Biblical Masculinity and Femininity

Theology
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Recently, I heard someone talk about “biblical masculinity and femininity,” and it stuck out to me. I realized I’ve heard those phrases before, but if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I could clearly explain what they mean or actually look like in real life.

Part of me instinctively connects masculinity with things like leadership, responsibility, and protecting others, and femininity with nurturing, gentleness, and support.
With everything going on today, especially conversations around gender identity and roles, I feel like the topic is even more complicated. I don’t want to just repeat talking points; I actually want to understand what Scripture teaches and how it applies in a modern context.

So I guess my questions are:

  1. What does biblical masculinity actually look like in a man’s daily life today?
  2. What does biblical femininity look like for women today?
  3. How do we separate what’s truly biblical from what’s just tradition or culture?

Not trying to start an argument, just genuinely trying to learn and grow in truth. Appreciate any wisdom or Scripture you all can share.

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Shalom @shalom

Jesus is the ultimate example. He was strong enough to drive out moneychangers, yet gentle enough to welcome children. He was not emotionally distant; he wept, he prayed with intensity, and he served his friends by washing their feet

Today, this looks like a man using his strength (physical, financial, or emotional) to lift others rather than to dominate. It means being the first to apologize, the first to serve, and the first to sacrifice his own comforts for the well-being of his family and community.

Biblical femininity is often misunderstood as “passivity,” but the Bible describes it as life-giving strength and wisdom.

We see Deborah as a judge and leader, Lydia as a successful businesswoman, and Mary of Bethany as a devoted student of theology. The “Proverbs 31 woman” is not just a homemaker; she is an entrepreneur, a real estate investor, and a manager of a complex household.

For a woman today, this looks like cultivating an “incorruptible beauty” of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:4) while simultaneously using her gifts to build, nurture, and lead in her spheres of influence. It’s about being a “helper” (ezer), a Hebrew term also used to describe God, implying a necessary, strong, and saving presence.

This is perhaps the hardest task, as we all view the world through a “cultural lens.” Here are three tests to help distinguish the two. However, if a “rule” for masculinity or femininity makes you look more like a social archetype (the CEO, the hunter, the submissive wallflower) than it makes you look like Jesus, it is likely more cultural than biblical.

Biblical masculinity and femininity are not two different sets of virtues; they are two different ways of reflecting the same virtues, such as kindness, courage, and faithfulness, through the unique biological and relational design God gave you.

Hope this helps.
Peter

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Truth. The whole Proverbs 31 woman :face_with_spiral_eyes::face_with_spiral_eyes:

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Biblical masculinity and femininity are essentially what is needed to survive in the world God created. This can be seen with the frontier life of the 1800s when husband, wife, and children worked like dogs to get in a crop that would let them survive another year.

In the modern prosperous world of today where men and women are drones in a corporate hive, there can be seen a sort of utilitarian interchangeability. This becomes the grounds for demands for “equality”. These sort of ideas are based on the artificial life urban living has produced. God created the family. Satan created the collective.

As people practice abortion and birth control, they make themselves increasingly better suited to the world Satan has devised. Without children the world becomes less “biblical” and the roles for men and women can become whatever one imagines.

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According to the Apostle Paul, @shalom, men and women within marriage are meant to serve each other in love with the man fulfilling all of his wife’s needs, just as Christ does for the church. Then, God lifts the husband up to be the servant-leader of the wife, as she submits to his leadership:

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Eph 5:24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

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Wading Through the Excuses and Holding Steadfast the Word
Belabored thinking and angst-riddled contemplation is totally unnecessary.

Much like staring at a rock, we can contemplate God’s Word as much as want and it will never change its meaning. We know what a pastor is because we know what God’s Word says. A pastor is a male, according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.

Likewise, a woman is not permitted to teach (1 Corinthians 14:33-34, 1 Timothy 2:11-12).

This is not a tertiary or secondary issue. The gospel is at stake in this matter. If we encourage those to preach who have not been equipped or called by God, then we do violence against the church and gospel itself.

It is time for faithful Christians and churches to call a spade a spade:

Women have never been called to preach or pastor, nor will they ever be. It is against God’s order and Word and therefore sinful to say otherwise.

