Female Pastors & Bible Teachers

S

Sunset2009

Guest
I don't believe it is biblical for women to be pastors or teachers of the Word over men in the church. There is absolutely no biblical support for a woman pastor or elder. And as far as Phoebe the deacon goes, growing up in the church myself, the deacons (which happened to be all men) were merely servants. They helped with certain things in the church, they did not lead the congregation in any way, really. They helped with decision making, sure, but their position was not the same as the pastor or elders. Deacon does mean servant, whether man or woman. That's just what it is.

Also, another thing that is interesting to consider are the Levite priests. Specifically chosen and ordained by God. Hundreds. All men. Now, there were Levite women... why were none of them chosen by God to be priests? Because that is not a position God has called women to.

You can put a bunch of biblical women on the table. Deborah, Esther, Anna, Junia, Phoebe, all the prophetesses mentioned in the Bible, etc and that's great. But no matter how much you Google it, none of them held the position of pastor/priest or elder over the church and there is no biblical support for such a role for women.

With all that said, this is not a salvation issue.
 
Upvote 0

GQ Chris

ooey gooey is for brownies, not Bible teachers
Jan 17, 2005
21,009
1,888
Golden State
✟45,842.00
Faith
Calvinist
Marital Status
Single
I don't believe it is biblical for women to be pastors or teachers of the Word over men in the church. There is absolutely no biblical support for a woman pastor or elder. And as far as Phoebe the deacon goes, growing up in the church myself, the deacons (which happened to be all men) were merely servants. They helped with certain things in the church, they did not lead the congregation in any way, really. They helped with decision making, sure, but their position was not the same as the pastor or elders. Deacon does mean servant, whether man or woman. That's just what it is.

Also, another thing that is interesting to consider are the Levite priests. Specifically chosen and ordained by God. Hundreds. All men. Now, there were Levite women... why were none of them chosen by God to be priests? Because that is not a position God has called women to.

You can put a bunch of biblical women on the table. Deborah, Esther, Anna, Junia, Phoebe, all the prophetesses mentioned in the Bible, etc and that's great. But no matter how much you Google it, none of them held the position of pastor/priest or elder over the church and there is no biblical support for such a role for women.

:thumbsup:
 
Upvote 0

Squeakers

Cat and music lover.
Dec 21, 2007
10,237
2,069
Way in the back, off to the left.
✟70,915.00
Country
United States
Faith
Other Religion
Marital Status
Single
I don't believe it is biblical for women to be pastors or teachers of the Word over men in the church. There is absolutely no biblical support for a woman pastor or elder. And as far as Phoebe the deacon goes, growing up in the church myself, the deacons (which happened to be all men) were merely servants. They helped with certain things in the church, they did not lead the congregation in any way, really. They helped with decision making, sure, but their position was not the same as the pastor or elders. Deacon does mean servant, whether man or woman. That's just what it is.

Also, another thing that is interesting to consider are the Levite priests. Specifically chosen and ordained by God. Hundreds. All men. Now, there were Levite women... why were none of them chosen by God to be priests? Because that is not a position God has called women to.

You can put a bunch of biblical women on the table. Deborah, Esther, Anna, Junia, Phoebe, all the prophetesses mentioned in the Bible, etc and that's great. But no matter how much you Google it, none of them held the position of pastor/priest or elder over the church and there is no biblical support for such a role for women.

With all that said, this is not a salvation issue.

I agree with this.
 
