It's interesting how false teachings so often use the same arguments. Egalitarian arguments for approving female pastors are based on claims similar to gay revisionist arguments for approving LGBTQ lifestyles:
1. False Claim: Scripture contains examples to disprove the command.
It's become popular to claim that when Jesus told Mary at the tomb to tell the disciples He was risen, he was approving female pastors (John 20:1-18).*
Women have meaningful ministry in Scripture, but none are equivalent to pastors.
Listen to my 2 minute explanation on YouTube: No! Mary Did Not Become a Female Pastor!
2. False Claim: Some commands are temporary and cultural.
Nothing in these biblical commands reflects a cultural practice. In fact, male leadership is linked to creation design and the Fall (1 Timothy 2:11-15).
3. False Claim: Paul was writing about abuse.
Egalitarians claim Paul's rules for male leadership were meant to counter female dominance in Ephesus caused by the Artemis cult.
✔ If so, why did he also limit church leadership to men in his letter to Titus in Crete (Titus 1:5-9)?
✔ If he wanted to promote equality instead of female dominance, why promote male dominance?
To believe these claims, you must believe God is a poor communicator, allowing the majority of genuine Christians throughout history to misunderstand church leadership. Or you have to believe Paul’s letters aren’t Scripture. See Paul's Letters Are Scripture.
If we are offended by God's rules for leadership, we don't know how beautifully God has designed mankind. As a woman, I'm not the least bit offended that I can't be a church pastor.
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* Using this line of reasoning, we could claim that Christians are supposed to get our tax money from fish mouths (Matthew 17:24-26). Instead, these passages about Mary and Peter, like many other passages in Scripture, explain an event, not a doctrine. And in some ways the claims about Mary are even more bazaar than claiming we should get our taxes from fish because telling the disciples about Christ's resurrection in no way resembles leading a church. Women in Scripture shared their faith and talked about the Lord with men and women. Some offered their homes for fellowship. But none of them did anything that would be described as leading a church and having authority over men.
Rick Warren used Mary at the tomb as one of his arguments to change his doctrine about female pastors. See A Well-Known Pastor Changes His View about Women Pastors.
To understand how we can easily discern if a command is cultural, see Should Women Wear Head Coverings?
Got Questions has a good overview of women's and men's roles in the church.
To show you that false teachings use similar excuses, check out these Gay Revisionist arguments:
1. They claim these examples disprove the command:
Kindred Spirits—Jonathan and David's Friendship
2. They claim the commands are cultural:
Responding to Revisionist Theology: Don't Overlook Verse 11
3. They claim only abuse is prohibited:
Natural and Unnatural Interpretations
I highly recommend Lies in Disguise which carefully explains errors in gay revisionism as well as errors in other false teachings.
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