J.

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Itching Ears
One great issue with permitting women to be ordained as pastors is that it not only explicitly ignores God’s commandments and qualifications concerning elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, but it even ignores God’s order in creation wherein men are created to lead women.

Instead of simply reading God’s Word and taking it at face value, ivory tower theologians and liberalized church-goers twist God’s Word to fit their own agendas by utilizing enough mental gymnastics and jumping enough theological hurdles that their efforts deserve a place within the Olympics.

So, why the confusion?

We can understand why the world may be unable to define what a woman is, but how can those calling themselves Christians possibly be unable to define what a pastor is, or what a pastor should be?

Well, we didn’t get here overnight. I contend that a major reason for this unbridled confusion is two-fold:

  1. Many pastors have failed to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word to their flocks and have instead embraced the pragmatic spirit of the age;

  2. Many have chosen to ignore their faithful Shepherd-Pastors and have instead sought out teachers to satisfy their own lustful cravings and sinful desires.

When the church at large loves God’s Word and respects the offices that God has blessed her with, we see healthy churches. Consider Ephesians 4:11–14:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

When a church rejects the Word of God or ignores the leadership and authority of its pastor, the result is confusion and chaos. But when a pastor faithfully shepherds a submissive flock, the result is stability and growth.

This is because, according to Ephesians 4:11–14, one of the purposes of pastors is to equip Christ’s Body so that the saints will not be tossed about by the wind of false doctrines, human cunning, craftiness, deceit, or schemes. Christians are not called to be like ships that are caught in storms and overtaken by tortuous waves and torrential storms. Instead, Christians are called to have such great faith that they become like ships that have firmly anchored in the bedrock and, though the storms billow and the waves assail, remain steady, unmoved, and unperturbed. When false doctrines beat against the port and starboard, or the schemes of men like wind thrash the stern, the mark of a Christian is not to flinch but remain certain in Christ their Lord.

It is a pastor’s responsibility to make sure the flock entrusted to his care has that sort of faith: Concrete, sturdy, certain, and sure. In other words, such a church will hold firmly to God’s Word. Such a church will fundamentally know the basic truth that women can’t preach.

J.

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Something like this?

“The Problem That Has No Name”

Believing that women were culturally cajoled into being the primary caretakers of their families, yet inwardly dissatisfied with this home-centric career, Friedan posited that all homemaking women share the plight she described as “the problem that has no name.”3 Surely, she meant this description as an indictment on a cultural taboo; the godly woman, however, ought to recognize that any such cherished confession is a reviling of God’s Word.4

Betty Friedan’s name is one that Christians should be aware of, for she has contributed to the desecration of femininity with her historic feminist manifesto The Feminine Mystique. Seeking to convince readers that women are wholly disillusioned and discontent working through the home, she describes every “trapped American housewife” as secretly lonely, confined, bored, idle, wasted, worthless, purposeless, hidden, stressed, overwhelmed, and otherwise miserable.5

Undoubtedly, there are seasons of trial in which keeping a house or caring for family might cause even godly women to suffer in ways that seemingly identify with Friedan’s “problem.” The exhausting newborn months, a teen’s discouraging waywardness, the heartbreak of being caretaker to an ailing parent, restrictive finances, discounted or disparaged hospitality, and other concerns related to prioritizing the home can all be used by God to refine the dross from a Christian woman’s heart (Prov 17:3, 25:4). Issues of the heart might have biblical names such as anxiousness, discontentment, pride, resentment, and unbelief.

The Problem Named “Sin”
Since the tale nearly as old as time, men and women have wrestled with sin in ways that correspond to their respective masculinity and femininity (Gen 3). Speaking to this general reality, since the Fall, Woman has had a particular propensity to undervalue and undermine the “built-in telos, or purpose” of her emotional and biological design.6 God’s scriptural assignment for women is reinforced by the femininity He gave us, yet our tool belt of traits such as creativity, kindness, industriousness, loyalty, sensitivity is all too often repurposed for productivity and beautification outside of our homes to the neglect of our homes.

