Should Women Preach pt. 2

In my last article, I raised the question as to whether women should preach.  Now, I did write that I am looking at this question in a very narrow sense.  I will not be raising the egalitarian arguments nor address them here.  If you would like more information regarding this movement and the damage they are causing, feel free to go here.  My intention is to raise a concern that seems to be more popular amongst complimentarians. 

                       

Today, there are many complimentarians who acknowledge that Scriptures limited the leadership, the elders, to men.  Yet, they want their cake and eat it too in this sense: they argue since the elders are in the position of authority, the elders have the right in exercising their authority to invite any person to preach for the primary service of worship for their church.  Raising the question, “Is it Biblical for the elders of a church to permit a woman to preach during the gathering of the saints in their public worship?”  In other words, is it legitimate for elders, today, to permit something that Paul seems to clearly state that he does not allow? 

Here is what Paul states, 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (ESV)  All modern English translations read the same in regard to this verse.  Within chapter two, to young Timothy, Paul is outlining how the church is to conduct itself in corporate worship.  Prior to this chapter, Paul shares with Timothy why he has placed him there in Ephesus to maintain sound doctrine in the face of many who are false teachers even naming two who are blasphemers of the Lord.  As he finishes these instructions in chapter 2, he moves to the qualifications for overseers/elders and deacons in chapter 3. 

Within this context of corporate worship, Paul outlines this instruction regarding women.  The first concern for us is epitrepw, (epitrepo) which is argued a temporal limitation and limits the prohibition to just Ephesus.  As Knight points out, “An examination of other occurrences of Paul’s use of first person singular present indicative demonstrates that he uses it to give universal and authoritative instruction or exhortation.”[i]  Dr. William Mounce concurs with this assessment in his own commentary on this epistle through Word Bible Commentary Series, stating,

           

While at times it does refer to a specific situation, it is the context that limits its scope and not the intrinsic meaning of the word.  The point is that if the semantic force of the word is authoritative, the use of the indicative does not lessen its force.  The imperative in v 11 has already established the tone of the passage.  It can also be argued that the shift from “I desire” (v 8; itself a strong term), to the stronger “I permit,” signals an increasing sense of authority.[ii]

Paul is not making a temporal statement but one that is to be binding on the church.  If church leadership, the elders, are not allowed to exempt the church from Jesus’ command to love one another, why should they have the authority to ignore this one in 1 Timothy 2:12?  Where does Scripture inform us that it is okay to pick and choose what to obey as long as the elders say so?

Though I had promised to get at the heart of “to teach” and “authority,” this post is already at a great length.  Sadly, this part of the discussion will have to wait for part 3 of “Should Women Preach.” 

PuritanD

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[i] Knight III, George W., The Pastoral Epistles: The New International Greek Testament Commentary; Eerdmans 1992 p. 140

[ii] Mounce, William, Pastoral Epistles: Word Bible Commentary vol 46; Thomas Nelson 2000 p. 122

Should Women Preach?

Moving from one state to another, you learn what makes people tick in comparison to those whom you have left.  For those who reside in Indiana, if you want to strike up a heated conversation, one just has to mention “time zone,” and you will receive an earful pro/con on being Eastern time and pro/con to daylight savings time.  It would seem that you would have walked into a minefield without knowing it.  Likewise, there are topics that are treaded lightly in Evangelicalism for fear of the storm that might arise.  Though there are many such topics, women’s roles seem to take top notch, especially in the culture we live in today.  It is a discussion that can be lively, we have churches that demand adherence to their viewpoint if you want to be members no questions can be raised on their beliefs, Christian publishing refusing to print from authors who may align on the “other side” of this issue. 

After so many years, one would think that this issue has been resolved.  Yet, it is still provoking angst amongst many a Christian.  In this article we will not be going over the old ground of complementarianism vs. egalitarianism.   To better understand my position, the egalitarians are busy trying to find new and improved ways to “interpret” the Scriptures towards their “view point” trying hard to find that silver bullet.  As one colleague commented, “the burden of proof was on the part of egalitarians to prove that the complementarian position was wrong, because the plain reading of the text is clearly complementarian.” 

