Pastors Are Not Elders: An Egalitarian Suggestion?

By James M. Hamilton Jr.

Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Houston Park Place Campus

At the recent ETS meetings (November 2006) Dr. Harold Hoehner presented a paper asking, “Can a Woman Be a Pastor-Teacher?” Dr. Hoehner argued that Ephesians 4:11 indicates that “pastor-teacher” is a spiritual gift and not an office in the church. This is consistent with what he had earlier written in his commentary on Ephesians. In the commentary he writes,

“Some may question the validity of women pastors or pastor-teachers, but it must be remembered that these are gifts and not offices. Surely, women who pastor-shepherd among women should cause no problem at all (Titus 2:3–4). But in fact, Priscilla, along with Aquila, taught Apollos the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:25–26) which would indicate that a woman may not be limited to teaching only women” (Ephesians, 546).

It is shocking to me that Dr. Hoehner here expressly affirms that women can do what Paul expressly forbids them from doing in 1 Timothy 2:12. On the basis of an example recorded in the narrative of Acts, Dr. Hoehner is prepared to overturn a direct apostolic prohibition.

Aside from the hermeneutical issue of reading the narrative in a way that contradicts an apostolic prohibition, is this example in the narrative even analogous to the situation Paul addresses in 1 Timothy 2:12? For all we know, this conversation with Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos happened only once, whereas Paul is surely addressing teaching that happens in the regular gathering of the congregation in 1 Timothy 2:12. The incident with Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos happened in private, whereas Paul is addressing the public gathering of the assembly in 1 Timothy 2:12. Moreover, Luke doesn’t tell us who did the instructing in Acts 18:25–26. Priscilla’s husband may have done most—or even all—of the talking. Yet Dr. Hoehner takes this incident as evidence that “a women may not be limited to teaching only women.”

What’s more, the answer to the question posed by Dr. Hoehner’s paper (can a woman be a pastor-teacher?) is clearly yes!

There may be a word study fallacy in Dr. Hoehner’s interpretation, which seems to limit its consideration of “pastors” to the noun that means “shepherd” rather than also considering the related verbal forms that refer to the act of shepherding. If the verbal forms are considered, the texts that indicate that “elders” are “to shepherd” incline the interpretation away Dr. Hoehner’s conclusion. What I mean is this: Dr. Hoehner can only maintain that “pastor-teacher” is a spiritual gift and not an office if a pastor is not the same thing as an elder, since “elder” is an office in the church and not just a spiritual gift.

But are elders distinct from pastors? In Acts 20:17 Paul summons the “elders” of the church in Ephesus. He then tells them, “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God” in Acts 20:28. The word “overseers” can also be rendered “bishops,” and the infinitive “to shepherd” is the verbal form of the noun translated “pastor.” Thus, in Acts 20, Paul tells the “elders” that they are “bishops/overseers,” and he tells them that they are “to pastor.”

Similarly, in 1 Peter 5:1–2, Peter exhorts the “elders” that they are to “shepherd the flock of God” by “exercising oversight.” Here again, an elder is to do what a shepherd (pastor) does, shepherd, and he is to do what an overseer does, exercise oversight.

Dr. Hoehner’s novel conclusion that “pastor-teacher” is a spiritual gift to the exclusion of it being an office can only be maintained by committing what looks like a word study fallacy of insisting that the particular noun, “pastor,” is not related to the cognate verbal forms “to pastor” which are used to describe what elders are to do.

The suggestion that “a women may not be limited to teaching only women” with the citation of the incident where Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside is standard egalitarian fare. Could this point to a drift toward the egalitarian position? Or if, as Dr. Hoehner argues, a woman can be a pastor, and if women are not “limited to teaching only women” is the slide toward egalitarianism already complete?