Women, let us humbly reckon with the practical implications of Genesis 3:16, which describes how a cursed creation uniquely affects us: “To the woman he said . . . ’Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.’”

Here, God is informing Eve that she will desire her husband’s role and disdain her own. Consider Mathew Henry’s commentary on this woeful verse:

“If Eve had not eaten forbidden fruit herself, and tempted her husband to eat it, she would never have complained of her subjection; therefore it ought never to be complained of, though harsh; but sin must be complained of, that made it so.”7

A cursed ground is the perfect seedbed for feminism to flourish in; Friedan was correct to perceive a dissatisfaction among some housewives, but wrong to ascribe it to their role and instead of original sin. Henry insightfully conveys that Eve’s assignment was not a consequence of her sin; rather, her complaint about the assignment was the consequence. Even today, as daughters of Eve, our enemy is not our home, but our sin, which threatens to raze our high esteem of it.

Friedan was correct to perceive a dissatisfaction among some housewives, but wrong to ascribe it to their role and instead of original sin.

Modern culture’s religion of self-worship, which reveres self-actualization and self-gratification, has demoted Woman’s precious roles of wife, mother, and homemaker from self-sacrificing feats to self-sabotaging liabilities.

Christian women ought to vigilantly take any thoughts captive that seek to lure them away from a holy perspective on these capacities of biblical womanhood (2 Cor 10:4–5).

While the important distinctions (both spiritual and practical) between a biblical woman and traditional housewife warrant thoughtful discussion, the overlapping commitment of primarily caring for a home and household was clearly in Friedan’s crosshairs. Perhaps she would find it satisfactorily ironic that, more than a half-century after her revolutionary book was released to society, even prominent evangelical women would openly pine for “something more,” vocationally speaking, than being a wife and mom.8

A godly woman will certainly never echo Friedan in questioning, “Is this all?” when responding to the femininity revealed in Scripture. Instead, her song will ring, “Whate’er my God ordains is right!”

With various voices claiming the authority to instruct on just what it means to be a woman, “young” ones striving for godliness must be careful to model their lives after “older women” whose desires and pursuits yield to Scripture (Tit 2:3–5, ESV). Per Titus 2:3–5, an exemplary woman in the church is ever-increasing in her love for her family, her self-control, her purity, her devotion to hospitable ministry and productivity through the home, her kindness, and her joyful submission to her husband.

Any woman whose application of womanhood finds refuge in Friedan’s feminist assessments ought to biblically verify that her priorities do not “blaspheme” the Word of God (Tit 2:5, LSB). A godly woman will certainly never echo Friedan in questioning, “Is this all?” when responding to the femininity revealed in Scripture. Instead, her song will ring, “Whate’er my God ordains is right!”

J.

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I agree that many feminists have taken the movement too far. However, I do think that sometimes, as a backlash to feminism, Christians have gone too far in the other direction. Speaking from personal experience, I absolutely love and cherish my role as a mother, but I also find so much fulfillment in my career work. I don’t think it’s an either/or. I think God is pleased with both if I do both for his glory.

I am familiar, of course, with Paul’s words against women preaching/teaching. Certainly something to consider in this discussion of biblical masculinity/femininity, but I also think it’s worth noting that we do see examples of women leaders and spiritual teachers, mentors, etc. in both the old and new testaments.

As a general statement, I think it’s fair to say that men and women do often have different strengths and weaknesses which tend to correspond to their gender, but I think both men and women are better served (and God is more glorified) when these differences are not used to categorize and exclude, but to empower and dignify.

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I hear you, @DaughterOfEve24. I’d rather stand where the text stands, even if that puts me at odds with current trends. And I’m already in trouble with some moderators here.

2 Timothy 3:16[1]

Proverbs 3:5[2]

For me, that settles the direction. The authority is Scripture itself, not shifting cultural frameworks, whether progressive or Western. I want to submit to what God has said, not reshape it to fit the moment.

This constant feeling of having to be on guard, carefully choosing every word, makes me feel like I’m being muzzled.

Having said this..

Only Men May Serve as Overseers/Elders
Scripture is clear that only men may serve in the office of overseer, if for no other reason than one of the qualifications for overseer (episkopos) given in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 is that he must be “the husband of one wife.”

