women as pastors

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, ⁴who have risked their own necks on behalf of my life, for whom I give thanks, not I alone, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;

⁷However, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one toward what is beneficial. ⁸Certainly, to one, through the Spirit, is given words of wisdom; but to another, according to the same Spirit, words of knowledge; ⁹to another, in the same Spirit, faith; to another, in the one Spirit, the gift of healing; ¹⁰to another, miraculous works; to another, prophecy; to another, the discernment of spirits; to another, different kinds of languages; to another, the interpretation of words. ¹¹But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one according to his will. ¹²For just as the body is one, and yet has many parts, so all the parts of the body, though they are many, are only one body. So also is Christ.

¹Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is in the ministry of the church, which is at Cenchreae, ²so that you may receive her in the Lord with the worthiness of the saints, and so that you may be of assistance to her in whatever task she will have need of you. For she herself has also assisted many, and myself also.

²⁸And after this, it will happen that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your elders will dream dreams, and your youths will see visions. ²⁹Moreover, in those days I will pour out my spirit upon my servants and handmaids.

³⁸But Jesus said: “Do not prohibit him. For there is no one who can act with virtue in my name and soon speak evil about me. ³⁹For whoever is not against you is for you. ⁴⁰For whoever, in my name, will give you a cup of water to drink, because you belong to Christ: Amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

²⁷And God created man to his own image; to the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them, and he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

¹⁵And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.

¹¹For there is no favoritism with God.

⁴For I led you out of the land of Egypt, and I freed you from the house of servitude, and I sent before your face Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam.

¹It is a faithful saying: if a man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work. ²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, ³not a drunkard, not combative but restrained, not quarrelsome, not covetous; ⁴but a man who leads his own house well, having children who are subordinate with all chastity. ⁵For if a man does not know how to lead his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God? ⁶He must not be a new convert, lest, being elated by pride, he may fall under the sentence of the devil.

¹⁵And he said to them: “Go forth to the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. ¹⁶Whoever will have believed and been baptized will be saved. Yet truly, whoever will not have believed will be condemned. ¹⁷Now these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they shall cast out demons. They will speak in new languages. ¹⁸They will take up serpents, and, if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them. They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they will be well.”

⁷For I would prefer it if you were all like myself. But each person has his proper gift from God: one in this way, yet another in that way.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither servant nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

¹⁸And certainly, upon my men and women servants in those days, I will pour out from my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

³⁵And taking a child, he set him in their midst. And when he had embraced him, he said to them:

⁴Now there was a prophetess, Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, who judged the people in that time. ⁵And she was sitting under a palm tree, which was called by her name, between Ramah and Bethel, on Mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went up to her for every judgment. ⁶And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, from Kedesh of Naphtali. And she said to him: “The Lord, the God of Israel, instructs you: ‘Go and lead an army to Mount Tabor, and you shall take with you ten thousand fighting men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun. ⁷Then I will lead to you, at the place of the torrent Kishon, Sisera, the leader of the army of Jabin, with his chariots and the entire multitude. And I will deliver them into your hand.’ ” ⁸And Barak said to her: “If you will come with me, I will go. If you are not willing to come with me, I will not go.” ⁹She said to him: “Indeed, I will go with you. But due to this change, the victory shall not be reputed to you. And so Sisera will be delivered into the hand of a woman.” Therefore, Deborah rose up, and she traveled with Barak to Kedesh.

¹Therefore, I beg the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the Passion of Christ, who also shares in that glory which is to be revealed in the future: ²pasture the flock of God that is among you, providing for it, not as a requirement, but willingly, in accord with God, and not for the sake of tainted profit, but freely, ³not so as to dominate by means of the clerical state, but so as to be formed into a flock from the heart.

⁵For this reason, I left you behind in Crete: so that those things which are lacking, you would correct, and so that you would ordain, throughout the communities, priests, (just as I also ordained you) ⁶if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination.

¹¹Yet truly, man would not exist without woman, nor would woman exist without man, in the Lord. ¹²For just as woman came into existence from man, so also does man exist through woman. But all things are from God.

¹⁵I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. She will crush your head, and you will lie in wait for her heel.”

⁵For this reason, I left you behind in Crete: so that those things which are lacking, you would correct, and so that you would ordain, throughout the communities, priests, (just as I also ordained you) ⁶if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination. ⁷And a bishop, as a steward of God, must be without offense: not arrogant, not short-tempered, not a drunkard, not violent, not desiring tainted profit, ⁸but instead: hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, chaste, ⁹embracing faithful speech which is in agreement with doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to argue against those who contradict.

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, ¹²for the sake of the perfection of the saints, by the work of the ministry, in the edification of the body of Christ, ¹³until we all meet in the unity of faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as a perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴So may we then no longer be little children, disturbed and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the wickedness of men, and by the craftiness which deceives unto error. ¹⁵Instead, acting according to truth in charity, we should increase in everything, in him who is the head, Christ himself.

⁸Similarly, deacons must be chaste, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not pursuing tainted profit, ⁹holding to the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. ¹⁰And these things should be proven first, and then they may minister, being without offense. ¹¹Similarly, the women must be chaste, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. ¹²Deacons should be the husband of one wife, men who lead their own children and their own houses well. ¹³For those who have ministered well will acquire for themselves a good position, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,

¹It is a faithful saying: if a man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work. ²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,

¹⁴Therefore, Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the vestments, who was living in Jerusalem, in the second part. And they spoke with her. ¹⁵And she responded to them: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: ¹⁶Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lead evils over this place, and over its inhabitants, all the words of the law that the king of Judah has read.

¹And it happened afterwards that he was making a journey through the cities and towns, preaching and evangelizing the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ²along with certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, who is called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had departed, ³and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many other women, who were ministering to him from their resources.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and handed himself over for her,

⁵For this reason, I left you behind in Crete: so that those things which are lacking, you would correct, and so that you would ordain, throughout the communities, priests, (just as I also ordained you) ⁶if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination. ⁷And a bishop, as a steward of God, must be without offense: not arrogant, not short-tempered, not a drunkard, not violent, not desiring tainted profit,

¹²For I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to be in authority over a man, but to be in silence.

¹You should not rebuke an old man, but rather plead with him, as if he were your father; with young men, like brothers; ²with old women, like mothers; with young women, in all chastity, like sisters. ³Honor those widows who are true widows.

⁹Similarly also, women should be dressed fittingly, adorning themselves with compunction and restraint, and not with plaited hair, nor gold, nor pearls, nor costly attire, ¹⁰but in a manner proper for women who are professing piety by means of good works. ¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. ¹²For I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to be in authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴And Adam was not seduced, but the woman, having been seduced, was in transgression.