Participants: Ingo Sorke
Series Code: WOHII
Program Code: WOHII000005A
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00:13 Welcome to our Symposium on Women's Ordination. The title of
00:18 my presentation is "The New Testament, Headship or Headache" 00:25 Allow me to share two quotes with you and I'd like to pray 00:29 with you then. Both read the Bible day and night, but thou 00:35 readest black while I read white. 00:38 And then a quote from a former Harvard President Charles 00:44 Seymour. He said, we seek the truth and we will endure 00:49 the consequences. Let us pray together. Father, indeed we've 00:56 come to seek the truth. Grant that I might speak it in love 01:01 that we might faithful to Scripture and that we truly 01:08 understand the divinely designed roles between men and women. 01:13 We ask for your Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name Amen. 01:20 While the world was watching the Olympics and worried about the 01:24 differences between the 100s of seconds, and medal counts 01:29 and fractions of a point, Russia was effectively planning to take 01:36 over the Crimean Peninsula. And to me war seemed so outdated. 01:42 Men fighting over land, tanks, trenches, soldiers. Sounds so 01:50 19th or 20th century. Didn't we end that with WWII, 01:57 Korea, Vietnam. But the earth will reel under wars and rumors 02:03 of wars, Matt 24:6 until the end and don't you think for 1 minute 02:10 That war is only about Russia rattling its sword, North Korea 02:14 sneezing or troubles in Iraq and Syria. We have had another 02:19 war for generations now. And, no I'm not talking about the drug 02:24 war. It's a war that's fought on two fronts. Waged for an entire 02:31 generation and it's not just knocking on our church doors 02:34 it's kicking in the doors. It's an unprecedented assault on 02:40 gender and the authority of Scripture. In the course of the 02:45 debate on Women's Ordination I've noticed a persistent rejection 02:51 of Biblical headship and hear some of the objections I most 02:56 frequently encounter. #1-I think A colleague of mine with a PhD 03:04 in the sciences once told me "Ingo I've never studied the 03:09 issue of Women's Ordination but I think. Let me tell you 03:13 something. We as a church cannot afford to say on Biblical matter 03:19 I've never studied this, but I think. Then the other one, I 03:27 hear a lot is, 'they think'. What will culture think if we 03:32 deny women a job they can very well do. But I'm of the stubborn 03:38 mindset that the church ought to change the world, not the 03:42 world the church. The brackish waters of the world are sweeping 03:47 into the boat of the church more and more. But as I read the 03:51 Bible, I find it countercultural For eg. Sabbath did not meet 03:57 my culture. In fact when I applied for a summer job 04:02 I had to settle for a lesser income because of the Sabbath 04:06 issue. It was inconvenient. Foot washing-you've got to be 04:12 kidding! That is in my space. That does not fit culture. 04:17 The entire Gospel is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to 04:22 the Greeks, but we go by the Bible. A 3rd one I hear a lot is 04:28 I can. Women make good, often better pastors, so the argument. 04:34 But this argument was also used by the rebellion of Korah, 04:38 Dathan and Abiram, Numbers 16. Why do we do what we do? 04:43 Because we can. That is not a sufficient argument for faith 04:48 and practice in the Adventist Church. The guidelines of the 04:52 Bible should be considered. It's His book, not mine. His church 04:57 not mine. Another very common objection to headship and the 05:05 Ordination of Women is 'can't do anything about it.' 05:11 Let's just ordain women and let's just do away with headship 05:15 because "a Conference President told me" this train has already 05:22 gained too much traction you cannot stop it. 05:26 Let me tell you something. Trains can be stopped. 05:30 I've also heard, "the horses are already out of the barn." 05:38 Well y'all, I live in Texas. I really do. Just south of Dallas. 05:43 And I know when horses are out of the barn, but shouldn't be 05:47 you get what's called a halter put it around the neck of the 05:50 horse and lead the critters back into the barn, give them some 05:53 water and hay and shut the gate. A philosophical mind set 05:57 that it's out the gate needs to be stopped. 06:01 Another very common argument 'I feel'. Ordaining women just 06:10 feels right and conversely not ordaining women feels wrong. 