Upvote 0

Sri

Member
Dec 26, 2006
460
40
✟8,326.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
everyone has a mother and you have to obey her as long as it is inline with the word of God, that is teaching. Every women I know has been a teacher. First, women should submit when necessary to a man, by this I mean they should submit in obedience to God and inorder to have a healthy relationship, it is the way God designed us because we all work as a team, no one is a star player without a team. We've got to work together, but no doubtly God doesn't want you to submit to some terriorist dictator or a psycho path pervert, God has given us discernment for that and guilt in those situations is not from God. The bible says to be at peace with everyone as long as it is with you.(Romans 12:18) That is one of my favorite verse right now. There is no room in the church for feminism. I will also say this though for clear reflection. If God gives you hands use them for his good, if he gives you legs use them for his good and walk, if he gives you a voice use it for his good. If a woman has a voice she can use it for his good. How else are muslim women going to hear the gospel since men aren't aloud to talk to them in certain parts of the world, 75% of the churches in India are made up of women many of them ministering. Tell me what you do when a pregnant woman is experiancing personal issues and wants someone to talk to with in your church about God? Or a woman who has been abused by a man comes into your church for help but only wants to talk to a women? Preaching isn't just standing in the pulpit yelling a message it is our actions and every day conversations. There is nothing in the bible that says a woman can not preach -unless she is being a distraction, not submitting to the spirit but doing things in the flesh. I don't understand why it is an issue if they are doing it orderly and under the direction of the holy spirit and not preaching heresy. People have always wondered who can do this in that even in days of old, but really in a way we are all called to use what we have been given for God's glory and if that is to preach then it isn't just a privelage or option but a commandment as well. In 1 Timothy 4:12 age was an issue for some, but then it states, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." We all have a role to play. I am not saying that a woman should be a president or the head top pastor, but if she is a woman with a word from God who is to preach his word then I believe we must respect her with that if we are to respect God. Also, if God has called and commanded her to give a message-whoa to her if she does not and I am saying that what she says lines up with the word and not her own words.The prophetess and women in the bible were called to do some pretty amazing things. God is God and let him choose whom he wants. Black, white, donkeys, rocks. It doesn't matter. Everyone and Everything will testify.



Also, you have to look at its literary and historical context. Why then did he say in vs 11:5 that women are allowed to speak. The bible is chalk full of women in ministry and that is not limited to a specific kind. Phoebe was even a deacon whom paul commended in Romanns 16:1-7,13,15. There are so many. Old and New Testament. What about Phil. 4:2-3?, 1 Tim 3:11? Titus 2:3 I Tim.5:2. Matt 28:9-10???????

1 Cor. 11:4 talks about Jewish cultural taditions that no longer exist for today. 1 Cor. 11:11-12 there is just so much historical and literary things here. You can not just read that one verse you must read it in its context which includes the verse above and after and its setting and who Paul is and what he said and did prior as well as after. for 1 Cor.14 Paul was silencing the perpetual questions of new female converts because they were a nusiance.I have so many more references. This doesn't even seem like an arguement to me. One thing I don't understand is how some churches can teach that. From a secular view Business men can't discriminate against women or they loose their job and have to go to court over it. From a Christian and secular view,Obviously, Jesus didn't discrimate against women. I can just see a law suit waiting to happen in some of these churches. It is just sad. We don't need more man made religions, people need a deliverer their savior Jesus. We don't have room for pride and selfishness. We are one body. I am a pastor. If I wasn't a pastor I would be an astronaut or an engineer. You can bet my life on that. Joan of Arc and Mother Theresa did and that is what we are called to do. Jesus wasn't even part of the levitical priest hood yet he was God in the flesh. It's like telling me I have no purpose in life, I just won't take heed to it.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Tamara224

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2006
13,285
2,396
Wyoming
✟40,734.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
Married
That may be so, but the way she sees it, you sided with all the male chauvanists.


:doh: GQ, I am perfectly capable of speaking for myself, thank you very much.

Don't try to start a fight between me and Tigress.

I don't think that all complementarians are chauvinists.
 
Upvote 0

GQ Chris

ooey gooey is for brownies, not Bible teachers
Jan 17, 2005
21,009
1,888
Golden State
✟45,842.00
Faith
Calvinist
Marital Status
Single
:doh: GQ, I am perfectly capable of speaking for myself, thank you very much.

