Does the Bible teach that women can be pastors?  

From my experience, the most often mentioned argument in support of women pastors is “Deborah was a Judge.” Every time Deborah is referred to I just can’t help but to giggle. I don’t mean any ill-will – at all – it’s just…the example is so weak, it’s actually self-refuting. I’d like to offer four reasons why the account of Deborah actually supports the position that women should not be pastors. I also want to point to what the Bible does teach on the subject and to make some pleas to my Chrsitian brothers and sisters…

Four Reasons Why The Story of Deborah Discourages Having Women Pastors:

#1 Ecclesiology from the book of Judges?

Each book in the Bible has a specific purpose for why it was written. A good principle to follow to ensure sound theology is to gather support for your position from books that are directly written about the topic you are studying. For example: If you want to know what the Bible teaches about origins you should draw mainly from Genesis, not from Esther or Proverbs, because that’s not what those books are focused on explaining. John wrote his Gospel specifically to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, and that if we simply believe in him we will have eternal life. Similarly, Romans and Galatians were written specifically to explain the Gospel; how an individual can be declared righteous before God. We should be going to these books mainly and preeminently to build our doctrine of salvation, and not books like James, or Ecclessiastes. 

What books in the Bible should we prefer as we build our Ecclesiology ( which is the doctrine about the nature of the Church and how it should properly function)? Well, Paul wrote a letter to his apprentice Timothy with the express purpose of guiding him how to properly lead and establish a church in the New Covenant. His first letter to Timothy even has a specific section about women’s roles in public worship. Can you think of a better place in all the Bible than this, for solid answers on the question of whether women should be pastors or not? There we find Paul instructing, “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 Timothy 2:11-14) This passage unambiguously, prescriptively, in proper context, teaches that the responsibility of public, authoritative teaching and preaching of the Word of God, in the gathered church of God, is reserved for men only; that women should not be in positions of authority over men in the church; and that this arrangement is not to fluctuate based on cultural norms, as indicated by Paul’s appeal to creation for this order. The church of Jesus Christ today is much safer if she builds on the foundation of the Apostles’ doctrine, rather than an Old Testament History account. All of Scripture is inspired and beneficial, but needs to be understood in context, applied in context, and given its proper weight in relationship to context.  

#2 The Account of Judges has no bearing on a New Testament office anyways.

The story of Deborah is descriptive not prescriptive. Meaning, the story is simply an account of what happened in Israel at that time, not a didactic passage instructing God’s people how to function. There is no divine calling, anointing or formal establishment of Deborah to an office. 

Another important detail is the nature of the Judges ministry. The style of leadership the Judges provided was very unofficial. They were more like grass-roots warriors and influencers than formal, executive-branch office-holders, like the Kings were, or Apostles, or…Elders are. But let’s just say that Deborah was the leader of Israel, and let’s add to it the hypothetical situation that in the Old Testament God called, anointed and appointed just as many women to be prophets, priests and kings as he did men. That still wouldn’t make it ok for women to be pastors, because we are not in the same dispensation. It sure would make the case at least somewhat more strong, but it still would not be sufficient. But that is only a hypothetical situation and therefore pushes the majority of the weight in favor of the male-only leadership position. 

#3 The Judges was a time when everyone did that which what was right in their own eyes.

The time of the Judges was marked by carnality, confusion, chaos, lawlessness and independence from God. This is hardly a wise time period to draw support for what should be normative in the New Testament Church. Should we dedicate a percentage of the tithe to cast idols for the house of God (ch.17)? Should we hand over our wives as a ransom to be abused by people persecuting us (ch.21)? Should we encourage single men to jump out of bushes to kid-knap women and then marry them (ch.21)? Are these practices to be standard procedure for the godly Christian today – they did it in Judges?  Following the example of people in the times of the Judges is synonymous to saying that you are at a time when every man in the church is doing what is right in his own eyes. Ought not our default reaction be to resist imitating what we see in Judges? 

