Women in Church Office
This pamphlet by Ronald Cammenga examines the biblical and theological basis for the exclusion of women from church office, primarily through exegesis of 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and supporting citations from Calvin and Chrysostom. Cammenga argues that while women hold significant roles in the home and family, Scripture restricts teaching authority and church office to men, a position grounded in creation ordinances and the proper order of the church.
John Calvin on I Timothy 2:15: “Whatever hypocrites or wise men of the world may think, God is better pleased with a woman who considers the condition God has assigned to her as a calling and submits to it, not refusing to bear the distaste of (cooking) food, the illness, the difficulty, or rather the fearful anguish associated with childbirth or anything else that is her duty—God is better pleased with her than if she were to make some great display of heroic virtues and refuse to accept the...