Participants: John Peters
Series Code: WOHII
Program Code: WOHII000004A
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00:14 This morning we're going to be looking at Biblical headship
00:18 in the Old Testament. But more specifically we're going to be 00:22 looking at Headship, the principle of headship in Genesis 00:26 One of the major contentions of those in favor of 00:32 the ordination of women is that the principle of headship 00:36 does not exist in the Bible and moreover it does not exist 00:39 in Genesis and specifically in Genesis, chapter 2. 00:44 That is in a prefall situation in the Book of Genesis 00:47 So, this morning we're gonna take a look at headship, 00:50 we're gonna briefly look at a statement that was produced 00:55 by the Theological faculty, at least some of them 00:58 at our University in Berrien Springs which purports to state 01:04 that the Bible says nothing about Biblical Headship. 01:09 So we'll take a look at that and then we're gonna take a look 01:11 at the Bible and what the Bible really has to say about the 01:14 Headship and how it affects the whole issue of Ordination. 01:19 Let me just mention in passing here that this ordination issue 01:23 is kind of a, it's not really addressing the real issue 01:29 the real issue is the Office of Elder and the Office of Minister 01:34 When we talk about Ordination we know it's laying on of hands 01:37 for service. You know we lay hands on medical missionaries 01:40 But they're not ordained as medical missionaries. We just 01:43 simply lay hands and they're consecrated for service. 01:45 The word Ordination has always been used as it relates to the 01:49 office of Minister, specifically and also Elder and Deacon 01:54 in the local church. So when we're addressing the whole issue 01:58 of Ordination we need to remem- ber that we're really talking 02:01 about what does the Bible say about who is qualified to serve 02:05 in the office of Elder or Minister. So let's keep our 02:10 focus on that particular issue and let's let the Bible 02:13 speak for itself. Now as we've already heard, the real issue 02:19 we're dealing with is not just ordination or the office of 02:21 Elder or Minister, it really boils down to hermeneutics. 02:25 And this issue of hermeneutics really began to develop early on 02:31 in 1960s at least as it relates to the issue of feminism. 02:36 When feminism got off the ground you may remember names like 02:40 Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinham in the 1960s-1970s 02:45 They were some of the proactive advocates of not just ordination 02:51 but women's liberation. And it was in the 1960s and 70s that 02:57 this country in general began to get away from propositional 03:04 truth and we began to embrace our feelings, that is if it 03:10 feels good let's do it. And in fact we can even see it today 03:14 with no longer having any respect for what the laws say 03:18 on the books as... immigration for example 03:21 We're gonna do it even though the law says we're not following 03:24 the law. Now in the 1960s you recall that there was the baby 03:29 boomer generation. In 1967 Timothy Leary came on the scene 03:36 and one of his sayings was, as he went around to various 03:39 universities and spoke was not only LSD but his phrase was 03:44 Turn On and Drop Out. And then we had the Summer of Love 03:49 and the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. And the Summer 03:54 of Love, if you read the Time Magazine article, it spoke about 03:58 the Summer of Love issue, the basic theme as I state it was 04:02 Trust Your Feelings. Trust Your Feelings. And that's what's been 04:07 happening in this country and that's what's been happening 04:09 in the church ever since the 60s and so what has happened to 04:13 propositional truth has gone by the wayside and we've been 04:16 trusting our feelings, what we think we wanna do is what 04:19 we're going to do. And so I mentioned Betty Friedan 04:25 I mentioned Gloria Steinham and within the church, 04:32 most of the churches had adopted to that point and 04:36 followed a faithful hermeneutic But a new hermeneutic began to 04:39 develop, developed long before this and that was the historical 04:44 critical method and following that as the women's movement 04:48 got underway, the Women's Liberation Movement 04:50 an evangelical feminist hermeneutic began to develop 04:53 in other words, evangelical feminists began to read certain 04:57 texts in the Bible a little bit differently than what you would 05:00 normally read from the surface, that is a plain reading of 05:03 Scripture. And lo and behold the Seventh Day Adventists 05:09 beginning in the 1970s, right around the time 1973 and 1975 05:17 also began to adopt a different way of reading certain scripture 05:21 dealing with women in the Bible. Specifically women in ministry. 05:25 And so we might call that an evolution of the Evangelical 05:30 Feminist Hermeneutic to the Adventist Feminist Hermeneutic. 