The congregation has the right to call as its pastors, men who are able and fit to serve in that capacity.
1 Tim. 3:2-4: A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
1 Tim. 2:12: I suffer not a woman to teach.
Acts 1:21-22: Of these men... must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
Luther: “It is true (speaking of the Office of the Ministry), that the Holy Ghost has made exception, in this matter, of women, children, and incompetent folk, and, except in cases of necessity, chooses only qualified males. Thus we read here and there in St. Paul’s epistles that a bishop must be apt to teach, pious and the husband of one wife (1 Tim. 3:2) and in 1 Corinthians 14:34, that a woman shall not teach in the assembly. In a word it shall be a well-prepared, selected man” (On the Councils and the Churches, 1539).