Likewise, in Titus 1, Paul gives as a qualification for elder (presbyteros) that he must be “the husband of one wife.”

Once again, it would be impossible to argue from these two key passages regarding qualifications for overseers and elders that these can be held by women.

Pastor, Overseer, and Elder Refer to the Same Office
On the other hand, Ephesians 4 does not say that overseers or elders have been given as gifts to churches, it says that pastors have been given to churches. So some may argue that while women clearly may not serve as overseers or elders, there are no biblical passages that clearly argue that only men may serve as pastors.

However, here is another truth that is unmistakably clear in Scripture: pastor, overseer, and elder refer to the same office.

Let me show you why this is unmistakably clear. First, in Titus 1:5–7, Paul clearly refers to the office of elder and the office of overseer interchangeably:

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.

Paul clearly describes one office using both the term elder (presbyteros) and overseer (episkopos).

Similarly, after Paul lists qualifications for an overseer (episkopos) in 1 Timothy 3, he uses the term “elder” (presbyteros) in the same context in 1 Timothy 5:17. Clearly, Paul considers “overseer” and “elder” to be two terms that describe the same office.

So what about “pastor” (poimēn)? Three additional texts clearly identify this term with the other two.

First, in 1 Peter 5:1–2, Peter admonishes elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight.” In addressing elders, Peter uses verb forms of the terms for pastor (“shepherd”; poinaino) and overseer (episkopeo). He is describing one office of the church using three terms: elder, pastor, and overseer.

Second, earlier in 1 Peter 2:25, Peter uses the terms shepherd (poimēn) and overseer (episkopos) interchangeably with reference to Jesus.

Third, in Acts 20:17–38, Paul assembles the “elders” (plural of presbyteros) of the church at Ephesus, refers to them as “overseers” (plural of episkopos), and exhorts them to “shepherd” (verb form of poimēn) their “flock” (poimnion) (v 28).

What is clear from these texts taken together is that the terms overseer (episkopos), elder (presbyteros), and pastor (poimēn) refer to one singular office, a gift that has been given to churches by God for their spiritual benefit.

The terms overseer (episkopos), elder (presbyteros), and pastor (poimēn) refer to one singular office, a gift that has been given to churches by God for their spiritual benefit.

And, consequently, if Scripture is clear that only men may serve in the office of overseer/elder, then it follows also for the interchangeable term “pastor” mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. This is the clear teaching of Scripture against which all other less clear passages must be interpreted.

Women Are Not Permitted to Teach Men
One other matter must be addressed, however. Someone might agree that a woman may not serve in the office of overseer/elder/pastor, but she may be gifted in teaching and preaching and may therefore be permitted to preach in a church context as long as a church’s pastors permit her to do so.

On the contrary, another very clear biblical text prohibits such:

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.

1 Tim 2:12
Here again is a very clear text. A plain reading of this verse prohibits a woman from teaching Scripture (i.e., preaching) or in any other way exercising authority over men.

Some may argue that the passage only prohibits “authoritative teaching,” and therefore preaching under the authority of her pastors is permissible. But this argument fails both grammatically and logically. Grammatically, the “or” in this verse indicates that these are two separate activities that are prohibited. And logically, the preaching of God’s Word is always, by definition, authoritative.

Further, this very prohibition leads into chapter 3 where Paul gives the qualifications for an overseer, inextricably connecting the activity of preaching to the office of overseer/elder/pastor.

Scripture is clear: women may not serve in the office of pastor, which embodies both the activities of pastoring and preaching.

Shalom to you and family.

J.

  1. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness - ESV ↩︎

  2. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. - ESV ↩︎

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This is NOT “sitting well” with some here brother @Bruce_Leiter.

J.

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I agree with you on this issue too, @Johann, because the sum total of Scripture in the Old and New Testament says so.

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Seems we agree on a lot of scriptural doctrines brother @Bruce_Leiter.

Love brother Justin Peters.

J.

