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We have deleted a long and largely irrelevant explanation of how the author views as synonymous the names "pastor," "shepherd," "elder," and "overseer."
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Sam Storms has written a brief article making a complementarian argument that would allow women to serve as pastors.1 He argues that pastoring is a gift not an authoritative office in the church. While all elders need to have the gift of pastoring, it does not follow that all “pastors” must be elders. After doing a brief survey of biblical texts that employ “pastor” terminology, he surmises:
It stands to reason that all Elders must, in some sense, be pastors. But nothing in the way this verb is used should lead us to believe that all pastors must be Elders. No text asserts the latter.
Because a pastor is not the same thing as an elder and is not an authoritative office, Storms argues that women can be gifted pastors serving in the local church. Storms then asks the question:
Why, then, do most evangelical churches use the word “Pastor” to refer to an authoritative office, most often equated with that of an Elder?
Storms says there are two reasons that churches make the mistake of treating the pastorate as an authoritative office. First, churches are beholden to unbiblical tradition and lack the humility to let scripture correct their practice. Second, Storms says that the fear of the slippery-slope into full-blown egalitarianism keeps churches from being corrected by scripture.
Storms cites the statement about the pastoral office in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as an example of a view that is beholden to erroneous, unbiblical tradition. He writes,
Consider, as one example, the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) that serves as the doctrinal standard for the Southern Baptist Convention. In Article VI we read this:
“While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
In point of fact, as we have seen, this statement is false.
Finally, he concludes:
In sum, there is no indication in the NT that the spiritual gift of pastoring, unlike the office of Elder, is gender specific. The Holy Spirit may well grant this gift to both men and women. Therefore, I believe that one may continue to embrace a biblically based complementarianism while speaking of certain women as “pastors” in the local church.
What are we to make of this argument? Let me say up front that I regard Sam as a friend and brother in the Lord. I am very grateful for his complementarian commitments. So the disagreement that I am about to register should be understood in the context of my love and respect for him.
Nevertheless, I believe his criticism of my denomination’s statement of faith hits really wide of the mark. And I am taking the time to write this post to defend the Baptist Faith & Message 2000—in particular, its teaching about the pastorate. For that reason, I aim to show that not only is his exegesis mistaken but so also is his contention that our view of the pastoral office owes to unbiblical tradition and fear.
(...)
How Does This Exegesis Apply to Women as Pastors?
Storms argues that the BF&M is in error to prohibit women from being pastors. He argues that since the pastor is not an authoritative office, women can exercise this gift in a way that honors the biblical teaching about male headship. The weakness of his argument on this point is twofold.
First, as I have shown above, Storms is incorrect to treat the office of pastor as something different from the office of elder. Second, even if we were to accept his premise that “pastor” is not the same thing as an elder, he really hasn’t demonstrated how his definition of the pastoral gift wouldn’t be authoritative. In other words, the pastoral gift in the New Testament involves teaching and leading God’s people. (Our first opportunity to comment. The author explained his position in great detail, with documentation, in the section we redacted. But now he embarks on his rebuttal and makes summary denials without documentation. Why?
The author complains that Storms hasn’t demonstrated how his definition of the pastoral gift wouldn’t be authoritative. As we will find out, the author will not demonstrate the converse, that the pastor IS authoritative.)
Wouldn’t women pastors run afoul of Paul’s clear prohibition on women teaching and leading the men of the congregation? Paul is clear on this point:
1 Timothy 2:12 “I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” (We discuss this in great detail here.)How can a woman both function as a pastor and obey 1 Timothy 2:12 at the same time? (The author presumes that a being a pastor means having authority and leading a congregation. He does not document this point.)
Perhaps Storms only means that women can exercise their “pastoral” gift over other women. But that point is not clear in Storms’ article. In order for Storms’ argument to work, he is either going to have to make “pastoring” a non-authoritative gift or make it a gift that women only exercise over other women. (There are more options than this. For example, perhaps the proof scripture the author cites can be understood another way. This is what we discuss in previously cited link.)
But to do so would strain the clear teaching of the function of a pastor in the New Testament. Like Jesus, the pastor teaches, leads, protects, and cares for the entire flock. (Where does the Bible say this? Again, the author, having previously demonstrated the ability to document his assertions, suddenly finds himself making unreferenced statements.)
