1; Paul is not saying “I appeal temporarily to you Roman Christians to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,” (see also Eph. 4:1 and I Cor. 4:16).[12] As Doriani cleverly puts it, “does the present tense of ‘I don’t permit you to hit your brother’ suggest that the injunction is temporary?”[13] Blomberg also concludes the matter, “It is more likely that Paul’s statement ‘I do not permit…’ means ‘I continually do not permit,’ rather than ‘I am presently not permitting [but will permit at some later date].’”[14]

“Woman” can be rendered “wife,” just as “man” can be rendered “husband.” Therefore, this text doesn’t apply to women in church, but only to women in a marital relationship.[15]

1. This completely ignores context. It is out of place for Paul to insert advice for marital and family relationships in the middle of a context about church order, worship, and responding to false teachings.
2. It is true that, generally in the Greek language, “women” can be translated “wives.” Some egalitarians have gone as far as to assert that every use of gunh in this chapter is referring to “wives” and every use of anhr is referring to “husbands.” However, this is highly improbable even by egalitarian standards.[16] In short, it is clear from context of chapter 2 that the terms in 2:12 mean “woman/women” and “man/men” like in 2:9, 11, 15; 3:11, etc., so that to change “woman” to “wife” in 2:12 is highly unlikely, especially given that there are no indicators in the text (like there are in Romans 7:2, I Cor. 7:12; 7:39, Eph. 5:22, etc.). That is, Paul doesn’t say “let a married women learn quietly” or “I permit not a married woman to teach.” [17] Indeed, “if Paul had wanted to confine his prohibition in verse 12 to wives in relationship to their husbands, we would have expected him to use a definite article or possessive pronoun with man.”[18]

The women in Ephesus were teaching false teachings. Therefore, Paul is prohibiting women from teaching only false teachings.[19]

1. The text does not say that. If Paul was intending to say “false” teaching, he could (and probably would have) made that specification. It is eisegesis and not exegesis to read into verse 12 “false teaching” as opposed to “teaching” in general.
2. There are no false teachers who are female in Ephesus that we know of. I Tim. 1:19-20, II Tim. 2:17-18, and Acts 20:30 all identify male false teachers in Ephesus. Moreover, there is no clear proof of women teaching false doctrine at Ephesus anywhere.[20] Even if women taught false teachings in Ephesus, there is no reason for Paul to ban teaching from all women (after all, we know there are false teachers who are men, and Paul does not prohibit all men from teaching). Indeed, it is puzzling why Paul would think banning all women from teaching would help the church since he identifies men as the primary source of false teaching in I Timothy.

The women in Ephesus were exercising authority in a bad way. Therefore, Paul is not prohibiting all female exercise of authority over men, just the wrong way of exercising of authority.[21]

1. The text does not say that. If Paul was intending to say “bad,” “domineering,” or “usurping” authority, he could (and probably would have) made that specification. Again, grammatical construction renders the word “man” to apply to both “teaching” and “authority,”[22] and where oude “links two verbs, either both are bad in themselves or both are good themselves. It never links a negative and a positive verb. I Timothy 2:12, Paul links ‘teach’ and ‘exercise authority’ with oude. This means both are positive or both are negative. Since ‘teach’ is clearly positive, exercise authority’ must be positive too. Thus in 2:12 Paul does not forbid women to rule wickedly – by domineering or usurping authority; he forbids that they rule in general in the church.”[23] Indeed, “Paul’s grammatical structure indicates that it is not merely exercising authority over men that is prohibited but also the teaching of men by women.”[24]

Pages more could be written on the egalitarians objections to verse 2:13, but due to space limitations the exegetical work behind this text will have to end (or simply pause until the cross-examination). But having refuted the majority of egalitarian objections to I Timothy 2:12, we are left with no other option: Paul prohibits women from teaching men and exercising authority over men in the public church assembly. No egalitarian interpretations hold water.

Premise II: The Bible teaches that teaching and exercising authority over the entire (men and women) public church assembly is a position specific of the office of pastor/elder/overseer (not specific to deacon, prophet, etc.).

My position can be summed up by James Hamilton Jr.:

It is probably no coincidental that the two things [teaching and exercising authority over men] Paul says that women are not to do in I Timothy 2:12 are the two things for which elders are to be rewarded in I Timothy 5:17…The very ministries that Paul says that women are not to do, teaching and exercising authority, are the ministries for which elders are to be honored. When we combine this with the observation that when Paul describes the qualifications for the office of elder he mentions teaching and ruling and speaks only with reference to men (I Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9) – whereas with the office of deacon he addresses women who might be deacons – it seems reasonable to conclude that Paul does not expect women to serve as elders. [Titus 1:9]…is difficult to square with [the egalitarian] claim that ‘in no instance in Paul’s letters does he mention leader(s) who are to be in charge of what takes place.’[25]

Moreover,

Whereas Paul calls for an elder to be ‘apt to teach’ (I Tim. 3:2), and regularly refers to the elders serving as stewards of God’s house (I Tim. 3:5; Tit. 1:7), there are no parallel teaching and governing qualifications for deacons.[26]

Craig Blomberg also solidifies these conclusions:

Even if one denies that I Timothy 2:12 refers to elders, 3:3 explicitly links the overseer to teaching, while Titus 1:5-7 clearly equates overseers with elders.[27]

