Why has the church begun ordaining women? Deborah and Esther and Ruth were not priests. There is no indication of women pastors, bishops, or priests in the New Testament.
Galatians 3:28 (“there is neither male nor female”) refers to salvation; 1 Corinthians 14 indicates Paul’s rigid stance is not his command but rather God’s: “The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.”
In the first place, the Old Testament priesthood is a very different (and all-male) institution compared with the various forms of ministry listed in the New Testament, which involved both men and women. There were women prophetesses, teachers, preachers, and pastors in the New Testament era, and there may even have been women apostles (see Romans16:7 in the NRSV).
Clearly enough, Paul had both men and women co-workers. Priscilla and Aquila were a ministry team that taught Apollos, according to Acts 18:24-26. Romans 16:1 refers to Phoebe as a servant of the church at Cenchreae, and the term “servant” is used elsewhere by Paul to refer to his own pastoral roles (Romans1:1). Paul calls Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2) his ministerial co-workers and addresses them as leaders in the Philippian church, a church that is said to be led by bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1).
As for 1 Corinthians 14:33-36, this refers to women interrupting the worship service with leading questions during the time of the weighing of the prophets’ utterances. Paul is correcting a specific problem here, a misuse of a woman’s right to speak in church. He had already affirmed they had the right to pray and prophesy in worship in 1 Corinthians 11.
—Ben Witherington III