Don't try to start a fight between me and Tigress.

I don't think that all complementarians are chauvinists.

No, not at all. Just an observation, that is all. I can take it to pm if you like.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

JohnDB

Regular Member
May 16, 2007
4,256
1,289
nashville
✟46,421.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I ain't seen a whole lot of good hermeneutics going on here so I am gonna step in for a second and try to straighten out what the bible really does say about this.


MEN SHOULD LEAD.
When men are weinies and can't/won't lead but only want to boss the women and other men around guess what? God will ordain a woman LEADER. The very fuss that I see going on here likely was the same when God ordained a woman prophetess and when looked at through one squinted eye...well God said that the battle would go to a woman.

That doesn't mean that women should take the role willingly or easily. Perhaps there aren't any men who would suffice for the positions at this bible college that could competently teach for the money that they had to offer.

Lets see if we can put it another way.

Supplanter and I decide to drive her car somewhere. I drive the car and take us where she and I want to go. There are many ways to navigate to get to our destination but I choose the best for us considering the circumstances at the moment. She doesn't/shouldn't side seat drive and try to navigate for me. Tell me I am going too fast, slow, or the wrong way. Nor do I want some other guy driving her there when I am going there too.

And when we are separate I don't want another guy driving her in her car around. NO WAY.

She on the other hand should only be supportive and provide some assistance in the shape of "Don't forget we need to stop by walgreens" or some other such thing if she sees that I am in the wrong lane. I shouldn't treat her with contempt either when she makes such comments. But when we are in her hometown...guess what? I let her drive...I ain't got the foggiest clue as to where we are going or how we are gonna get there.

And belittling your male leadership when behind his back?
Nothing is worse for any relationship than that sort of thing.

And as long as some of the attitudes prevail that I see in this thread it is a good thing that many of you are single until you lose these unhealthy and unbiblical attitudes.

What I am saying mostly that LOVE should rule the day. Not this Bossing and "You must submit to my authority" garbage I see going on here.
 
Upvote 0

MacFall

Agorist
Nov 24, 2007
12,726
1,170
Western Pennsylvania, USA
✟25,688.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Others
Welp, better tell my congregation that a woman's roll isn't a pastor, because the last two pastors, have women. The current one is the best of the two though. I seek her advice very often.

Heathen, thou shalt burn in the everlasting fires of hay-deez.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Balugon

o( ' . ' )o
Jul 18, 2005
6,087
872
The Looking Glass
✟32,104.00
Faith
Pentecostal
Marital Status
Single
I guess people didn't notice my post showing that Paul's own actions didn't agree with his own statements all the time. Perhaps Paul wasn't perfect. And perhaps some people need to realize that maybe Paul was just another Billy Graham of his day- a fallible man who was used by God, but who didn't necessarily have all his chips in the right place. I know most people scoff at that, but do they really assume that every single word that Paul spoke (after he got saved) was a divine word from the Holy Spirit? If that's the case, then they already are wrong, because that possibility would violate the ability of Paul to have free will, which God isn't willing to get rid of. And since that is the case, perhaps we need to realize that in the letters Paul wrote, not every single detail will amount to "Thus saith the Lord." Paul was simply writing a letter to churches/people, so they would naturally have a lot of Paul in them. But if people take Paul out of context (and hold every part of the letter as infallible), then they start to idolize a man instead of worship God. And it's interesting, because Protestants say that institution of the papacy is a theological joke, and yet they have made popes out of the original disciples and Paul, who are mere men like themselves. And it gets even worse when people don't bother to try to comprehend the cultural contexts in the writings, because then they miss possible large implication changes for people who are living today.

