Is the female designation for any of the office gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, or pastor-teacher found in Scripture?

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IS THE FEMALE DESIGNATION FOUND IN SCRIPTURE FOR ANY OF THE OFFICE GIFTS OF APOSTLE, PROPHET, EVANGELIST, OR PASTOR-TEACHER?

I don’t really have a particular strategy in writing this study other than taking a look at Scriptures from the New Testament that might help us look at this idea of gender specifics relating to the office gifts by looking at opposing views. As I mentioned earlier, I was in a church that dogmatically taught that women were not allowed to occupy any of the leadership positions. I believed what was taught because not only was this the church that I enjoyed attending, but I had no reason to believe this was not the case.

Years later, due to certain circumstances, I’m no longer attending this church, and as such, I’ve found myself co-laboring with a pastor from New York, who has encouraged me to teach on various biblical topics on a small island off the coast of Rhode Island. This pastor, who used to visit my place of residence and provide financial and spiritual support with respect to weekly worship, praise, and teaching services, has since devoted himself to assisting his son, who has decided to oversee a church in the state where he is from. With that said, this happens to be one of the many studies that I’ve been working on.

What we’ll attempt to do now is look at many Scripture sections that have been used for many years by many different faiths to support the view that only males should occupy the leadership positions of the church, and in response, provide an alternate perspective based on hidden truths that might cast a different light on their conclusions.

We’ll begin by looking at the office of pastor-teacher. Is there any indication of there being a female pastor? If there was, would she be called a pastor, or would there be another way to express this spiritual title?



A. THE OFFICE GIFT OF PASTOR

Believe it or not, the word pastor in the singular form is not found in the Book of Acts, the Epistles, or the Book of Revelation. However, the plural form of this word pastors is located in the Book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

The word in Koine Greek for pastors is poimenas, and it’s in the masculine gender. This Greek word only appears once in the New Testament. The good news is two other words are synonymous with the word pastor which are bishop (episkopon) from 1 Timothy 3:2 and elder (presbuterou) from 1 Peter 5:19. The word bishop or bishops occurs a total of five times, each being in the masculine gender. The word elder or elders occurs about twenty times, each being in the masculine gender. There appear to be no renderings in the feminine for any of these nouns. So, where does this leave us? This leaves us with supposition or inference.

What I mean is, there are instances of certain women who seemed to have been considered as house church leaders. Does this mean they were pastors? I can’t say for sure. Let’s look at each of them and try to draw some conclusions.



Chloe

1 Corinthians 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

It was declared by those of the house (family) of Chloe to the apostle Paul that there were contentions (altercations) among some in the church at Corinth. Many believe that she had a gathering of the saints in her house. Was she a pastor?



Lydia

Acts 16:14-15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

Many suggest that because her entire household became saved that her house was the first house church for European Christians. Nothing is mentioned as to whether she was married. It appears that she developed a business of selling purple dyes or fabric. Was she at some point in time called to the office of a pastor?



Nympha

Colossians 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.

What we do know about her is that there was a church in her house at Laodicea. The Scripture says in his house. The word Nymphas is in the feminine gender, indicating that this is a female name. The word his is a pronoun in the feminine and should be translated as “her.”

Was she a pastor?



Priscilla (Prisca)

Acts 18:24, 26 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Aquila and Priscilla apparently heard a man named Apollos speak in a Jewish synagogue at Ephesus. He was well instructed in the Old Testament Scriptures with limited knowledge about the Messiah. They took him into their home and explained to him, more accurately, information concerning Christ. Commentators believe that eventually, they had a church in their home. In some instances, Priscilla’s name occurred before her husband’s name, which many would suggest that she was more assertive. Could it be that one or both of them were pastors?

All of what I just presented is pure conjecture, i.e., without sufficient evidence, opinion. Let’s take another look at a verse we previously considered that commentators believe could be translated differently.

1 Timothy 3:11Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

While we have already looked at this verse earlier, I think it’s important to reiterate what the alternative translation of it could be. We found that there were two different perspectives as to whether this pertained to the wives of deacons or if it was referring to women deacons or deaconesses. The alternate perspective than that which has been most widely accepted regarding the wives of deacons is as follows.

● The words Even so introduce a second or third in a series. The series here is of Church officials.19

●The words must their is not in the original manuscripts.

●The word wives could either mean women or wives.

Therefore, this verse could be rewritten as: Even so, wives must be… or Even so, women must be. Because of the indication of a second or third in the series, this could mean something like, the series began with looking at the office of pastor, then the position of deacon, and concluded with women, who could be called to either one.