06:16 Experience based theology is one of the worst things the devil 06:22 has come up with. Let me share a quote with you, 06:26 Counsels of Health, pg.109 07:12 Just a couple more here. The quote I hear is "we are losing 07:18 our youth.' And if we do not ordain women and keep pushing 07:23 this headship thing as a head ache we will lose even more.' 07:27 I'm from Europe but I think we are losing our youth because we 07:36 have surrendered our signature, paralyzed our prophetic profile 07:40 and forsaken our fingerprint to cultural opinion and worldly 07:43 accommodation. Who would want to stay in a church that makes no 07:48 difference whatsoever and that looks just like the world? 07:52 People have left the Adventist church over the Sabbath. 07:56 Sabbath is really ineffective in attracting and retaining 07:59 members from a cultural point of view. But Biblical principle 08:05 will always override inconveniences and practical 08:11 considerations. The gate into the kingdom, according to Jesus 08:15 is narrow. It was actually the Adventist Church's stand on 08:20 Scripture in regard to many of these matters that convinced me 08:24 to join this movement as a teenager. Here's one I just 08:31 recently heard from a deacon 'Isn't all this talk about 08:35 headship and women's ordination a huge distraction to the mission? 08:40 In a sense it is. But so much is at stake the authority of the 08:45 Word of God and our submission to it. If we concede on this 08:50 issue, what else will be compro- mise? State of the Dead? 08:54 Sabbath? If we just say this is a distraction let's just move on 08:59 then, we're sweeping a festering sore into the rug only for it to 09:04 flare up later and bigger. And then one that always comes up 09:11 "But what about, What if, What about China? What about this?" 09:17 What about that? What about these exceptions? What about 09:21 Missionary Tay who was told by EG White he should've baptized 09:26 even though he was not ordained? We cannot establish Biblical 09:32 rules, faith and practice for the church based on exceptions. 09:36 They have to be based on the Word of God. 09:40 In regards to the _ that's an easy one 09:45 Ellen White used common sense. No ordained minister was around 09:50 and so these converts should be baptized. But this did not 09:55 change policy nor her previous quotes that I will mention later 10:00 In regards to China, I'm suspicious when I'm forced into 10:05 a conclusion. And I've heard some women leaders in China 10:09 don't want to get ordained. That's an American theopolitical 10:14 ambition superimposed on to their culture. Two more, 10:19 The call from God. Who am I to judge a woman's sense of calling 10:26 from God? Again, the Sabbath here serves as my litmus test 10:31 Do we dismiss the Sabbath when somebody says, I feel Sunday is 10:38 the right day because of the Resurrection. Even a supposedly 10:44 Biblical argument. Our ultimate authority is not subject to 10:48 feelings and impressions but the objective inspiration of God 10:52 through His word, the Bible. And finally, this one's a recent 10:59 one. Golf-gentlemen only, ladies forbidden. Is that not abuse 11:08 of women? Doesn't headship lead to abuse? I recently received 11:15 this email. I think both sides are wrong, I'm quoting 11:20 On one end the women are demand- ing ordination and on the other 11:24 side the men have dug in their heels with the same attitude. 11:28 Both sides being rigid, unbend- ing, unyielding, close-minded 11:32 and absolutely certain that they're both right. 11:35 On my account this is simply not the case. I did not wake up 11:42 one morning and decided I'm going to be against women's 11:46 ordination. This has been a painful process of prolonged 11:51 discussion, prayerful Bible study and deep heart searching. 11:56 We're not just a bunch of grumpy old men trying to keep the women 12:02 out of ministry. We are Bible students and we pray and I must 12:07 emphasize that no opponent of women's ordination that I've met 12:14 speaks against women engaging in many forms of women's ministry 12:21 We need more women in ministry, not less. Let me tell you one 12:28 thing. The abuse of women is never Biblical headship, and 12:35 true Biblical headship will never lead to abuse of women. 12:43 professor David Williams warns that, "Theological beliefs 12:50 about the headship of men and the submission of women have 12:55 been used to justify domestic violence" pg.40. That's right. 