An addition to the title could be: “Since When do Women Qualify as a Pastor or Qualify as Inclusion of Pastoral or Deacon Couple?”
Until 1916, woman could not vote in Canada, while our southern neighbours, 1920. Men were in charge. Then things changed and it wasn’t because of a group of Godly individuals getting together to search Scripture and pray about it. You won’t find anything in the Canadian archives or in American Federalist and Anti-federalists papers about women’s suffrage, even though groups of anti-male anti-authority feminist women attempt to make a case of suffrage (e.g. https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/commemoration/cent/index-en.html). It wasn’t actually even an issue.
Some time ago I read someone arguing that Satan hates women more than men and whenever men rebel against God, women suffer. This is also a lie propagated by the feminists, by effeminate men and by compromised heretical men controlled by feminist wives and women in their church, to promote the false theory of female suffrage above that of men.
Up until the early nineteen hundreds, men were in charge and women were not, and that is the way things were in general for hundreds of years in Canadian confederation and colonial territory, and likewise US history. We have gone along way from an almost entirely patriarchal society. Feminism has no doubt made its inroads from society at large to churches. We have controversy about the woman’s role in the home and church. If we have it there, then we will see exponentially more conflict when we talk about men and women in general. The theological liberal says no distinct role for either gender. The emergent sees it as unclear. Charismatics are all over the map on roles. Evangelicals divide on the issue, complementarian or egalitarian, and most choose to see it as a “secondary” issue. Many professing fundamentalists see it just like the evangelicals, but mainly they say that the man heads the home and the church. Very few any more say that the man heads the woman-period-everywhere: church, home, work, government, society. If they do, they’re, well you know, “chauvinists” and “misogynists."
Once again we see the symptoms of apostasy, and the fact that we so oft repeat that all such unBiblical philosophies are caused primarily by unregenerate people playing church. Thats the actual problem, but we also must deal with the symptoms of the disease that refuses to be healed, or even acknowledges that there is something wrong.
A popular phrase concerning church leadership heard frequently in evangelical land is “pastoral couple” or “deacon couple.” What does that even mean and is it Scriptural? Since when does God’s Word allow a woman to have authority over a man in the local church or any other setting for that matter?
Part of the conflict in the church at Corinth related to the fulfillment of the role of the man and woman. Roman society of which Corinth was a part practiced the authority of the man. Some believers in the church at Corinth knew of their equality before God, just like Paul taught in Gal 3:28. Men aren’t commanded to be leaders because I don’t think men and women are equal. I think they are. Why? The Bible says men and women are equal. They are equal in value or in essence. That is the point of Gal 3:28:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Yes man and woman are equal in essence. However, equal in essence does not mean equal in role. A good comparison is the relationship of the Son to the Father. They’re equal, and yet the Father is in authority over the Son.
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Cor 11:3).
Just like the Corinth church saw roles operational in the culture of Rome, the man was the head of the woman. Paul reminds them of the proper order in 1 Cor 11:3 when he says that “the head of the woman is the man.” The Father is the head of the Son. The Son is the head of the man. The man is the head of the woman. One reason for this is,
“man . . . is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.” (1 Cor 11:7).
Even though the Son submits to the Father as His superior in authority, He is equal in essence with the Father, even as Phil 2:6 says:
“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”
Men and women are of equal value or worth to God. So we don’t get our value or worth from our role, but from the essence of who we are. Both males and females are created by God, but man is created in the image of God while woman in the image of man, even as Gen 1:27 says:
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Though He created both male and female, only the male was created in the image of God. The woman was created from the rib of the man. This is also referred to in the NT:
“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.” (1 Cor 11:7)
The roles of men and women are different and it's for a purpose.
Many fundamentalists and evangelicals will argue for complementarianism in the home and church—masculine headship at home and male pastoral leadership. They treat the rest of society differently. Is that the Scriptural position? We look at around at our world and we see a woman in charge of men in the workplace, including the military, the police force, the fire department, ambulance, the school system, etc. Just recently, a women was voted by popular member vote to be Alberta’s 19th Premier and over in Italy, they voted in the first prime minister in its history. Our deputy Prime Minister is also a woman.
Should women be in charge of men? Are we okay with all that? I’m not. And of course, you know why. I’m sexist. That has to be it, doesn’t it?
When 1 Cor 11:3 says that “the head of the woman is the man” is it saying that God’s divine order is men in authority over women in general? I say, yes. Certain practices within the church regarding the roles of men and women are ordained in 1 Cor 11, but they are not bound in cultural norms but on permanent facts of creation. Christ is the head of the man—not just husbands or just men in the church, but of man generically. “The man” is a generic singular noun, speaking of no man in particular, but of man as an entity. With that established, the man is generally in authority over (“head of”) woman. Since Paul appeals to the relation between members of the Trinity, he is not viewing relations here as only cultural nor merely the result of the fall.
