This subject receives a great deal of criticism because of the volatile reaction of those who call into question the legitimacy of assigned functions in the Church. Since the restrictions these passages place upon women in the Church do not fit into the current culture, every attempt has been made to discredit, nullify, or at the very least marginalize, the principles found in these texts. To do this requires an interpretation that renders these texts contingent upon both time and culture.
The biggest problem people have in reading scripture, any scripture, is an unfortunate dependency on the practice of interpretation. The reason interpretation presents such a problem is because interpretation is the process by which one brings all available tools of exegetical research to bear upon any given text of scripture to assign meaning to the text. Peter tell us we do not have the right to approach scripture in this way, 2 Pet. 1:20. “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation….”
Scripture then, does not avail itself to human interpretation. The problem with interpretation is that it always starts with human reason being forced onto the text rather than allowing the language of the test to supply its own meaning. This typically results in the straining of the text and an attempt to change the meaning of the language. I am sure you recognize the fact that the interpretation of any text is as varied as the number of people who read it; and more often than not, these interpretations are as contradictory as they are varied.
The reason interpretation is such a problem is because scripture does not derive meaning from human interpretation. Meaning is supplied to scripture exclusively by the Lord. This supplied meaning is then conveyed to us through the grammatical structure of the text which is solely the product of the Holy Spirit.
Contrary to popular opinion, one cannot make scripture say just anything one wishes it to say. Scripture is uniquely the product of the mind of God and completely devoid of any human contribution to its content. It will therefore, say only what God intends for it to say. Anything else is a prostitution of scripture.
The biggest problem people have in reading scripture, any scripture, is an unfortunate dependency on the practice of interpretation. The reason interpretation presents such a problem is because interpretation is the process by which one brings all available tools of exegetical research to bear upon any given text of scripture to assign meaning to the text. Peter tell us we do not have the right to approach scripture in this way, 2 Pet. 1:20. “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation….”
Scripture then, does not avail itself to human interpretation. The problem with interpretation is that it always starts with human reason being forced onto the text rather than allowing the language of the test to supply its own meaning. This typically results in the straining of the text and an attempt to change the meaning of the language. I am sure you recognize the fact that the interpretation of any text is as varied as the number of people who read it; and more often than not, these interpretations are as contradictory as they are varied.
The reason interpretation is such a problem is because scripture does not derive meaning from human interpretation. Meaning is supplied to scripture exclusively by the Lord. This supplied meaning is then conveyed to us through the grammatical structure of the text which is solely the product of the Holy Spirit.
Contrary to popular opinion, one cannot make scripture say just anything one wishes it to say. Scripture is uniquely the product of the mind of God and completely devoid of any human contribution to its content. It will therefore, say only what God intends for it to say. Anything else is a prostitution of scripture.
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