13:01 False, false theological beliefs especially by unconverted 13:07 Christians will always cause pain and harm. Correct beliefs 13:11 translated into loving action never will. Biblical headship 13:16 is not a headache. Human error has also led to car accidents. 13:22 We still drive cars. Human error crashes airplanes, we still fly. 13:29 Electricity can kill but we still use electricity. Fire 13:32 burns houses it also warms homes A correct view of Biblical 13:37 headship is something positive. For me to speak about headship 13:43 from the New Testament point of view, I need to reach into the 13:47 deep pockets in the treasure trove of the Old Testament. 13:50 I think the Old Testament, esp- ecially the creation story 13:55 has to be the most profound literary piece ever penned by a 14:00 human being. It is so rich. And what I find in Genesis 1:24 14:08 is that humans were created by a special verbal act of God. 14:15 On the 6th day God creates large land animals, for example. And 14:22 then in verse 26 he speaks a second time. Very special moment 14:28 And then comes this famous statement in Genesis 1:26-27 14:35 I will read it to you directly from Scripture here. 14:54 What is normally been pointed out every time we talk about 14:59 this verse, including in my small group at the TOSC 15:03 Theology of Ordination Study Committee, small group 15:06 is, this verse means equality. Male and female created in the 15:12 image of God. I want to point out something rather obvious 15:17 but something that is often over looked. The very phrase male and 15:24 female communicates a difference Men are not women, women are 15:32 not men. And on Facebook I made a conscious choice. They ask you 15:39 what gender? You now have three options. Male, female and custom 15:48 You want fries with that? According to Genesis 1:27 15:54 you have two options, male and female and I'm well aware of 15:58 natural aberrations and all that but by and large human beings 16:03 are defined by gender and the genders are not the same. Men 16:08 do not have babies. Sorry Schwarznegger, and gentlemen 16:13 let me talk to you directly. My 3/4 ton pickup, I told you 16:19 I'm from Texas, my 3/4 ton pick up does not make me a man. 16:24 Smoking cigars and drinking Johnny Walker is not headship. 16:28 Nor is watching men on TV run after a leather ball headship 16:32 and manhood. Manhood is not developed on the couch with a 16:36 bag of chips in one hand and a remote or a soda in the other. 16:41 Manhood is developed by being a Bible student, in prayer and in 16:47 learning how to appropriately treat women. Including, taking 16:52 out the trash without being asked. In making right decisions 16:57 in leading a family. Being a man does not mean being rough with 17:01 girls but being right with the God who made the girls. Rudeness 17:07 is not the cousin of testosterone, respect is. 17:12 I need to quickly read you a few quotes and then ask you a 17:17 a serious question. Under God CPTS pg.33 17:34 But listen while Ellen White who happens to be a woman understand 17:40 Understands this headship It is not a headache. 17:43 This would have brought peace and happiness. 17:47 Now watch what happens. 18:01 A lot is at stake here. Adventist Home, pg. 211 onward 18:22 Let me add, not a headache! 18:48 Now watch how she describes true headship. 19:21 Is that headship or a headache? 19:24 Adventist Home, pg.116. There's one what stands higher than the 19:30 husband to the wife, it is her Redeemer and her submission to 19:33 her husband is rendered as God has directed and as it is fit 19:37 in the Lord. My question to you. Did all this end with the 19:45 New Testament? Did Ellen White make a colossal mistake here? 19:49 Was she misguided? Is she pro- longing the headache of headship 19:55 And is this headship limited to the home or can this headship 20:00 be found in the church as well? As we delve into the New 20:05 Testament, let me address the term Ordination itself because 20:10 it has been suggested that it has Roman Catholic origin and 20:14 should be abandoned altogether. Problem solved, we get rid of 20:19 ordination. Male or female. Ordination does have Latin 20:26 origins and it is used by the Catholic church but I checked 20:31 my Catholic catechism, an official Catholic publication 20:35 and it also uses the following terms. Abraham, Adam, advent 20:41 altar, old testament, amen, marriage, family, prayer, church 20:44 righteousness, Bible etc. You get my point? Just because 20:49 another faith community uses the same terminology does not mean 20:55 we mean the same by it or we have to discard every word 21:00 the Catholic church uses that we use. Let me look at the text 21:06 that is under debate. Mark 3:14 A short one sentence statement 21:15 according to the Gospel of Luke chapter 6 and also Ellen White 21:20 Jesus spent all night in prayer before this event. This must be 21:27 something important and I do not think we can simply discard it. 21:31 Mark 3:14, and He ordained 12 that they should be with Him 21:38 and that He might send them forth to preach. 