How can this gift be open to those whom Paul says should not teach or lead the gathered assembly? (Quite simply, the Bible does not teach that a pastor teaches or leads the gathered assembly. The congregation is, or ought to be, led by a plurality of elders, as the author himself noted:
1Pe. 5:1-3 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow-elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.The elders (plural) are commanded to be the shepherds and overseers. If this is true, then teachers, pastors, evangelists, or prophets aren't necessarily leaders. Thus a woman can teach without leading or exercising authority. Again we refer you to our commentary on 1 Timothy 2:12.)
Conclusion
I love and respect Sam Storms and am grateful for his complementarian commitments. But I still believe him to be mistaken about the Baptist Faith and Message‘s teaching on pastoral leadership. It isn’t “false,” as he argues. Rather, the BF&M’s teaching reflects careful, long-established exegesis of the biblical text. For that reason, the BF&M’s prohibition on women as pastors stands on firm exegetical ground, not on unbiblical tradition or fear of egalitarianism.
A friend recently said to me that complementarians often run the risk of minding the fences while ignoring the field. What she meant was that we can be so focused on boundaries that we forget the wide places in between. (Hmm. The author's woman friend taught him something and didn't exercise authority over him. How is that possible?)
And it is in those spaces that there is great freedom and opportunity for both men and women to have meaningful ministries within the church. Yes, there are clear boundaries in scripture for men and women in ministry, but this does not negate the opportunities for ministry that God gives to men and women. No Christian—male or female—should ever feel they are without a ministry. There is plenty of room to roam in the field, and the boundaries help us to see that.
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1 Sam Storms, “Is It Biblically Permissible for a Woman to Be Called a ‘Pastor’?,” Sam Storms: Enjoying God (blog), October 28, 2019, https://www.samstorms.com/enjoying-god-blog/post/is-it-biblically-permissible-for-a-woman-to-be-called-a–pastor-.
2 In his massive history of Baptist theology, James Leo Garrett identifies Hobbs as “the chief architect of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message Statement.” See James Leo Garrett, Jr., Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009), 468.
3 Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message (Nashville, TN: Convention Press, 1971), 80-81. See also the same argument in Herschel H. Hobbs, What Baptists Believe (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1964), 85: “Pastor… is one of three titles referring to the same office. The other two are ‘bishop’ and ‘elder.'” The same argument also appears in Herschel H. Hobbs, Fundamentals of Our Faith (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1960), 130: “The three words—overseer, elder, and pastor—therefore refer to the same office.”
4 John S. Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2005), 160. Gregg Allison offers an explanation for the change in usage: “Those who serve in the first office are called pastors, bishops, or elders. These terms are used interchangeably in Scripture. Whereas the Abstract of Principles focuses on the terms bishops and elders as proper titles for these officers, the common way of referring to them today is pastors and elders. An important reason for this minor change is to avoid misunderstanding: Many churches and denominations (the Episcopal Church, for example) have a three- tiered ministry of bishop, elders/pastors, and deacons, with ultimate authority residing in the bishop as supreme over elders/pastors. By contrast, Baptist churches, in accordance with Scripture, have a two-tiered ministry of elders/ pastors/bishops and deacons. To avoid the notion of a three-tiered ministry with bishops as more authoritative than elders/pastors, the term bishop is rarely used in Baptist theology.” See Gregg R. Allison, “Article XIV: The Church,” in Confessing the Faith: The Living Legacy of Southern Seminary’s Abstract of Principles, ed. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (Louisville, KY: SBTS Press, 2016), 95-96.
5 Charles S. Kelley, Jr., Richard Land, and R. Albert Mohler, Jr., The Baptist Faith & Message (Nashville, TN: Lifeway, 2007), 91.
6 In his 1858 manual on church order, John L. Dagg also uses the term interchangeably. See John L. Dagg, Manual of Church Order (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle, 2012), 263. It would be anachronistic to allege that he did so because of a fear of egalitarianism. Egalitarianism was not a motivating factor. His reading of scripture was.
7 The following analysis comes from my commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. See Denny Burk, “1-2 Timothy and Titus,” in ESV Expository Commentary: Ephesians-Philemon, 2017.
8 Benjamin L. Merkle, 40 Questions about Elders and Deacons, 40 Questions Series (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008), 56.
9 E.g., Gregg R Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 211-12.
10 See John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 2, The Library of Christian Classics, XXI (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 1060. Institutes 4.3.8.
11 Likewise, Louis Berkhof also sees the terms being used interchangeably. See Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, New Edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 586.
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