We have found nothing definitive that indicates a woman could be called to the office of pastor. But what we have discovered could be called circumstantial evidence. If this type of evidence is all that we have, could this be used to substantiate that a woman could be called to a leadership position in the church?

The next office gift we’ll take a look at is the office of apostle. Is there any indication that a woman could be called to this office? We’ll find out.



B. THE OFFICE GIFT OF APOSTLE

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

The word apostle is in the masculine gender and is derived from the Greek word apostolos. This word and its plural form apostles appear more than fifty times in the New Testament. Sometimes, the word apostles refer to the office leadership gift, and at other times, it refers to people who were denoted as messengers. Hopefully, the context will determine its meaning. There’s no female gender noun referring to this office recorded in the New Testament. However, there’s one Scripture that some believe could indicate that a female was called to this office. Please open your Bible to the Book of Romans.

Romans 16:7 Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

Near the end of his letter to the Church at Rome, Paul reminded the saints to salute (commend) Andronicus and Junia, whom he calls his fellow Jews and fellow prisoners (those who had been imprisoned for their faith). After this, he made a compelling statement saying that both of them were of note (distinguished; esteemed) among the apostles.



Was Paul saying that both of them were apostles?

The traditional view suggests that both of them were males, and according to the rendering of the verse, were considered distinguished apostles. Others would say that they were husband and wife, with Andronicus being the husband’s name and Junia, the wife’s name. According to Koine Greek, this name could be either that of a male or female. Is there any reason which might convince us as to why it could not be one or the other?

According to the understanding of the names of people who were Romans, this name would not be a contraction (shortened form) for the male name Junianus. A third perspective is that they were brother and sister or just simply friends. This would be invalidated by the fact that it would have been considered inappropriate for two single people of the opposite sex, whether related or not, to travel together. With what has been said, an alternative perspective could be conjectured that these two people were husband and wife, and both of them were esteemed among the apostles, i.e., each of them was an apostle.Again, just to make it clear, this conclusion is circumstantial.

We have another office gift to look at, that being of an evangelist.



C. THE OFFICE GIFT OF EVANGELIST

Acts 21:8 And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.

The word evangelist in the singular form occurs only here in the New Testament. Likewise, the plural form evangelists occur only once and are found in Ephesians 4:11. It clearly identifies Philip, one of the seven deacons in the early church at Jerusalem, as being called to this office. What is an evangelist? An evangelist is someone who is called to preach the gospel to unbelievers. This word in Greek is euangelistou and is in the male gender. There appears to be no female rendering of this noun in the New Testament.

Some infer that there’s an example of a woman evangelist found in the Book of John, chapter 18. Let’s go there and take a look.



Suggested Reading: John 4:1-30

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus was in a city of Samaria called Sychar and, coming to a well, asked a woman there, who was drawing water from it, to give him some for nourishment. She recognized He was a Jew and responded by saying that the Samaritans had no dealings (no associations) with the Jews. Why was this the case? There are a couple of reasons given by various commentaries. One of them states that at one time in the past when the Jews were under Samaritan rule, they were sold as slaves. What might have transpired was a resentful attitude of one toward the other even to that day.

A dialogue ensued between them. Jesus mentioned to her that if she knew who it was that was asking water of her, and if she asked of Him the same, He would have given her living water (spring water). And then He made this astonishing statement to her that whosoever would drink of the water that He gives will never thirst again.

She responded by saying to Him to give her this water. Then He said to her something like, go get your husband and bring him back here (John 4:16). In a deceptive answer, she told Him she had no husband, but Jesus knew that this was not a true statement. He replied you have had five husbands (John 4:18). This sparked her curiosity as to who He really was.

She then proceeded to ask Him if He was a prophet. A further dialogue ensued concerning where to worship the Father. It concluded by her saying, when Messiah comes, what we have discussed will be unveiled (John 4:25). Then, the bombshell answer by Jesus, I’m He, the Messiah (John 4:26).

John 4:28-30 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

At this point, it appears that she believed that He was indeed the Messiah, and she went back to the city and conveyed such to the men who were there. They were so convinced of her verbal testimony that they followed her back to meet Jesus.

Some would say that she was the first evangelist. I would admit that she proclaimed to them the gospel as she knew it and gave evidence of such, but to say that she was called to the office of an evangelist is another thing. We can conclude there’s no clear indication that a woman was called to the office of evangelist. However, there’s circumstantial evidence pertaining to the woman at the well that such a calling could have taken place.

