Pauline Passages about the Role of Women

What is the significance of Paul's discussion about head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 for the discussion of the role of women in the church?

In spite of certain difficulties of interpretation, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 provides one of the clearest statements on the fundamental significance of the role differences which must exist between men and women at home and in the church.

What does Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 on head coverings mean for us today?

Paul urges respect for the head-covering custom because in his time it fittingly expressed sexual differentiation and role distinction.

Why does Paul say, “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men” in the church (1 Timothy 2:12)? Is it because women in his day were uneducated?

That is an assumption without support in the Bible. If lack of education had been the basis of Paul's prohibition, he would have prohibited both men and women to teach in the church if they were uneducated.

Does 1 Timothy 2:12 really forbid all kinds of teaching and speaking by women in the church? If the Adventist Church took Paul's statement literally, “I permit no woman to teach . . . she is to keep silent,” following it would cripple us, since we use the talents of women so heavily in Sabbath Schoo

The nature of the teaching forbidden to women in 1 Timothy 2:12 is the authoritative teaching restricted to the pastor, the elder-overseer of the congregation.

Why does Paul forbid women to teach as leaders of the congregation?

Because the women were not to occupy the headship role of authority over men.

Is it true that Paul's argument about the priority of Adam's creation (“For Adam was formed first, then Eve,” 1 Timothy 2:13) is faulty because it is based on the wrong Creation account (Genesis 2 instead of Genesis 1) and because it attaches significance to the fact that man was created before woma

If we say that Paul made a mistake in interpreting the meaning of Genesis in respect to the role relations between men and women, how can we know he was not also in error in interpreting the meaning of the Second Advent, or the relationship between faith and works in the process of salvation?

Why does Paul appeal to Adam's being created before Eve to justify his injunction that women should not be permitted “to teach or to have authority over men” (1 Timothy 2:12)? Is it arbitrary to assign leadership on the basis of priority of creation?

Paul does not tell us why he reasons in this line. Often Scripture does not feel obligated to justify itself.

Is it true that if Paul's argument about the priority of Adam's creation is valid, then the animals should rule mankind because animals were made before Adam was?

Of course not. Proponents of this argument fail to note that the Bible attaches no significance to the prior creation of the animals.

What kind of speaking does Paul prohibit to women in 1 Corinthians 14:34 when he writes, “The women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says”?

Paul is not here prohibiting all kinds of speaking by women in church, since a few chapters earlier he speaks kindly of “any woman who prays or prophesies,” provided only that she dresses modestly.

Does the Bible clearly teach that a church elder should be a man and not a woman?

The elder, then, is to be a married man loyal to his wife. Whether we like it or not, the specifications require males.

Does the New Testament distinguish between the office of elder and that of pastor?

No. The term “pastor” (Greek poimen) is used only once in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:11) and it refers to leaders of the congregation better known elsewhere as elders, overseers, or simply as leaders.

Why not ordain women as local elders? Doing so wouldn't mean we would ordain women later as pastors, would it?

We have no right to approve a practice that Scripture forbids in principle. Further, the ordination of women as elders will be used as a lever to pressure the church into ordination of female pastors.

But most of the people I know (many of them, anyway) are in favor of ordaining women as elders or even pastors. Shouldn't this count for something?

Many, many Adventists as well as a large number of other Protestants oppose women's ordination.