by Joel V Webb | Dec 24, 2023 | Uncategorized
Merry Christmas!
We often say it is the birth of the newborn king. But what does that mean? Our contemporary society has in many ways lessened the depth of the phrase to a mere rhyme in the songs we sing.
The birth of Christ is the beginning of the enthronement of the King who would bring more than just individual salvation. His arrival signals the powers of this world that their influence is short lived. The King has arrived, and His kingdom will begin the work of redemption to what God intended.
For those who recognize the King born of this night, our mission is to demonstrate that with allegiance and fidelity to Him. In a world full of vice and other ways of doing things, do we demonstrate that we truly follow the King?
The call is more than just a prayer for the sake of not going to hell,it is soo much more. It is a call to represent the King in every part of our lives, and to transform the world around us with His message of hope, truth and love, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
That King’s name is Jesus. He Lives, He Reigns; and He calls us all today to follow Him.
Christmas is just the beginning of the story, I invite you to explore who this Jesus is, who He says He is, what He did, and what that means for your life.
O come let us adore Him, all hail the newborn King!!
by Joel V Webb | Dec 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
Women in Ministry Part 3
Many have guarded the front doors of the Church from feminism, while at the same time keep the back door open to misogyny.
– Sandra Glahn
In our day and age, it is very difficult to walk in tension because of the mass polarization we see in the culture. Some may see it as impossible, or even compromise. Despite what many naysayers would state, two things can be true at once.
We can empower and open ministry roles to women, as the gospel allows and mandates, without giving into radical liberal theology and compromise. These two are not tied together, nor deterministic. In the same breath, many arguing against women in ministry, whether intending to or not (and I will always argue they do so with the best intentions for both men and women), continue to perpetuate actual misogyny and in some cases abuse in Church culture.
There is no ontological difference between man and women. Both are equally made in the image of God.
The gospel is the enabling of humanity through the power of the Holy Spirit because of Christ’s redemption on the cross to return to the Edenic ideal of both men and women being the stewards of creation, and priests to God.
Be it in the Gospels, letters of Paul, patristic fathers, even early church councils, and the wives of many of the reformers we see women who participate and are voices in public ministry as a benefit to the body of Christ.
You can read PART 1 and PART 2 of this series
by Joel V Webb | Dec 20, 2023 | Uncategorized
1 Timothy 2:11-15, 11 Women should learn quietly and submissively. 12 I do not let women teach men or have authority over them.* Let them listen quietly. 13 For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing,* assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.
* 2:12 Or teach men or usurp their authority.
* 2:15 Or will be saved by accepting their role as mothers, or will be saved by the birth of the Child.
1 Timothy 2:11-15 stirs up a lot of emotions on whichever side of the discussion you are on. To some it seems like a clear and direct command, HOW COULD YOU DISAGREE WITH GODS WORD!?!? I don’t. And that is why I know it does not give a general ban of women in ministry.
Anyone who has done any amount of serious Biblical interpretation knows before you can understand what a passage is saying you have to go below what the English rendering is and understand what and why it is being said (the textual and historical context). Unlike other books written by Paul, the book of 1 Timothy is a specific letter written to a specific person (Timothy). Unlike books like Romans, Galatians or Corinthians which are written to the general audiences of the churches in those cities.
The most likely exegesis done on this text demonstrates that what Paul is talking about in this passage is specific instruction for a specific issue that Timothy is dealing with at the time of writing with the church in Ephesus.
The word that Paul uses for ‘permit’, in every other passage it is used in does not give us an understanding of a permeant ban of something. So why would that change here? Not to mention that we know from the rest of the New Testament that Priscilla instructed Apollos, Phoebe was a deacon and Paul’s emissary to Rome, and Lydia oversaw the church at Philippi. Junia is called an apostle and was imprisoned for her witness. It seems unlikely that these things could have been accomplished while being quiet in church or without any church authority.
Another interesting thing of note is that the Greek word Paul uses for authority (authentein) is not found ANYWHERE ELSE in the NT Canon. So there is not a clarity provided elsewhere in Scripture as to the use of this word. The best meaning that has been found for this word is the thought as said above is in usurping authority wrongly. So what is being said is not that women cannot have authority, but that they cannot wrongly usurp it, which really would apply to anyone. But it must be assumed that Timothy was dealing with a specific issue at the time of writing that Paul is addressing.
As well, many on the complementarian side argue about the argument from creation when Paul goes back to the beginning. The interesting thing with this argument is the immediate forgetting of 2 things. Firstly, while yes Eve was deceived, it was Adam who WILLINGLY sinned against God, then tried to blame it on Eve right after. Secondly, the command concerning the fruit of the tree was only given from God to Adam directly. So it would have been Adam who transmitted the command to Eve. When the serpent is conversing with Eve and he asks her what God commanded; Eve adds the statement about not just eating the fruit but also not to touch the fruit. That was not in the command that God gave to Adam. He only told him not to each the fruit but had nothing to say about touching it. So, the onus if we track from there is on Adam for incorrectly transmitting God’s command to Eve by adding to what God commanded, adding to the likelihood of her being deceived. Interesting, right? So ultimately this argument doesn’t track.
Finally, what about salvation through childbirth? From 1 Timothy 4:3, we know that some people in the Ephesian church were forbidding marriage and were probably teaching that celibacy was a moral, and even a necessary, virtue. In more than a few early Christian texts, virginity and celibacy were associated with salvation and the resurrection in some way. 1 Timothy was written because of false teachings. 1 Timothy 2:15 addresses one of these false teachings. This verse does not represent Paul’s or Jesus’s general views on salvation or on having children. Jesus didn’t have children, and it’s possible that neither did Paul. If having children was actually necessary for women to be saved, wouldn’t they have helped a woman this way?
With all that said and done where are we? Scripture does not prescribe a general ban on women in ministry. Paul was addressing specific issues, that yes could have application and be of help in our day, but they in no way say that women cannot minister in the Church. Everything else the New Testament has to say provides an allowance and basis that women too can be minster of the gospel. We are all a part of the priesthood of all believers; and there is neither Jew, nor Greek, free nor slave, man nor women in Christ Jesus.
You can read PART 1 and PART 3 of this series
by Joel V Webb | Dec 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
Women in Ministry
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is specifically addressing issues of orderly worship, not establishing who can and cannot be elders in the Church.
1 Cor 14:34–35 – Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says. 35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.
Some would argue this is Paul making a blanket command for all time. But when you look at the context of the day (because Scripture was not written in a vacuum) we know that in that day women were most likely not educated, and likely would have had many questions about what they were hearing in church services.
So, in order to ensure church continued orderly, Paul is specifically addressing the issue of a bunch of side conversations that would have been very distracting. In other parts of this very letter, Paul lays out orderly worship that does not specify men and women prophesying, speaking in tongues or speaking in other contexts.
How we exegete Scripture is important. And part of that process is understanding the cultural context in which it was written. Even outside of that, within context of the surrounding verses there is no argument here not allowing women to participate in church services.
You can read PART 2 and PART 3 of this article series