21:42 People tell me, well that's just King James. It really just means 21:48 He made them disciples, He appointed them disciples. 21:52 In 1 Kings 12:31, 13:33, the Septuagint the Greek translation 22:00 of the Old Testament in Hebrew uses the same word that KJV uses 22:05 for ordained here when Jeroboam made his own priests. 22:11 So the term, he appointed, he made, he ordained can mean 22:17 exactly that. He ordained the 12 Ellen White is rather specific 22:25 what Mark meant by this ordina- tion. Desire of Ages, pg290 22:56 The roots for the practice and terminology and concept of 23:02 ordination is not rooted in the Catholic Church but in the Old 23:07 Testament scriptures continued by Jesus Christ himself. 23:11 Page 296, one more quote in this regard: 23:38 Now what is interesting is that Ellen White opens the doors of 23:43 the church wide to the women in ministry. However, she makes a 23:48 gender differentiation. Manuscript Release Vol 5, 323 23:54 The ministers are paid for the work and this is well, then she 23:58 talks about ladies engaging in ministry and she says, "although 24:03 the hands of ordination have not been laid upon her". So we have 24:09 the minister on one side and women engaging in ministry 24:13 without ordination. At another time in 1895, R&H, July 9 24:20 she says ministers do this, that and then women can consecrate 24:28 some of their time in visiting the poor, lookin after the young 24:32 visiting the sick, the work of deaconesses and she says, they 24:38 will need to counsel with the church offices or the minister. 24:42 A clear distinction between women in ministry and the 24:47 ordained ministry. She also says the same principle of piety and 24:54 justice that were to guide the rulers among God's people in the 24:57 time of Moses and David were also to be followed by those 25:02 given the oversight of newly organized church of God in the 25:07 gospel dispensation. Headship was divinely defined methodology 25:15 of dealing with the headache of persecution. The headache is not 25:21 in the headship. Ellen White points out, Acts of the Apostles 25:27 pg.92 onward, through the system of setting apart, through 25:33 ordination, the apostles and elders, men in leading 25:37 responsibility she says, thus the efforts of Satan to attack 25:43 the church in isolated places were met by concerted action 25:47 on the part of all and the plans of the enemy to disrupt and 25:52 destroy were thwarted. Now lemme ask you something. If this is 25:57 what true Biblical headship does for the church, if we take this 26:03 away we are opening the front doors to Satan. He requires that 26:10 order and system be observed in the conduct of church affairs 26:13 today, no less than in the days of old. I noticed something very 26:18 interesting. Every time there is a monumental baptismal event in 26:26 the Bible, there is a key male figure associated with the 26:32 baptism and a subsequent or surrounding miracle taking place 26:37 Rather quickly, 1 Cor 10. Moses mentioned parting the Red Sea 26:43 and Israel is baptized. Elisha tells Capt. Naaman you need to 26:51 dip under 7 times his leprosy is healed and Elisha's the minister 26:56 in charge. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and you have 27:00 every member of the Godhead present and the Father speaking 27:04 out of heaven. The apostles baptized all nations in the 27:08 context of the resurrection. Peter baptizes the diaspora, 27:13 dispersed Jews and there is appropriate Biblical speaking in 27:17 tongues. Philip baptizes the eunuch, the Spirit miraculously 27:22 moves Philip for further mission enhancement. And finally, 27:26 Ananias baptizes Paul and Paul's blindness is healed. This 27:32 combination of Biblical baptism and a minister always comes 27:39 with a miracle. Let me address something else. Ellen White is 27:47 rather specific, before I go to the next Bible text, she's 27:51 rather specific that apostles and elders are men. Listen to 27:56 the language. I'm English second language and I had to painfully 28:01 learn all this grammar. It's called an antecedent. Listen to 28:06 this. Acts of the Apostles