Elders/Pastors in the Church

Paul's Letter to Timothy

"A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (1 Timothy 2:11-14 NIV).

Woman Learning

Paul is saying that a woman should learn (μανθάνω) - which in this case is to to gain knowledge or skill by instruction - in quietness and full submission.  The word quietness (ἡσυχία) means to say little or nothing at all and submission (ὑποταγή) means to subordinate oneself in every respect.  In other words, the women should gain knowledge with little or nothing to say and should fully lower their ranks (Arndt, et., al., 2000).

Woman Teaching/Assuming Authority

Paul states that he doesn't permit (ἐπιτρέπω), or allow, a woman to teach (διδάσκω), or provide instruction neither in a formal nor an informal setting.  He also mentions that a woman is not allowed to assume authority (αὐθεντέω) over a man - which means that she should not tell him what to do or give orders to him.  Then Paul reiterates that a woman should be quiet.  In other words, a woman should not be allowed to provide instruction whether it is formal or informal and should not give orders to a man (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  

Relation to Creation Account

When Paul states that Adam was formed first, he refers to the passage in Genesis that states, "Then the Lord God formed a man  from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).  He then mentions that Eve was formed referring to the passage that says, "The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib  he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man" (Genesis 2:212-22).  

Paul states that Adam was not deceived because He is not the one who took the forbidden fruit; instead Eve took it.  Moses writes, "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Genesis 3:6; emphasis mine).  Adam was talking to God and he said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it" (Genesis 3:12).  So, Adam blamed Eve, then Eve confessed that the devil tempted her to eat it and she did.  Then God said to Eve, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you" (Genesis 3:16; emphasis mine).  

Paul then writes, "Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap" (1 Timothy 3:2-7; emphasis mine).

The word overseer (ἐπίσκοπος) in this case is a masculine noun.  In the Greek-Roman world, an overseer is one who has definite function or fixed office of being a guardian and related activity within a group.  The Christians at the time took the term and used it to reference a supervisor.  The whole idea here was an interest in guarding the apostolic tradition.  Also, notice how in every line Paul says he, him, and his while not using any feminine pronouns.  Also, when Paul states that the overseer should be faithful to his (ἀνήρ) wife, Paul is talking about an adult human male who is the husband and is contrasting the man (overseer) with the woman (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  

Paul's Letter to Titus

Paul then says to Titus, "An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined" (Titus 1:6-8; emphasis mine).

Paul uses the same terminology when he talks about being faithful to his wife as he did in the letter to Timothy.  He also uses no feminine pronouns and refers to the elder as a man.  He even states in the next verse the following, "He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" (Titus 1:9).  Not only is the elder suppose to hold (ἀντέχω) or cling to a trustworthy mesage, he is also responsible for refuting those who oppose it.  Refute (ἐλέγχω) in this instance means to bring someone to the point of realizing they have done wrong and to convict them (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  

Jesus Giving Spiritual Authority

The 12 Apostles

Authority to Drive out Demons

The Gospel of Mark states, "Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve  that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him" (Mark 3:13-19).

In this passage, Jesus chose Peter, James (son of Zebedee), John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon, and Judas.  Notice that every single apostle is a man who Jesus sent out to preach (κηρύσσω), or proclaim, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He also gave the apostles the authority (ἐξουσία) - or the capability and power - to drive out demons (δαιμόνιον) - which are evil spirits (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  

The Church

Jesus said to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter,  and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:17-19).  

Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, so Jesus told him that He would establish the church with Him as the head of it.  Peter (Πέτρος) in this case refers to stone and the word rock (πέτρα) in this case refers to a bedrock or massive rock formation referring to Jesus (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  Paul also uses this term when he states, "1 Corinthians 10:1–4 (NIV): For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock (πέτρα) that accompanied them, and that rock (πέτρα) was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:1-4).  Peter also writes, "Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,'  and, 'A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock (πέτρα) that makes them fall'" (1 Peter 2:7-8).

When Jesus is talking to His disciples a little later, He states, "Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).  Notice that He tells the same thing He told Peter when Peter declared Him to be the Messiah.

Paul also said, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-20).

Peter's Appeal

"To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:1-3).

When Peter talks about shepherds (ποιμαίνω) he is saying that the elders are to lead and guide their flock (ποίμνιον) which is the Christian community.  According to Paul, these elders/overseers/pastors should be male (Arndt, et., al., 2000).  

References

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 854). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Holy Bible, NIV (2011).  Zondervan.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.