05:34 And moreover, as we came to the theology of ordination study 05:39 committee it became quite evident, in fact it became quite 05:44 transparent, in fact they actually confessed that they 05:48 were using a different hermeneutic for certain texts 05:52 in the Bible. For certain troublesome texts, and those 05:56 troublesome texts would be texts like 1 Tim chapters 2 and 3 06:01 1 Cor chapter 11, 1 Cor:14 all the texts dealing with women 06:08 in the New Testament. And for these texts they adopted a new 06:12 hermeneutic called a Principle based Cultural Hermeneutic. 06:16 Well, just as a little prelude, it was in 1975 that we had a 06:23 Spring Council and in that Spring Council it was moved 06:26 and it was voted to allow women to be ordained as 06:30 local elders. That was a tip of the iceberg and that was 06:39 just for the North American Division. Then in 1984 in the 06:44 Fall Annual Council it was voted to go ahead and allow the 06:48 ordination of women as local elders worldwide if there was 06:52 no contention, if there were no problems you could go ahead and 06:55 do it. Now you must realize that the reason that they wanted 07:01 to start with the ordination of women as local elders because 07:03 that is simply the first step to becoming an ordained minister 07:07 And so we can trace this problem all the way back to 1975 07:13 and 1984. So the real issue we need to address here is 07:17 the ordination of local elders and the consequent ordination 07:22 of ministers as well. And so it's not in the upcoming 2015 07:28 General Conference session is important not to just address 07:31 the ordination of women as pastors, we need to address 07:34 a whole issue of local elders which began to circulate in 1975 07:39 So, this new hermeneutic that was confessed in the recent 07:46 theology of ordination study committee is called a principle 07:48 based contextual, linguistic, historical, cultural strategy 07:51 a mouthful, where they use extra Biblical sources. Now they say 07:57 however, that the Bible is revival in the salvation message 08:01 However, for certain troublesome text, those text determine the 08:08 hermeneutical approach that we use. Now this is their open 08:12 statement. For these text we use a slightly different approach 08:15 called a Principle based contextual historical cultural 08:20 grading strategy. Now what this really amounts to is a 08:25 variation of not the historical critical method, but certainly a 08:32 critical method of reading the Bible. And so they allow culture 08:37 to become a predominant theme in determining the Scripture 08:41 and moreover, let me read you this statement: 09:01 Did you get that? Meaning comes about as a result of an 09:05 interchange between the text and the reader. 09:07 In other words, you as the reader influence what the 09:10 text is saying. Not just the text or the text tells you 09:16 what its saying. You interact with the text and now you 09:19 help the text say what it really means. 09:30 This is in contrast to the real document, the methods of Bible 09:35 study document which was adopted in Rio de Janeiro 09:38 which states the following: 09:47 In other words a clear, plain statement of scripture 09:51 wherein its clear and plain. So the issue is not ordination 09:57 because in 1995 they said no ordination. So what did they do? 10:05 They just continued to commission. 10:07 So there is essentially no difference between commissioning 10:11 women as pastors and ordaining women as pastors. 10:14 No difference at all. The root of the problem is the office 10:19 the office of elder, the office of minister. Not just ordination 10:23 because we'll just commission instead. So there is a unifying 10:29 principle that runs throughout Scripture and that principle 10:31 is the principle of authority and the principle of submission. 10:35 The two go together. It's a unifying thread that runs from 10:38 Genesis to Revelation. It begins with Adam and Eve in the garden 10:42 in the pre-fall condition and it continues with Seth 10:46 it continues with Noah, it continues with Abraham 10:49 It continues with Isaac, it continues with Jacob, the 12 10:52 Patriarchs. Then it continues with our Savior Jesus who was 10:57 born as a man. Then it continues with the apostles who were all 11:01 men, that Jesus ordained. Then it continues with replacement of 11:06 Judas Iscariot with a man and it continues with the ordination 11:11 of seven male deacons. And it continues with the ordination of 11:15 by Paul, Timothy and Titus of men as elders in the church. 11:21 And then it concludes, let's quickly go to Revelation 11:25 and where we have the New Jerusalem, the 12 gates 11:32 and the 12 foundations - what are the names on them? 11:35 12 male apostles and 12 Patriarchs. So this principle of 11:41 male headship or just headship runs from Genesis all the way 11:45 to Revelation. And it seems as though our friends simply can't 11:51 see it. But even Rosemary Radford Reuther, a Catholic 11:56 theologian who said herself, it is very plain in Genesis 2 12:02 is speaking of male headship in the Garden of Eden. And 12:07 she couldn't handle it so she adopted a historical critical 12:11 method. Now here she is and she admits that's what the Bible 12:15 teaches. So here's a recent seminary statement Aug 2014 12:22 on Biblical headship and this is what they basically say, 12:25 they talk about a unique, non transferable headship of Christ 12:29 That's what the Bible teaches they say. A unique non 12:33 transferable headship of Christ and they try to justify this 12:37 by only taking a portion of the Bible and by only taking a 12:40 portion of the Spirit of Prophecy and they leave out all 12:43 the other pertinent text. Let me read you one that is pertinent. 