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The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more
Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more
Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more
A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more
A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more
Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more
One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more
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Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.
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John, thank you so much for such a clear comment with a real punch at the end. This may seem an ‘old hat’ issue to the Sydney readers, but for us in Melbourne, this is a real battle among those who would call themselves evangelical. Many people I come across who hold the views you argue against have such an emotional, knee-jerk reaction, assuming so much that the call to submission is a bad and harmful thing. At the root, this is really a failure to see the command in context of the whole Christian life, and to trust God that he is good and his commands are a blessing to us.
Yes John Thanks.
As Jennie, and also you (JD), know from experience it is a big issue in Melbourne.
Also down in Melbourne the “other” sort of “Egalitarians” are having a big conference in June, so this is doubly relevant for us.
Hi John, and thanks for addressing this matter again.
A couple of footnotes - really only for those who want to have the precise resources to hand…
1. For completeness it is worth saying that in your last reference, you may have conflated Grudem’s 1985 article of the title you cite (Trin J 6 NS, 38-59), with his 1990 follow up article, “The meaning of kephale: A Response to Recent Studies” (Trin J 11 NS, 3-72), which you can find here.
2. To be up-to-date, Grudem published further on the topic of the meaning of ‘head’, in 2001 (in JETS 44/1, 25-65), which you can see (with added interaction with Thiselton’s commentary on 1 Corinthians) here in a chapter, which occurs in a book he edited, called Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood. The whole book and its other chapters can be viewed here. This book also includes another chapter by Grudem entitled, “The Myth of Mutual Submission as an Interpretation of Ephesians 5:21”. Follow the links to get it in pdf as well.
Thanks, John.
I purchased a copy of Bilezekian’s book a couple years ago, just to see what the “other side” were saying. To put it mildly, I was not impressed. Far from persuading me that egalitarianism is a legitimate reading of the Scriptures, the book functioned for me as a very strong rebuttal of that position.
I am likewise disturbed by the way that egalitarians equate a person’s worth with their function/role, and then argue that roles should be assigned on the basis of ability. There is a worldly philosophy that does exactly this, it is called utilitarianism.
Thanks John, just to expand the discussion even further, is it time for Christians to be more vocal about the fact that, since we are CREATED ‘male and female’, then biology DOES matter? This is against several decades of the alternative view that gender is socially constructed, which has brought great confusion in understanding both male/female relations and human sexuality more generally. For those interested, see one of the latest Latimer Studies, Peter Sanlon, Plastic People. How Queer Theory is Changing Us (2010).
Hi John, I enjoyed reading your article and have found myself at one with the exegesis of these verses for some years. However married Christian friends who want to be in submission to husbands, have many questions about what this will look like. It seems to me that it is unhelpful, particularly pastorally, to raise the attitude of mind and heart wives are to pursue without also looking at the self sacrificial love of Christ that husbands are called to pursue. So thanks for also touching on that.
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