In the last century, many Christian denominations have recognized both men and women as deacons, elders, pastors, bishops, and prophetesses. But among some holdouts, and throughout much of church history, only men have held prominent positions in the church. In most churches, women are often more devoted, more willing to serve, and more possessed of a Christian character than their husbands. Our American culture values an egalitarian view of humanity–that all people are created equal, and should have an equal opportunity to pursue their calling. On what basis do we decide whether to give women equal access to church ministry?
Before stating my position, I wish to make two qualifications. First, this is not an all-or-nothing issue. Very few people would suggest a female Pope on one hand, or a total exclusion of women on the other. Much of the difficulty of the issue is the fact that some ministries are clearly open to women in the Bible, while others appear to be closed. It remains for us to determine how today's ministries relate to the biblical mandates. Second, there are conservative, Bible-believing evangelicals on both sides of this issue. While some people may simply be accomodating their views to popular opinion or tradition, I believe most are really seeking to apply Christian principles and submit to God's will for the church. But biases, cultural influence, logical missteps, and misunderstandings of the context of Scripture can lead even the most serious students of the Bible astray.
A good summary of my stance on this issue is that both men and women may serve in ministries that are non-authoritative or of derived authority, but that the Bible limits authoritative ministry to men.
To elaborate, God the Father is the head of Christ, and Christ–always doing the will of His Father–is the head of the church at large, and of every local church. As a Baptist, I do not believe God has instituted any human authority over multiple church bodies since the time of the apostles (the first century A.D.). In the biblical pattern, each local church has one or more members who exercise an authoritative ministry centered on preaching and teaching. This office is referred to in Greek as that of the poimenes (pastor, Eph. 4:11), episkopos (bishop, Titus 1:7), or presbyteros (elder, Acts 20:17). The respective terms denote care, oversight, and wise authority, but are the same office (1 Pet. 5:1-2).
The Bible gives a great deal of positive attention to women–remarkably for its time–and features godly women as prophetesses (Exod. 15:20; Judg. 4:1; 2 Kgs. 22:14; Neh. 6:14; Luke 2:36). But in His ministry, Jesus not only came as a man but chose twelve men as His most intimate companions (Mark 3:16-19). While women aided Him in His ministry (Luke 8:1-3), they were usually in the background. It is surprising, then, that His first post-resurrection appearance was to women. After Jesus' ascension, the disciples determined that Judas' replacement had to be a man (aner, Acts 1:21) who was a fellow witness of Jesus' ministry, and had additional ministers selected from among the men (aner, Acts 6:3) of the congregation. Years later, when Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders, he addressed them as men (aner, Acts 20:30). Paul's instructions in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6 also indicate eligible candidates for office to be men.
But if anything about ministry is clear from the Bible, it is that ministry is not limited to the apostles and the abiding office of pastor-elder-bishop. There were also prophets and evangelists who had a founding role in the church (Eph. 2:20; 4:11), and women were among these prophets according to Acts 1:14; 2:17; 21:9; and 1 Corinthians 11:5. The men of Acts 6 are often seen as the first deacons, and the office of deacon (Greek diakonos) is definitely open to women based on Romans 16:1. It is also evident that 1 Timothy 3:11 and 5:9 indicate an involvement of women in ministry positions. Priscilla also taught alongside her husband Aquilla on at least one occasion (Acts 18:26).
The four difficult passages that keep the debate going are 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:34-35; Galatians 3:28; and 1 Timothy 2:9-12.
In 1 Corinthians 11-14, Paul is addressing orderliness in worship. He says that women should pray or prophesy only with their heads covered, but men with theirs uncovered. The head covering evidently serves as a reminder that the woman is under the authority of a man (i.e., her husband). As with other instructions in the Corinthian letters (e.g., taking up a collection for Jerusalem, or not having meals in the church), we generally recognize this to be a culturally located teaching. Women may pray in church without veils or head coverings today, since the presence or absence of such a covering does not send the same message it did in first century Corinth. But all biblical instructions derive from eternal principles, and so it is that Paul backs up his instruction with a lesson from creation (1 Cor. 11:8-12). Man as head of the woman is part of the very fabric of creation. The wearing of head coverings may not extend beyond that time and culture, but the principle of authority it communicated certainly does.
The verses in chapter 14 instruct women not to disrupt church services with questions but to ask their husbands at home. In the context of the surrounding verses, it is evident that this is part of a solution for that specific church. Uninterpreted tongues-speaking and chaotic prophesying were the main culprits here, and the many questions that arose were only making things worse. Drawing from the model of male headship, Paul cut down on the confusion by designating someone to go to for answers–in this case, the husband.
