Don Johnson

On the vicar’s teaching, first the positives:
1. Yes, men and women are equal but different.
2. Yes, he is right about the 2 risks of bad interpretation, making the Bible’s application today’s application or making a principle cultural when it is transcultural.
3. Yes, real beauty is inward, not outward.
4. Yes, what Paul writes in Scripture is authoritative and inspired.  However, it is very possible to misunderstand some things Paul writes, as Peter writes in the 1st century; how much more today?
5. Yes, Adam was there with the woman and remained silent.

On the negatives:
1. The Bible does not say the husband is head of the family, it says the parents are.  It does say the husband/man is head of the wife/woman and the question is what does this mean?
2. No eternal subordination in the Godhead, rather there is an economic submission while the Word was incarnate.  The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness and Jesus later sent the Spirit.
3. Jesus had female diciples, not just males.  See Luke 8.
4. A prophecy today may not be a mixture of true and false, it might be all false or all true.  It does need to be tested, as well as any teaching needs to be.
5. 1 Tim 2:13-14 (“For Adam…”) could be a direct refutation of the false teaching at Ephesus and not a justification for 1 Tim 2:11-12.  He does not seem to even see this is possible.
6. He fudges the meaning of 1 Tim 2:15 and does not know Cheryl’s insight about who might be her and they.
7. The biggest concern of course is that he does not see how he is choosing to interpret 1 Tim 2:12 in a way that restricts women, but this is his choice, there are other intepretative choices that do not restrict women.  For example, if Paul is referring to a specific woman, which is possible, then the restriction is only for her and the application would be for those who did the things she did, not all women.  It is also possible to see the restriction as a present thing, as in “I do not now permit (a) woman…’ as 1 Tim 2:11-12 are tightly coupled and the woman is to be taught correct doctrine.

He does seem to be trying to follow Scripture, but apparently has not seen much of the other side of this issue.  So see if he is willing to read anything from the other side.