10

DOES A PASTOR’S AUTHORITY

TRUMP SCRIPTURE?

Some evangelical feminists say that women can teach if

they are “under the authority” of the pastors or elders

Another liberal tendency among evangelical egalitarians is the claim

that a woman may teach Scripture to men if she does so “under the
authority of the pastor or elders.” I say this is indicative of a liberal ten-
dency because on no other area of conduct would we be willing to say
that someone can do what the Bible says not to do as long as the pastor
and elders give their approval.
This position is found fairly often in evangelical churches. What
makes this position different from others we have treated up to this point
in the book is that many who take this view say they genuinely want to
uphold male leadership in the church, and they say they are upholding
male leadership when a woman teaches “under the authority of the
elders” who are men (or of the pastor, who is a man).
On the other hand, this is not a commonly held view among the
main egalitarian authors or those who support Christians for Biblical
Equality, for example.^1 These writers do not think only men should be

(^1) In fact, egalitarian author J. Lee Grady rejects this idea. He writes, in the context of talking
about women who have public preaching ministries: “And in many cases, leaders have inno-
cently twisted various Bible verses to suggest that a woman’s public ministry can be valid only
if she is properly ‘covered’ by a male who is present” (J. Lee Grady, Ten Lies the Church Tells
Women [Lake Mary, Fla.: Creation House, 2000], 89).