1 Timothy 2:9-12 is actually part of a larger passage. Paul instructs men to lift up holy hands (i.e., make sincere oaths) and avoid "wrath and dissension" (2:8). He then turns to women, asking them to be attractive by virtue of their good works, rather than with extravagance. (The specifics of that extravagance–braided hair and pearls–are more examples of culturally-located applications.) He then says, "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" (2:11-12). In verses 13-14 he again roots his decision in creation. Here Paul is speaking to Timothy about how to organize the churches in Ephesus. We know from the other passages that women are not to be totally uninvolved, but it is clear that Paul would see a woman having spiritual authority over a man to be an inappropriate reversal of the created order.
Egalitarians (those who advocate equal roles for men and women) often quote Galatians 3:28 as if it nullifies anything Paul says elsewhere: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). But this verse is not speaking of church roles, but of our unity as fellow heirs of eternal life, true children of Abraham. All believers, whether male or female, apostle, pastor, or layman, have equal standing before God. But this does not do away with the concept of authority among believers. Consider, for example, Titus 2:15 ("These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority") and Hebrews 13:17 ("Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account."). If pastoral authority does not conflict with Galatians 3:28, then neither should the gender issue. Also, Paul maintains some distinctions between Jews and Gentiles (Rom. 1) and between slaves and their masters (6:5-9). Since we understand the various roles to be complementary, our view is usually called the complementarian perspective.
Even when we have sorted through the biblical material, the contemporary application is complex because our ministry positions today are not a simple division between pastors/elders and deacons. Even among Baptists (who I believe are closest to the biblical model), we have pastors, committees, deacons, Sunday school teachers, missionaries, music ministers, youth and singles ministers, sports and outreach, staff evangelists, secretaries, worship teams, drama teams, support group facilitators, etc. Some of these we ordain, some we do not; sometimes we determine whether to ordain for a ministry position based on whether the particular candidate is a man or a woman. I believe there is a way out of the confusion.
Those ministerial duties that involve spiritual authority over the congregation–being the main preacher, setting doctrine before the church body, setting the vision for the church, chief administrative duties, leading in worship and the observance of the ordinances, deciding how the church will worship–are, properly speaking, pastoral duties. One who exercises these is biblically a pastor, an elder, and a bishop, whether or not this is part of his official title. I believe God calls only men to carry out such tasks. But most of the ministry in the church is not authoritative–visiting the sick, giving personal testimony, Bible reading, ushering, taking up the offering, child care, directing music, helping friends, sharing the gospel, denominational work, being a trustee, representing the church before other churches. All church members should be involved in some ministry of this sort. Although deacons hold an official church office that has particular qualifications (1 Tim. 3), they also do not have positions of spiritual authority, and are, again, evidently open to women according to Romans 16:1.
There is a cluster of ministerial tasks somewhere in the middle where questions may arise. When a guest preacher (e.g., an evangelist, seminary student, or diaconal candidate) takes the pulpit, and Sunday school teachers instruct, the church understands that they are operating under the headship of the senior pastor. Their authority is derived from his office. For this reason, I do not see a problem with licensing a woman to preach, or with a woman leading a mixed adult Bible study group. Women sent as missionaries have long carried out many of what we would normally consider pastoral duties, but are accountable to the pastor of their home church and/or to the missions agency that supports them. As long as that church or agency holds its ministers under discipline for their teaching, this does not in any way violate biblical instruction or principles, and it takes advantage of the gifts God has provided to the members of His congregation.
The variety of intrachurch organization adds further complexity. Most of the groups in past centuries who have had women preachers also had a low view of pastoral authority; the "pastor" was essentially a layperson who preached. In highly centralized churches, the senior pastor is so dominant that all authority is obviously derived from him, so even an associate pastor could conceivably be a derived position and therefore open to women in that particular case. Denominations that have archbishops and apostles over numerous churches may make even the authority of the local pastor a derived one. On the other extreme, many old-style Baptist churches have a board of deacons that runs the church. It is there that the true authority lies, and so having women as deacons in such churches would be biblically problematic. And of course, if a church has departed from the gospel, its ministers (whether men or women) and their ministries are in trouble anyway. But such additional hurdles only arise from a lack of biblical balance in the understanding of church ministry itself.
One sticky question: should we ordain women? The real issue should be what ministries require ordination. In the churches I've been part of, official deacons and pastoral ministers are ordained and considered clergy, but Sunday school teachers, secretaries, and youth and children's workers are not; they are lay ministers. In such a system, women could biblically be ordained if chosen as deacons–but the controversy of women's ordination makes it unlikely a woman would be chosen to be a deacon. Also, some churches make themselves inconsistent by ordaining male music ministers but not ordaining female ones with the same duties. My personal preference would be to ordain all people with pastoral and derived teaching duties, as well as official deacons, regardless of the gender of the candidate, but to admit only men to those whose duties are pastorally authoritative in nature.
For more on the complementarian understanding of men and women, see the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
The writings of Mary Kassian, Bruce Ware, Tom Schreiner, Wayne Grudem, and John Piper on this and related issues are all excellent.
For a concise statement of my beliefs about ministry, see my Declaration of Faith.
