Frank

Hello, Cheryl and company. I finally found some time to read the latest post and make a comment. I have been busy, among other things, doing studies in the Trinity, and have been relishing Thomas F. Torrance’s THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF GOD: ONE BEING, THREE PERSONS. It is modern exposition and confirmation of the Unity, Coequality and Coeternality of the Three Persons of the One True God as argued long ago by Athanasius and Gregory the Theologian and which became enshrined in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 318 A.D. A creed, which I may add, is still recited as part of the liturgy common to the Catholic, Eastern Greek Orthodox, and Protestant churches. Torrance is an evangelical, Scottish Presbyterian theologian who also was involved in the formulation of “The Agreed Statement on the Trinity” by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church which, among other things, forever closed the loopholes on subordinationism among the three Divine Persons of the Godhead. So if you want to read a good, solid theological exposition that puts the Semi-Arianism of Grudem and Ware to flight, I highly recommend you read Torrance’s THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF GOD. Now, as to the latest nonsense being propagated by Wayne Grudem.

Cheryl, I suppose you felt like I felt when I read about Wayne Grudem’s “Open Letter to Egalitarians”–you didn’t know whether to laugh or weep. Like you, I have done a lot of study and writing on prophecy in the early church, both as a gift and as ministry exercised by both men and women. And it was long ago clear to me, as others such as Gilbert Bilizekian and yourself have also demonstrated, that 1 Cor. 14:34-35 was not Paul’s own teaching, but that of a Judaizing faction which he repudiates in 14:36-40. And as far as the lexical evidence showing “e” in v.36 is an adversative particle, used by Paul to repudiate what is stated in vv. 34-35, anyone who has investigated this knows that Grudem is, to put it nicely, ignoring the evidence that counters his own view. But then, it has been his practice to redefine terms, suppress evidence that goes against his own view, and then loudly proclaim his own view as alone the truth. So I guess his current practice is to be expected.