The final office gift we’ll look at is that of a prophet.



D. THE OFFICE GIFT OF PROPHET

Before we take a look at Scriptures from the Book of Acts, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation in respect to trying to determine whether there’s any mention of a female prophet, the question we’ll attempt to answer initially is, were there any female prophets during the time when Christ lived on the earth, which is otherwise known as the Age of the Incarnation of Christ? The Book of Luke will provide an answer for us in this regard.

Luke 2:36-38 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

The background is that Mary has just delivered the baby Jesus. During this time, a man named Simeon was waiting for the consolation (the fulfillment of the Messianic hope). It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he had seen for himself the Lord’s Christ. At a specific time, he was directed by the Spirit to go into the temple.

By divine appointment, Mary and Joseph arrived there with the baby Jesus at the same time. Simeon, with much exhilaration, took the baby up in his arms and proceeded to bless (praise) God. Another person also arrived at this place. Her name was Anna, a prophetess. She, being about eighty-four-years-old and a widow, frequently attended the temple to express her worship in fasting and prayers. She gave thanks to the Lord for the birth of the Messiah and spoke to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem that the Messiah had come.20



Is there anything that we can take from this that might provide the support that there were likewise female prophets in the offices of the New Testament church?

What Scripture tells us is there were other female prophets albeit prior to the Age of Christ’s Incarnation such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), Hulduh (2 Kings 22:14), Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14), and the wife of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:3).21 However, Anna appears to be the only one mentioned in the Scriptures during this age. What does this prove? It tells us that women were called to this spiritual office both during the Age of Israel and during the Age of the Incarnation of Christ, even though most of the attention given to the prophets was to the men who were called to this position.



What am I trying to imply?

Be careful of the mindset that says all of the words used in the New Testament pertaining to the office gifts are in the masculine gender, and therefore, no female was called to any of these positions. This is only true if, indeed, it’s the case. As in the Old Testament, the frequency in the mentioning of female prophets or prophetesses was limited. During the incarnation, only one prophetess was mentioned. However, this is all that is needed to determine a woman’s calling to this office during this time. Keep this in mind as we continue on in this study. This now leads us to attempt to answer the next question pertaining to the office of prophet.

Are there any female prophets mentioned in the Scriptures during the Age of the Church?

Now, let’s take a look at some Scripture sections from the Book of Acts, the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation in order to find this out.



Suggested Reading: Acts 21:8-15

8-9 And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.

Paul is continuing on in his journey toward Jerusalem. While on his way there, he and his company arrived in Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip, one of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem. Philip had four daughters, unmarried, who did prophesy.



Is the fact that they prophesied mean they were prophetesses?

1 Corinthians 12:1, 10 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy;…

1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

According to the Book of 1 Corinthians, there’s such a thing as the office of prophet and the gift of prophecy. If a believer has this gift, does it mean they are a prophet?

1 Corinthians 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort

The gift of prophecy is one of the many gifts of the Spirit. If someone has this gift, they will call forth words from the Spirit, which is another way of saying they will speak under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit in the common language of the people. This gift speaks unto men for edification (to build doctrine in the soul for the spiritual growth and development of character of believers22); exhortation (encouragement, which can include reproof); and comfort (to remove sadness).

On the other hand, the office gift of prophet is one of the four office gifts relating to the leadership positions in the church. Prophets are described as being preachers and expounders of the Word of God under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. Along with this, there are two divine skills that will help to recognize whether a person is called to this office gift.

1 Corinthians 14:29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

The first divine skill is that they are able to discern whether another prophet was speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11:27-28 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

The second divine skill is that they can predict future events. An example of this is found concerning a prophet named Agabus, who predicted there would be a great famine throughout the whole world.

Acts 21:10-11 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

This same prophet came to the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the deacons of the church at Jerusalem, in Caesarea. When he entered Philip’s house, he took Paul’s belt (a long piece of cloth which was to be wrapped around his waist. This type of belt was used not only as a part of one's clothing but also to serve the practical purpose of being a place where one could carry money and other items23) and bound his own hands and feet, proclaiming by means of the Holy Spirit that whoever owns this belt would be bound by the Jews at Jerusalem and be delivered to the Gentiles. This prophecy also came to pass.

What can we conclude about the gift of prophecy and the office gift of a prophet? We can conclude that someone who has the gift of prophecy does not necessarily have the office gift of prophet. However, a believer who is called to the office gift of prophet will prophesy.

This brings us back to the earlier question. Were the four daughters of the deacon Philip, each of whom did prophecy, prophetesses?

