Shouldn’t Women Teach in Seminary?

I would like to address a few points from the article “Is There a Place for Female Professors at Seminary?” by John Piper. I don’t want to be so naïve and presumptuous to call this a “response to” or “open letter”, since the chances of John Piper ever hearing of this writing by lil’ ol’ me, are… just none. Nevertheless, my biggest concern is the effect that this type of message may have in women within my small circle, and how it could negatively influence the health of the Body of Christ. In short, I believe women need to be encouraged to develop their gifts for the glory of God, not limit them… at least, not any more that the clear plain and simple words of Scripture do. (“Do not go beyond what is written.” 1 Cor. 4:6)

About John Piper.

First of all, let me say that I highly admire and respect John Piper. He is one of the few Christian leaders that has been successful in preaching the word faithfully for years, while keeping himself clear from scandals and moral stains. In spite of his fame, he is still humble, he is an example of someone not given to luxurious excesses, and has been brave in going against the culture when he has seen the need to stand up for racial reconciliation in our cities, and moral character in the political arena.

With all that said, I also believe that we ought to be wise in discerning the degree of truth in what anyone says, whether great or low. As John (the Apostle) writes in his 3^rd letter: “do not imitate what is evil, but what is good”.

As speakers, Bible teachers and people on places of public speech prominence (including the internet) we ought to be mindful of stating clearly the difference between our opinion (which may be great, good, bad, etc), and what is Scripture (clearly, plan reading unquestionable).

Furthermore, as hearers, the idea that anything said by someone so highly respected must be right, is at best unwise; at worst idolatrous. We must be Bereans and judge everything against the word of God.

With that said, let me share a few points:

1. Yes to Complementarianism

Although I tend to stay away from labels, for the sake of this discussion, I believe there is a very strong case to support the tenets of Complementarianism, in so far as the role of Pastor within a local church, and the family. Complementarianism is generally defined as “.. men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, religious leadership, …”.

When you look at the usage of the Greek word for ‘elder’ In the New Testament, it is very reasonable to conclude that Pastors are to be males only, for various reasons, none of them being inability or inferiority in the part of females. Likewise, I believe it is very clear that the role of a husband as the leader (servant leader, mind you) of the household, and ultimate responsible party, is indisputable.

2. Seminary is not a church.

However where I get off the bus so-to-peak, and let John Piper alone is starting at this point:

“I am going to answer this question as best I can on the assumption that the Bible teaches that churches should be led by a team of spiritual, humble, biblically qualified men (1 Timothy 2:12). In other words, I’m going to base my argument about the seminary on the assumption of complementarianism, which I think is not merely an assumption but a well-founded historic understanding of Scripture.”

Notice that he starts at a true statement from a clear Biblical passage about the church (“the Bible teaches that churches should be led by a team of … men”), to an inserted assumption that seminary should work under the same premise.

Two problems:

A. Seminary is not a church.

The church was:
– Announced by Jesus in Matthew 16:18
– Established in Acts 2, and first called “the church” (‘Ekklesia’, ‘gathering’, ‘assembly’ ) in verse 47.
– Described in its unique characteristics (organization, leadership, discipline structure) in many other passages.

Making seminary of the same level and significance of church, would demand, (aside from Biblical support), the consistent application of other church biblical requirements (discipline? Tithing? Sunday gatherings?)

B. Seminary is an educational institution

On the other hand, seminary is not an institution established by the New Testament. Seminary is a modern development brought up by the convergence of formal education and religion training. Although very useful (mostly), seminary is neither a formal biblical institution, nor a biblical requirement for pastorship. (see: Acts 20:17-38; 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9).

I think the shaping done by “models and mentor” Piper refers to –the character formation of a future pastor (seminary student) is more greatly done by the influence of the Holy Spirit through godly men and women, rather that necessarily an institution.

Now, is knowing scriptures absolutely necessary? Yes! is learning the Bible and being encouraged a good thing? Yes!. Do we have examples of this? Absolutely!. Here three examples:

* Right after Paul and Silas were freed and the Philippian jailer converted, the gospel was preached and soon after “…they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.” Acts 16:40
This went on to become the church in Philippi, to whom Paul wrote the letter of Philippians.

