What does the Bible say about women pastors?
The question of women pastors turns on a handful of New Testament passages — 1 Timothy 2:11-12, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Titus 2:3-5, and the list of gifts in Ephesians 4 — and on what the word "pastor" actually means in Scripture. Commentators in this collection read those passages as a settled restriction on teaching and authority, while insisting just as strongly on the honoured place Scripture gives to women.
The two governing passages
Writers here treat 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 as speaking together, and they set the restriction beside a warm estimate of what women did for the Lord.
J. N. DarbyAll depends on whether it is a private meeting or a public one. It is clear they must not teach, and in the assembly keep silence, and if they have a question ask at home (1 Tim. 2:12; 1 Cor. 14:34). I believe sisters have a very honourable place in Scripture. They clung to the Lord when the disciples deserted Him; in death and resurrection they, not the apostles, are found, and in life ministering to Him; and the apostle at the end of Romans gives them the highest testimony. But the Lord never sends them out to teach or preach.
The reach of 1 Timothy 2 is argued from where Paul grounds it — not in local disorder at Ephesus, but in the order of creation.
William Kelly"I permit not a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness." This clearly is not limited to the assembly, since the apostle traces the ground of it in the constitution and natural character of woman. "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." ... An individual woman may be comparatively able and well-instructed; but under no circumstances is leave given for a woman to teach or to have dominion over a man.
What the reason is — and is not
Because the reason given is sequence in creation, commentators are careful about what the text does not say.
Leslie M. GrantThe reason given here is to be closely observed! Adam was first formed, then Eve. It is simply order in God's creation, with no question of moral superiority or inferiority involved at all, nor any question of ability. It is God's order, and any breach of it is disorder.
How far the restriction extends
Commentators differ on the outer edge of the prohibition. Most read it as covering any teaching where men are among the hearers, while leaving work among women untouched.
A. J. PollockHere the instructions are not confined to the assembly, and forbid women to teach men in religious matters. It does not hinder their speaking to their own sex, and what happy, useful work women have done in this way.
Others take the ban on teaching absolutely, without reference to the audience:
Eric TachoiresWhether there are men present or not, believing women are not allowed to teach.
What "pastor" means in the New Testament
A further point cuts underneath the debate. In Ephesians 4 the pastor is a gift given by Christ to the whole church, not a post attached to one congregation — so the office being argued over does not exist in Scripture for anyone, man or woman.
H. P. BarkerIt must be repeated here that in speaking of a pastor we are speaking of gift, not office. Gift, unlike office, is not local. ... Pastors IN churches are worth their weight in gold; pastors OF churches are men who assume to be what Christ has not made them and to fill a place of which the New Testament knows nothing. Search it from cover to cover, and you will not find the counterpart of a modern "pastor" of a church.
Gift in women, freely acknowledged
Nobody here denies that women received real spiritual gift; the question is where it is exercised. Two examples are pressed repeatedly — Priscilla, who with her husband explained the way of God to the preacher Apollos, and the four unmarried daughters of Philip who prophesied.
William KellyWomen were positively forbidden to speak in the churches. Elsewhere they were responsible to use whatever gift the Lord gave them, subject to His word. So Priscilla, no less than Aquila, takes Apollos and explains to him the word of God more accurately (Acts 18:26). And the four daughters of Philip did prophesy (Acts 21:9), but not in the assemblies.
The sphere Scripture assigns
Titus 2 gives older women a teaching commission of their own, and the writers treat it as real work, not a consolation prize.
William KellyIt was fitting from their age that they should be "teachers of that which is good." ... Aged women would have considerable opportunities. Set free from the calls of young and vigorous life, they have in old age a no less suitable sphere of usefulness. Let them see to it that they teach, with the weight that experience gives, what is upright and fitting.
Romans 16 is read the same way — Paul's commendation of Phoebe rests on service, not position.
Edwin N. CrossPhoebe was servant to the assembly in Cenchrea, yet Paul indicates that she was wealthy and shared her resources with the Lord's people. ... Her wealth did not make her proud; she gave willing and humble service in promoting the assembly's testimony. There is much in which sisters can be engaged, for the activities of the testimony are many and varied.
Summary
- Order, not rank. The ban rests on Adam being formed first — creation sequence, with no suggestion of lesser ability or worth.
- Teaching and authority. 1 Timothy 2:12 joins the two, and commentators read it as reaching beyond the meeting into any public teaching of men; some go further and take it absolutely.
- Silence in the assembly. 1 Corinthians 14:34 is read alongside it: questions are to be asked at home, not raised in the gathering.
- The office itself is missing. A pastor in Scripture is a gift from Christ to the whole church, not a settled post over one congregation — the modern role has no New Testament counterpart for anyone.
- A real sphere remains. Older women teaching younger, instruction among their own sex, Priscilla explaining Scripture privately, Phoebe's service to the assembly — Scripture gives women a place it calls honourable.