JBMW Forum: Q & A on Biblical and Theological Issues

JBMW: What do you see as the most important biblical and theological is­sues that are informing and shaping the gender debate today?

Dorothy Patterson: The gender debate is shaped by many factors. However, for evangelicals biblical and theological is­sues have to be at the top of the list. To guide our thinking, evangelicals should consider three related questions:

First evangelicals must ask, what is going to be the highest authority in life and the criterion by which you make decisions? The automatic response is "Scripture"—perhaps even sola Scrip­tura. However, verbal responses must be affirmed by a complementary modus operandi. To pull a proof text for what­ever position you may espouse will be insufficient for all those who are com­mitted to stand under Scripture.

Second, how are you going to de­termine what principles and guidelines are found in Scripture? Again, the natu­ral instinct is to assume that the church will come to a consensus based on how most effectively to reach the people in the present cultural setting. Whatever is offensive is considered suspect in equip­ping individuals to maximize giftedness and draw into the kingdom those on the outside. On the other hand, there are many who still believe that the prin­ciples of Scripture must be pulled out of the text—and primarily from the didac­tic or teaching text.

The final part of this trilogy is the question of identifying a hill upon which to die. How do you determine when to stand even though alone? And at what cost do you hold to what some describe as biblical dogmatism in lieu of what others propose as necessary in broadening the tent to include all "evan­gelicals"?

For me as a woman, if Scripture is going to be my ultimate authority, I must not only accept its clear and nat­ural teachings as inerrant, but I must also embrace its truths as sufficient for today's problems as surely as it was when the Holy Spirit inspired its writ­ing. Even the changes and challenges in this generation do not catch the Lord by surprise. The "hard sayings" I find in Holy Writ are within my understanding as well as within my range of obedience. Finally, if Scripture is without error and sufficient for instructing me in con­temporary decisions, then my absolute commitment to embracing it personally must be coupled with a Spirit-driven commitment to hold high its principles at whatever the cost.

Bruce A. Ware: First, and most fun­damental, the issue at root is this: will Christian individuals, churches, and organizations follow the clear teaching of Scripture on the equality and distinc­tion that mark the nature and roles of men and women, or will they yield to the pressure and values of our culture and so re-cast biblical teaching after the mold of our own age? I'm quite aware that evangelical egalitarians would deny that they are guilty of this charge, but I stand by the charge. What drives con­temporary egalitarian biblical interpre­tation is not the force of the biblical text itself but the culture that presses to modify what that text says. Second and related, hermeneutics, then, can be seen as enormously important in deciding this issue. Although evangelicals uphold both sola Scriptura and authorial intent as fundamental principles in biblical in­terpretation, whether these are employed in the actual practice of interpretation is another matter. Third, the gender debate increasingly is moving from the arena of theological anthropology to theology proper. That is, how we conceive of God, and particularly the Trinitarian Persons of the Godhead, has become one of the central theological issues connected to questions about male and female roles.