13:09 One other statement in Signs of The Times in 1890, April 7 14:00 Ordination. So we're going to take a look now at the principle 14:06 of headship in Genesis 1-3, then we'll quickly look at some 14:10 of the texts in the New Test- ament. Now the view that we're 14:15 taking here is of course that creation headship existed 14:19 in the Garden of Eden before the fall. And after the fall 14:22 that headship was ordained of God and imposed upon Adam n Eve. 14:29 The second view is of course there was no creation headship 14:33 in the Garden of Eden before the fall, but after the fall 14:36 a servant leadership was divinely imposed by God on 14:40 Adam. No creation headship in the Garden. That's the position 14:46 of our friends advocating the ordination of women. Now you see 14:52 we can establish, clearly we will establish with 26 points 14:56 that there was in fact male headship in the Garden of Eden 15:01 If they can establish that there was no make headship, then 15:06 of course they have a good case. 15:07 But the point of this presentation is to refute 15:10 their position and demonstrate that male headship did exist in 15:13 in pre-fall condition in the Garden and of course after 15:16 the fall. So in the beginning God said: 15:30 Now in one paper it states that there was no hint of male 15:35 headship in the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 1. 15:38 No hint. But we will enumerate in this presentation at least 15:43 26 points of male headship including Genesis chapter 1. 15:47 Where God said, let Us make man in our image. So let's go ahead 15:53 here, by the way Genesis 3 concerning the fall is basically 15:58 a commentary on Genesis 2. Now let's take a look at a few 16:01 statements by Ellen White on this issue of male headship 16:03 Let's see what she has to say. 16:27 And by the way when it says Adam was to stand as the head of the 16:31 human family, it goes on to say 16:45 What does that tell us about the heavenly family? 16:49 If Adam was the head then there must be heads in the heavenly 16:52 family and in other words the angels must have leaders 16:55 or heads as well. And as in Vol 6 of Testimonies, pg.236 17:00 Number 5 for Ellen White: 17:20 So what is missing in all of these statements by Ellen White? 17:24 Well, we don't find any co- monarchs, we don't find any 17:26 co-vicegerents, we don't find any kings and queens 17:31 we don't find any co-heads, we don't find any co-sovereigns 17:36 we don't find any co-rulers co-representatives of co-lords. 17:41 What we do find is that Adam was the monarch and sovereign 17:45 of the earthly family, the head of the earthly family. 17:50 When she uses the words monarch and sovereign, those words 17:55 connote the idea of singularity. Single. Adam was solely 18:02 the monarch. No one else, not Eve. Ok now the first point 18:08 out of Genesis concerning Biblical headship 18:15 Now if God had intended for man and woman to have equal roles 18:21 He could've certainly created them simultaneously 18:24 from the dust of the earth, right? But God saw it fit 18:27 to do it, it appears in a very cumbersome way and first created 18:31 Adam from the dust and then after talking with Adam, and 18:35 going through all kinds of things He then put Adam to sleep 18:38 took a rib from his side and created the woman. 18:40 Why did He go to all that trouble? 18:47 So do we have co-representative of heads here? Adam's actions 18:51 actions alone affected the human race. 18:58 His actions alone affected the whole human race 19:02 because he was the head. The race was redeemed by the 19:07 last Adam, not the last Adam and Eve. The Bible doesn't talk 19:12 about the last Eve or a second Eve, it does talk about a 19:15 last Adam or what we call a second Adam. And so, 19:19 as the redeemed are in heaven and they approach Jesus 19:25 something happens and here is the following. GC page 647 19:46 No the father and the mother of the race. 19:49 The two Adams. The second Adam, Christ, replaced the first Adam 19:54 the new head of the human race. 20:10 So prior to the creation of Eve we have Adam who was provided 20:13 with a garden home, not Eve. Adam was then placed in the 20:16 garden. Adam was provided with a source of food. And then 20:19 Adam was instructed by God about the Garden to tend and 20:23 keep it and to bear rule or to rule in the garden. 