Brother Possible@BrotherPossible
The position that women should not serve as pastors or elders is not a cultural preference or a personal opinion.
It is grounded in specific texts and Bible eclessiology that give reasons rooted in creation not culture.
1 Timothy 2:12-13:
"But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve."
The Bible restricts the teaching and authoritative office over men to men, and it does not ground it in the culture of Ephesus. It grounds it in the order of creation: Adam was first formed, then Eve.
This is significant because it means the argument cannot be dismissed as culturally conditioned.
When the Bible roots a command in creation, it is telling us that it was God's design before any culture or dispensation. You'll find the same notion in Corinthians 11 on headship as well as in Matthew 19 on marriage.
When Scripture anchors a principle in creation, it is signalling that the principle is not negotiable by cultural context.
See 1 Timothy 3:1-5:
"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife."
The qualifications for the office of bishop which is same as overseer, pastor are given in masculine terms throughout the Bible.
Husband of one wife is not incidental language. It is a qualification that assumes the elder is male. You'll find the same structure in Titus 1:6: "If any be blameless, the husband of one wife."
The author had every opportunity to use gender-inclusive language if he intended the office to be open to women. He did not. Scripture does not.
The underlying point is that men and women are equal in dignity and value before God but have different roles in the home and the church. This is the consistent reading of the relevant texts across scripture and church history.
Galatians 3:28, "there is neither male nor female in Christ" is sometimes used to argue for women pastors. But Galatians 3:28 is about soteriological equality.
Equality in salvation, worth and access to God.
It is not about the erasure of all role distinctions in every context.
The same author of Corinthian, Timothy and Titus wrote Galatians 3:28 and also wrote 1 Timothy 2:12.
There's no contradictions because one is about standing before God and the other is about function in the church.
So men and women are equal in worth but differentiated in role.
Now, this position does not say women cannot teach. They can and should other women, children, and in appropriate contexts. It does not say women cannot lead. Women lead extensively and necessarily in the body of Christ.
It does not say women cannot preach in the broad sense of proclaiming the gospel.
What it is saying is that the specific office of a pastor, elder, or overseer, and anyone who carries governing authority over the congregation including men is reserved for qualified men.
Also, this is not even a statement about capacity. Women could be more gifted communicators, more spiritually mature, and maybe more pastorally sensitive than many of the men in the room but they're not qualified for that office. It is a statement about design.
The same way headship in marriage is not about capacity.
A wife could be wiser than her husband. It is about the ordered structure God designed for the covenant.
Like I initially pointed, Christian women may want to contest this in an age where feminism is popular and this even include serious believers.
But the texts are not obscure.
They are specific. They give reasons. And the reasons are rooted in creation not culture. Scripture is clear.