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Thank you for that explanation. I’ll admit that, as a woman, these passages of scripture that seem to say that women are not allowed to teach or preach in a spiritual context are hard to stomach. I also will certainly leave space for the fact that there are many parts of the Bible that may not say what I’d like them to say, so I know that my approval or acceptance is, in a sense, irrelevant. The truth is the truth, as you were saying.

This issue brings up a lot of questions/concerns for me, though. I mostly grew up in churches that held the views you outlined, and so I understand where they are coming from, but now that I’ve attended other churches where women are allowed to teach and preach, it’s hard to view this the same way. If a woman feels a call from God to teach/preach his Word, shouldn’t she listen to it? Perhaps you will say it is not a call from God then, but from her own heart or even from the Devil, but then what if she consistently and accurately preaches “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23) and edifies people in her teaching/preaching of Scripture? As Jesus explains in Matt. 12:24-28, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, so if a woman pastor teaches about Christ and is faithful to the message of the Gospel, shouldn’t we believe that she has indeed been called into this kind of ministry?

I’m sure you are very convinced in your beliefs and reading of Scripture when it comes to this issue, and I respect that. Just possibly some food for thought. I care about reading Scripture accurately as you do, but one of my biggest takeaways from Scripture is how Jesus treated each human with dignity and he saw the imago dei in each of them. I am still mulling this issue over, so I’m not presenting these points as irrefutable truths, but it is difficult for me to imagine the Jesus I read about in the Gospels restricting women from teaching/preaching his Word.

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Have you listened to the short videos @DaughterOfEve24?

And how does this look like?

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And…

I’m in full agreement. It’s not about what we can stomach based on our emotions or feelings, but about what the Scriptures actually say, and then, if needed, letting ourselves be corrected rather than reacting in offense.

Correct?

And are you feeling comfortable with women pastors behind the pulpit? Exercising authority over men?

I’m already in trouble so here is a short clip from Justin.

Submit to Husband OR Leave Woman Led Church - Justin Peters Responds

Women Leadership in Scripture
Barr’s thinking shifted concerning biblical womanhood when she discovered in Romans 16 a list of ten women who were recognized by Paul as prominent in the early church (64–65). Among the women listed was Phoebe who was a deacon (in the Greek the word could be translated either as a servant or deacon), and who read the letter to the Romans to her house church (for the record, the text does not mention Phoebe reading Romans, nor that she had a church in her house).

Most New Testament scholarship rejects Phoebe as being an official deacon of the church at Cenchrea and would view her as a faithful helper. Junia is also mentioned in Romans 16 as outstanding among the apostles.

Barr interpreted this phrase to mean Junia was a prominent apostle, but the Greek grammar of the text would indicate that she was simply well-known to the apostles.

What Barr failed to recognize is that these women were honored as faithful servants of the Lord but never described as leaders, pastors, elders, or preachers within the church.

Even if Phoebe was an official deacon, deacon means servant**, not leader;** and the idea that Junia was an apostle rests on little, if any, evidence.

Found within The Making of Biblical Womanhood are lists referencing many other outstanding women in Scripture as proof that the Bible supports women in spiritual authority over men and with the approval of God to preach.

Examples would include Anna, Elizabeth, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman (92), and Martha (90). Barr’s methodology is to elevate any woman who is quoted in Scripture to the status of a preacher.

For example, that Mary Magdalene announced the resurrection to the apostles apparently proves she was a preacher with authority; and that Jesus taught and interacted with women, such as Mary of Bethany and the Samaritan woman, proves the same.

However, nowhere in Scripture are these women given the role of elder or the ministry of preaching, and it does not take much observation to conclude that all the apostles were men, as were the Old Testament patriarchs.

Men wrote all the books of the Bible.

All elders in the New Testament church were men (cf. 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1).

Men throughout Scripture led with spiritual authority and taught the Word.

Because a woman was granted an audience with Jesus or testified to others about Christ, or had important roles in the church does not mean that she was an elder, preacher, or apostle. Barr’s attempts to prove her bias do not align with Scripture.

…and let me know what you think.

J.

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It is not really about what I am asserting here, @DaughterOfEve24, but I would appreciate a bit of clarification from you. Are you specifically referring to women serving as pastors in the pulpit?

