Episode 22: Women Pastors and Transgenderism

Christ for Us

Episode 22 of the Christ for Us Bible Study Podcast is on Women Pastors and Transgenderism. You can read below or visit Christforus.org.

Women Pastors and Transgenderism

The title of this topic might seem to be needlessly provocative, but it addresses a real theological issue in the Church. When Christ instituted the pastoral office, He instituted it as an exclusively male office. A pastor is a male job, not a female job. For a woman to usurp the office of pastor is for her to transgress a gender barrier established by Christ. The promotion of female pastors is in essence transgenderism. And when we make this connection, we see why most churches that have female pastors have also embraced homosexuality, so-called same-sex marriage, and now transgenderism.

But before we go further, let us pray:

Enlighten our minds, we beseech Thee, O God, by the Spirit which proceedeth from Thee, that, as Thy Son hath promised, we may be led into all truth; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.

Biblical Argument for Male only Pastors Start with Jesus

So, why can’t women be pastors? Simply put, the Bible forbids women to be pastors. We must start with Jesus. Jesus instituted the pastoral office. He did this when He called His disciples, gave them authority to forgive sins, and sent them out to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments (Luke 10:16; John 20:19-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-47). Jesus sent only men to preach. All twelve of His Apostles were men (Matthew 10:1-4). Why did Jesus choose only men? Did He not have women followers? The Bible teaches that Jesus had many female followers (Matthew 27:55; Luke 8:2-3). These women loved Jesus, and Jesus loved them. Why didn’t He make Mary, Martha, Joanna, or Susanna apostles? Jesus certainly loved these women. He even honored some of them as being the first witnesses of His resurrection. But He did not send any of them to publicly preach and teach. Jesus certainly wasn’t afraid of going against the social norms of that day or upsetting the Jews, who would have been opposed to female rabbis. Jesus did not call women to be preachers, because He did not want women to be preachers.

It is important that we started with Jesus, before we got to the prohibitions by Paul, because starting with the institution helps us understand why Paul makes prohibitions. When arguing against women pastors, we often jump immediately to 1 Timothy 2:12 or 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. And many critics and proponents of women’s ordination will then attack Paul or his letters to defend women’s ordination. But it is Jesus who placed only men into the ministry. He chose the disciples. He sent out the apostles. And He did not send women to preach, even though He had many wonderful, pious women to choose from.

The Apostolic Descriptions of the Pastoral Office

Still, before we get to Paul’s explicit prohibition of women preaching and performing the pastoral office, we should look at how Scripture describes the pastoral office.

• Under-Shepherd of the Chief Shepherd
  • Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17)
  • Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)
  • So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:1-4)
• The hearers (sheep) are supposed to submit to the under shepherd as to Christ.
  • Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)
  • Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. (1 Timothy 5:17)
• The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseermust be above reproach, the husband of one wife,sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:1-7)
• “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:1-2

St. Paul’s Explicit Prohibition

The reason for reading these passage before going into the prohibitions given by Paul, is so that we see that Paul’s prohibitions are necessary and they are what we would expect from what we already know about the pastoral office. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if we did not have Paul’s explicit prohibition of women teaching and speaking publicly in Church in 1 Timothy 2:12 and in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, the church would still not have women pastors and would have sound biblical reasons not to have women pastors.

• Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. 1 Timothy 2:11-15
• As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 14:33b-37

The Order of Creation and the Distinction between Men and Women

The reasons Paul gives for prohibiting women from teaching and publicly speaking in church is that Adam was formed first, Eve was deceived, and that women will be saved in child-birth.

• Adam being formed first shows the order of creation. When God created Adam and then Eve, he made the husband the head of the wife. This is shown in 1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5:
  • But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife[a]is her husband,[b] and the head of Christ is God. 1 Corinthians 11:3
  • Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22-33
  • In marriage, a husband represents Christ to his wife. The wife takes the place of the church. The husband provides and gives, the wife receives. This is the model Scripture gives us for Christ and His Church as well as a husband with his wife. In the church, the pastor fills the roll as husband and father. The congregation fills the roll as bride. For a woman to fill the roll of pastor is for a woman to stand in the place of Christ. It would be a lesbian relationship.
• Note also, that St. Paul explains that the woman was deceived first. Why does he say this? I often hear people say, women would make great pastors, but God just says no. It’s as if God made an arbitrary rule, and we just need to follow it. This also leads to permitting women to do all sorts of activities in the church, which St. Paul clearly forbids, but it is justified, because the women are not ordained. So, women will still publicly teach, read lessons, distribute communion, etc. However, nowhere in Scripture does it say that women would make good pastors. It says that they make good mothers. And there are many examples of good godly mothers in Scripture, including Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of Timothy, who taught him the faith as a child. There are examples of faithful sisters in Christ, who have corrected erring brothers, like Priscilla correcting Apollos after taking him aside with her husband Aquilla. But the Bible does not say that women could make good pastors, but God just says no. Rather, St. Paul is clearly indicating that women would make poor pastors. Eve was deceived.
  This may sound harsh and sexist. I am not saying that women are not smart. I am saying that God did not bestow on women the necessary attributes to be pastors, in the same way that God did not bless women with the necessary attributes to be husbands and fathers. Children need a mother. A husband needs a wife. Women are good at being wives and mothers. This is why St. Paul says that women will be saved in childbearing. He does not mean that giving birth will save them. Rather, he is saying that the work God has given them to do as they follow their course of salvation through faith is ordinarily as wives and mothers. Paul is making a direct connection to the office of pastor and the office of husband and father. Women make great wives and mothers. But a woman cannot be a husband or a father. And God does not give women the necessary attributes to be good husbands and fathers. This used to be common knowledge. Not so much anymore. Yet, the reason a woman does not make a good husband or father is the same reason she does not make a good pastor. A woman does not make a good pastor in the same way two lesbians cannot replace a mother and a father as parents for a child.