20:26 So Adam was clearly in charge at this point as were in the 20:31 other part of Genesis 2. Number 3 20:39 God made it clear to Adam that he had accountability 20:44 in the garden. That is he was instructed about the 20:47 Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and only he. 20:50 That is person to person, face to face by God. 20:53 So we have face to face, we have priority of creation 20:57 priority of communication with Adam not with Eve 21:00 We have priority of leadership accountability 21:03 about the forbidden tree. And all of this instills a sense of 21:07 headship in Adam. He knows that he is in charge. Of course this 21:11 is before the woman comes on the scene. And then God says 21:17 So Adam is given a helper. Now I'm not going to go through all 21:22 of the theological ideas here about Hebrew and _ but 21:26 let me just state that in 1 Cor 11:9 Paul alludes to the 21:31 idea about a helper when he says that 21:38 that is as a helper for the man. And then number 5 21:45 Now naming in the Bible always connotes the idea of authority 21:50 Whoever's naming is the one in charge. And so God brings 21:55 all the animals to Adam and Adam names all the animals. 21:59 And the woman later just simply accepts the names. She doesn't 22:03 contradict Adam and change any names. 22:15 This is Paul's justification for headship in 1 Cor 11. 22:19 In 1 Cor 11:3 he talks about the principle of headship 22:25 Christ is the head of man, man is the head of woman 22:28 and God is the head of Christ. Then it goes on to state 22:32 that Adam, Paul then speaks about, he brings about the idea 22:36 why man is head of the woman and he justifies it by stating that 22:41 Man is not from the woman but the woman is from man 22:45 going back to the idea in Genesis 2:22. The rib was made 22:50 into a woman, the rib taken from Adam. 22:59 Now this idea of bringing the woman to Adam, God is basically 23:05 giving a gift to Adam. In fact of all the gifts given to Adam 23:12 Ellen White says the following. That Eve was the one gift which 23:17 in his eyes out-valued every other gift. In fact, 23:22 she out-valued every other gift so much that he allowed her 23:27 to take precedence over the Word of God. 23:32 Well the whole idea of present- ing the woman as a gift to Adam 23:37 again infused Adam with the idea of headship. And moreover, 23:43 it becomes even more clearer when we go to point no.8 23:48 So probably the first words Eve ever heard were from the 23:52 voice of Adam. She didn't say to him 'Adam where'd you come from' 24:02 God brings the woman to Adam and Adam says the following to her 24:08 This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. 24:11 In other words he informs the woman of her origin. 24:15 And the woman gains an under- standing of who she is. 24:20 That is, she realizes that her source is from Adam. 24:25 That she came from him and somehow he takes priority 24:29 because she came from him. So the woman gains 24:33 a self understanding of her relationship with Adam 24:36 in this whole idea where she is brought to the man and then 24:41 the man speaks first, this is bone of my bone 24:43 flesh of my flesh. Point no.9 24:50 Now this is a generic name that is true, it's not the word 24:53 it's not the name Eve, it's a generic name but whenever 24:56 names were given, for example God called the light Day 24:59 He called the firmament heaven, He called the dry land earth 25:03 These were all names. Likewise He called the woman, she shall 25:11 be called Woman - a name. So Eve realizes Adam's leadership 25:16 as she gets acquainted with where she came from. 25:24 This is all from Genesis 2 before the fall. 25:35 Now Paul alludes to this in Ephesians 5, where he says 25:41 I tell you a mystery, the two shall be one flesh. This is a 25:46 a great mystery concerning Christ and His church. 25:49 The two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery 25:54 concerning Christ and His church Now Paul has already stated that 25:58 Christ is the head of the church just as the husband is head 26:01 of the wife. But when he puts it in the context of 26:05 the two shall become one flesh and he says it's a mystery 26:10 of Christ and the church and Christ is the head of the church 26:12 and the husband is the head of the wife, clearly Paul is making 26:16 the point that the husband is the head of the wife because 26:19 it dates back all the way to pre-fall when they were brought 26:22 together as one flesh. Okay now we're going to Genesis 3 26:28 We have 10 points in Genesis 2 in the pre-fall situation. 26:37 What does she do? She leaves the protective sphere of her husband 26:42 She was told to stay by the side of her husband and Adam was told 26:47 to protect her. And so the serpent said to the woman 26:51 Has God said you shall not eat of every tree in the Garden? 26:55 And rather than the woman fleeing immediately to seek 26:59 counsel from Adam she goes ahead and begins to dialogue 27:03 with the serpent. In other words she begins to assume 27:07 independence and assert a leadership role or position. 27:12 She leaves the protective sphere of Adam and she seeks a higher 27:16 sphere than her original position. Now let me read you a 27:21 statement here from Ellen White A higher sphere. 27:42 What was her original sphere? Her husband's side. 27:48 She was perfectly happy by her husband's side. 28:13 And she goes on then to state that women today are doing the 28:18 same thing. Reaching for positions for which they are not 28:22 qualified, seeking to enter a higher sphere. Now they were not 28:26 seeking to be like God which which is what our theologian 28:30 friends on the other side would say. Well she was seeking a 28:34 higher sphere to be like God. No, Ellen White is making it 28:37 very clear in her statement. Her original sphere was by her 28:40 husband's side and when she left her husband's side 28:44 she was seeking a higher sphere of equality, leadership 28:49 She initiates the dialogue with Satan and she puts it in the 28:53 context to women today who are seeking a higher sphere 28:56 and they're certainly not trying to be equal with God 28:58 but they're seeking a higher sphere. Number 12. 