Should Women Preach At A Church?

Should women be allowed to be a preacher or a pastor? What does the Bible have to say about women preachers or pastors?

The Body of Christ

We are told to make our election and calling sure (2nd Pet 2:1) but the calling of an office or position of pastor is different from the call of God for salvation. There is said to be a threefold calling when a pastor is called. There is the internal calling where there is the overwhelming sense that you can do nothing but preach and would be utterly miserable doing anything else. Another is the calling by a local church who believes the candidate is biblically qualified and has a gift of teaching. The last of the threefold call is the one by God Himself. He makes it clear that this is His call and He often supernaturally opens doors that only He can open for the called to walk through. It is not man’s call because we know that “he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers” (Eph 4:11) but not all are teachers, pastors (shepherd), and teachers. That’s because God wants “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph 4:11) and this is for “the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1st Cor 12:27). It must be this way since “If they were all one part, where would the body be” (1st Cor 12:19)? “God has placed in the church” (1st Cor 12:28) those Who He knows best will help the body of Christ. If someone has a desire to be a pastor, that’s a good thing as it says “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1st Tim 3:11) but desire is not enough. A bank robber has a great desire for money but that doesn’t make it right. It must be an inward calling, an outward calling (the church), and a divine calling by God Himself.

The Qualifications

What are some of the qualifications for a pastor or preacher of the Word? An overseer or pastor “must be above reproach, the husband of one wife” (1st Tim 3:2). Notice that he must be a husband (male) of one wife or some say, faithful to his wife or a one woman man. The first seven verses in 1st Timothy chapter three have seven references to “he,” not even counting the word “husband” and “his” which appears four times, so the very first line of qualifications are apparently the married man must be faithful to his wife and live a life above reproach, meaning that when he is accused of something, it turns out to be false. The word “he” is written in the masculine form and is not gender neutral, meaning these qualifications were written to and for men. Why else might Paul write “But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but 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 quite deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim 2:12-14)? There was not even one mention in seven hundred occurrences where a priest happened to be a woman just as there were no women pastors in the New Testament church. There were deaconesses but they never preached in the synagogues or anywhere else publically.

First and Foremost

Jesus lifted up women to equal status in His day where they naturally belong. Women and men are co-equals and co-heirs but just as Jesus was equal to God, He still submitted to the Father’s will. In that respect, Paul wrote to Titus that even “An 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” (Titus 1:6) indicating that elders, as well as deacons are to be male. You can’t turn this around and say the elder must be the wife of one husband because Paul says he must be “a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient” (Titus 1:6). In other words, the deacon must be a man and his children should not be wildly disobedient. If the father cannot rule his own home, how could he ever lead the church? In like manner, if the pastor “does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church” (1st Tim 3:5).

Conclusion

If you can find anywhere in the Bible where women are said to be qualified to be pastors, then please point them out. I have not found them but I have found over fifty references to pastors as “he, him” or mentioning them by name. I know this rubs against today’s pluralistic culture. Biblical relativism is a disease that has infected many churches today and things that were never done in the first two thousand years of the church are now seen as commonplace but that doesn’t make them right. The biblical doctrine buffet is apparently open now as churches take what they want and pass by what they don’t want but the truth is we must present the whole counsel of the whole Word. God is the One Who sets the standard for pastoral qualifications. It is not open for human opinion.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.