Controversy continues to crackle throughout the church regarding the ordination of women as pastors and local elders. There are those who see the former as problematic from a Biblical perspective, while they see the latter as permissible. Can we find clarity in the Sacred Pages as to whether any difference can rightly be made between the two?
In some segments of global Adventism, elders are viewed almost solely as the pastor’s platform attendants on Sabbath morning. Announcing major events and other aspects of the worship service constitute their primary duties. Many never occupy the Sabbath pulpit or visit the members as part of their responsibilities. One head elder in a church I attended prior to my first assignment in formal ministry was absolutely terrified when the pastor told him he expected all his elders to learn how to preach.
In circumstances like the above, it’s easy for some to conclude that a major difference exists between the role of an ordained church elder and that of the local pastor. But is this distinction Biblical?
Elders in the Bible
The role of elders in the faith community is not, of course, a strictly New Testament phenomenon. On the eve of the exodus of Israel from Egypt we find Moses repeatedly communicating with the elders of Israel (Ex. 3:16; 4:29; 12:21), and through them to the Israelite congregation. When Moses needed additional help in the administration of Israel’s leadership, God commanded him to “gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel” (Num. 11:16). After the death of Joshua, we read how “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for Israel” (Josh. 24:31). These elders were thus men of considerable spiritual influence, preserving through their leadership the faithfulness of the nation. When Israel later desired a king, it was the elders of the people who approached Samuel and asked that such an appointment be made (I Sam. 8:4-5).
In the story of the first Passover, it becomes clear that the elders of Israel were both men and the leaders of their respective families (Ex. 12:3,21). We noted above how God commanded Moses to gather “seventy men of the elders of Israel” (Num. 11:16). Like the “able men out of all Israel” of whom Moses made rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens (Ex. 18:25), those identified in Scripture as elders of God’s Old Testament people are identified as male. Very likely the aforesaid categories of rulers were in fact included among Israel’s elders, though the latter seem to have included all of the husbands and fathers of the nation.
Like their Old Testament predecessors, the elders of the New Testament also had the responsibility of rulership within the faith community. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine” (I Tim. 5:17).
Spiritual Male Headship
The principle of spiritual male headship is replete throughout the Bible, traced by the apostle Paul back to pre-Fall Eden and the Godhead itself. The apostle writes:
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God (I Cor. 11:3).
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve (I Tim. 2:12-13).
Some may wonder about this reference to silence, which is echoed in another statement from the same author relative to the public role of women in the church (I Cor. 14:33-34). But the context of the above passage from First Timothy helps explain what Paul means when he uses this word. In verses 1 and 2 of First Timothy 2, Paul writes regarding the relationship of Christians to the civil authorities:
I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
When the apostle uses the word “quiet” in this passage, he obviously isn’t saying that Christians should say nothing in their relationship to others in society, whether rulers or otherwise. Too many Biblical examples to the contrary—not to mention the Savior’s command to preach the gospel to the world (Matt. 24:14; 28:18-19; Mark 16:15)—do not allow such an understanding of the word “quiet.”
Rather, what the apostle is describing in these passages is a spirit of yielding and submission, not vocal silence. This is what he means in another passage where he exhorts the Christians in Thessalonica to “study to be quiet” (I Thess. 4:11). In context this has nothing to do with not talking, but rather refers to a spirit of respect and consideration for one’s brethren and sisters within the fellowship of faith.
The apostle Peter illustrates this same principle when in one passage he admonishes women to cultivate “a meek and quiet spirit” (I Peter 3:4), yet in this very context urges women to be subject even to unbelieving husbands, so that the latter might be “won by the conversation of the wives” (verse 1). Once again, the Bible is not telling women to “shut up.” Rather, the inspired pen is speaking of a spirit of yielding and submission on the part of women to men, whether in the context of the home or the church.
Though Eve was the first human being to sin (Gen. 3:6), the consequences of sin were not experienced by either Adam or Eve until Adam transgressed (verse 7). And when the two of them sought to hide from the presence of the Lord, it is to Adam, not Eve, that the Lord called (verse 9).
This principle of creation headship explains the primacy of Adam so far as the issue of human sin and the resulting necessity of a Savior are concerned. Though, once again, it was Eve who sinned first, it is Adam who is identified in the New Testament as the one responsible for bringing sin and death to the world (Rom. 5:12-19; I Cor. 15:22), thus necessitating Adam’s replacement by Jesus as the new Head of humanity. The Second Person of the Godhead didn’t come to earth to be the Second Eve, but rather, the Second Adam.
As the home is the original building block of the faith community, the Bible is clear that spiritual headship in the home is reserved for men. In the words of the apostle Paul:
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Saviour of the body.
Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:22-25).
Some would have us believe that this order of gender authority was exclusively the result of the Fall, and that in Eden no such order existed. But Ellen White, like the Bible (I Tim. 2:12-13), is clear that the spiritual primacy of the male gender was part of God’s original design:
The relationship existing in the pure family of God in heaven was to exist in the family of God on earth. Under God, Adam was to stand at the head of the earthly family, to maintain the principles of the heavenly family. This would have brought peace and happiness [1].
Elders and Spiritual Headship
Throughout the Bible, in both Testaments, those identified as elders are designated as leaders of the faith community. Whether one holds such a position simply at the local church level, or whether one occupies the post of elder/overseer as in the case of Titus—who was commanded by Paul to “ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee” (Titus 1:5)—in either case this is a headship role that the apostle forbids to women on the basis of the original created order (I Tim. 2:12-13).
One prominent world Division in the Seventh-day Adventist Church has recently voted to allow the ordination of women as local elders because, in their words, “the context for ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic has made it crucial to affirm the leadership and missionary role of the church elder, including women” [2].
But what compelling reason exists here for altering Biblical gender authority as described in both the Old and New Testaments? If men are not available to perform the duties they would normally perform in the spiritual realm, the inspired pen is clear that exceptions are possible. Describing the work of Deborah during the period of the judges, Ellen White observes: “She was known as a prophetess, and in the absence of the usual magistrates, the people had sought to her for counsel and justice” [3].
Notice how she held her position as judge “in the absence of the usual magistrates.” This is similar to how Ellen White describes the respective roles of father and mother in the worship activities of the home:
Morning and evening the father, as priest of the household, should confess to God the sins committed by himself and his children through the day. Those sins which have come to his knowledge and also those which are secret, of which God’s eye alone has taken cognizance, should be confessed. This rule of action, zealously carried out by the father when he is present or by the mother when he is absent, will result in blessings to the family [4].
The above statements help us understand that whenever those men designated as spiritual leaders are unable to execute their usual responsibilities in the home or the church, that women can in fact fill these roles in their absence. But in no way does this mean that the women in question are given the title or general responsibility of spiritual headship as a result. A woman need not be ordained as a church elder or pastor in order to give guidance to the Lord’s flock in the temporary absence of male leadership. Circumstance cannot change Biblical imperatives, and spiritual male headship is one such imperative, going all the way back to a sinless world (I Cor. 11:3; I Tim. 2:12-13).
Conclusion
In short, no Biblical distinction can be established between the role of an ordained local elder and that of a local pastor. The ordination of women as local church elders in various parts of the Adventist world has paved the way for the contention that women can legitimately be ordained as pastors. But as both local elders and pastors occupy roles of spiritual headship, and as the Bible is clear that such persons are to be men, no Biblical justification is possible for the notion that while women cannot be ordained to the gospel ministry, ordination to the post of local church elder remains a legitimate option.
REFERENCES
1. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 236.
3. White, Daughters of God, p. 37.
4. ----The Adventist Home, p. 212.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan