women in ministry paper

so i've been writing lots of papers this week...and this one honestly has sparked a lot of conversation. i have written a brief overview of common beliefs on women in the church. i realize that this is in no way comprehensive. thus, i would love to have some discussion on this issue. feel free to leave your comments.

In an era of feminism and political correctness, one of the questions that continues to confront the church is what to do with feminine leadership. For a long time, tension has been very hot on this subject. Pastor John Coleman, in response to the question of if a woman should be a pastor, writes, “No Female Pastors!  No!  No!  No!  Never!  Never! Never!  Does this offend you, (sic) guess who does not care about how you feel.  Get a life in God and all of your problems will dissipate.”[1] Women have reacted to such attitudes, not surprisingly, with their own beliefs and practices. Recently, the United Methodist Church, the second largest denomination in the United States, “will start a campaign to get more woman pastors to lead large churches.”[2] One camp vehemently supports women pastors, and the other fiercely denies them a voice in church. Who is right? What does the Bible have to say about this subject? In this paper, we will look at the biblical evidence concerning female church leadership. Three main views emerge, and I will argue the following: according to the order established at creation, women, as well as most men, are biblically unqualified to be elders. Although they may not be qualified for biblical eldership, women are commanded to and should be involved in nearly all areas of ministry.            The first view that some scholars subscribe to is called “traditionalism.” The basic idea of traditionalism is completely patriarchal. Women are not allowed to be pastors, teach or exercise any authority over man. This includes any form of speaking at church, such as praying or giving announcements. They should literally remain “silent,” and these people cite 1 Corinthians 14:34 for their support, which says, “The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.”^[3]

The biggest problems with a traditional view of a woman’s role in the church come from Paul’s commands given to women. The silence that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians should not be taken as absolute silence. Keener writes, “…[Paul] cannot mean complete silence, because earlier in the same letter he allowed women to pray and prophesy (1 Cor. 11:5).”[4] If one were to look at the whole of the Bible, he would see that women take roles as prophets, apostles, and “fellow workers.” They were even involved in ministry on a verbal level (Priscilla taught and Philip’s daughters prophesied). Hamilton says that women are given examples, authorizations, and commands to participate in some sort of teaching ministry.[5] Therefore, according to biblical evidence, women should not remain completely and absolutely silent.

            A second view called egalitarianism is gaining more and more strength as a reaction to traditionalism and with the feminist movement. This view holds that there are no differences between men and women. Although in the past, males were only allowed to be priests and were the only ones in leadership roles, “there is no male and female,” as Galatians 3:28 says, “for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”^[6] Another argument presented is that “…if we can accept women as prophets and other ministers, there is no reason to exclude women from the pastoral office.”[7]

            Unfortunately, the egalitarians fail in their interpretation of Galatians 3:28 and write off other commands of Paul as being culturally bound. When Paul speaks of us being “one in Christ,” he is referring to standing in salvation as opposed to a universal indicative. This verse, therefore, has nothing to do with a woman’s role in the church. Also, we cannot write off 1 Timothy 2:11-12 as being culturally bound because Paul appeals to creation order established from the beginning of humanity to support his command (verse 13). So, an egalitarian position on women in ministry must be ruled out.

            The last major view, and the one that I hold to, is called the “male leadership position,” or complementarianism – that men and women have different and complementary roles in church and life. This view recognizes the commands of Paul prohibiting women from teaching (see 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2) as applicable today. It also takes into account the fact that women in the Bible were undoubtedly involved in ministry – even in verbal ministry. In light of this, complementarians believe that women can and should be involved in ministry but not as elders or pastors.

Three main lines of argument are taken. First, Jesus’ example is worthy of noting. He chose twelve men as his apostles and leaders of his church. His apostles followed his example by continuing to appoint male leadership to the churches they established.[8] It seems logical to follow the example of Jesus in appointing only males as elders and leaders of the church.

Secondly, the idea of male headship presented in the Bible points to male eldership. It is clear from Scripture that God designed men to lead their households, and this principle should have some carry-over into the issue of church leadership. Alexander Strauch says, “Since the family is the basic social unit and the man is the established family leader, we should not be surprised that men would be the elders or fathers of the larger, local church family.”[9]

Last, and most convincing, no clear examples of women in church leadership offices are given in the New Testament. Susan Foh writes, “Obviously women had an active role in the spread of the gospel, and it included verbal help…Yet, the New Testament gives no examples of female apostles, evangelists or elders. There are no examples of women teaching in public. The primary figures in the advance of the gospel were men.”[10]

In light of the biblical evidence, it seems most appropriate to limit the eldership to only men – but we must keep in mind that not all men are qualified for eldership either. This is not a misogynistic or chauvinistic biblical concept. It is important to remember that men and women are equal in the image of God and have equal access to the Father through Christ. Moreover, women are to follow the example of Christ in this issue of male headship: Christ was subordinate to the Father as the woman is subordinate to man. This is how God has decided for his Bride to function, and we will find fulfillment and satisfaction in following all that he has commanded us. We must also realize that there are many scholars who disagree on this issue, and we should therefore approach this with humility and an open ear to the arguments of those who do not hold a similar view.

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[1] See http://www.johnecoleman.org/FemalePastor.htm

[2] See http://www.churchsolutionsmag.com/hotnews/methodists-launch-female-pastors-initiative.html

^[3]1 Corinthians 14:34

[4] James R. Beck and Craig L. Blomberg, ed. Two Views on Women in Ministry, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 50.

[5] Husbands, Mark and Timothy Larsen, ed. Women, Ministry and the Gospel: Exploring New Paradigms, (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2007), 37.

^[6] Galatians 3:28

[7] Beck and Blomberg, 46.

[8] Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership, (Littleton: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 1995), 52-54.

[9] Ibid., 58.

[10] Bonnidell Clouse and Robert G. Clouse, ed. Women in Ministry: Four Views, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 79.