Other passages corroborate with 1 Cor 11:3, looking to something more than just marriage and the local church. 1 Tim 2 is within the context of the local church. Within this context, women have a subservient role to men (vv. 11-12). Why? Verses 13-14 bring two reasons that are not related to culture or situation, but to God’s design of men and women.
“For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
God created male and female and God gave them their roles. Role doesn’t determine worth. Their equality is not based upon their role, but on their essence. They are not equal in role. The man heads the woman. I’m not at all implying that men should be left unquestioned. I am saying that men ought to do the challenging of men, not women.
The false practice of female “leaders” and “pastors” and woman speaking in church occurs very commonly in evangelical churches including the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (EMC). That includes woman reading the Scriptures from the pulpit and teaching Sunday school or Bible study sessions. Woman also run ministries such as “counselling” ministry. Some of these heretical churches even have female pastors. All these women, from the one simply reading the Scriptures from the pulpit, to the ones overtaking the role of “pastor,” are all usurping authority over the man and rebelling against God.
This clearly contradicts the clear mandate of women behaviour in the church:
“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (1 Cor. 14:33-35).
“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Tim. 2:11-14).
The woman is assigned a role submissive to men in the church, the more restricted setting, because of the larger, universal context: all of God’s design in creation. God made the woman different in order to fulfill her distinct role. However, innate to this role for the woman is a God-given vulnerability. She is the nurturing sex. The next verse, 1 Tim 2:15, reminds us of her special relationship to children. Verse 14 is stated as a reason for the woman’s role in the church. Adam wasn’t deceived; Eve was. The woman is especially susceptible to deceit. For that reason, she needed Adam to fulfill his role, that is, headship.
The woman’s vulnerability is not to say that sometimes certain women won’t have more discernment than certain men. It is to say that God created the man in part to protect the woman from deceit. A woman’s submission to the man can and most likely will nurture his ability to lead as God intended. This is the way God created it to be. But even if the women could do a better job, this doesn’t excuse women from what God wants for them.
So it should go without saying — women cannot fulfill the office of pastor. If such women inclined to rebellion were to open a King James Bible, they would read that women are not only prohibited from being a pastor (the pastor is to be male, “the husband of one wife” - Ti 1:6) — they aren’t even permitted to speak in church (1 Tim 2:11-14, quoted above). Woman are not to hold any position of leadership over a man, since God made man the head and ruler of the woman (Eph 5:23; 1 Cor 11:3) — “he shall rule over thee” (Gen 3:16). Woman are not permitted to speak in the church, and it is a shame for them do so. They are to be under obedience to their husband, and ask him at home if they have questions (1 Cor 14:33-35, quoted above). The general priesthood and kingship of believers (1 Pet 2:9; Rev. 1:5; 5:10) in no way grants women the right to preach to an assembly of men, as this has already expressly been forbidden in 1 Cor. 14:34 and 1 Tim. 2:12.
A woman has no business being in a position of pastor, or any position teaching men or usurping authority over a man. Anyone that knows anything about the Bible knows this. It unsexes both the woman who usurps this authority and the men who submit to it. So what’s the problem today in “evangelicalism”? Unregeneracy. They are rebels against authority: against God and men. If they were truly converted to Christ they would be walking in obedience to God’s Word and would assuredly know this truth and obey it (cf. 1 Jn 2:3-5; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 8:12, 31-32). Obedience in all things is the litmus test, and for women this is a huge area. Women, and men who submit to this disobedience, are in open rebellion against Christ the King, Whom they know not, and in high treason against His sovereignty, His nature and His grace.
Neither is a woman a pastor or a deacon even when she is married to one. So the language of “pastoral couple” or “deacon couple” is wholly unScriptural. It reeks of females attempting to usurp authority over men, or indulge in a position that is not theirs to be had, or have serious issues with security. They are not satisfied with a lowly humble position, unlike the One they profess to know, but this is the very essence of Biblical Christianity for both male and female.
