Surly's Soap Box

While this is a position paper on biblical views of women in ministry, a couple of statements regarding the biblical role of men and women in general must be addressed. This is from the Danvers Statement, compiled by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW).
1. Both Adam and Eve were created in God's image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).

2. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).

3. Adam's headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).

4. The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women (Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).
o In the home, the husband's loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife's intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
o In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.
5. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18; Gal 3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community (Gen 2:18; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:11-15).

6. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.
o In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands' leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
o In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).

7. In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission-domestic, religious, or civil-ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).

8. In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God's will.

9. With half the world's population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (1 Cor 12:7-21).

10. We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.



The bible teaches clear roles for men and women in the home and in the church. While I don’t want to see anyone excluded from walking out the call that God has places on their life, that call will be fulfilled and walked out with in the confines of the written word.

I think that placing a woman into leadership in order to "make a statement" about one's church, to meet some type of master plan or quota, or to equalize some supposed "power structure" in the church is a mistake. We should also beware of placing anyone into leadership just because, “Well, they deserve it.” We should not place anyone into leadership to satisfy a sense of moral responsibility: man or woman.

After much prayer and study, examining both the egalitarian and complimentarian views, I believe that biblically, women are to be excluded from the leadership positions of pastor and elder.

1 Timothy 2:11-14 11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.


In 1 Timothy, it is often argued that Paul was not allowing women to teach because the women where teaching heresy. Paul doesn’t address any particular heresy, and he would have, as evidenced by the fact that he addressed gossiping in 1 Tim 5:13.

An other argument is that the women of the time where uneducated and lacked basic understanding of scripture. Actually, Ephesus was a cultural center with many educated men and women.

One of the women brought forth as an example of women in leadership is Priscilla. Priscilla was from the church at Ephesus, and the directive applied to her as well. Yes, Priscilla and Aquila helped instruct Apollos in the word that they learned from 3 years of tutelage from Paul (Acts 18:26), but it is never implied that she was a elder or pastor in the church, or taught in church.

The reason Paul gave this directive is because isn’t because of anything happening in Ephesus, but because of what happened in Genesis: 1 Tim 2 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

So even though there where women who learned directly from Paul, they weren’t allowed to have authority or teach.

1 Corinthians 14:33-36 As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?


1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul clearly allows women to pray and prophesy in church. Prophesy is not scripture, and doesn’t have more authority than scripture: It’s reporting something that God spontaneously brings to mind. Ultimately, Elders and Pastors are to judge the word, especially words of direction to the church.

Both 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians 11:5 show that Paul was consistent in the way he applied this principle.

Requirements for elders are set forth in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

1 Timothy 3:1-7 1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,[a] he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

Titus 1:5-9 5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint[a] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer[b] is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

These directives were given to two different churches, in two different cultural contexts, showing once again that Paul applied this consistently.

Other examples that God intends men to be the elders/leaders of the church.

1. There were no female Apostles. Some argue that this was because Jesus was respecting the culture of the time. In fact, Jesus often stood against the culture of the time by confronting the Pharisees in public, eating with tax collectors and sinners, healing on the Sabbath. If Jesus wanted to make a point, He did. To say Jesus caved into public opinion is to question his integrity.
2. The leadership through out the bible has been consistently male. Once again, If God wanted to establish women as leaders, he’s had thousands of years.
3. Debra and Hulda were prophetesses, but they always prophesied in private. (Judges 4-5, 2 Kings 22:14-20)

Other arguments:

1. Ministry should be determined by gifting, not by gender. The same Holy Spirit that gave the gifts also inspired the Bible, and the Holy Spirit wouldn’t contradict itself.
2. God is giving a new revelation. Prophesy or revelation is not a greater than God’s written word. We can’t allow ‘new revelation’ to steer us away from the inerrant world of God.
3. The New Testament focuses on servant leadership, so we shouldn’t be hung up on all this ‘authority’ stuff. Jesus was the ultimate example of servant leadership, yet one of establishing factors of his ministry was his authority.

The issue of women in ministry is one that causes tempers to flair, feelings to be hurt, and people to leave. But I think that the real issue behind women in ministry and leadership is one of whether we believe in the inerrancy of scripture or not.

The danger of allowing women into elder/pastor roles is that this often goes hand in hand with rejecting the inerrancy of scripture. In the last fifty years, a number of major denominations have started ordaining women.

1. The Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church-USA (North) began ordaining women in 1956.
2. Presbyterian Church-USA (South) in 1964.
3. The ELCA in 1970.
4. The Episcopal Church in 1976.

Today, these denominations are noted for their liberal theology, sinking to the point of ordaining homosexuals and endorsing a sinful lifestyle.

Most of the cases for egalitarianism I’ve read take liberty in interpreting scripture to fit what they wish it said. They will take the most obscure possible meaning of a word and skew it to fit their desire, or worse, use it to dismiss the scripture all together. They reject the inerrancy of the Bible.

When we reject male and female roles laid out in the bible, the Fatherhood of God comes into question. I’ve seen paintings of a ‘female Jesus’ in places where liberal theology has taken root. There are people encouraging prayer to “God, our Mother”, which opens the door to Earth Goddess religions and the rejection of the Bible all together. The only way we can say, “That will never happen to us” is if we stand on God’s written word: the Bible.

Some might say I’m being defeatist, jumping to conclusions, chauvinistic, fundamentalist…so on. I believe the Bible is the True word of God, and that His Word lays out the proper roles of Men and Women in church and in the home.