* “24 At that time a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was an educated man from Alexandria. He knew the Scriptures very well. 25 Apollos had been taught the way of the Lord. He spoke with great power. He taught the truth about Jesus. But he only knew about John’s baptism. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. Priscilla and Aquila heard him. So they invited him to their home. There they gave him a better understanding of the way of God. ..” 1 Corinthians 2

* “28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him… 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”,” John 4:27-42

  

3. The logic behind women teachers in seminary

Now that we have demonstrated that seminary is neither a biblical requirement nor a biblical institution, why could a woman not be instrumental in teaching future church leaders in many areas? Languages, history, counseling,  prayer, exegesis, soteriology, technology; these are by and large knowledge areas that can be very critical for a pastor to know and understand, and that many women can be even more capable that men in teaching. The idea of a woman not being able to teach, let’s say, Counseling, to a future pastor, because she has never been nor will ever be a pastor herself, makes as much sense as:

– an attorney not being able to teach a workshop on Health Regulations to a class of future doctors, or
– a rabbi not being able to teach a course on Religious Cultures to a class of future Army officers, or
– an IT technician teaching PowerPoint to a class of future Science teachers.. and so on…

Just in the same way, what Bible passage prohibits women from teaching (again, outside of the pastor’s position) the Word of God and the many related aspects related to it? None that I can find.

In summary: God gave gifts to both men and women. Let’s let women feel free to explore and develop their God given potential in using their gifts in teaching and serving –even without being the pastors, for the building of the church.

In a society and time so marked by biblical illiteracy, imagine what would happen if more and more of our wives and mothers and daughters and teen girls, and female college students found their call, received the support and had the environments to develop their skills? Why not give it a shot?

 

• “Think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, … or ministry, …..” Romans 12
• “7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom … the word of knowledge … faith … healings …” 1 Corinthians 12
• “7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. … 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” Ephesians 4
• “10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, … If anyone ministers, ..” 1 Peter 4

Easter and The Begotten King

Easter is my most favorite holiday of all. Often I hear people wondering, “why do Christians celebrate a death?”. The answer is simple, it wasn’t just a death. It was way more than that. As Paul explains it in 1 Corinthians 15 it is about, not only the death, but the burial and bodily resurrection, according to the Scriptures –and on the resurrection, everything we believe as Christians hangs on:

“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” 1 Cor 15:14

Among several key awesome reasons that excite me about the cross we have:

• The sins we all have committed (are committing, and will commit- see here) which put every human being in enmity with God (see here), rendering us as dead in our relationship with God (see here), were fully paid for. It is done! [TETELESTAI]

• By raising from the dead, Jesus proved he is God in human body (see here), thus validating everything he said, including the authority and veracity of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures (Old Testament and New Testament). (No more wondering whether the Jonah story is true  🙂 )

• Not only that, but through the resurrection we get a glimpse of God’s three-persons-in-one-God nature, as scriptures teach that God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 10:9, 1 Pet. 1:21), The Father raised Jesus from the dead (Gal. 1:1, Eph. 1:17,20), The Son raised himself from the dead (John 2:19-21), and The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).

 

Nevertheless, there is one particular reason that pumps me up to celebrate Jesus’ dead and resurrection this year.

It all started when I considered verses that describe Jesus as “The only begotten Son” (See John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9), or being begotten [born?] (Hebrews 5:5). That would make sense if related to Jesus’ human birth at Bethlehem, but not as the Son, since as such Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting.

Upon looking up and comparing from the Greek sources, and reading some Greek-beginner-friendly sources, I realized that The Greek term that some Bibles (BLB, NASB, KJV, NKJV) translate into English as “begotten” [g3439 μονογενής monogenēs]   does not mean “only born” but “unique”, as seen used in other passages such as Hebrews 11:17, where Isaac is called ‘monogenēs’ –not only “born”, as Abraham did have other children besides Isaac, but “unique”. Other modern translations render this term more properly “the one and only” (NIV, NLT, ESV etc).

 

So far so good, but we still have the issue with Psalm 2:7 Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5 in which we have God telling Jesus “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You” (KJV, NKJV). Since the Greek word used here [g1080 γεννάω gennaō] means to be born,  one would assume it refers to Jesus –as man, being born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. But that would mean that at some point, he wasn’t, contradicting John 1:1 and other passages. So I searched more.