If you say yes, the biblical answer is no, and I’m not a narcissist.

Goodnight. 02.45 AM here.

J.

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Yes, I am referring to women teaching/preaching as spiritual leaders in any way, including as pastors.

I don’t think we’re going to reach any kind of consensus here on this issue, so we can probably agree to disagree and leave it there on this subject, but I will just point out that many Christians who take the view that women are barred from spiritual leadership (like the pastor in the video you shared) tend to make this issue so overarching that I think it detracts from the core of the Gospel and Jesus’ message. I don’t think this is a doctrinal hill to die on, but I know many do. Just a question to ponder: Isn’t it more important that the Gospel is preached and taught than to argue about which gender is preaching/teaching it?

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@DaughterOfEve24

The difficulty I see here is not a lack of exposure to the biblical material, since the relevant texts have already been placed before you, but rather how those texts are being received and processed in light of a strong initial reaction, which appears to have redirected you toward a setting that aligns more comfortably with your present conclusions rather than being governed by the force of the text itself.

Scripture consistently calls us away from interpretive conclusions shaped by internal impulse and toward a posture of submission to what is written, even when it confronts or unsettles us, as seen in 2 Timothy 3:16[1] which establishes the authority and corrective function of the text over the reader.

For that reason, my position remains anchored not in personal inclination, emotional resonance, or perceived practicality, but in the objective authority of the written Word, seeking alignment with it rather than reinterpretation of it, in keeping with Proverbs 3:5[2].

Shalom.

J.

  1. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness - ESV ↩︎

  2. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding - ESV ↩︎

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In this new reformation, Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) has been replaced by Sacra, si Vulgaris (Scripture, if popular)

Far too many believe scripture to be an outdated relic that could use innovative improvement. Cultural relevance is more important than Christ’s revelation.

On Thursday, May 6, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, celebrated their improvement on God’s design for the church, ordained three female pastors. The Saddleback Church Facebook page posted the following,

“Yesterday was a historic night for Saddleback Church in many ways! We ordained our first three women pastors, Liz Puffer, Cynthia Petty, and Katie Edwards! We commissioned three new elders, Anthony Miller, Jeremiah Goley, and Jason Williams! And we appointed Pastor Johnny Baker as the new global leader of Celebrate Recovery! We’re so grateful to share this moment with you. Our best days are ahead of us!”

The popularity of the ordination of women pastors is not unique to Saddleback Church. In September 1853, history would witness Antionette Brown’s ordination, the first woman ordained as a pastor in the United States by the Congregational church in South Butler, New York. It wouldn’t be until 1964 that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) would witness the ordination of Addie Davis, the first woman ordained as a pastor in the SBC.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic shift in attitude regarding women pastors. While women represented 2.3% of clergy in the 1960s, by 2017, the total percentage of women as clergy has reached 20.6%. Barna Research suggests that 84% of women and 75% of men are comfortable with women pastors. Furthermore, 80% of Catholics and 71% of Protestants affirmed their comfort with female pastors.[2] Following the announced departure of long-time Southern Baptist teacher Beth Moore, some women are beginning to question what they call the denomination’s “gender-role doctrine.”[3]

I’m keenly familiar with all the egalitarian arguments for women pastors in the church. The questions that we must ask in light of numerous straightforward passages of scripture on this issue are, “Do you know better than God how to order the seasons? Should the month of May come before April? Does Christ know best how to order His church?”

All of this harkens back to the echoes of the serpent’s question to Eve in the garden, “Did God really say….” At the heart of the women pastor’s debate is the abandonment of ecclesiastical revelation. In this new reformation, Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone) has been replaced by Sacra, si Vulgaris (Scripture, if popular). Far too many believe scripture to be an outdated relic that could use innovative improvement. Cultural relevance is more important than Christ’s revelation. Instead, many men embrace the moving target of the culture rather than endure the arrows of persecution promised in scripture.

Scripture is sufficient on every matter, including this one. As it pertains to male eldership and pastoral leadership in the church, scripture is clear. Christ knows best how to order the seasons, and of course, He knows best how to order His Church.
Virgil Walker

J.