As I'm reading along in God's Holy Fire: The Nature and Function of Scripture I have come to a section where the authors are discussing the various genres in scripture. When talking about epistles (letters) they make a point of saying (on page 146):
We can recognize [Paul's] works as ancient letters, and because they take this form we know not to read them as narratives or theological treatises or handbooks covering every imaginable eventuality that the church might face for all time. They cover specific events in the life of the congregations in which Paul ministered. (Emphasis theirs.)
Why would they say such a thing? Well, that becomes evident in a few pages (page 148):
[Paul's] precise rules on head coverings or the display of miraculous gifts or the silence of women may not have been in force in other churches (then or now).
And there you have it. How refreshing! I can be released from the odious "rules" in Paul's letters because after all, he wrote these to specific churches, which aren't us. We can have what we want! This is what you have to guard against when you read the Bible. The Bible is not concerned with what you want and in fact it tells you that many of the things you want are not good for you, but there is a great temptation to find complex theological methods so that when the Bible seems to obviously say that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their sexual sins we can decide that they were, in fact, destroyed because of a lack of hospitality. Then we can indulge in sexual sins all we want. The apostle Paul's teaching on women is embarrassing to our society:
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.
(1Co 14:33-37)
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
(1Ti 2:11-12)
And it comforts many who want to be thought of as "scholars" to be able to rid themselves of such "rules." Of course the thorny problem of wording like "as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Co 14:33) and the fact that Timothy is written to an evangelist who is dealing with multiple churches is, I suppose, just irrelevant. This is also something that happens when people make such an error (finding in the Bible what they
want rather than what is actually there). They typically run to it and make hasty interpretations that are often proved absurd by just a little bit of reading. And therein lies the antidote to such poison...
it's a book... READ IT!!!
