“But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
1 Timothy 2:12-3.1
Baptist churches, associations, and general bodies have adopted confessions of faith as a witness to the world, and as instruments of doctrinal accountability. (Author’s Italics) We are not embarrassed to state before the world that these are doctrines we hold precious and as essential to the Baptist tradition of faith and practice. (From the motion at the 1999 Southern Baptist Convention motion to appoint a blue ribbon committee to review the Baptist Faith and Message.)
Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. (From the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, Article VI, The Church)
What does the Bible say about women in roles of leadership in the church. We look to three examples from Scripture: two positive and one negative. First, we have Phoebe, the deaconess. Paul recommended her to the church in Rome with the following statement. “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.” (Romans 16:1-2) Most likely, Phoebe was more than a simple servant in the congregation of Cenchrea. She was probably a wealthy merchant, who had come to Rome on a business trip. She also might have served as the patroness of the Cenchrean church. Although we do not know how she functioned in the church, she was, at least, an influential member of the congregation.
Next, we look at Priscilla (Prisca in Paul’s writings). She and her husband Aquila had been expelled from Rome along with other Jews by the Edict of Claudius (ca. 49 AD). In every case but one (1 Cor. 16.19), when this couple is mentioned, Priscilla is named first. Many have concluded she had come from a well-to-do Jewish family in Rome and may have been the source of hers and Aquila’s wealth. On two occasions, (1 Cor. 16.19; Rom. 16.3), a church is said to have been meeting in their house. Only the wealthy had houses large enough to accommodate a meeting of a group of any size. Priscilla and Aquila had come to Paul’s aid and journeyed with him. Further, after hearing Apollos preach in Ephesus, “Priscilla and Aquila . . . took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” Priscilla was also a teacher.
Last, we consider Jezebel. In Revelation 2.20, we read of the Lord’s condemnation of Jezebel, “who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” Jezebel (we do not know her real name) was also a powerful, wealthy woman. She had risen to a position of prominence and power in the Thyatiran church, becoming a teacher and an advocate of social accommodation. She is condemned for the same thing Satan is said to do: she led astray those whom she taught. She taught those who followed her to engage in sexual immorality and to take a lenient view of idolatry. Probably, she told her followers participation in ritual acts in local pagan temples was not a bad thing (what her namesake had done in ancient Israel).
Added to these might be Junias (Rom. 16.7), who some believe was actually the wife of Andronicus (Junia), and was an early believer in Jesus and counted among the Apostles. Certainly, though, with Priscilla, Phoebe and Jezebel, we find three examples of women who held influential leadership positions in their own congregations. At no time does Paul or Luke appear to think these women were acting sinfully or unlawfully; indeed, both endorsed these women in the highest of terms. The failure of Jezebel was her leading members of the Thyatiran church to do unbiblical things. While her claim to be prophetess was rejected by the Lord, her acting as a teacher was not. What she taught was the problem.
Unfortunately, neither Priscilla or Phoebe are described as pastors. We are left to wonder about the true extent of their leadership roles in their respective congregations. No doubt, Priscilla taught on one occasion at least. What can we conclude? With the best evidence before us, no clear and unarguable evidence exists in Scripture to support the idea of a woman serving as the pastor of a church. Given the high regard in which Paul held both Priscilla and Phoebe, if they had functioned in pastoral roles, surely, he would have clearly stated that fact. He did not.
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