pg. 196 28:18 She identifies apostles and elders as men. 28:27 Now what is interesting is I've used paraphrases and modern 28:32 updates of Ellen White writings and they tend to smoothen out 28:37 this gender specific language and put in there men and women 28:43 where Ellen White originally only said men. What about Phoebe 28:50 the deaconess or Phoebe the deacon? In Romans 16 you have 28:58 Paul ascribing the word diakonos to a female. And people on the 29:05 side of women's ordination say, see you have it in the writings 29:11 of the New Testament, deacons have to be husband of one wife. 29:15 But here Paul grants the office to a woman. Not so fast. 29:22 Paul does use the word deacon or diakonos in the Greek but that 29:28 term most of the time simply means servant. Let me give you 29:32 some examples. Who all is called a diakonos in Scripture. 29:37 The government, Jesus, God himself is called diakonos in 29:44 2 Cor 6:4. Satan's servants 2 Cor11:15, are called diakonois 29:51 servants, pseudo false apostles are called servants. Paul is a 29:55 diakonos. Individuals like Tychicus, Timothy, Epaphras etc 30:03 They're all called diakonos, servants. In a specific context 30:09 with an office, that can mean a deacon. But let me tell you 30:13 something else about this term. The Greek language, I have it on 30:18 my phone, I have it on my computer, I have dictionaries in 30:21 my office. I teach Greek at college level. Greek language 30:26 does not have a female term deaconess. Paul had no choice 30:32 In the lexicon there was only diakonos. It would be stretching 30:39 the text too far to say that Phoebe was an ordained deacon 30:43 occupying a male office, there- fore it's ok to ordain women 30:48 elders or pastors. In the same neighborhood, of course, Junia 30:55 she often comes up, she was on the front page of one of our 30:58 denominational magazines. Romans 16:7, Greet Andronicus and Junia 31:06 my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, hardly would they 31:12 have been in the same cell is Junia was female, who's of note 31:17 Here comes a phrase, its a pre- positional phrase 'among the 31:22 apostles'. So the idea is since Junia was of note, well known 31:28 among the apostles, Junia was an apostle. That is stretching the 31:35 text way too far. No. 1 we do not know 100% whether Junia was 31:41 male or female. We just do not. The writings are the usages of 31:46 that name suggests she possibly was female, let's say 31:49 she was a woman, then we have the issue with this phrase of 31:53 among the apostles. Paul in Galatians says that he preached 31:59 he, Paul, among the gentiles. That doesn't make Paul a gentile 32:04 You have one person, a subject, among other subjects they are 32:10 two separate subjects not the same. But here is something else 32:15 I doubt that Andronicus was an apostle in the first place 32:21 and if he was not then she was not either. If Andronicus and 32:26 Junia were so well known how come they were not mentioned 32:29 in the book of Acts? Only the 12 are listed in the New Testament 32:33 before Paul and Barnabas went on their first mission trip. 32:36 Apostleship in the New Testament is never linked to females 32:40 and interestingly Paul could've used Greek terminology, 32:45 well known to distinguish separate groups but he did not. 32:52 He just said among the apostles. So I do not think that Junia 32:57 was an apostle. I'm going in canonical order 1 Cor 11. 33:04 The text is either completely ignored and is missed as very 33:10 difficult. I've noticed in my personal life the texts that are 33:13 difficult are not the ones that are difficult. They're texts I 33:17 don't want to deal with! And scholars like to call texts 33:22 difficult if they don't really want to subject to its authority 33:29 Here it is, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 3 33:45 Now some scholars say that means source, that is about the last 33:50 option in the Greek dictionary. Maybe the head of a river 33:55 is a source. I have over 300 translations on my computer 34:02 including German, French, Russian, English. 34:06 The majority of translations do not translate it as source 34:11 and they also do not translate 1 Cor 11:3 as I would have you 34:18 know that the head of every hus- band is Christ and the head of 34:23 of every wife is the husband and the head of Christ is God. 34:27 If you just take the Bible and turn off the scholars and the 34:34 commentaries for a second and read for yourself you will find 34:38 that Paul is arguing generically not husband wife. Lemme show you 34:44 1 Corinthians 11, verse 7. 