29:16 And so the serpent speaks to the woman as though she were 29:20 the head, that she was in charge so she could make the decision 29:24 herself. In other words, Satan is attempting to reverse 29:30 the headship principle right there. He knew what the 29:32 principle was and he knew he couldn't get to Adam, he knew 29:35 Adam would never be deceived with a direct confrontation 29:39 so he goes through the woman to get to the man. 29:41 He's attempting to reverse the headship principle 29:46 and put her in charge. Does he succeed? Yes. 29:51 The serpent deceives Eve and the woman responds 29:54 to the serpent's statements with leadership aspirations. 30:09 So what does the woman do here she forsakes Adam's headship 30:12 when she takes of the tree and she eats. 30:16 And at that point she makes Satan her head and forsakes Adam 30:38 I feel so good, I've never felt so exhilarated in all my life 30:43 I feel no harmful effects. So Eve urges Adam to eat 30:52 and when she does so she urges him to relinquish his headship 30:55 position. Adam thinks about it Adam mourns because he knows 31:02 what has happened. He mourns that he permitted Eve to wander 31:06 from his side. He knew he should've kept his eye 31:08 and he should've been protect- ing her. He knew what happened 31:11 He failed to protect Eve. Adam recognizes his failure 31:16 and as he thinks about it his headship hangs in the balance. 31:30 And he took of the fruit and he ate. He made his decision. 31:35 I want the woman. Adam relinquishes his headship 31:42 position, he ate, the role reversal was consummated 31:46 and we read the following in Patriarchs and Prophets, pg.56 31:49 Through the woman, Satan conquered the man. 31:52 And through the man Satan conquered the race. 31:56 You see the sequence? Through the woman Satan conquered man 32:01 and through the man Satan conquered the race, but he had 32:07 to get to the woman first. This all spells male headship 32:11 Isn't it so abundantly clear? 32:16 No. 16. Now here is the un- equivocal evidence of male 32:20 headship and role reversal in the Bible. 32:27 Now that happened not when Eve ate the fruit but 32:31 when Adam ate the fruit. Why not Eve? She did it first. 32:37 Only when Adam ate the fruit, by the way our friends 32:42 our theological faculty members at Andrews University 32:47 never want to cite this text 32:50 And Adam ate the fruit and they both became naked. 32:55 When Adam ate the fruit. In other words this was the signal 32:59 that Adam was responsible. He was the head. Not Eve. 33:05 In other words the generic transgression of Eve did not 33:09 cause nakedness. If Adam had remained loyal what would God 33:13 have done? He would've given a new wife. 33:16 Here's what Ellen White says, pg.56 of Patriarchs and Prophets 33:32 He would have a new wife apparently. 33:43 He doesn't say to Eve where are you, he says Adam where are you? 33:50 So Adam's headship is confirmed by the priority of nakedness 33:53 priority of apprehension, priority of accountability. 34:06 And so we have priority of creation, nakedness apprehension 34:10 accountability and also priority of indictment by God 34:13 and priority of interrogation by God. To Adam, not Eve. 34:20 And then No. 19 Adam indicts himself. 34:33 So what does Adam do here with these words? He basically 34:37 indicts himself. Listen to this. Adam acknowledges his headship 34:42 failure by acknowledging he failed to protect his gift. 34:47 You gave me that woman, that's the gift. 34:53 You gave me. The woman you gave me. 34:56 No.2 He yields to Eve's leadership, he gave me 35:03 She gave me of the tree and I ate 35:07 He confesses I yielded to her leadership. 35:11 No.3, He relinquished his head ship role and he says 35:16 I ate. So Adam indicts himself with those three ideas. 35:21 You gave me, she gave me, I ate. 35:36 So again we have headship confirmed because she was 35:39 interrogated second and she transgressed first. 35:45 So Satan deceived Eve by speaking to her as though 35:48 she were the head and, (2) she was deceived because she doubted 35:54 the Word of God. If you don't want to be deceived, 35:59 don't doubt the Word of God. Take a plain Thus saith the Lord 36:07 Now folks, I think we have to face facts. People that are 36:15 simply denying a plain reading of Scripture on this whole issue 36:17 and doubting what the plain Word of God says are being 36:22 deceived. They're allowing themselves to be deceived. 36:28 which leads to spiritualism, when you doubt the authority 36:35 of God and you make yourself an authority instead. 36:56 So Adam's headship is restored by God by divine decree. He 37:01 will rule over you Eve and harmony is restored. 37:04 Now let's look at this idea of harmony. 