Should women be pastors and elders? Part 2 of 2

Let's take a look at some of these verses that they are looking at and reinterpreting in order to do this. They will go to Galatians 3 .28 for example where it says this, 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.

This verse is often used to support the idea that women can hold the offices of elder and pastor because there is neither male nor female in Christ. The argument states that if we are all born equal, then women can be pastors.

Unfortunately, those who use this verse this way have failed to read the context. Verse 23 speaks about being under the law before faith came and how we are brought closer to Jesus and have become sons of God by faith.

We are no longer under law but grace and we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. The point of this passage is that we are all saved by God's grace according to the promise of God and that it does not matter who you are, whether it is Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, all are saved the same way, by grace.

You see, the thing is, there is neither male nor female in Christ in that sense. The verse is not talking about church structure, it is talking about salvation in Christ. Therefore, it cannot be used to support women as pastors because that isn't what it is talking about.

Instead, to find out about church structure and leadership, you need to go to the passages that talk about church leadership and structure, like 1 Timothy 2 and Titus 1. Now, we have to understand something, being a pastor or being an elder is to be in authority.

It's by nature a position of being in authority. God is a God of order and balance. He has established order within the family, Genesis 3 .16, 1 Corinthians 11 .3, Ephesians 5 .22 -33. And He has also established order in the church, 1 Timothy 2 .11 -14, 1 Corinthians 11 .8 -9.

Even within the Trinity, there is an order, a hierarchy. The Father sent the Son, John 6 .38, and both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, John 14 .26, John 15 .26. You never find any place where it says the Son sent the Father or the Holy Spirit sent the Father.

It was not the Father who bore our sins, it was not the Holy Spirit who bore our sins, it was the Son who bore our sins. Jesus says, For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

John 6 .38. You see, it is clear that God is a God of order and structure. In creation, God made Adam first and then Eve to be His helper. This is the order of creation. It is the order also that Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 2 .11 -14 when speaking of authority.

That is where he says, A woman is not to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain silent, to remain subdued in this, because Adam was created first. He is tying it to the created order. It is not a social thing.

Being a pastor, being an elder, again, is, by definition, to be in a place of authority. Therefore, within the church, for a woman to be a pastor or elder, she would naturally be in a position of authority over men in the church.

This contradicts what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2 .11 -14. Sometimes people will say to me, Look, as long as the woman is under the authority of another pastor, maybe someone over her, then she can be an elder in a church as long as she is under authority.

But the problem is there that she is still then preaching and teaching and in authority in her capacity over men in the church. And that is not to be. It's not to be. Now, some will complain, No, this just belittles women.

No, it doesn't. Male leadership does not belittle women. Jesus, Himself, was given His authority by God the Father. Matthew 28 .18 He was sent by God. John 6 .38 He said that the Father was greater than He.

John 14 .28 Does this belittle Jesus? To say that He was sent by the Father and He was given authority by Him? Of course not. Not having a place of leadership in the church does not mean a woman is less of a person.

It doesn't mean she is less important to God. It doesn't mean she is inferior. All are equal before God, whether it be Jew, Gentile, free, slave, male or female. But in the church, God has set up an order the same way He set one up in the family.

The chain of command is this, Jesus, the man, the wife, and the children. That's how it works in the family. It is the biblical order, though it might not be the order set up by secular society. Okay, so we can see, biblically, that women are not to hold the offices of elder and pastor.

The Limits of Galatians 3:28 and the Order of Authority

But what about women who say they are called by God to be pastors? After all, there are women pastors in the world who love their congregations and have stated that they are called by God to be in that position.

Now, I can't agree with them, considering the previous examination of the biblical texts. It just doesn't work. But they will still say this. And they'll say that they have not usurped the position of men and they have not gone against the scriptural revelation of God.

But they have. You see, look at it. If those who state, these women who state, that they are called by God because of the great job they are doing and the gifting that they have received, they are basing their theology upon experience and not upon scripture.

Experience does not determine truth. The issue is simple. Are they submitting to the Word of God? Or are they making the Word of God submit to their desires? The Bible tells us that the elder, a pastor is an elder.

All you have to do is go to 1 Timothy 5 .17 to see that. The elder who teaches well, especially those elders who preach and teach, is to be the husband of one wife. Again, literally a man of one woman.

A woman cannot qualify for this position. How can a woman be an elder when the elder is to be a man of one woman? Therefore, how can a woman be a man of one woman? She can't do this by the very nature of her being female.

Whether anyone likes it or not is irrelevant to the fact that this is what the Bible teaches. Now finally, we've got to look at this. We've got to think about this. Let's not bow to political correctness.

Let's bow to God's Word, not to what others may want us to think, may want us to feel. They may want us to behave. No. Christians listen to the Word of God. As Jesus says in John 10 .27, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.

The Bible is the Word of God. Like it or not, that's what the Bible says about male authority, male headship, and women are not to be pastors and elders. Thank you.