It seems like there has been a lot of discussion recently, especially within the Southern Baptist community, regarding pastoral ministry and the role of women. This is largely due to the actions taken by Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. In May 2021, the southern California megachurch made denominational headlines when it ordained three women as pastors. Since then, it has also recognized Stacie Wood, wife of current pastor Andy Wood who succeeded Warren in 2022, as a Teaching Pastor. Because of these actions, the Credentials Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention determined that Saddleback Church is no longer "in friendly cooperation" with and therefore is no longer a part of the SBC. Saddleback intends to appeal this decision at this year's national convention.
In this post, I am not concerned with the question of Saddleback or its future relationship with the SBC. Rather, I am interested in some of the biblical arguments that have been proffered throughout this discussion in the attempt to justify the pastoral service of women in the church. One pastor in particular, Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, regularly advances the argument that pastoral ministry is a spiritual gift that can be exercised apart from the function and office of pastor. In his defense, he affirms that the role of lead or senior pastor is reserved for men according to the Scriptures, but he suggests that, under the pastor's authority, the gift of pastor may be exercised by anyone so gifted regardless of gender. This argument is primarily based on Ephesians 4.11, which says, "And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers." The verb "gave" points back to verse 8 (quoting Psalm 68.18), which reads, "When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people." The language of "gifts" and "giving" suggests to some that this passage should be read alongside the paradigmatic "spiritual gift" passages, e.g. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and it is this coalescence of passages that leads to the conclusion that pastoral ministry is a spiritual gift that can be exercised apart from the office and function of pastor. I believe there are several problems with this interpretation, and in the space that follows, I would like to highlight three of them.
First, this view rests on a misunderstanding of "spiritual gifts". In English, the word "gift" can be used to refer to an ability or a talent; it is customary to speak of someone who is extremely skilled in a particular ability as someone who is "gifted." This is the fundamental assumption of so-called "spiritual-gift inventories", namely that a person's "spiritual gifts" are in keeping with or even identical to their natural abilities and personality strengths. If this is the case, then anyone who has a strong personal charisma or is particularly skilled in public speaking could be viewed as having the "spiritual gift" of pastor/teacher. The problem is that none of the qualifications for pastoral ministry in the NT are based on a person's ability or skill; almost all of them are grounded in the qualities of a person's character. In his book What are the Spiritual Gifts?: Rethinking the Conventional View, Ken Berding suggests that this connotation of gifts as abilities has significantly skewed our understanding of what Paul actually means by "spiritual gifts". Rather, he argues that spiritual gifts should be understood as ministry roles or areas of service. In this sense, pastors are a gift to the church; they are called by God to serve a particular role or function in the life of the body.
This brings me to the second concern I have with this view, namely that it misunderstands the role and function of pastors in the life of the body. In Ephesians 4.12, we read that these gifts, i.e. apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers, are given "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ." In other words, the roles that are given in verse 11 are given for the edification of the body in verse 12, meaning that they are not exercised among the body at large. They are leadership roles given by Christ to care for and serve His body, "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness" (4.13). This understanding would seem to be confirmed by Ephesians 2.20, which says that the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone." This would mean that pastoral ministry is a leadership role in the church, and therefore it is not a gift to be exercised among the various members of the body regardless of gender.
A final concern that I would like to highlight in this regard has to do with the misunderstanding of the phrase "some pastors and teachers". Is this phrase referring to one group, i.e. pastor/teachers, or is it actually two groups that are in view, i.e. some pastors and some teachers? Exegetically speaking, the two nouns are governed by one article, and this is the same article that identifies the other three groups. So, literally translated, the verse in question reads, "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (Eph 4.11 ESV). The most natural reading would indicate that there are four groups of leaders in view here, and that the last group, i.e. "pastors and teachers," should be understood as one group with a compound role of shepherding and teaching. Of course, this is not the only way to understand this line (e.g. see the footnote in the NET Bible for an alternative view), but the fact remains that all pastors are teachers, even if not all teachers are pastors. The close proximity of the terms here along with the use of the article would seem to imply that it is pastor/teachers who have been gifted by Christ to His church, and therefore, pastoring cannot be viewed as a gift that is exercised apart from the role and function of pastor.
If this is the case, then the question of who may fill such a function in the church must be answered in light of the qualifications that are given for pastoral service. In particular, this would mean that the famous (or perhaps infamous) prohibition found in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12 must be taken into consideration; in that verse, we read, "I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to remain quiet." This is not to say that women cannot teach in the church, but it is to say that Ephesians 4.11 cannot be used to define such a role. Pastoral ministry is a leadership role in the church that is limited to qualified men per the Scriptures, and we simply cannot set those limitations aside based on our modern understanding of giftedness or ability. Certainly, the service of women in the church is vital and necessary for the health and growth of the church (c.f. Titus 2), but we must submit ourselves to the prescriptions of Holy Scripture, which limit the role and function of pastor to qualified men.
Bio: Phillip Powers is an elder at South Caraway Baptist Church in Jonesboro, AR, and he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at SBTS. He blogs periodically at phillippowers.blog, and you can follow him on Twitter @PhillipPowers.
Editor's note: We appreciate Phillip's biblical engagement with Dwight Mckissic's arguments on pastoral ministry. Dwight is a longtime contributor here, a faithful man of God, and a faithful Southern Baptist pastor. We post this in our desire to be a place where different voices are heard. We would love to hear our friend Pastor McKissic engage on the issue on this post or in a follow up of his own. Disagreeing on scriptural interpretation is healthy discussion and in not condemnation!
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