Women As Pastors

First off, let me say, I have nothing against women in ministry.
I find many women in the Bible who ministered for God....

Exodus 15:20
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.

Judges 4:4
Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

2 Kings 22:14
So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her.

Micah 6:4
Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt And ransomed you from the house of slavery, And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

Titus 2:3-4
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

And hey, I've also seen false prophetesses...

Nehemiah 6:14
Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.

Revelation 2:20
"But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman 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.

So women are not unheard of ministering in the Bible and, more often than not, doing it in accordance with the will of God.

The passage most on my mind is...

1 Timothy 2:11 - 15
11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

Now... I see guidance in the scriptures about orderly conduct of how God wants His institutions managed.

The first one He instituted was the family...

Genesis 2:21-24
21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
22 The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.
23 The man said, "" This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.''
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Christ’s body honors the institution of the family and obeys Gods commands on its management.
The institution of the family takes an extremely short step into relating with the institution of the church.

Ephesians 5
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
30 because we are members of His body.
31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.
32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

The relationship from how Christ is the head of church as the husband is the head of family as who is in change of the church body itself. The management of all these institutions of God all interchange and link in the relationship. They snap together like Leggos.

It's got nothing to do with who's smarter or more spiritual it's got to do with who is commissioned to fill the office.

It's got to do with whose in charge and in a fallen world sin corrupts what God has ordained...

Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said, ""I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.''

"Desire" = teshuwqah in Hebrew. Is the original sense of stretching out after.

Half that word comes from "shuwq"

Shuwq
1.to be abundant (meaning probable)
a.(Polel) to give abundance to
b.(Hiphil) to overflow

We see this word again in the next chapter God talking to Cain...

Genesis 4
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "" Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.''

He's saying, "the sin wants to dominate you, overflow you, take you over."

He means the same in chapter three.

"You will want to dominate your husband. To overpower. To overflow."

This was the result of a fallen sin nature. The woman was a "helper" for the Man. (Gen. 2:18) Not his master.

Again, please don't think I'm saying women should walk behind us five paces or sit on the back of the bus or be demeaned as animals or worse.
I can still find places in the New Testament where women minister in the church.

Romans 16:1
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea;

"Servant" = diako an attendant, a waiter - deacon, minister, servant.

This is saying Phoebe was a deacon in the church. A clear indication that women can be deacons and partake in the ministry of the church. (Note: Some churches give great clout to the office of Deacon. Authority over a man, 1 Tim 2:12, should be kept in mind when considering the duties.)

To be continued...