34:55 Is only the married male the image and glory of God? 34:59 I doubt it. I think Paul is speaking generically here. 35:17 Paul is speaking of male and female at the point of their 35:22 creation, not at the point of their marriage. That means he's 35:26 arguing generically here, not specifically husband and wife. 35:33 That of course never, never means that men are of superior 35:41 value. It just means they have a different creation based 35:46 function in this world. The parallel in 35:49 Ephesians 5:23 makes it very clear. 35:52 The husband is not the source of the wife. Eph 5:23 36:00 not as a headache. Impossible to associate that with headship 36:16 It would be an insult to accuse the New Testament 36:20 or our position of making male leadership a headache in the 36:27 church, we ought to get rid of it. The theological framework 36:32 of appropriate Biblical headship is Christ-like, Savior-like 36:37 behavior of male to female. 36:41 A medical doctor just this week challenged me on this text 36:45 She said how can you be so sure that Paul is not strictly 36:50 speaking of husband-wife relationships. I can be so sure 36:55 is that behind me the majority of translations and the context 37:00 of the passage itself. Now I know the quote from 37:07 Signs of the Times, Jan 27, 1890 Christ, not the minister is the 37:13 head of the church. What do you do with quotes like that? 37:17 Rule of thumb. Always read quotes in context. Ellen White 37:23 was speaking, I cannot read the whole quote in context, but she 37:27 was speaking against church members that had elevated the 37:32 pastor's position where they did nothing in the pew but applauded 37:37 the services of the pastor. Here is the quote. 38:30 That is Biblical headship. Acts of the Apostles pg.359 39:04 Should we cancel this ministry of ordained men? At this point 39:10 in earth's history? Heaven forbid. Exodus 18:25 39:26 Signs of the Times, April 7,1890 39:44 Pastors, to His chosen ministers who have the treasures of His 39:49 grace in earthen vessels. This Testimonies to Ministers 39:55 This counsel is for us. It should be heeded by our 40:01 responsible men. We do not have an old, outdated men only model 40:07 in the Old Testament and now that we're in the New Testament 40:09 we're in the new model and open the doors to women as ordained 40:15 elders or pastors. That is not the case from the writings of 40:19 Ellen White nor Scripture. Now I've heard just recently that 40:27 this headship thing is a new theology, never has the 40:31 Adventist church before heard about this headship terminology 40:36 This terminology has shown up in 1973 when the church started 40:42 studying male and female and the role of gender in the church 40:46 The primary role of Adam in Eden and his primary responsibility 40:52 in the fall is mentioned in the 1957 questions on doctrines 40:56 It is mentioned in the 1987 The Adventist Belief book 40:59 It is mentioned in the 2001 Annotated Editions of Questions 41:03 on Doctrine. It is mentioned by Morris Venden, it is mentioned 41:06 by the SDA Bible Commentary including Vol.12, The Handbook 41:11 of SDA Theology. These and many statements by Ellen White negate 41:16 the claim that headship is a new idea. Let me go to what I think 41:22 has to be the most misquoted, abused Bible text on this topic. 41:28 Galatians 3:28. I've sat in meetings, I've read documents 41:36 I've listened to fellow scholars who I think, absolutely took 41:42 this text out of context ignoring what Paul is saying. 41:46 Here it is: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 41:53 nor free, there is neither male nor female for all are one 41:58 in Christ. There you have it. Male female no longer matters, 42:02 we can ordain men, women no dif- ference. It says it right here. 42:08 When you read the Bible text in context, verse 26, Paul speaks 42:16 about believers coming to Jesus Christ and the context, the text 42:22 the center of gravity of Galatians 3, is people becoming 42:29 Christians. There is no special gender salvation privilege. 42:35 You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, v.26 42:40 v.27, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ 42:46 have put on Christ. Then comes V.28 is neither male nor female 42:52 v. 29, his conclusion, If you be Christ's then you are Abraham's 42:59 seed and heirs according to the promises of God. Does that 43:05 cancel all male headship? No, it does not. Curiously the Andrews 43:11 statement on headship says, This is a call back to Eden 43:15 Eden establishes a completely different point. Genesis says 43:23 there are men and there are women. There is male and female. 