What Does the Bible Say About Women Pastors?
1) Direct answer
No. The Bible does not authorize women to be pastors or to teach and exercise authority over men in the church.
2) Scriptural explanation
- 1 Timothy 2:11-14: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man...” Paul grounds this in creation and the fall, not in culture.
- 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: “Let your women keep silence in the churches… for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” That speaks to public authoritative teaching in the assembly.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3: “The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” God set an order.
- 1 Timothy 3:1-5; Titus 1:5-6: The overseer/elder must be “the husband of one wife,” ruling his own house well. The office is given in male terms and tied to male headship.
- Titus 2:3-5: Older women are commanded to teach the younger women—what to teach and to whom is clearly defined.
- Acts 2:17; Acts 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5: Women can pray and prophesy under proper order (with a covering), but that is not the same as holding pastoral authority.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- God’s order is Christ over the man, and the man over the woman. That is not about value; it is about the roles God set.
- The New Testament gives explicit qualifications for pastors/elders. If God intended women to pastor, Scripture would say so. Instead, it repeatedly restricts teaching authority over men.
- Examples sometimes raised—like Deborah or Huldah—show that God can use women mightily, but those were not New Testament church offices. The church’s government is laid out plainly in the pastoral epistles.
- Phoebe was a servant (Romans 16:1). Service is honored, but that text does not place her in the overseer role.
- If women pastors were approved, Scripture would not forbid women to teach or to have authority over the man in the church. The Bible does not contradict itself.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, this does not silence a woman’s ministry in its God-given place. Women can:
- Pray, prophesy, testify, sing, and serve.
- Teach children and younger women.
- Labor in many helps and ministries.
But the pastoral/elder office and the authoritative teaching of men in the assembly are reserved to qualified men, as the Bible says.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The World is again falling apart
63-1127 §72
But the people want something. The people today, women, what do they want? They want a people, a pastor, who will stand up and say, "It's all right. You can do this, or do that, or, that's all right, there is nothing wrong with that, dear." That preacher needs a gospel whipping; let bobbed hair, wear paint. No, you say, "What does that got to do with it?" Don't you know the outside of you reflects what is on the inside? Don't the Bible say you shouldn't do that? "It's not even common for a woman to pray like that."
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §62
...God forbids her to teach His Word. That's right. I Timothy 2:9-15: "I suffer not a woman to teach, or to have any authority..." See? And also I Corinthians 14:34: "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for it's not permitted to them to speak, for they are commanded to be in silent, also saith the law." But today, what does the church do? They make her pastors, evangelists, when the Bible completely forbids it! And the Bible said: "...as also saith the law," making it run in continuity, the whole thing. Just l...
The Marriage of the Lamb
62-0121E §84
The Bible said it's wrong for women to act that way, and for men to let them do it. That's both of you. A man that will let his woman get out in the street with naked ... with clothes on like that, I've got little respect for him being even a man. He's a puppet. That's right. She uses him as a dishrag. Shame on you! You ought to be men. And a pastor'll let his church get by with such things as that without blasting the tar out of it from the pulpit. He's a sissy. What we need is men. The gospel---not with rubber gl...
Is your life worthy of the Gospel?
63-0630E §93
Any church member that'll side in with such stuff as that, and call themselves a Christian! And go out going and live... And the women bobbing their hair, and wearing clothes that the Bible says for them not to. Men carrying on the way they're doing now, "a form of godliness," taking drinks and smoking cigars, and marrying several times and becoming deacons of the church and even pastors, and so forth. And the people that put up with such as that, that sort of life is not worthy of the Gospel. A woman that'll walk,...
Questions and Answers
61-1015M §49
QUESTION: "Brother Branham, is it not scriptural that women should not speak in the church?" He's got two questions here. That is true. That is true. It's not right for women to be ministers and speak in the church. That is right, I Corinthians, the fourteenth chapter. Of course all of the church here, you all know this. And this may be a stranger in here this morning, I don't know. But it's not right for women to be ... to minister. That is true. I'll just read it to you here, and you can find out. And then you'll...