Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Male Leadership

home and church.9 Consider the following passages that directly pro vide instruction on the dual roles of male headship and female subor dination in the household of God. First Timothy 229-15 In the same way that every individual family is governed by certain standards of conduct, so too, the local church family is governed by certain principles of conduct and social arrangement. The letter of 1 Timothy addresses specifically the issue of proper order and behavior of men, women, and elders in the local church family. To his represen tative in Ephesus, Paul writes: “I am writing these things to you, hop ing to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, 1 write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himselfin the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Tim. 3214,15; italics added). A major aspect of the church’s social arrangement concerns the be havior of women in the congregation. In the church at Ephesus, as a result of false teaching which may have challenged the validity of tra ditional gender roles, Christian women were acting contrary to ac ceptable Christian behavior. In order to counter improper female con duct in the church, Paul restates Christian principles of women’s con duct: ' Modest dress: “Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments; but rather by means of good works, as befits women making a claim to godliness” (1 Tim. 229,10). 0 Submission in the church: “Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim. 2:11-14). First Timothy 2:11-14 should alone settle the question of women elders. Paul prohibits women from doing two things in reference to the men of the church: (1) teaching and (2) exercising authority over

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