The Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t like women pastors. In 2000 the Baptist Faith and Message confession was revised to prohibit female pastors. In 2015 an amendment was added to the SBC constitution which limited the role of pastor to men. Since then, the SBC executive committee has expelled churches from the convention for giving any female staff member the title of “pastor.” Most recently, the Saddleback Church in California, founded by Rick Warren and his wife Kay 43 years ago, was expelled.

What’s going on? It’s a matter of biblical interpretation. Leaders of the SBC have interpreted the Bible to mean that women are prohibited from serving as pastors in Southern Baptist churches. In the Introduction to my book, Spelunking Scripture: The Letters of Paul, I note that sometimes cultural conditions have been purported as God’s eternal truth. Thus, the Bible has been (mis)used to subjugate women.

For example, isolated verses from two of Paul’s letters have been used to “keep women in their place.” In 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul wrote, “Women should remain silent in the churches.” In 1 Timothy 2:11, Paul wrote, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”

On the basis of those two verses, Southern Baptist leaders have concluded that a woman cannot serve in any pastoral role in a church. They have failed to distinguish the male-dominated culture of Paul’s time from God’s calling all people to follow Jesus. They ignore the many women who followed Jesus during his earthly ministry and the women who were commissioned to be the first evangelists after Jesus was raised from the dead.

One of the principles of “spelunking scripture” is distinguishing cultural conditions from God’s eternal truth. Another principle is acknowledging that not all verses of the Bible are of equal value. Some verses are more important than others. Elevating those two verses from Paul’s letters to ultimate importance ignores many other biblical teachings which recognize the gits of all Christians (including women) for Christ’s service.

In the Letters of Paul book, I note “many churches even today treat women as inferiors,” notably Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist churches. Thankfully, other Baptist churches recognize “the priesthood of all believers.”