62 Happy Promise Keeper said:

The Bible shows a clear difference between giftedness and authorization. Spiritual giftedness in a Christian woman does not confer upon her authority to lead and teach men, with the only caveat being when men abdicate and then women step up and lead out of necessity.

While this is stated very confidently, there is no such scripture that restricts women regarding the Holy Spirit’s “authorization” to use the gifts he gives. 1 Peter 4 gives authorization for all who have received a gift to use it in service without restriction.

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1 Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Paul also concurs in 1 Corinthians 14 that all are allowed to prophesy so that all may learn. There is no restriction on women’s prophesying or the use of their gifts. It is also a contradiction to say that women are not allowed to lead or teach unless men abdicate their “role”. If women are not allowed to teach in the assembly, then men’s failure to do what they are told could not possibility remove the restrictions on a woman. The fact is that God gives gifts to those who are then responsible to use their gifts for the common good. Those who withhold the use of their gifts for the benefit of the body will be judged for that. Our mandate is to serve the body with all the gifts and ability that God has given us. When we listen to men who speak contrary to the word of God, we are not following God by faith, but following mere men.

he only caveat being when men abdicate and then women step up and lead out of necessity. We see this principle shown in the OT but the Apostle Paul laid the clear foundation for it in the Pauline Epistles.

There is nothing in the OT scriptures that says that God called women because men abdicated their “roles”. This is something that has to be read into scripture because it is not there.

Jesus also never permitted women to usurp the authority of His disciples.

This is just plain silly. Where was there an “authority” given to all of Jesus’ men disciples that women tried to “usurp” and Jesus did not permit them? Jesus made it clear that his followers were on an equal plain and none of them was to lord it over the others.

I have seen some egalitarians go so far as to denigrate Paul’s teachings and blaspheme the Word by claiming that Paul “did not have the same authority or annointing that Jesus had and therefore his words cannot be considered divine or as pertinent as Jesus’s”. This is in clear violation of even the most basic Biblical foundations.

This sounds blasphemous to me. Paul certainly wrote the words of God and what he wrote is completely inspired. However Paul did not have the “same authority” that Jesus had because Paul was not the Son of God. What Happy Promise Keeper here has written is one of the most unbelievable things for a Christian to write making Paul in the same category with the same authority as the Creator of the Universe. This is very bad theology.

Paul’s testimony says, “For I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me, is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12). This is an emphatic statement which insists that Paul’s message is completely divine in nature. He received it as a direct revelation from Christ, not as a tradition handed down from the past.

It is once again apparently that Happy Promise Keeper has not read the material in this blog. I have consistently taught that Paul’s words written in scripture are God-breathed and the gospel that Paul wrote was certainly a direct revelation from Christ. It is the complementarians themselves who are guilty of ignoring God’s word through Paul as they ignore 1 Timothy 2:15 as fully inspired, given as the complete end to the prohibition of 1 Timothy 2:12. Those who choose to ignore verse 15 will continue to be confused by verse 12.

If we say that we believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, then we must also accept the authority of those whom He sent. We must accept and believe the entire New Testament as our final rule of faith and practice, or else we call in question the authority of the apostles and even the authority of our Lord Jesus. We can’t have it both ways. We must conclude that Paul’s teachings were every bit as authoritative as those of Jesus, as well as the other founding FATHERS of the faith.

All scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching and reproof and for godly living. The problem with complementarians is that they so often take one scripture out of its inspired context and this causes them to distort the precious words of scripture. No one here that I know of is denying that Paul’s words are scripture. To say otherwise is to misrepresent our view. This is very common, sad to say because so many complementarians have a prejudiced view against their brothers and sisters in Christ, that their eyes and ears are blinded to hear and see what we truly believe. It is easier to distort what we believe than to really find out the truth.

Since Happy Promise Keeper has now determined that “the Holy Spirit” has called him away from reading on this blog, then one must wonder if what he believes is the Holy Spirit’s prompting is not just his own fleshly desires. The Holy Spirit is never guilty of distorting the truth or misrepresenting the beliefs of the body of Christ. Those who practice such things should not claim that the Holy Spirit is leading them in this direction. It would be much more honest to admit that they are not interested in learning and judging others without a solid foundation to do that is a work of the flesh.