Women, Slaves, and the Gender Debate: A Complementarian Response to the Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic by Reaoch Benjamin

Author:Reaoch, Benjamin [Reaoch, Benjamin]
Language: ell
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781596385689
Publisher: P&R Publishing
Published: 2012-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

General Principles

Redemptive-movement advocates appeal also to the tension between specific instructions and general principles. The point is built on a sound principle of hermeneutics: we must interpret Scripture with Scripture. R. T. France states this principle by saying, “It is a good rule to interpret Scripture in the light of Scripture, and to interpret the more obscure in the light of the clearer.” 514 On this point we certainly agree. However, when it comes to deciding which passages are more obscure and which are clearer, divergent opinions emerge. The following statement by F. F. Bruce has been quoted by many egalitarians. He comments on Galatians 3:28, “Paul states the basic principle here; if restrictions on it are found elsewhere in the Pauline corpus, as in 1 Cor. 14:34f . . . or 1 Tim. 2:11f, they are to be understood in relation to Gal. 3:28, and not vice versa ” (italics original). 515 Longenecker cites this statement by Bruce as a fundamental point that must inform our treatment of the New Testament gender passages. “We must, we have argued, first of all take our stand with the gospel proclamation and its principles (i.e., with the confession of Galatians 3:28) and seek to understand these passages [Col. 3:18–4:1; Eph. 5:21–6:9; 1 Cor. 11:2–16] from that perspective, and not vice versa.” 516 The general principle of Galatians 3:28 is given clear priority over the specific instructions given elsewhere.

In accord with the hermeneutical principle stated above, egalitarians contend that Galatians 3:28 is the clearer verse, and the other passages are more obscure. This is what R. T. France states emphatically, “The above discussion suggests that 1 Timothy 2:8–15 (no less than 1 Corinthians 14:34–35) falls rather firmly into the category of the more obscure!” 517 W. Ward Gasque writes similarly, “ Galatians 3:28 is the necessary theological starting place for any discussion of the role of women in the church . Here is an unequivocal statement of absolute equality in Christ in the church. . . . Other texts must not be used to undermine this fundamental theological affirmation” (italics original). 518

So on the one hand egalitarians have trumpeted Galatians 3:28 as the fundamental truth through which the other passages must be interpreted. On the other hand, complementarians are accused of using 1 Timothy 2 as the starting point that takes precedence over Galatians 3:28. 519 Andreas Köstenberger responds to this accusation in a balanced way. He first agrees that 1 Timothy 2 cannot simply be asserted as the fundamental teaching on gender issues. But then he observes that “generally writers are less aggressive in arguing that 1 Timothy 2 is a ‘paradigm passage’ than those who assign central importance to Gal. 3:28.” 520 And he observes that “it is often those writers focusing on Gal. 3:28 who isolate 1 Timothy 2 as the only passage of its kind in the NT, thus dichotomizing between different kinds of gender passages of the NT and seeking to marginalize and relativize 1 Timothy 2.” 521

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