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1 Timothy 3 – Can Women Be Elders?
Can Women Be Elders?
When discussing leadership within a church, an argument making the rounds is, “‘Elders’ is a Jewish concept, so when Paul uses that patriarchal term, he is not showing a pattern for churches today. That’s why women can be elders” (a paraphrase and not an exact quote).
Considering there are cultural elements within our practices, let’s examine this to see if elders are or are not an enduring principle for churches today.
- Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in churches (Acts 14). Did Paul convert mainly Jews or mainly Gentiles? Galatians 2 shows he is an apostle to the Gentiles. So Paul is appointing elders in mostly Gentile congregations.
- Paul left Titus in Crete to appoint elders (Titus 1). Was Crete a Jewish community or Gentile? It was the latter.
- Even if the term “elder” is of a Jewish origin, that does not mean the NT description of elders is Jewish. Let’s look at some of the qualities and ask, “Do we want to exclude this one?” (1 Timothy 3):
- Self-controlled? Should we accept mean who are out of control? Is self-control “too Jewish”?
- Respectable? Should we accept someone no one respects? Is respectability “too Jewish”?
I could go on and list most every character quality and the consensus would be, “That is a good and necessary character quality in a leader”.
Except, egalitarians don’t want to accept, “husband of one wife”; that necessitates an elder being a man. That requirement is “too Jewish”.
The whole argument that the concept of “elders” is locked within the Jewish culture and therefore doesn’t apply to us today is unfounded. It only wants to get rid of one qualification – that elders are to be men. So when someone agrues that Paul only said “husband of one wife” because of cultural limitations, they fail to see that in Gentile paganistic religions, they often had female leaders.
Elders therefore is not too Jewish and culturally located in the past, misogynistic culture. The term and their character is part of Jesus’s plan for his churches today.
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