Thinking to Believe

Now that I have established my argument for Complemenatarianism, I am turning my attention to various objections raised by Egalitarians against this view. In this episode I address four objections:

1. Galatians 3:28 requires that we make no distinction between men and women in the kingdom of God. 

2. Paul speaks of women as laboring with him in the gospel, and thus women can e ministers.

3. Paul speaks of churches in the house of...

Does the Bible teach male headship? Yes. I examine Genesis 3:16 where God told Eve "your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you." I argue that it refers to the woman's desire to exercise authority over her husband rather than submit to his authority. I also make the case that female submission to male headship was not introduced in Gen 3:16, but part of creation order in Genesis 2. 

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Does the Bible teach male headship? Yes. I examine Genesis 3:16 where God told Eve "your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you." I argue that it refers to the woman's desire to exercise authority over her husband rather than submit to his authority. I also make the case that female submission to male headship was not introduced in Gen 3:16, but part of creation order in Genesis 2. 

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I explore the last two possible interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35, namely the view that Paul is prohibiting women from engaging in theological discussion/debate in the church, and the view that Paul is prohibiting women from engaging in the judgment of prophetic utterances. 

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I explored two more possible interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35: (1) the cultural/circumstantial view; (2) the absolute silence view.

I argued that the cultural/circumstantial views cannot explain all that we see in the text, and we would have to believe that Paul prohibits all women from speaking due to the sins of a few. We would also have to ignore Paul’s rationale for this. He said it was shameful, and it is the teaching of...

After dealing with possible understandings of Paul's reference to "the Law," I examined two interpretations of 1 Cor 14:34-35: (1) The interpolation view which holds that these verses are not Pauline, but were added to the text by a scribe early in the text's history; (2) The quote and refute view which holds that verses 34-35 reflect the Corinthians' point of view, not Paul's. 

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Did an extended recap of what I covered for 1 Tim 2, and then began my discussion of 1 Cor 14:33-35. I concluded:

1. Paul's teaching pertains to public worship.

2. "As in all the churches of the saints" in 33b is the start of the sentence that continues in v.34, and thus it's clear that Paul is not talking about a local circumstance but a universal church practice. 

3. Paul is likely referring to men and women in general, not hus...

I focus on Paul's second reason for prohibiting a woman from teaching or exercising authority over a man, namely the fact that it was Eve - not Adam - who was deceived by the devil. 

While Eve was the first to sinn, Adam was held responsible for the fall of mankind because of his headship role, showing that headship and submission were part of creation, not a result of the fall. 

I argue against the notion that Adam imprope...

I examine 1 Tim 2:13, where Paul provides his first reason for permitting women from teaching or exercising authority over males, namely creation order. Man was created first, then Eve, and thus Eve was created in a place of submission to Adam. Paul's reason was rooted in Scripture, not culture or historical circumstance. I demonstrate why a number of egalitarian attempts to make Paul's teaching temporary and non-binding today, fai...

I explore the two things Paul did not prohibit women from doing in 1 Tim 2:12 - teaching and exercising authority. I show why the egalitarian claim that "exercise authority" is talking about an abuse of authority is mistaken. 

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I begin my examination of the most important NT text on this topic: 1 Tim 2:11-14. I look at the meaning of "silence" and "subjection" in verse 11, and then start my exegesis of verse 12 by exploring two things: (1) Does the fact that Paul said "I do not permit" mean his teaching is not binding?; (2) Is Paul's teaching for husbands and wives in particular, or men and women more generally? 

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Is the role of pastors and teacher open to women, or has God ordained that these roles be occupied by men? In this episode, I define the positions, define some key Biblical terminology, and clarify what the debate is about. Finally, I provide three key observations about 1 Tim 2:11-14 and 1 Cor 14:33-35 that will help us properly interpret Paul's meaning. 

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To even ask the question is heretical to feminism and an affront to some very recent Christian traditions, but the question is not what we think should be true or would like to be true. It's what Scripture teaches. In this 1-N-Done, I argue that 1 Tim 2:11-14 and 1 Cor 14:33-35 clearly prohibit women from occupying these roles. There are many ways in which women can be used by God, but pastoring and teaching are not included in tha...

I finish up my examination of difficult OT passages and start with the NT teaching that women are "weaker vessels" and should submit to their husbands as unto Christ. In the process, I show why the doctrine of "mutual submission" is not Biblical. 

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After looking at a variety of texts where women are given important roles and spoken of favorably, I looked at a number of difficult OT texts:

--God's word to Eve that her husband would rule over her

--The jealousy trial

--Coveting your neighbor's wife

--Levirate marriage

--Marrying one's rapist

--The bride price

--The treatment of women POWs

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I look at the NT data regarding slavery to wrap up my discussion on the Biblical view of slavery. The NT teaches that our spiritual status is more important than our earthly social status. In Christ, there is neither slave nor free. While Paul encouraged those who could obtain their freedom to do so, what mattered more was their spiritual status as slaves of Jesus Christ (true of free men as well). All humans are slaves in the sens...