In I Timothy 2:11-12, the Apostle Paul leaves this instruction for the church: "Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." In the light of that text, I have a question for Seventh-Day Adventists: On what grounds do you overturn this biblical requirement by giving such prominence to the teachings of Ellen White?
The passage has led many people to think the silence which is referred to here is something about preaching. It is not. The Bible has to be understood in it's real context. A theologian will study the meaning of the meaning of the text by using theological tools called "exegesis". In this you study what the text really meant to the hearts of the time. Mind you, there were real people living at a real place and doing real things that someone needed to address (Paul).
ReplyDeleteNow the context is that the people being addressed here are Corinthians. What happened to them? These were women who were once members of the church Which practiced prostitution. They were converted to Christianity but with something in mind that they desired to teach to the people they had found in this new belief. So they were told to learn not to teach. But as they would be teaching they needed to be silence and in full submission to the teaching. The words used here in Greek do not in any way mean to say that women should not preach any where. They are the words which suggest silence for a particular time and reason. For example in Exodus when the Israelites were worried about their lives when Pharaoh was following them, they were told to be silent and wait for what the Lord would do for them. This silence did not mean to say they were not to speak. But for a specific reason and time.
If we had time I could dig the whole context and life of the Corinthians so that we could appreciate why silence was needed for the Corinthian women
God bless you