This post was a long time in the making, like years. Because this topic is so controversial, I needed to wait and consult different theologians and thinkers and delve into the pages of scripture seeking its truth regarding this subject. I know it’s clear that the Apostle Paul told the pastor Timothy (and Titus) that he himself does not allow a woman to speak in church, but I needed more than Paul’s opinion and practice; I needed my Savior’s opinion. Interestingly, those who seek the answer to women pastors never seem to discuss what Jesus thought or did in the matter: it always seems to come down to Paul.
I understand that Paul was swimming upstream in a raging torrent of culture which had come out of Asherah pole worship in earlier times to goddess temple worship in their time. Priestesses were ensconced in temples and were worshiped as gods in lewd ways constrained only by men’s imaginations. Women also logistically were not given the same rank as men in society. Paul was not part of Jesus’ living ministry and therefore was not witness to Jesus’ tender moments with the Marys or others whom He traveled and preached alongside. Therefore, Paul only heard second-hand about these situations, and he graciously allowed women to be benefactors for the Way, but stopped it there.
To begin, I do have a bias in this and it might not be what you think. I do not think women should be preachers, pastors, or elders (basically all the same thing in the New Testament). It has never sat well with me to hear women preach in church, unless I was at a woman’s conference. Whenever I show up to church and the person on the stage is a female who is going to deliver the Sabbath message, my insides groan, and I have to fight the urge to flee. But I also don’t think women should be presidents of public institutions such as President of the United States. Private corporations I seem to be okay with. I mean, you can do what you like with your own money, but I don’t want a woman deciding the fate of my country, state, or local domains. I just don’t think women are blessed with the same ability to judge the affairs of men as men are. But to muddy my waters more, my selected denomination, Assemblies of God, does think women can be ordained ministers in order to preach to the assembly. So I really needed to get to the bottom of this dilemma.
With that being said, I do understand that women in the Old Testament were judges (Deborah) and prophets (Abigail), although it was rather rare. Just reading the bible shows us that the canonized prophets were all male, except for Esther. And Esther was the only scroll not secreted away by the Essenes, the male elite who sequestered themselves away waiting for the Teacher of Righteousness. These OT female roles appeared outside the temple or tabernacle in the fields and had a specific purpose. In no stretch of the imagination could we see in our mind’s eye a female standing in the sacred temple opening a scroll and reading from it as our Great Priest did with the Isaiah scroll. But that was OT days. After Jesus, maybe things were different. After all, Jesus seemed to treat women as equals and was very loving and understanding toward them.
The bible in the book of Luke tells us that Jesus spent all night in prayer asking the Father whom He should choose to be his first disciples. In the morning, He called 12 male disciples to Him, and they became the ones who would spread the good news that the Kingdom of God had come. Close to 30 years old at this time, Jesus certainly might have known of at least one woman (even if only his own mother) who could have had adequate knowledge of His mission and ministry to preach it well. Yet He chose men. He then sent them out 2×2, in pairs. Joan Taylor and Helen Bond are a pair of British theologians and professors who have written and instructed that Jesus had female disciples, and they try to make a weak case for those same disciples church-planting for Him. I refute their feminist message (respectfully). Disciple means a follower or student of a teacher, leader, or philosopher. That Jesus had female followers and supporters is not disputed by anyone. But what they propose is that these women traveled about like the men and would have preached the gospel; essentially opening the door to the likelihood that Jesus appointed women who would have become church leaders, or pastors.
One the main tenets of Joan’s argument for this lies in the interpretation of the 2×2 bit above. In New Testament Greek, the phrase duo duo is used for how Jesus sent His disciples out. Duo duo simply means ‘in pairs’. She tries to link this phrase with the story of Noah’s ark where Noah was supposed to gather the animals 2×2, in pairs. Except in that instance, pairs in the Hebrew language (the language of the old testament), meant obviously male and female with the purpose being for the animals to procreate once the flood waters subsided. The tenuous link she provides for saying that duo duo means male and female comes when she uses the Septuagint’s translation which translates the Hebrew OT into Greek. The Septuagint was written in the 3rd century BC. Guess what Greek words the Septuagint uses for this phrase from Genesis? Yep, duo duo. So Joan argues that because they chose the phrase duo duo for the pairs of animals that obviously meant male/female, that is how Jesus also sent out His disciples to preach the Good News, as male/female pairs. Preposterous!
As a bible student myself, I know that you cannot take one phrase–or even a set of verses–out of context and assign a heavy, or outlandish, meaning to them if they don’t agree with the other parts of scripture. The concept of systematic theology says that you must interpret events in the bible in light of what the whole book (God’s divine word and meaning) is saying. Other later scholars translated this Hebrew phrase differently, as brought to us in the Interlinear translation, for example. It was only in the Septuagint she was able to link the idea of duo duo to male/female and even then, duo duo can mean simply, ‘a pair’.
Let’s look at it. Would Mark, Luke, and the other gospel writers really witness, or know those who witnessed, the remarkable event that Jesus chose female disciples but not record it? Joan and Helen would have us believe that Jesus chose 12 male disciples, and that He then expected each of them to be paired with an unknown female disciple whom he might not be married to, to walk to distant places and stay in strangers’ homes, sleeping and bathing together? That was totally unheard of in the holy land, and most other places, in those times. No self-respecting Jewish household would permit entry of these disciples!
After Jesus called the twelve, He received many more followers, including women. He then sent out 70 (or 72) in pairs again. This same argument stands: Would Jesus have sent out male/female pairs? I have already shown this is impossible. Would He have sent out solely female pairs? Let’s think about that. Jesus, who loves women and understands their often abused and overlooked plight, is going to send 2 women out on the Roman roads and footpaths into the unknown without a weapon or money, and with minimal clothing? No way! They could be raped, killed, taken, enslaved, or sold. Plus, Jesus came to first share His gospel with the lost Jews. How would Jews He was trying to reach take the message which John had begun, and Jesus had continued, if this High Priest was sending out women alone and unprotected to preach to them when it was completely against their culture and everything they knew to be right?
Once I realized that Jesus did not send out women, based on these two episodes in the bible, I knew I had discovered the truth about female pastors: Jesus never intended women to preach His word. Women could be disciples (Joanna). Women could understand and learn from Him (Mary and Martha). Women could anoint and heal (Mary). Women can evangelize (share the gospel message, Priscilla). Women can prophecy, judge, and teach men outside the pulpit (OT). Women can be counselors to women, and through women, their men (NT). But women cannot be preachers, elders, priests, pastors, or be a shepherd of a congregation. Women can basically do everything else, but:
The role of church leader, teacher, and shepherd is made specifically for a male.
~Selah
~Song of Mary~ 