Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Female Bishops?
1 Timothy 3:1

"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." (1 Timothy 3:1, AV)

In the Difficult Sayings column "When is a pastor not a pastor?", on Ephesians 4:11, we saw that the title-office-function of 'bishop', 'overseer', 'elder', and, shepherd, was interchangeable. So the StudyLight forums' discussion of female pastors relates to all these offices, including bishops:

"I am not sure if this has been posted or not, but I was wondering what everyone's view is on a female Pastor? Is it Biblically O.K. to have female Pastors..."

I quoted at the outset from the AV rendering of the verse, below is the more literal Darby version.

"The word [is] faithful: if any one aspires to exercise oversight, he desires a good work."

The word translated 'a man' and 'anyone' is in fact the little Greek word τισ tis (Strong's #1536). This is an indefinite pronoun meaning 'someone, anyone, a certain one'. Elsewhere in Timothy (1 Timothy 1:8; 2 Timothy 2:5) it is rendered as 'one'. If we are to suggest that the verse is saying only a "man" may "desire the office of a bishop" then we have also to narrow the whole of Christian discipleship to men as Matthew 16:24 uses the identical structure εῖτισ "if anyone/man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me". All the male particles in this verse could equally be rendered by 'one, her' or 'its'. Here is an argument for inclusive language versions for those who don't understand the idiomatic use of man for anyone. In fact, the NKJV is inconsistent translating the Matthew verse as "anyone" but the Timothy verse as "man" based upon a presumption that Timothy is only referring to men.

Similarly the verb, to desire or aspire, is also indefinite for there is no explicit pronoun 'he' present. It is supplied by the context. But, grammatically, there is no reason why it could not be equally well translated by 'she' or 'it', though the latter would make no sense!

The term "position of a bishop" is actually a feminine word επισξοπ̔́ (Romans 16:1.

The context of verse 2, "the husband of one wife", usually supplies the 'he', however this could simply be a technical idiom for a monogamous relationship or someone who has not remarried, especially after a divorce that was not for the reason of another's adultery. If this were the case it would still not exclude the verse being applied to either sex, in principle at least.

The verse could refer to prohibitions on polygamy, which in the Old Testament was only tolerated for men and not women anyway. Herod had nine wives and the woman at the well met by Jesus had had several men though none were necessarily husbands. Josephus the first century Jewish historian mentions it at is continued practice (Antiquities of the Jews, 17.1.2) and Justin Martyr the second century church writer condemns it amongst the Jews (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 134; 141).

Jewish priests were only allowed to have one wife and a virgin at that (Leviticus 21:13; Babylonian Talmud, Yebamoth, 59a; Ezekiel 44:22). If we are to force the priest-pastor comparison, how many church leaders' wives were virgins at their marriage? Since 1 Timothy 5:9 uses similar phraseology of the marital state of widows:

"Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man" (1 Timothy 5:9)

This would seem to indicate that the phrase could be used for men and women and referred to second marriages as women could not be polygamists anyway and could rarely initiate divorce.

Verses 8-12 of 1 Timothy 3 talk of the qualifications of deacons, and later of those too of the women (not "wives" as in AV). Chrysostom in the early church thought this definitely referred to a female deaconess office, called simply deacons but women deacons. Again, the deacons of either sex are to be "husbands of one wife" (v.12).

Thus this verse raises and does not lay to rest two issues. Firstly, women cannot necessarily be ruled out based upon a consistent Greek translation. Secondly, even if we limit the verse to men and interpret strictly, we also need to be strict about second marriages amongst church leaders as the polygamous interpretation of "husband of one wife" seems unlikely given 1 Timothy 5:9 and the majority consensus in the early church that the verse referred to second marriages. Either way we interpret we are clearly inconsistent in practice if we claim to be biblical literalists.

Culturally, verses 4 and 5 would tend to indicate a man, since he was the head of the household in the surrounding society. However, certainly in principle, although rare and perhaps unlikely in the conditions then, this verse does not exclude the possibility of a woman 'bishop/elder/overseer/pastor'. For discussions on women's authority and teaching see later columns.

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