Women in Ministry?: A Conversation with Matthew Stevenson (Lakeview Assembly of God)

Pastor Matthew Stevenson and Dr Matt Mouzakis Language of
Complementarian See
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/03/02/revisionist-history-on-the-term-complementarian/
and https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/genesis-confusion/
for a summary of the history of the language surrounding this
issue. 1 Tim 2:11-14 Matt M. misspoke about the parsing of the
greek tense of epitrepo (I do not permit). The tense is present
active indicative. The reason behind the interpretation of “at this
time” is due to the use of epitrepo in the rest of scripture where
it is always in the context of a local situation. “At this time” is
based on the context and this grammatical information. See
https://margmowczko.com/1-timothy-212-and-1-corinthians-1434-epitrepo/.
Scholars such as Philip Payne (Man and Women one in Christ), Craig
Keener (IVP Bible Background Commentary, Paul and Women), Scot
McKnight (Blue Parakeet), Andrew Bartlett (Men and Women in
Christ), and more come to this same conclusion based on this
grammatical construction, seeing it as a time bound event just for
a certain period for the church in Ephesus. It is addressed to
certain women in that church in the first century. 1 Tim 3 John
Chrysostom Homily 11.1 on 1 Tim 3: “The women likewise”. Paul meant
the [women] deacons [τας διακονους]. There are those who think he
was talking about women in general. No, that is not the case. It
would have made no sense to have inserted here something about
women in general. He was referring to those having the dignity of
the diaconate [της διακονιας]. “Let deacons be the husband of one
wife.” This is also appropriately said of women deacons [γυναικων
διακονων], for this [monogamy] is necessary, useful and proper to
the highest degree in the Church. 1 Corinthians 11 Wayne Grudem
makes arguments against the “source” interpretation and certain
metaphorical meanings of head (kephele) saying it never meant
source and has a meaning of authority. Many scholars have push back
on his article on this in 1985 showing that a literal head or
source are the most prominent interpretations and there is a
possibility for “authority” being a gloss of this term, though a
minority one. Yet, Philip Payne argues that “source” is the most
used metaphor for kephele (see Payne, Man and Women: One in Christ,
113-139). See
https://www.pbpayne.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/what-about-headship-ch7.pdf
Here is a history of the debate:
https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/meta-study-debate-over-meaning-head-kephale-pauls-writings/
The interpretation of kephele (head) as “authority over” is based
on a cherry-picking of Greek lexicons. Witt specifically calls out
complementarian Wayne Grudem, who argues for this meaning based on
six Greek lexicons, while Philip Payne provides nineteen Greek
lexicons where “authority” is not listed as a meaning for kephale.
(Witt, Icons of Christ, 128). See an overview of Witt’s work on
kephele in this article:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/fleshofmyflesh/2023/01/headship-in-1-corinthians-a-source-of-misunderstanding/
The Septuagint uses the Hebrew word for “head” (rosh), meaning a
literal head, when the translators invariably translated rosh into
kephalē. However in Hebrew, like in English, “head” can also mean a
leader or ruler. In the instances where rosh meant a leader the
translators did not use the word kephalē in their translation;
instead, they typically used the Greek word archōn, which does mean
ruler or leader. It seems that most of the translators of the LXX
knew that kephalē does not usually mean leader, ruler, or person in
authority. Ephesians 5:21-33 Originally there was no verb in
Ephesians 5:22. The earliest manuscripts of Ephesians 5:22 do not
include the verb “submit.” Jerome even writes that in Greek
manuscripts verse 22 never repeats the verb “submit” from verse 21.
For more on women ordination in the early church see
https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/ordained-women-patristic-era/