First, I discovered through searching for what “begotten” may have meant in Jewish culture, that in most of ancient cultures, kings were considered sons of god or sons of heaven, or in some cultures, gods themselves (Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians). However, they were not considered ‘gods’ from birth, but from the moment they were enthroned as kings. It was at that time that they were “begotten” as gods. The term “begotten: was customary of meaning “enthronement as king” (see here)

 

Second, we have Psalm 2, as understood by Jewish traditions as a Messianic Psalm –that is, a prophecy about the coming Messiah (Jesus Christ). Evidently, a poem about the Messiah’s enthronement as king.

Fast forward about a thousand years to Antioch somewhere around year 47AD, when Paul and his companions went to a synagogue on the Sabbath day, and Paul was invited to speak (Acts 13:14-41). As Paul began to speak, he gave a summary of Israel’s history starting with Egypt (v17), the wilderness (v18), the judges (v20), David (v22), and how from king David’s seed, the Savior Jesus would come (v23). Then he continued with John the Baptist introduction of Jesus (v24-25), all the way to Jesus’ death (v28), burial (v29), and resurrection (v30 “…But God raised Him from the dead”). He continues on:

“31 He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people.
32 And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers.
33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus” Acts 13:31-33

And then he gives what by inspiration of the Holy Spirit is the one prophecy –of kingly enthronement, being fulfilled at the resurrection:

“As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” Acts 13:33

Ending with “34 And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption…”.

We have the same context of resurrection and enthronement in Hebrews 1:5 and similarly, but connected to his role as priest, in Hebrews 5:5.

Therefore, what we celebrate on Easter is not just a death –a horrible death of an innocent man, or our sins forgiven by God made man, but the enthronement of our King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ!! (see also here). That ladies and gentlemen, is a far glorious reason to celebrate and rejoice!

 

Long… Eternally live the King!!

Treating God like the pope

It has been concluded by many who are well versed with official Catholic doctrine, that the pope is in some way “like God” and hence he should be, in some ways, treated like God. Aside from the merits of such argument and whether or not this is doctrinally sound and ultimately trustworthy, or worth abiding to, I have sadly noticed that I (and perhaps many of us Americans) tend to do more the opposite, to treat God like the pope. Please allow me to explain.

The praise: There are a lot sublime-sounding phrases and verbiage to refer to the pope: “Your Holiness”, “Vicar of Christ”, “Vicar of Peter”, “Holy Father”, ”His Holiness”, “The Rock”, ”Shepherd of the Universal Church”, and many other capitalized tittles that echo with designations only given to God in the scriptures. Furthermore, his visit has taken over the news coverage and taken primacy in many conversations –a lot of people who you had never heard talking about faith, seem to be the most faithful believers this week.

The pull: Besides praising the pope’s importance, many emphasize –often quasi-stretching the truth, on how the pope’s views are in line with their own. Many liberal-leaning representatives would say “The pope urged congress with left-leaning message”. Likewise, the conservative side would say something like “Pope reminds us of the value of life before birth”. Everybody quotes and affirms the pope in what they agree; when they can use him to their advantage and to move their political ball against their opposition.

The drift: However, we all know that if the pope were to say “Mr. Obama, ban all abortions!”, or “Republicans! Grant citizenship to all illegal immigrants!”, no action would take place. Suddenly, the clear instructions from “His Holiness”, the great “Holy Father” would be far less than mere suggestions from some international figurehead that doesn’t apply to us necessarily.

 

And that’s how I have often treated God like the pope. I praise God, use his wonderful glorious names and address him with the highest theological concepts I have learned. I even quote Him when His Word helps promote my agenda. However, so often, at the moment He requires something from me; obedience, a sacrifice, repentance, a change in my opinion or actions, I treat Him –God, like if His command were far less than a mere suggestion from some figurehead that doesn’t apply to me necessarily.

I hope it is evident that I am not at all advocating for treating the pope like God. But I did find myself considering this week that verse that states

These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me… (Isaiah 29:13)….

…and I was challenged.