Instead, I would like to work on the issue that is becoming a wedge between complementarians.  The disagreement comes from an idea that as long as the eldership/leadership is male, it is okay for a woman to preach the sermon on Sunday morning.  The argument goes like this:  The elders are in the position of authority and therefore they may permit a woman to preach.  By authorizing this, the elders can sanction a lady to step behind the pulpit, open the text, and preach and yet still maintain that since the elders are in charge, no harm no foul done in light of 1 Timothy 2:12-14.

Before going further, I need to define a few terms: preaching, teaching, and authority.  I was at a conference recently where one preacher preached on preaching (I know, a mouthful).  He stated that simplistically, preaching is none other than heralding or proclaiming and a preacher of Christ is one who heralds the good news or the gospel of Jesus Christ.  According to such a definition he challenged the audience that in this sense we are all to preach, both male and female.  Men and women are to proclaim or herald the gospel message to all.  I am not aware of a single person who would argue that a woman should not proclaim Jesus to an unrepentive soul no matter the gender.  I was also encouraged that he saw that proclaiming the gospel to others of the same gender was of great importance.  I am not aware of any complementarian who would state that a woman could not preach evangelistically to nonbelievers or to other women.  With regard to whether a woman’s proclamation to a mix gender group of believers, the speaker left it open and never address this issue in light of Paul’s admonition for restraint found in 1 Timothy 2:12-14. 

It is when we come to the church setting; the setting of public worship; the gathering of the saints that the problem arises.  Should, in this context, a woman be able to preach?  The preacher at the conference did not answer the question directly.  Indirectly, one may presume that he would have answered this question in the positive.  Yet by keeping silent, this may cause more harm to complementarian denominations than good if we do not wrestle and apply Paul’s teaching on this particular question in reference to the restriction that Paul placed on the female gender in public worship found in the above text.

In part two of this series, I will define, ‘teaching,’ and ‘authority,’ and answer the question, “Should a woman be able to preach?” 

PuritanD

Visual, Audio, and the Word of God

A few weeks back, I came across a web resource called “Daily Audio Bible” (DAB) which does daily Bible readings.  This is a fascinating use of modern technology.  Personally, I think that this can be a very beneficial tool for the church, as we desire a deeper relationship with the Lord.  Having so many resources at our fingertips, we would be foolish not to take advantage of what the Lord has given us.

At the same time, there raises a deep concern within my soul for such ministries.  Listening to the introduction, there is Brian, the founder, a couple of testimonials sharing what the DAB is about and how it came into existence.  Brian adds on a devotional at the end of the reading clarifying what was being read.  Now, according to Brian, the Bible has a voice and if given a chance to speak it will.  Brian is just the vessel for that voice to speak.  Yet, he freely admits that he started a virtual community, becoming ordained and shepherding this “flock.” 

Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily, I am glad to hear about someone taking on such a wonderful task.  The concern is based on a few items.  First, the usage of many translations should be a yellow flag to any person.  Not all translations are equal and some do an extremely poor job of translating the Hebrew and Greek text.  Second, by Brian stating that it is not his voice, he seems to misunderstand the value that reading the text aloud is inferring one’s own understanding of the text.  The way one emphasizes a word, to their breathing, to the speed at which it is read all inflect that person’s understanding of what God’s Word is saying.  Third, it is obvious that this is bigger than “just reading” the Bible, especially if he felt compelled to become ordained and attached daily devotions to explain what is being read.

With these in mind, one could see a possibility that people will stop reading the Word all together.  In fact, one testimonial states that she was unable to stay consistent in reading her Bible, when she fell behind it would become a checklist and not really absorbing what she is reading.  The devotion at the end clarifies what is being read and really helped her see the “picture” of what the Bible is saying.  There was no thought of reading along as Brian read the text of the day.  We Americans are prone to doing whatever comes the easiest.  We do not desire nor entertain thoughts of hard work.  If someone has already done it, why should we?  We want to multi-task of doing something and listening at the same time.  How well do we truly listen? 

The value of this ministry is to help supplement one’s own reading of God’s Word not replace it.  If a person replaces their responsibility to read, they can no longer be able to attest to what is being taught.  They would take the reader at his/her voice as to what is in the text.  It just becomes another avenue of just getting by in our walk instead of being a resource to deepen our faith, supplementing our own reading. 

Paul was encouraged when the Bereans search the Scriptures and John commands us to test the spirits.  How can we do either, if we surrender such responsibility to the need of convenience?   If our Bibles are collecting dust, doesn’t our souls as well?

 PuritanD