The percentage of female leadership in the church has steadily been rising over time. Are we to see this as a sign of health and growth or a time of decay? Well, Scripture warns that one sign of a society under the judgment of God is when women begin ruling over the people: “As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.” (Isaiah 3:12) This verse is in the context of very intense rebuke from God over his people’s sins. You say, “But women are rising up because men are failing to do their jobs!” Perhaps, but if you are taking that position, you are admitting that your church has been embracing the “Judges spirit,” which is when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) Instead, if we look at the times in Scripture when God’s people experienced true revival, awakening and lasting reform, it was always men leading the way – Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus, Peter, Paul, etc. There are too many to number. The point is that there are time periods in the history of redemption that are wise examples to follow and then there are times when we are not so wise to follow their example. Let’s yield to the nearly universal rule in Scripture, that healthy times in the church happens under male leadership.     

#4 Deborah Didn’t Recognize Herself As The Leader. 

In the account (Judges 4), Deborah recognized the leadership of Barak. She came to motivate and awaken him to his duty. He was cowardly and only went up to battle because Deborah was willing to go with him. In the end it was a woman, Jael, who valiantly drove a spike through Sisera’s temples and fastened his head to the floor. All of this in the story is designed to cast shame on Barak; it should have been him that led the way, fought the battle and defeated the enemies General.

We do live in a time of male complacency, lack of valor and manliness among God’s people. It seems as though fewer and fewer men are surrendering to passionate service for Jesus, while more and more women are attending seminary, or standing up and speaking up for Christ. It’s sad when you see more women than men showing up to prayer meetings, bible studies, and open air evangelism.

God is going to get his work done one way or another, through whatever means he chooses (Balaam’s donkey for example). I do believe that God is speaking through many women pastors in the church today. I’m sure there are people getting saved and growing in Christ through their ministries. However, it is possible for God to do his work through disobedient vessels — God miraculously brought water out of a desert rock when Moses smote it, but this very action caused him to forfeit his place in the Promised Land. I bet the majority cheered Moses that day, not realizing that his actions were a massive personal failure. The spirit of God was mightily upon Samson, but he did lots of damage and died in shame. Jesus spoke about men who prophesied in his name, cast out devils and did many wonderful works, but they did not know him and didn’t make it into the kingdom. 

Pragmatism is when the end justifies the means. It’s not wise to conclude that God is pleased just because you see special things happening – our only safe basis for concluding that God is pleased is if we are carefully submitting to the Word of God. So, yes, there are many very gifted, intelligent, theological, eloquent, spiritual women who are pastors, but they are being disobedient in this area to the clear teaching of Scripture. If you are a woman Pastor you should step down from your position and use your passion, gifts, and knowledge to motivate the men around you to do their job, and to do it well. I know some valiant Christian women and I thank God for them. They are vital and essential to the success of the church. It’s awesome to see Jael’s driving nails through the temples of enemy generals. But we must follow the prescriptions of the Word of God if we want to please God and have true success. 

Applications 

The design of the story of Deborah is to rebuke cowardly men, not to encourage women leadership. It ought to be our goal to see the percentage of female pastors dropping. The root issue really is unconfessed sin in the camp. Sin causes God to remove his hand of blessing, and one way in which God blesses his people is by raising up strong, valiant, godly male-leaders. So, whatever your sins are, put them away so we can see a time of refreshing again. 

Women – If there are no men around you leading, then pray for them and encourage them to stand up and do their job. Beg them. If you are asked to be a pastor or elder or bishop, use that wonderful opportunity to call out the men in that church to their post. If men are not going to step up, then be valiant for Jesus, chop some demons heads off – pray, fast, weep, speak up! But don’t disobey God and lose your reward, by moving into a place that is not yours. King Uzziah was struck with leprosy in his forehead because as a King, he tried to offer incense in the Temple. 80 valiant priests withstood him and said to him, “It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.” (2 Chronicles 26:18) Ladies- resist the temptation to usurp authority, it will not be for thine honor. It is to the shame of men to not rise up to their position, but it is likewise to the shame of women to assume a position that is not theirs.  

Men – Don’t sit on the sideline and watch as more woman run into battle for the LORD. Put on your armor, pick up your sword, and run into battle. More plainly – stop playing video games and watching porn, open your Bible, study and memorize it, go out in the streets and preach the Gospel, then find a church or start a church and faithfully teach the Word of God.