New Testament Expert: What the Bible Really Says About Women Pastors | Dr. Preston Sprinkle

Preston Sprinkle spent three years studying what the Bible says about women in leadership before he would say what he thought.

He was raised in circles where women could not teach, preach, or pastor, and it made sense to him. Then he kept meeting people he deeply respected — people who loved Scripture and loved Jesus — who read the same verses and came to a different conclusion. So he admitted he didn't know what he believed, and started over.

"I never want to give a thin answer to a thick question. I want the strength of my passion to match the depth of my study."

In this conversation we cover the two camps and the variations inside them, what leadership actually looked like in the first-century house church, the Greco-Roman background on women's status and agency, Romans 16 and the ten women Paul names in his ministry, a deep dive into Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia, and the three hardest passages — 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14, and 1 Timothy 2.

Preston also shares his own story: an athlete who hated reading until he became a Christian at 19 and developed an overnight hunger for Scripture, and the moment studying in Israel in 1999 that set him on the path to scholarship.

The episode does not tell you what to believe. What Preston asks for is curiosity about positions you disagree with, and convictions rooted in the text rather than inherited.

Preston's new book:

From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership

https://www.prestonsprinkle.com/from-genesis-to-junia

Dr. Preston Sprinkle (PhD, Aberdeen) is a biblical scholar, speaker, podcaster, and New York Times bestselling author. He serves as president of the Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender.

Go deeper: https://academyofthebible.org

Colby F. Maier is a pastor, speaker and the founder of Academy of the Bible, based in Portland, Oregon.