Can the Church ordain women to the priesthood, or is she bound by Christ's choice of the Twelve? The Church's actual claim is easily caricatured, so it should be stated exactly: she teaches that she lacks the authority to ordain women, not that women are less capable, less holy, or less called. Several of the arguments on the other side are genuinely strong and are given here at their real strength.
25 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence.1 Timothy 2:11-12
The central prohibition text. Its key verb occurs nowhere else in the New Testament and its force is disputed; see the word study.
For Adam was first formed; then Eve. And Adam was not seduced; but the woman being seduced, was in the transgression.1 Timothy 2:13-14
Paul's own grounding of the instruction, in the order of creation and in Eve, which many readers find difficult and which should not be softened.
Let women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith.1 Corinthians 14:34-35
A second prohibition, though its placement varies in some manuscripts, and it sits oddly with Paul's own assumption three chapters earlier that women pray and prophesy in the assembly.
But every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered, disgraceth her head.1 Corinthians 11:5
Paul assumes as a matter of course that women pray and prophesy publicly, which any reading of the silence passages must accommodate.
And I commend to you Phebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church, that is in Cenchrae... for she also hath assisted many, and myself also.Romans 16:1-2
A woman called diakonos and a patron of many, entrusted by Paul with his letter to Rome.
Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners: who are of note among the apostles.Romans 16:7
Junia, most probably a woman, described in terms the Fathers took as high praise.
...they took him to them, and expounded to him the way of the Lord more diligently.Acts 18:26
Priscilla, named before her husband, instructs the learned Apollos.
...Mary Magdalene cometh, and telleth the disciples: I have seen the Lord.John 20:17-18
The risen Christ sends a woman to announce the Resurrection to the apostles, which is why tradition calls her the apostle to the apostles.
And he had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy.Acts 21:9
Women exercising the gift of prophecy as a settled fact.
There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.Galatians 3:28
The strongest text for the egalitarian case, and it is fully true: baptism gives the same divine life to all without distinction.
...but all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will.1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Equality of dignity coexists with diversity of gifts and functions, in the same Spirit.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all doctors? Are all workers of miracles?1 Corinthians 12:29-30
Paul's rhetorical questions assume that not everyone holds every role, and that this implies no inequality of worth.
...he passed the whole night in the prayer of God. And when day was come... he chose twelve of them, whom also he named apostles.Luke 6:12-13
The choice is presented as deliberate and prayed over through a night, not incidental.
And he made that twelve should be with him, and that he might send them to preach.Mark 3:14
The Twelve as an instituted body with a mission.
And immediately his disciples came; and they wondered that he talked with the woman.John 4:27
Evidence that Christ was not bound by the conventions about women; his own disciples were startled.
...one of these must be made a witness with us of his resurrection.Acts 1:21-26
When the Twelve is completed, the criteria are set by the apostles and the choice again falls on a man, in a room where women were present (Acts 1:14).
The egalitarian case has real strength and should be granted where it is right. Women in the New Testament prophesy, teach, are called fellow workers, and Phoebe is called a diakonos; Junia is most probably a woman praised in high terms; Priscilla instructs Apollos; and the risen Christ sends Mary Magdalene to announce the Resurrection to the apostles themselves. Galatians 3:28 is true without qualification: baptism gives the same divine life to all. The prohibition texts are few and disputed, and the Catholic case does not rest on them. It rests on this: Christ chose the Twelve after a night of prayer, chose only men, and did so as one who broke convention about women repeatedly and without hesitation, even to the point of entrusting the Resurrection first to a woman. He did not choose his own mother, and no creature stands higher than she does. That is why the Church has said, in Inter Insigniores (1976) and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994), not that women are unfit, but that she has no authority to ordain them. It is a statement of limits on the Church, not a verdict on women. The priesthood is not the measure of holiness or of nearness to God; if it were, Mary would have been a priest, and the Church would not have called her greater than the apostles.