Societal Shift on the Understanding of the Distinction between Men and Women

Although a few churches adopted women’s ordination in the 19th century, it ramped up in the 20th century to the point that every mainline Protestant denomination had women’s ordination before the 21st century. Most churches reached this conclusion by either denying that Paul wrote 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14, or by saying that Paul did write them, but they are not inspired by the Holy Spirit. Others spoke as if God caused Paul to write these things for that time, but they do not fit in our time. And some even try to reconcile women’s ordination with the words of Paul, as if Paul was unclear in what he meant.

What is clear is that Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, forbids women from carrying out the office of pastor, namely, teaching and preaching. So, how have so many denominations embraced the ordination of women?

Feminism, which blurs the lines between men and women, brought about a cultural shift, so that women’s ordination was demanded. It didn’t matter what argument was made to get there. Feminism demanded women’s ordination, because anything a man could do, so could a woman. Anything entrusted to a man, must also be entrusted to a woman.

The Fruit of Women’s Ordination

Church bodies, which have embraced women’s ordination according to the dictates of feminist culture were also, by and large, the church bodies, which embraced same-sex “marriage,” and now transgenderism. The ELCA officially accepted homosexual clergy in 2009 and a few years ago made “history” with the first “transgender” bishop. One could simply blame the ELCA’s propensity for going with the progressive crowd. However, it is not just that. The acceptance of female pastors necessarily leads to the acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism, because women’s ordination itself transgresses sex and gender.

A woman pastor is a transvestite. She is dressing up as the opposite sex. It is like a man wearing a dress. Our culture has so bought into feminism, that it does not recognize the bending of gender until it goes to extremes. Today we see men dressing as little girls and going into women’s restrooms and locker rooms. Even secularists are saying, “enough!” There is even a new term called TERF. It stands for Trans-excluding Radical Feminist. It is supposed to be a pejorative against feminists, who oppose trans rights. However, feminism built the groundwork for transgenderism. It fought to tear down the cultural norms which distinguished man and woman. Same-sex “marriage” is absurd. But most people today do not recognize the absurdity, because they do not recognize men and women as not only different, but complementary. A head needs a body. You can’t have two heads without a body. That isn’t a person. You can’t have two bodies without a head. That isn’t a person either. So, you cannot have a marriage with two men or two women. This doesn’t even get to the fact that two men or two women cannot have children!

The arguments for women’s ordination are the same arguments for same-sex “marriage” and transgenderism. A person’s sex does not determine the limits of what that person can or should do. Everything depends on how a person feels. So, if a woman feels that she is called to be a pastor, no one has the right to tell her that she cannot. Her biological sex cannot bar her. Likewise, if a man is in love with a man and wants to do unspeakable things with another man, they should be able to call their union a marriage. It doesn’t matter that fifty percent of what is essential for a marriage, a woman, is not there. It doesn’t matter that a same-sex union is by nature childless; children are no longer an essential purpose of marriage. And since the marriage bed is already defiled, the purchasing of biological material or children is justified for the sake of equal rights.

Transgenderism denies God’s clear word, “In the beginning, God made them male and female.” (Mark 10:6) Transgenderism denies nature and biology, insisting that there is no real difference between the sexes. Transgenderism insists that a person determines his own identity and that others must accept that identity, even if it causes harm to others. The same is true about women pastors. The practice of women pastors denies God’s clear Word, “I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man…” (1 Timothy 2:12) Women pastors deny nature and biology, insisting that God did not make men with certain strengths over women and give men and women different roles in marriage, church, and society. Women pastors insists that a person determines her own identity and that others must accept that identity, even if it causes harm to others. The church did not need women pastors. The church needed mothers to cares for their children at home, as St. Paul instructs older women to teach younger women in Titus 2, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” The church needed wives to help their husbands and encourage them to lead, as Sarah did for Abraham. The church needed husbands and fathers to not only preach and teach as pastors, but to set an example of how to be a good husband and father to the men in the church, as St. Paul instructs Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Transgenderism is an attack on the order of creation. It isn’t about a man who feels feminine being comfortable in his body or a woman, who feels masculine feeling comfortable in her body. It is about discarding any structure of sex in any part of life. This is why many of them identify as they/them or even some made up pronoun, calling themselves gender-nonbinary. They hate that God created us from the beginning as male and female.

Yes, St. Paul says in Galatians 3, that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ.” But this speaks of our freedom in the Gospel to be heirs of Christ. Paul is not calling for the destruction of God’s creation. He is not even calling for the abolition of slave and master or employee and employer. Rather, he continues to teach that slaves should obey their master, children their parents, and wives should submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5-6).

Transgenderism will destroy itself, whether or not it destroys our civilization first. It is cultural suicide. Yet, we in the Church must recognize that women’s ordination is part of the transgender movement. They are both part of a movement to deny the reality of God’s creation and the clear words of God. But when we accept God’s order of creation, not only do we conform to biblical practices like only male pastors, but the household is put in order, the church supports the godly structure of the home, and men in society step up to their godly roles as protectors and providers, and women and children are protected. And then we see better the image of Christ and His Church, when we see pastors caring for their parishes as a husband and father, and fathers caring for their wives and children as Christ cares for the Church.