The Questions

Finally, the questions! So you know, I’ll ask them all in one post. Don’t expect answers here. While my own thoughts may be implied in the questions themselves, you will most likely have your own answers.

That’s ok.

In fact, it’s good, and I’m grateful. I may have different answers than I do now in ten years. The complimentarian/egalitarian debate will most likely continue, even within my own soul. All I have to offer you at this point are four observations that ultimately lead to questions that are worth asking.

Question 1: Archaeology

As continual archeological digs provide a more complete picture of ancient Roman life, we can begin to gain a better understanding of the setting of Paul’s letters, particularly his letter to the Ephesains and his pastoral letters to Timothy, who was in Ephesus at the time.

Understanding the cult of Artemis, for me, has shed significant light on the one verse that has troubled me more than any other, and it is 1 Timothy 2:15, which says, “Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.”

I have read countless commentaries and articles and listened to many podcasts as I’ve tried to understand this. Each one left me more confused, and each one seemed to be speaking to something that just didn’t fit with the Gospel as a whole. It seems all kinds of mental gymnastics were being used to explain this really weird verse. Who is “she”? Who are “they”? What does “saved” mean?

Just like I did Leviticus, I began to read and research and pray. Then I read an academic article on the cult of Artemis as I researched commentaries on Ephesians, learning that she was the goddess responsible for overseeing childbirth. Immediately, I discovered a context that made that verse make sense. I began to research the Cult of Artemis of the Ephesians, even daring to wade through old doctoral theses and some of the most boring textbooks imaginable.

Will we let ongoing archaeological discoveries continue to inform a good, faithful contextual reading of scripture?

Question 2: Gifts

Paul writes in his letter to the Corninthians, after explaining all the various gifts come from the same Spirit, “All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses” (1 Cor. 12:11).

In other words, who gets what gifts is completely up to the Holy Spirit. He chooses; we don’t. We can ask for greater gifts, and maybe God gives them to you personally; more likely, He will give someone else to you in answer to your desire, someone gifted the way He knows you need. In fact, in Ephesians 4, he describes people themselves as the gifts given to His body the church.

God is no respecter of persons when it comes to gifts, whether the gift of salvation, the gift of a heavenly inheritance, the gift of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, or those spiritual gifts for the building up of the body. He gives as He wills, and it is our responsibility to recognize them and allow them to operate. Afterall, He gives good gifts to His people.

Will we humbly recognize that gifts of the Spirit are given to God’s people as He chooses, and receive those gifts with gratitude, no matter the package they come in?

Question 3: Receiving Jesus

This might be geared more toward liturgical settings. It’s important to remember that God chose to give the world His Beloved Son through a woman. His precious body and blood were derived from hers and hers alone. I think it’s a fact we have to take into account. However, just as Paul was clear in I Corinthians 11, we are not independent of each other. Neither men nor women are superior in any way before the Lord.

Will we receive the actual body of Jesus from a woman, yet refuse to receive the sacrament of His body and Blood from a woman?

…And For Complementarians

If God gives gifts as He desires, and you see that God has gifted a woman with the ability to teach what is good, to teach what is according to the faith, and to teach with an obvious gifting, do you feel ok about denying half of your congregation what God has freely given to His Church through her? Will you look at the men and tell them because of the vessel the gift has come in that they may not partake of it? Will you, for fear of God's wrath, hide these precious gifts under rocks (like "Women's Ministry) so that they do not reach their full potential? (As an example, I was once told by a pastor, "They say your first 200 sermons are not that great." While he meant to encourage me, did he realize that at the rate I was going with four "sermons" a year in Women's Bible Study, that I would reach my prime at the ripe age of 90?)

Will we, out of fear, bury gifts God has given to the whole body for her good and His glory?

I can’t answer this for you, but it troubles me and makes me sad.

What Now?

All of these questions have led me to a fork in the road. From here, I can see two ways to respond. One way seems dark and fruitless, but I’m not sure. The other seems fraught with peril.

My final post in this series will be honest and unformed. I will simply tell you where I stand now, and where I hope to go.