Post 88 in this thread was the one mentioning Paul's actions.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
S

Sunset2009

Guest
Balugon~ Some human wrote every book of the Bible. I don't see you arguing the "authenticity" of Ezra's words or Jeremiah's. If we take the stance that we really shouldn't listen too closely to the things written in the Word by Paul, because, you know... He wrote about men being leaders and women not having authority over men... then how exactly does the rest of the Word fit in? Way too many of us have filters on the Word simply because we don't understand the passage. Does some of the things Paul wrote confuse me still? Yes. Especially that "women must remain silent in the church" passage, which I've heard 1,429,109 different interpretations of. But we must balance it out with the rest of the Word (even with the Old Testament), search and study the Scriptures and take passages into the context they were written in. I believe a lot of the Old Testament is cultural; rules and regulations written specifically for the Israelite tribes, but I do not believe the New Testament, after Jesus and the New Covenant, to be cultural at all. That's just me though. I've read nothing in the NT that I decide can be passed off based on culture or Paul writing "to a particular woman in a particular church." If he didn't want that same teaching to apply to the Church at large, he would not have included it in his writings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: welshman
Upvote 0

MacFall

Agorist
Nov 24, 2007
12,726
1,170
Western Pennsylvania, USA
✟25,688.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Others
If he didn't want that same teaching to apply to the Church at large, he would not have included it in his writings.

Uh... he DID write it to a particular church to address a particular issue. The Synod of Hippo decided that it would be included in Biblical canon, almost four centuries after it was written. They also chose NOT to include Paul's letter to the Laodiceans, among other writings which contain more instances of apparent contradiction. However, those apparent contradictions are resolved if one understands his writings in the cultural and historical context in which they were written.

To the early church, getting a letter from Paul would have been like getting a letter from your pastor - you would expect it to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, but you also would have known that he was a fallible human being. And when he wrote a different letter to a different church, you would not accept that letter as a new, wholesale revelation of God's inerrant word, because it wasn't written to you.

Hundreds of years after Paul's death, another group of fallible humans chose those of his writings which they believed were most congruous with the gospel, which is the foundation of Christian doctrine, to be Biblical canon. But they would certainly have understood that it was a man writing it, and could scarcely have considered the words of Paul to be the inerrant Word of God, otherwise they would not have omitted his other writings.

If one believes that God guided the early church to construct a Bible that contained His Word, as I do, then we can accept that what Paul says is correct in the spirit and intention with which it was written - understanding context, in other words. But we cannot accept Paul's writings as holy writ in and of themselves without encountering irreconcilable contradictions. And contradiction is falsehood.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums
Jan 24, 2011
5
0
United States
Visit site
✟15,115.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
This is an awesome topic. I am female. I believe God supports women teachers. Since the bible says " but foolish and unlearned arguments avoid" I will not comment on whether women should be Pastors or not. I will need to do more study and research.

There are obvious God designed roles for both men and women. Unfortunately, we live in a society where we are out of balance and women are found taking on roles they weren't initially designed to take on like being the sole provider for her household and raising/protecting a family alone. God provides his grace and strength. A Pastor is a leadership role and in the absence of the father at home, this is exactly the role a woman has to play.

(Timothy 2:8-15) Paul would not allow women to teach and he also instructed Timothy to do the same because of Eve being deceived by satan. He was setting up order in the church. If anyone has additional information from the bible, I'd be interested to learn more on this subject.

A point to ponder: If a group of people were out in the middle of nowhere stranded and the only person to come by and save them was a woman, would they refuse her help and say "Go back, send a man you are not qualified to save us?" May sound like a silly example but I know a man who had not eaten for days and was offered food by a woman who chose to be hungry because he didn't want his provisions coming from a woman.

In the spirit there is no male or female. However on this earth, we live as male or female because it is by design and for a purpose. There are references in the bible where God used the term "son" and "man" and he was referring to both male and female.

I believe people are hungry for God's word today and for results in their lives and it does not matter where it comes from so long as it is genuine, true and beneficial. I believe God will use whoever will make themselves available to accomplish His work.

If he used a Donkey, why not a woman?
 
Upvote 0