37:28 So we have harmony before the fall and we have harmony 37:34 preserved after the fall. Now our friends will take this 37:40 statement from Ellen White and state, well here, here it is. 37:43 She was placed in subjection only after the fall. 37:49 Now let's read the entire context. She's saying that 37:52 harmony existed before the fall Eve was equal with Adam 37:56 in harmony with each other but after their fall their union 37:59 could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission 38:01 on part of one or the other. In other words, what she's doing 38:05 here is contrasting pre-fall harmony which was natural 38:09 with post fall harmony which would be unnatural or imposed by 38:14 God. So what is happening here is simply restoration of the 38:20 headship principle which existed before the fall and now is 38:23 gonna be imposed after the fall. Harmony began with, now harmony 38:28 is gonna be imposed or preserved after the fall. 38:42 In other words, because you have listened to your wife 38:45 this is what's gonna happen. He was held accountable for 38:49 two reasons - listening to the voice of his wife 38:51 headship replaced by Eve, and secondly disobedience to God. 39:14 So the death sentence was not pronounced upon Eve 39:18 and of course this is confirmed in the New Testament 39:20 in Romans 5. By one man sin came into the world, and 39:23 death through sin and therefore death spread to all men 39:26 because of which all sinned. So death came into existence 39:30 not because of Adam and Eve but because of what Adam did. 39:34 And the two Adams are contrasted repeatedly by Paul in Romans 39:39 Romans 5 in particular. The two Adams are contrasted because 39:44 one began as the head of the human race and the second Adam 39:48 ends up as the head of the human race. Not co-heads 39:51 at the beginning and not co-heads at the end. 40:05 So again he names the woman but he names her Eve this time 40:08 the mother of all the living, again signifying his authority 40:12 over the woman, naming the woman. And the woman listens 40:18 and accepts her name. She reassumes her natural role 40:29 And so we have in the beginning Adam is placed in the garden 40:36 followed by the woman and at the end we have Adam expelled from 40:41 the garden and the woman simply following Adam. So we begin 40:47 in Genesis 2 with Adam in the garden followed by the woman 40:53 we end in Genesis 3 with Adam leading the woman 40:58 out of the garden. In both cases Adam begins, and Adam leads. 41:03 By the way that is a perfect inclusio but I won't go into the 41:08 inclusio idea just now. 41:20 The declaration-Let Us make man There is clearly one personal 41:27 Godhead speaking to the other, Let Us 41:32 This implies that the one saying Let Us has authority telling the 41:36 other, Let us begin to make man and woman, implies that there 41:42 is authority and submission in the Trinity. So the image 41:47 of the Trinity is to be reflected in the male female 41:51 relationship-Let Us make man in Our image, male and female 41:55 He made them in the image of God. Headship or authority 41:59 and submission in the Godhead Let Us make, likewise in the 42:02 image of God, male and female. So is there headship 42:08 in the Trinity, in the Godhead in Genesis 1? Indeed there is 42:12 a hint. Here's Ellen White's statement. 42:39 Now this is before man was ever created and Satan clearly 42:47 sees Jesus in a subordinate role to the Father 42:57 Okay that concludes the idea of Biblical headship in Genesis. 43:01 Now we're briefly gonna take a look at 1 Cor 11 and 1 Tim 2 43:05 Ingel Sark is gonna deal much more with this, I'm just gonna 43:08 allude to it briefly. In 1 Cor 11, we have the whole idea 43:13 of Biblical male headship in 1 Cor 11:3 43:21 Christ is the head of man, man is the head of woman 43:26 and God is the head of Christ. That's the principle 43:29 of headship in the Bible which our friends at the Seminary 43:35 didn't even want to cite. 43:41 And then Paul goes on to say in 1 Cor 11, Man is not from 43:46 the woman but the woman is from man and man was not created for 43:51 the woman but the woman for man and he takes those ideas 43:54 directly from Genesis 2 and that's why we read in Genesis 2 44:01 and it's quite evident when we are reading Genesis 2 just the 44:04 way Rosemary Reuther read it it was obvious on the surface 44:09 what seems to be so invisible to others. 44:17 So clearly there is no reciprocity in headship 44:20 based on 1 Cor 11. And Paul makes it very clear that 44:25 the man is to be the head of the woman in the church 44:28 he uses the principle in verse 3 to establish the principle 44:32 then he goes on to say the following 44:37 he talks about head coverings which is an application of the 44:40 principle man is not to cover his head and these are the 44:44 reasons why, man is the glory of God, the woman is for the 44:48 glory of man. Get the difference Man is for the glory of God 44:52 the woman is for the glory of man. Man is not from the woman 44:55 but the woman is from man, v8. And the woman was not created 44:58 man was not created for the woman but the woman was 45:01 created for the man. All the reasons for male headship. 