Craig

My apologies to those who are sick of my illustrations.

My friend Barney and I are talking about a mutual friend Jane who is confused about how rocks are formed and needs to learn.
Barney tells me about a night at his place a few years ago where he had an expert on rock formation give a talk on how it all happens.
He said that Fred listened to the whole talk. Wilma arrived late. Fred knew everything about rocks, but Jane is still confused.

1 My first reaction would be “huh? Don’t you mean Wilma rather than Jane?
2 If Barney assured me he definitely meant Jane, I would think to myself “What on earth do you mean by that Barney, and why did you say it that way?
3 Then as I thought about it, I could probably work out that Wilma would have been confused, because she arrived late. That would be a reasonable conclusion, especially if I had heard this from Barney’s wife Betty as well.
4 I could possibly also figure out that Barney is making a connection between Wilma being confused and Jane being confused.
5 So I could probably work it all out, but I think you others must be a bit smarter than me, because I would still have liked a few more words for extra clarity. 🙂

So do I think it is possible that v14b is about the Ephesian woman? Yes, definitely, especially in light of the other evidence from the passage, but it still doesn’t seem to me to be a particularly natural way for Paul to talk. I think Gengwall’s explanation may well be the best possible (if 14b is definitely not about Eve, and if Paul is not referring to some local Gnostic heresies about Adam and Eve). So thank you.