In last week’s article, I began a short series on enemies of
sound interpretation. We
considered whether or not personal experience is a valid hermeneutical
tool. Before I move on to the next
“enemy,” I’d like to go back to one of the examples I used in the last article.
One theological issue on which people tend to use personal
experience to trump sound interpretation is the issue of women teaching and/or
exercising authority over men. It
would seem that Paul clearly rules out women teaching men, yet some people
object that many men have been blessed by the teaching of women. Some have even come to know the Lord
through the teaching of women. How
could it be the case that God is against women teaching men if He seems to be
blessing it?
I explained why we shouldn’t use personal experience to
overrule a given interpretation, but now I’d like to actually give an answer to
this specific objection. To begin,
let’s look at the text itself:
11 Let a woman learn
quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to
exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was
formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was
deceived and became a transgressor. (1 Tim 2:11-14)
First, let’s bolster the correct interpretation by noting
that this is not a cultural command, that is, Paul is not communicating something
that was unique to his culture that is not appropriate for our modern
culture. Notice that he does not
ground this command in the culture, but in both the order of creation and the
Fall. Adam was created first. This is true no matter what culture you
live in. Eve was deceived
first. This is true no matter what
culture you live in. So this is a
timeless, non-cultural command.
Second, to deal with the original objection, let’s consider
that God often uses the disobedience of humans to accomplish His ends. This happens all over the Old and New
Testaments. The golden example is
God using the evil of Joseph’s brother's sin to save the descendants of Abraham (Gen 50:15-21). There are many other examples, and on
the basis of those alone we should not be surprised that the Lord would lead
people to salvation through the disobedience of others.
But there is another example in the NT that is very closely
related to the issue at hand. In
the first chapter of Philippians, Paul informed the recipients that his
imprisonment had led to the advancement of the gospel in a number of ways. All of the imperial guards knew that
his imprisonment was for the gospel.
Also, many believers became much more bold to speak the word without
fear because of his imprisonment.
And then he added this:
15 ¶ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from
good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the
defense of the gospel. 17 The former
proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict
me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in
pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
(Phil 1:15-18)
(Phil 1:15-18)
This is huge.
Paul rejoiced that the gospel was being preached even though some that
were preaching it were doing so with sinful motives. Paul rejoiced not because of the sinful motive, but because
the gospel was being advanced in spite of those motives. Did the fact that the gospel was being
advanced negate the sinful motives?
Did the spread of the gospel through the selfishly ambitious validate
their actions? By no means. It was sinful for them to preach the
gospel for ungodly reasons. It was
sinful for them to want to afflict Paul in his imprisonment. Envy and rivalry are not virtues. According to 1 Cor 3:10-15 and 4:5
indicate that those people will suffer loss on the day of judgment rather than
receiving commendation. Here we
have an example of God using the sinful actions of some to achieve His
ends. (We have a sermon on our
website about why motive matters.
You can find it here.)
We should regard women teaching men in the same way. The Scriptures do not allow women to
teach men or to exercise authority over men. It is sinful. 1Tim 2:11-14 is as clear as it can be.
That God uses such teaching to bless men or to lead them to salvation should
not be seen as a validation of women teaching men but rather as an example of
God using sinful acts to accomplish His own ends. Those who violate this command should not expect to receive
a commendation on the day of judgment, but rather to suffer loss.
Once again, we must interpret Scripture with Scripture. We must also interpret our personal
experience with Scripture. We must
never interpret Scripture by our personal experience.
Next time we’ll consider another enemy of sound
interpretation: conflicting pressupositions.
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