There’s no clear evidence that any of them discerned as to what another prophet said was under the influence of the Holy Spirit or whether there was any evidence to indicate that they predicted future events. However, there’s a reference by one of the early church fathers, a man named Caius, the presbyter of Rome, otherwise known as Gaius, who lived during the beginning of the third century, in a fragment of his writings recorded these words, “by speaking of the four daughters of Philip, prophetesses”.24

By the way, just in case the words church fathers are foreign to you, let’s define these words. Who is considered to be church fathers? Church fathers are those whose writings have preserved, to a certain extent, the history, doctrines, and traditions of the early church. However, some churches today would concur that some of their ideas don’t line up with biblical hermeneutics, which refers to scriptural interpretation based on an analysis of grammatical features and historical background.

These writers are grouped and named according to the time in which they lived. Those who lived closest to the time of the apostles and presumably held to doctrinal beliefs that are similar to theirs are known as the Apostolic Fathers. Some commentators say that the conception and name of them began in about the sixth century AD. A second group, who lived from 120 AD to 325 AD, are called the Ante-Nicene Fathers. And those who lived after 325 AD are called the Post-Nicene Fathers. With this delineation, we can conclude that Caius was one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.

While this doesn’t prove that Philip’s daughters were prophetesses, it causes us to consider the possibility that they were.

With the word prophetess in mind, is there any Scripture that mentions this word? Please go to the Book of Revelation.



Suggested Reading: Revelation 2:18-29

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

At the church of Thyatira, which was located in Asia Minor, there was a woman named Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess. God was very upset with this church because they allowed her wickedness to be left unchecked. She taught believers how they could compromise with the Roman religion and the practices of the guilds so that they would not lose their jobs or their lives.25 Along with this, she seduced (fundamental departure from the truth)the assembly to commit fornication (sexual immorality) and encouraged fellow believers to eat things sacrificed to idols (the custom of attending on the festivals of idols led commonly to licentiousness, and they who were gross and sensual in their lives were fit subjects to be persuaded to attend idol feasts26).

It’s true that this Scripture is abundantly clear that Jezebel called herself a prophetess. Herein lies the dilemma. What does it mean that she called herself someone who was called to an office gift of the church?

The traditional interpretation would say that she falsely called herself someone who proclaimed that her messages were from God. The Lord clearly denounced her teaching and made it clear that if she and her followers didn’t repent, He would severely discipline them through what could be called the sin unto death. It’s apparent that she was a false prophetess, but the question remains. Does this mean that there was no office called prophetess?

An alternative translation could be rendered by the following reasoning. In context, there’s nowhere stated in these verses by the Lord that she couldn’t be a prophetess because there was no such office. Why would she call herself such unless it was clearly taught by the leadership of this church that this position did indeed exist? Could it be said that she wasn’t called to this position in the church because that which was evidenced by her was not in agreement with the spiritual qualities of the Holy Spirit and the divine skills of the office?

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

Furthermore, if we were to analyze the word prophet found in the masculine gender in the Scripture above, we would determine that it’s derived from the Greek word profeeteen, which is further derived from the Greek word prophetes. The female English rendering prophetess found only in the previous verse from the Book of Revelation in the feminine gender is derived from the Greek word profeetin and is further derived from the Greek word prophetis, which is the feminine form of the Greek word prophetes.

As you can see, the feminine office prophetess in respect to the male office prophet is found here. Is this the smoking gun? Maybe. There are more questions to ask, with more answers forthcoming. However, I believe what has been found out here is both significant and compelling.

You might respond by saying this is nonsense because there are certain verses that clearly tell us that a woman is not allowed to teach, and therefore this would substantiate the view that only males are called to the positions of leadership in the church. If this is the case, then you are right. However, is this indeed the case?

What we’ll attempt to do next is take a look at Scripture sections, which many churches use to support their argument that a woman shouldn’t be placed in any leadership position. Let’s take a look at these and find out what they are actually saying.

Endnotes

19Weust.

20Bible Knowledge Commentary.

21The Bible Exposition Commentary.

22Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words Pc Study Bible version 5, 2005, 05 April 2014 ˂http://www.biblesoft.com>.

23UBS New Testament Handbook Series Pc Study Bible version 5, 2005, 08 April 2014

˂http://www.biblesoft.com>.

24The Pulpit Commentary Pc Study Bible version 5, 2006, 10 April 2014 ˂http://www.biblesoft.com>.

25The Bible Exposition Commentary.

26Barnes.



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