Conclusion

Therefore, women can “partner together with their husbands to instruct other men in private situations (Acts 18:26)…teach other women (Titus 2:3-5),” and “teach young males who are not considered ‘men’ by the culture (cf. II Tim 1:5; 3:15).”[28] However, women cannot function as pastors (“elders” and “overseers”) since those roles belong to an office that always requires teaching and exercising authority over men. Yes, there were women prophets in the Old and New Testament. But Scripture continually distinguishes the two gifts of teaching and prophecy, and space limits one from saying any further at this point.[29]

In conclusion, women play an irreplaceable role in ministry. But the fundamental differences between the sexes lead to different roles for each gender; Scripture identifies those roles for us in several texts. Positions of authority such as pastors and elders are required of men and not women because of the nature of man (that’s Paul’s argument in I Tim 2:13-15, but space limitations didn’t allow for a full exegesis), and Paul’s prohibition of such positions for women are because of the nature of women. Finally, there’s nothing in Scripture that suggests such a difference constitutes “inequality.”

Bibliography

Carson, DA and Douglas J. Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. Zondervan, 2005.

D. Guthrie. “The Epistles to Timothy and Titus.”The New Bible Dictionary, 3^rd ed. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1996.

Fiorenza, Elizabeth, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Biblical Egalitarian Interpretation. Boston: Beacon, 1984.

Groothuis, Rebecca and Ronald Pierce. Discovering Biblical Equality. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2005.

Grudem, Wayne and John Piper, eds. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Crossway, 2006.

Grudem, Wayne. Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2004.

Gundry, Stanley and James Beck, eds. Two Views on Women in Ministry. Zondervan, 2005.

Hamilton, James Jr. “What Women Can Do in Ministry.” Women, Ministry, and the Gospel. Intervarsity, 2007.

Keener, Craig S.. Paul, Women, and Wives. Hendrickson, 1992.

Kostenberger, Andreas.“A Complex Sentence Structure in I Timothy 2:12, in Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis. Ed. Kostenberger, Schreiner, and Baldwin.

Meadors, Gary T., ed. Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology. Zondervan, 2009.

Packer, JI and Wayne Grudem, eds. The ESV Study Bible. Crossway, 2008.

Tucker, Ruth. Women in the Maze: Questions and Answers on Biblical Equality. Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1992.

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[1] Perhaps we would be wise to heed Daniel Doriani’s advice: “To read the Bible is not to dissect a lifeless text – mere marks on a mage. As we read Scriptures, it reads us…If the Bible says something we dislike, we do not say ‘It can’t be,’ or even ‘I wonder,’ but ‘I stand corrected.’” Gary T. Meadors, ed. Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology (Zondervan, 2009), 77.

[2] See Elizabeth Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Biblical Egalitarian Interpretation (Boston: Beacon, 1984) and Luke Timothy Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy (New York: Doubleday, 2001).

[3] “This was Paul’s policy for the time being.” Ruth Tucker. Women in the Maze: Questions and Answers on Biblical Equality (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1992), 114.

[4] See Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2004).

[5] Doriani, Beyond the Bible, 108.

[6] JI Packer and Wayne Grudem, eds. The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008) 2322.

[7] D. Gurthrie. “The Epistles to Timothy and Titus.”The New Bible Dictionary, 3^rd ed. (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1996), 1189

[8] Andreas Kostenberger, “A Complex Sentence Structure in I Timothy 2:12, in Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis, ed. Kostenberger, Schreiner, and Baldwin, 84-104.

[9] Linda Beville in Two Views on Women in Ministry (Zondervan, 2005), 44.

[10] James Hamilton Jr. “What Women Can Do in Ministry.” Women, Ministry, and the Gospel (Intervarsity, 2007) 43-44.

[11] Beville, Two Views, 81.

[12] Grudem, Evangelical Feminism, 300.

[13] Doriani, Beyond the Bible, 109.

[14] Craig Blomberg in Two Views on Women in Ministry (Zondervan, 2005), 118.

[15] This is the position of Knox, Young, Hugenberger, etc.

[16] Linda Beville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority” in Rebecca Groothuis and Ronald Pierce. Discovering Biblical Equality (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2005), 208-209.

[17] See Grudem, Evangelical Feminism, 296-299 and Douglas J. Moo, “What Does it Mean Not to Teach or Have Authority Over Man?” John Piper and Wayne Grudem, eds. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Crossway, 2006), 185-187.

[18] Ibid., Moo, RBMW, 188.

[19] See Craig S. Keener. Paul, Women, and Wives (Hendrickson, 1992), 111-112.

[20] Grudem, Evangelical Feminism, 282.

[21] Ruth Tucker, Women in the Maze: Questions and Answers on Biblical Equality (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1992), 114.

[22] Andreas Kostenberger, “A Complex Sentence Structure in I Timothy 2:12, in Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis, ed. Kostenberger, Schreiner, and Baldwin, 84-104.

[23] Doriani, Beyond the Bible, 112; Moo, RBMW, 187.

[24] James Hamilton Jr. “What Women Can Do in Ministry.” Women, Ministry, and the Gospel (Intervarsity, 2007) 41-41.

[25] James Hamilton Jr. “What Women Can Do in Ministry.” Women, Ministry, and the Gospel (Intervarsity, 2007) 41-42.

[26] Ibid., 42.

[27] Blomberg in Two Views on Women in Ministry, 117.

[28] James Hamilton Jr., Women, Ministry, and the Gospel, 43-44.

[29] Although, a few texts are worth noting: Rom 12:6  Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;

Rom 12:7  if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;

1Co 12:28  And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

Eph 4:11  And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,