45:07 Thus the woman needs authority on her head, at least that 45:10 would be the application. Now there would be a different 45:12 application today. Head covering represent respect for the head 45:19 or the authority figure. In this case the man being the authority 45:26 figure in the church. So man was created for God, woman was 45:32 created for man and the woman was created from the man. 45:36 So we have the principle of headship clearly established 45:40 here in 1 Cor 11. Established before the fall. In 1 Tim 2 45:47 and 3, Paul was really dealing with the question-how are you to 45:53 behave in the household of God. That's the whole question. 45:57 And that's how he concludes at the end of chapter 3 45:59 I write these things so you might know how to conduct 46:02 yourself in the household of God. So the whole issue in the 46:06 2 chapters is how to conduct yourself in the household of God 46:09 He talks about men praying and women adorning themselves 46:13 in particular ways. Women should learn quietly, with submission 46:17 with no meddling. Women should not teach or have authority 46:20 or usurp authority over man and the rationale he gives is 46:25 Adam was formed first and then Eve. The second rationale, Eve 46:29 was deceived in sin first, head- ship reversal but nevertheless 46:34 woman will be saved if she remains faithful 46:38 in childbearing. What is he saying here? He's basically 46:43 saying that her primary role is in the home, 1 Tim 2. 46:48 So he's distinguishing between the role of man in the church 46:53 and the role of woman. The primary role of woman is 46:55 as Ellen White was mentioned earlier this morning, 46:59 the woman is more important than the man, not only at home 47:04 but probably in church because of her responsibility in raising 47:08 God-fearing children. There is nothing more important. 47:18 However, in church God has appointed certain leaders. 47:21 And He's given qualifications for those leaders 47:24 And by the way, the prerequisite the number one prerequisite 47:28 for being a leader in the church a spiritual leader 47:30 or an elder is you must be a man. The leader must be a man. 47:35 That's a prerequisite, it's not qualification. 47:38 It's a prerequisite, you must be a man. Then if you are a man 47:43 you must also have these other qualifications. 47:45 You must be godly, you must be blameless and if you're married 47:48 you must have only one wife and so on, be a faithful husband 47:51 you should be able to rule your house well. 47:56 And therefore, he goes on to say in chapter 3, Elders are to be 47:59 men of one wife able to teach and rule their household well. 48:03 And there are 59 occurrences of the word man 48:06 in the New Testament and in every case they're male subjects 48:12 In other words, this idea of Bishop or Elder must be a 48:19 man of one woman or a husband of one wife 48:22 It cannot be interpreted as a spouse of one spouse, 48:26 which our friends are trying to do, in fact that's what many 48:29 of them are trying to do at the theological ordination study 48:32 committee that we just finished with, as spouse of one spouse 48:38 No, Paul is very specific about this. Able to teach and refute 48:44 Paul teaches us some primary qualifications able to deal with 48:47 false teachers that come into the church and are causing havoc 48:54 authoritative teaching of elders in the church is repeatedly 48:58 referred to in the Bible 1 Tim 2:12, 3:2, 4:11 49:05 Titus 2:15, Hebrews 13:7, 17, 24 Authoritative teaching of elders 49:12 primarily in terms of rebuking false teachers. 49:16 So, qualified men are only permitted to be elders 49:22 and basically Paul is prohibit- ing women from functioning 49:27 as elders. He makes it very clear in 1 Tim chapters 2 and 3. 49:32 So the issue at stake here is not the appointment of women 49:36 into ministry, we encourage the appointment of women into all 49:40 kinds of ministry, but only one restriction and that restriction 49:47 is the Biblical office of elder which many times includes the 49:53 minister. In times past when a minister was ordained he was 49:58 at first called a pastor or an elder, he was first called an 50:04 elder at that time. So let's go on here. 50:11 Paul concludes his statement about how to conduct yourself 50:16 in the household of God and he says without controversy 50:18 Great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifested 50:22 in the flesh. Now why does Paul conclude with a statement like 50:26 that, that doesn't seem to harmonize with the rest of the 50:30 text that we're reading. Without controversy great is the mystery 50:35 of Godliness, God was manifest in the flesh referring to Jesus 50:38 All this is an allusion to the condescension of the Son of God 50:42 stepping down to be our Savior and it all has to do with 50:45 headship and submission as it relates to how to conduct 50:49 yourself in the house of God between men and women 50:51 So Paul concludes with that statement about relationship 50:55 of the Son of God to the Father the mystery of Godliness. 