"I do not allow a woman to teach or have authority over a man..."

Except Junia, Priscilla, Deborah, Phoebe and more

There are many scholars who have teased this out much better than I have, but I wanted to tell you what stands out to me the most when we look at verses on women’s roles in the Bible. Here’s where we must acknowledge how we have used these verses in the past:

1. A lot of them are cherry picked for a reason, so that you won’t go look at the context

   1. They will make lots of amends for men in these verses using logic and generous interpretations (“It could be saying x”), but will take no amends, nor use generous interpretations for women.

2. People will use the translation of the Bible which serves their opinion best. ESV will be the preferred method for Baptists, Acts 29, some reformed Non-denominations so be on the lookout for what different translations say when someone hurls cherry-picked verses your way.

3. While these people will agree that scripture doesn’t contradict itself, they will allow for scripture contradicting itself when it suits their purposes. But this is disingenuous at the least and at worst, willfully misleading.

Let’s work backward in this newsletter and start with #3, as it provides us with a big picture view that will help us make better interpretations of other verses that seem off or complicated. A cherry-picked verse people love to hang their hat on is 1 Timothy 2:12. “I do not allow a woman to teach, or to assume authority over a man; she is to remain quiet.”