Teaching

Exegetical Method Applied to the Topic of Marriage: Step 1

11 Comments / Marriage Definition, Personal, Teaching / By /

As my thoughts turn back to marriage, I would like to honor my parents who were married 43 years until my dad died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 1996. Today would have been their 60th wedding anniversary. In the past few days I have demonstrated an exegetical method using the topic of women in leadership, to answer a question that comes up from time to time and to set the stage for applying the same method to the topic of marriage. This is the biblical work we must do to set the foundation for a course on marriage. Today, […]

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The Basic Method for Interpreting a Bible Passage

1 Comment / Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith, PCUSA, Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

In the last several days I have demonstrated an exegetical method on the topic of women in ministry. It is a relevant topic to one GA commissioner, as noted at the beginning of this series, and to the others who may be searching the Scriptures again as they ponder a migration to another branch of the Presbyterian family. The method generally went like this (though I truncated it somewhat for blog-space purposes): 1. What does the Scripture say—I collected the data from Scripture, in this case using a matrix to sort it by category. For the Bible student who is

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And Eve Is Relevant . . Why?

8 Comments / Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

We left off yesterday with Paul’s introduction of his theological argument against women teaching in the church. He has stated his rule, and now he launches into a rationale: “[Gar] , first Adam was formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman . . .”(1 Tim 2:13). How this applies depends on the function of the transitional word gar. If gar means “for” or “because,” then Paul is saying “women are not allowed to teach be­cause Eve was created second; and because Eve was deceived, not Adam.”  That is, Eve’s cre­ation after Adam and her sinning before

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Women Are to Learn, Paul Tells Timothy

3 Comments / Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

Paul left us with one argument against women teaching in the church, based on a theological understanding of Genesis 1-3. We must reckon with this because our default setting is “to take the Bible literally.” And yet, as we have observed in the last few days, the witness about women in leadership in the NT is mixed. 1 Timothy 2:11 is the most serious challenge to women’s ordination, and therefore we must examine what it meant to its original hearers and how it is to be applied today. The passage begins with Paul’s expressed desire for men “in every place

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The Women’s Question in Paul’s First Letter to Timothy

2 Comments / Teaching, Uncategorized, Women in Ministry / By /

In his first letter to protégé Timothy, the Apostle Paul addresses a pastoral problem with advice and counsel. The statements he makes about women and ministry (1 Tim 2:8-15) are problematic in our twenty-first century context, but here they are in my own translation from the Greek:  8 Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath or dispute. 9In the same way also, women to adorn themselves in respectable garb with modesty and discretion, not in elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothing, 10 but that which is proper for

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The Women’s Question in the New Testament

6 Comments / Teaching, Women in Ministry / By /

The witness of Scripture regarding the suitability of women for public ministry leadership is a mixed bag. Though there are interesting role models in the Old Testament (Deborah and Esther come to mind), this discussion will focus on New Testament data. We shall go back to the OT when necessary, to track down a reference or rationale given in the NT. We can organize our data into a grid (this would be a good white-board exercise, if you undertake a group study). The columns would be “pro” and “con,” and the rows would be labeled “Jesus and the gospels,” “Early

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Woe to Those Who Cause Presbyterians to Stumble

6 Comments / Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

In Matthew 18:1f, Jesus is clarifying for the disciples “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus’ teaching so far in Matthew has painted the picture of an upside-down kingdom, where the poor are rich, the lowly are great, and the meek will inherit the earth. This theme continues here, as Jesus draws a child close to him as a sermon illustration, and says: 3“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the

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Becoming Childlike Learners

2 Comments / Marriage Definition, Moral Authority, Teaching / By /

“[Jesus] called a child, whom he put among [the disciples], and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-3) Scholarly discussion—in which, I can assure you, children do not take part—revolves around just what childlike qualities Jesus had in mind when he talked about entering the kingdom of heaven. Was it their helpless dependence? their innocence? their lowly stature in the community? their teachability? Within the gospel context, Dale Bruner favors the notion of childlike humility based on their low social status, which required them to

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Teach Your Children Well . . .

2 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), GAPJC Decisions, Marriage Definition, Parnell v. San Francisco, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

The charge given to the PCUSA by the General Assembly is to “enter into a season of serious study and discernment concerning its meaning of Christian marriage.” Implicit in this assignment is the exploration of Christian marriage, which gets its definition from Scripture and the history of Scripture’s application within the church. Discernment is necessary when a particular teaching requires a particular doing. Since as Presbyterians we hold fast to the principle that learning is pursued so that we can behave rightly (“truth unto goodness”), the process must aid us in making decisions about what we do regarding marriage. So

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Marriage Curriculum: Learning Indicators

25 Comments / 2012th General Assembly (Pittsburgh), Marriage Definition, PCUSA, Teaching / By /

Step Three in the process of developing a curriculum on marriage is to identify learning indicators in each of the four domains (knowing, feeling, doing, and becoming). If we haven’t already encountered a sticky wicket, this step gives pause to many. The development of learning indicators is predicated on the following givens: 1. There is something to learn; there is knowledge to be discovered and applied to everyday life. Yes, Virginia, there is truth and you can know it because God has revealed it in his Word. 2. Feelings are going to come out, if we do our job right

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