51:03 So we have authority throughout the universe. There are a number 51:06 of statements by Ellen White which I'm not going to read 51:09 right now but she makes it very clear that there are angels 51:13 who are in charge of other angels, there are commanding 51:17 angels and these commanding angels are always a little bit 51:21 taller than the other angels in their company 51:25 the angels were marshaled in companies with their commanding 51:28 angel being taller at their head The very highest angels in the 51:32 heavenly court are appointed to work out prayers which ascend 51:35 to God, Bible Commentary pg.1173 51:39 The first one was in Vol 1, Spiritual Gifts, pg.17 51:44 So we have authority and submission with the angels 51:46 we have it in the Garden of Eden and in fact we have it 51:50 in the Trinity. Now I'm quickly gonna go through the Trinity 51:53 very quick here to show you this is why Paul establishes 52:00 the principle of headship using 1 Cor 11:3, God is the head 52:06 of Christ. And it doesn't just refer to His work to redeem the 52:12 human race in the incarnation. It refers to, because the Bible 52:17 goes on to say that the Son will be subject to the Father 52:21 throughout eternity, 1 Cor 15:28 so throughout eternity the Son 52:27 will be subject to the Father. He was subject to the Father 52:31 during the Incarnation. Was he subject to the Father prior 52:36 to the Incarnation? Yes. We know that Lucifer 52:41 didn't understand the position of the Son of God. 52:43 He thought that Jesus was just another glorious angel 52:49 like himself. But maybe a little bit brighter, perhaps. 52:54 Maybe in charge, but he should be equal and so on. 52:57 Let me read you a few statements here 53:02 concerning incarnation and salvation there is little debate 53:06 that Christ was subject to the Father. We know that from the 53:11 Bible. Jesus said I seek the will of the Father, I always do 53:14 those things that are pleasing to Him. I have kept my Father's 53:16 commandments. So God does the directing and He does the 53:21 sending and the commanding. But we read likewise in eternity 53:27 past the Sovereign of the Universe, by the way the 53:29 Sovereign of the Universe is always the Father. 53:33 The Sovereign of the Universe had an associate, a co-worker 53:37 one in nature. Who was the co- worker? Jesus. 53:40 The Father and the Son relation- ship has always existed. The Son 53:43 was never inaugurated as the Son or the Word. He has always 53:48 existed as the Word. Here's Evangelism, pg.16 53:53 The Word existed as a divine being even as the eternal Son of 53:58 God, in union and oneness with the Father. From everlasting He 54:01 was the mediator of the everlasting covenant. 54:03 The Word, the Son of God, the Mediator from everlasting. 54:09 Everlasting means eternity. This would suggest that from eternity 54:14 the Son has been subject to the Father. However, we don't have 54:20 an explicit statement to that effect but we know for certain 54:24 that even in heaven before creation Lucifer understood 54:28 the Son being inferior in terms of role to the Father. 54:41 Patriarchs and Prophets, pg.38 54:57 So there you see the confusion of Satan. 55:03 Volume 1 of the Spirit of Prophecy, the Son should be 55:07 equal with Himself. The Father made known that it was ordained 55:09 by Himself that Christ His Son should be equal with Himself. 55:12 His Son He had invested with authority to command the 55:17 heavenly host. Who invested the authority? The Father. 55:23 And the Son received it, second in command. And endowing the Son 55:28 with unlimited power. Then the Son received permission to step 55:33 down from heaven. Early Writings pg.126. The Son pleaded with the 55:38 Father and He finally obtained permission from the Father 55:41 to give His own life as a ransom for the race. 55:46 So we see the Son being submissive to the Father 55:49 prior to creation, during His incarnation and He will be 55:57 throughout eternity. So we have the headship principle in the 56:04 Trinity. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father 56:09 that will be throughout eternity let me finish this up because 56:11 I'm running out of time. The Son of God was next in authority 56:16 to the great Law-giver, Vol 2 Spirit of Prophecy, pg.9 56:21 The Son was second in authority to the great Law-giver 56:26 the Holy Spirit is subject to the Son. The Son appointed the 56:30 Holy Spirit to be His represent- ative here on this earth. 56:36 I'm afraid I'm running out of time. I don't have time to go 56:39 through all the rest of this but let me just state to conclude 56:42 The image of God includes autological equality in terms of 56:48 nature and being but headship and submission in terms of 56:52 their functional roles with one another. They were created 56:56 He created them male and female in the image of God 56:59 which implies that they were created with functional roles 57:02 for differentiation. Human beings were a new and distinct 57:05 order. They were made in the image of God. 57:08 And the whole purpose of the plan of redemption is to restore 57:12 the image of God in man. And He intends to do that in the church 57:19 as well. The image of God not only includes character 57:24 but it also includes husband and wife, the relationship in the 57:29 home and the relationship in the church. May God bless 57:34 the 2015 General Conference Session. |
Revised 2015-10-12