43:28 Paul now argues that in regard to salvation, gender, economic 43:36 status, social status does not matter. He does not address 43:43 church offices, male responsi- bility in the church. And what 43:47 is really interesting is that the same apostle who wrote this 43:50 text later wrote 1 Tim 2&3, also wrote Titus 1&2 and I think 43:57 Scripture is congruent and does not contradict itself. 44:03 Ellen White, Christ's Object Lessons, confirms pg.386 44:07 every soul may have free access to God, all are brought nigh by 44:13 His precious blood. I've already mentioned Eph.5:22-25 where the 44:21 husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of 44:25 the church and He's the Savior of the body. Now here comes true 44:30 Biblical headship. An atheist couple can love each other 44:35 and have a good long lasting marriage. But the point of 44:41 marriage according to Paul is much deeper and more profound. 44:44 The purpose of marriage is to mirror reflect the love of God 44:51 to the world in the demonst- ration of sacrificial love of 44:56 the husband. That means that a cancellation of headship in the 45:02 marriage would be the equivalent of a cancellation of a 45:07 demonstration of the love of God to the world. That we cannot 45:11 abandon. But I must hurry on to the big one. The possibly 45:17 most important text on headship in the New Testament. 45:20 1 Tim chapters 2,3. When I read this text a million times on my 45:31 knees, there is no way that I can get around the fact that 45:37 there is a universal appeal, not just a local situation with some 45:42 Ephesian pagan goddess going on and there is a very tightly 45:48 defined gender distinction happening in the text. 45:53 Paul says, men when you pray, do this. Ladies, your adornment 45:58 should be like this. Inward not outward. Men do this. Women 46:04 don't do this. Men when you want to be an elder, here are the 46:08 criteria. This is a highly gender specific text. 46:14 I want to point out after the context a cultural idea I cannot 46:26 follow this commentator, a Hanson. He wrote a book on 46:29 1 Timothy. He says just as the first half of this chapter 46:34 showed us the author at his best he's talking about Paul 46:37 so the second half seems to show him at his worst. Christians are 46:42 under no obligation "to accept his teaching on women" 46:46 Problem solved. We'll just take scissors and cut out portions of 46:51 Scripture. We cannot do that. I'm with the Jewish commentator 46:59 Stern who wrote in his commentary pg.640 "For those who 47:04 hold a high view of Biblical authority the text must drain 47:09 over and correct what we think is just". I have to submit 47:15 to this book. We cannot always reconstruct the local situation. 47:22 The argument is made that Paul is dealing with a very specific 47:27 local situation and he's just giving counsel to Timothy period 47:31 First century and that's where the buck stops. Speculative 47:35 free constructions of a possible local situation create a 47:40 cultural guess work that abandons the solid grounding of 47:43 Scripture and I have a shelf full of commentaries and guess 47:47 what, they do not agree on what that local situation is. 47:53 We are at a loss. But we are not if we follow the Bible. All 48:00 letters in the New Testament are written to a specific situation 48:03 but also to a larger audience. Most famous one is by Jesus 48:08 written to the Ephesians in the book of Revelation and then it 48:12 says, He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to 48:16 the churches, plural. That means local counsel is applicable 48:24 in a universal setting. But here is the concept. Paul tells women 48:32 that they're not allowed to teach nor to have authority 48:36 over the man. It's going to be a little detailed but hang in 48:41 there. He says let the woman learn in silence 1 Tim 2:11 48:47 very important to note the sil- ence phrase with all subjection. 49:02 That means Paul is packaging this prohibition of teaching 49:08 she needs to learn and the sub- mission in between the silence 49:12 statement. Does this mean that women cannot speak at all? 49:17 They cannot be greeters, they cannot teach cradle roll 49:21 they cannot work in VBS, they have to be silent. No. It is 49:27 very clear from Scripture that this phraseology of silence 49:32 for example, Acts 22:2, 2 Thess 3:12 means not a verbal silence 49:39 but a humble, respect and submission to authority. And 49:45 women are allowed to teach other women. In Titus Paul opens up an 49:52 entire teaching ministry that we have neglected. Women ought to 49:56 teach other women. Ellen white is very direct that men have to 50:02 be very careful in counseling females. A neglected ministry. 