These obvious truths from Scripture, and others like it, put the average neo-evangelical woman into a fit of rage reminiscent of Herodias the illegitimate “wife” of king Herod, and most of their men into a cowardice tail spin, finding excuses for her sinful behaviour and their cowardly conduct. Disgraceful. But revealing. The truths that make most of them spin into hysterical fits (dovetailing with this issue at hand), include God’s mandates in modest dress standards for females including women wearing garments pertaining to the man (De. 22:5, knowing that this is an abomination to God, concerning either male or female), and God’s truth in woman being absolutely silent in church (1 Cor. 14:33-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-14), and God’s truth in one marriage for life with NO allowable divorce and remarriage (Heb. 13:4; cf. Pr. 6:32; 1 Cor. 6:9–10, 15-20; Gen. 2:24 and Mal. 2:13-17), and God’s truth in women submitting to their husband and obeying him in everything (Eph. 5:22-24), and God’s truth in hair length for woman, knowing short hair, like a man, is a shame for a woman (1 Cor. 11:1-15). All of these things are against God and bring the cursing of God yet they are common practice amongst most professing Christian women. These characteristics reflect disobedience and an unsaved hypocrite (Ps 119:127-128; Rom 12:9; Jn 14:24; 1 Jn 2:3-5) that loves the world and self. But what are the husbands and fathers doing about it? Most are typical cowards, having capitulated to the spirit of the age. Many “love” their wives and daughters more than God (in opposition to what Matt 10:32-39 demands for conversion, and love of God is only exhibited by obedience to His Word— Jn 14:23-24; 1 Jn 2:3-5). Today many woman professing believers hate these truths, which actually sheds light on the true spite and hatred they harbour for the God of the Bible, and a false profession (cf. Lk. 13:23-30; 10:25-28; De. 30:6; Rom. 5:5). I’m reminded of Rom 2:5,
“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”
A professing woman who refuses to obey such simple but profound truths, is very likely lost (1 Tim. 2:9-15; 1 Pet. 3:1-6; cf. Jn. 8:11-12, 31-32; 10:3-4, 27; 14:15-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6; Ti. 2:11-14; etc). Thats the bottom line, but so are the ones capitulating and them advocating for these false teachings. Instead of defending the truth, they cave like a house of cards, fold like a cheap suit, backtrack like cowardly politicians who can’t take a political punch.
When straight-forward Biblical commands, precepts and principles are stated, it almost seems extreme to those of us who believe it. That is the side effect of brainwashing by an ungodly, evil and woke society and government. Reject the evil of the world and embrace Biblical truth.
How Does This All Apply?
Women should have no authority over men. God made men to lead and women to submit to male authority. The fall of man is the classic example of what happens when men abdicate their God-given role. In order to obey God and His Word:
Women should hold no office in civil government.
Women should stop directing, bossing, superintending, administrating, or managing men in the workplace.
Women should never be leading churches.
Women should discontinue preaching to men.
Women should no longer challenge or moderate men in blogs and online forums.
How about voting? Just like women should never hold any leadership position over a man, in any realm, they should’ve never been allowed to vote and the proof of that is painfully clear. It was women that were the deciding vote for our demonic tyrant and puppet of the globalists antichrist, PM Justin Trudeau (female votes is what propelled him to victory, lest of course the voting was fraudulent, which may very well be true), and then also Biden south of the border. And the factual proof of that is even more evident now as America is in election year again, 2022. An NBC Poll compared to a study of the 2018 election breaks down major shifts in men and women. Where men have overwhelmingly shifted to the right on a generic congressional ballot, what would be considered normal behaviour, women with degrees are moving to the left.
If the Apostle Paul directed us to God’s creation to express the will of the Lord on the roles of men and women, then we know that this is what God intended for everyone that He created, not just the local churches. There was no church setting in Genesis. We are responsible to support the design of Almighty God everywhere in society as the salt of the earth. This is better for men and women. It is way better for society.
When women do rule men, Scripture sees this as a curse to society. When it happens, as it sometimes does, it isn’t good or to be admired, and Isa 3:12 reminds us that it is a shameful reality:
“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.”
God didn’t intend for women to rule men or even effeminate men, men who act like women, to have authority over men. This violates God’s intentions revealed in the Garden of Eden.
God had a purpose in creating man first and after His own image, which manifests itself in Genesis. He expected the man to take charge, to embrace the role of authority. The woman would function as man’s suitable helper. Divine order will be reflected by man’s conforming to the design of God. Women are to behave in fitting with God’s purpose for the woman. The woman was created for the man, from the man, and the man named the woman. Women aren’t to usurp authority over man in the church because they aren’t to supersede man’s role in general everywhere in society.
In fulfilling their God-given roles taught in Holy Scripture, women are not limited. Women will still have plenty to do of eternal benefit in which God will be honoured by their fulfilling His design. They can preach to women and children. They can function within the home as an entrepreneur of sorts, like the Proverbs 31 woman. They can ask and encourage men to lead. They can work under the authority of men. Like most men, they can learn. They can fulfill God’s role for women. In so doing, they are reaching their fullest potential because they are following the plan of their Creator and Designer.