50:07 That tells me something. Now follow this. If the prohibition 50:14 to teach was only based on Eve being deceived, then Eve could 50:19 not teach at all. You following this? The prohibition to teach 50:26 women are not allowed to teach is in direct relation of Eve 50:31 transgressing in relation to her husband's supervision role 50:36 that Eve violated. Yes women can teach. They can instruct in 50:41 personal Bible study. So in summary what Paul is saying here 50:49 between chapters 2 and 3 in 1 Tim there is no gap in the 50:58 original writing. He flows directly from chapter 2 to 3 51:06 which means the context of women not being allowed to teach 51:10 is because the teaching ministry belongs to male elders. 51:17 The proof is in the pudding. There is a phrase in 1 Tim 2:12 51:23 but to be in silence. And then in 1 Tim 3, he says if a man 51:33 desires the office of a bishop he desires a good work. A bishop 51:37 an overseer, an elder must be. Between chapters 2 and 3 is a 51:43 tight verbal link what women are to be and chapter 3 what men 51:50 are to be. An husband of one wife. No way around it. Refers 51:57 to a male. So Paul is suggesting this is what I want women to do 52:02 and here's what I want men to do. Two more things here in this 52:08 regard. We are not dependent on scholars, commentaries 52:13 and artificially reconstructed context. Paul tells us 52:18 specifically his counsel is based, v.13 on creation before 52:25 the fall and v.14 on the fall Eve was deceived first, fell 52:31 into transgression and then Adam Paul roots his counsel on male 52:38 elders and the function of women in the church not on cultural 52:43 context, not on isolated scena- rios but on creation and curse. 52:56 Biblical headship. According to Paul if you read 53:00 the criteria for the men means I as a male elder and pastor 53:06 have Christ in my head. It is not a headache. It is Jesus at 53:13 the head of the ship and Christ like thoughts in your head 53:18 Ellen White says, Today, that is Manuscript 43, 1907 53:51 There are other texts we will address in panel discussions 53:56 The priesthood of believers, that is not a new concept. 54:01 That comes straight out of Exodus 19:5-6, and not every 54:07 Israelite was a priest in a priesthood of believers. 54:11 Now the question is, what do we do now? Where do we go from here 54:19 I want to suggest that we must as a people return to Scripture. 54:25 This movement was founded on a group of people on their knees 54:32 who studied the Word. We cannot just throw out authority texts 54:38 because they seem counter cultural in the 21st century. 55:34 Couple of years ago I had a class of about 50 nursing 55:40 students, most of them not SDA's. And I'm teaching the letters of 55:45 Paul and we got to all these Bible texts and I was afraid 55:49 what will these secular, non- Adventists no Ellen White 55:54 female students do with these chauvinistic quote texts? 55:59 What I did is I copied all the texts onto a piece of paper 56:05 no commentary, no Ellen White. 1 Cor 11, Titus 1-2, 1 Tim 2-3 56:12 Ephesians 5. I handed out all the texts, I let the students 56:18 study the texts in silence for about 10-15 minutes then I asked 56:25 them 'how do you see the Bible? Not culture, not your opinion 56:29 from the 21st century, how do you see the Bible, Paul, Jesus 56:35 describe male female functions in ministry'? They did a 56:39 beautiful job describing the differences between the genders 56:43 the different roles, elders and all that. Class was almost over 56:49 and a lady in the back raised her hand and I thought, here 56:54 it comes. How dare you and how can Paul? I thought here comes 57:01 A lady in the back asked, Pr. Sorke, where can we find 57:10 such men? And so my question lingers from the Garden of Eden 57:18 to you, especially the men, Adam where are you? Let us pray. 57:26 Father I want to thank you for the testimony of Scripture. 57:30 And I want to pray that the men of our church will rise to the 57:35 occasion, step up to the plate and be godly, Biblical headship 57:41 men, not a headache. Father in this regard we pray for mercy 57:47 and your grace for ourselves individually and for the entire |
Revised 2015-10-12