Food for thought from Ben Witherington.
Surprisingly, this has proved to be a perennial issue over my last 30 years of ministry. You’ll need a cup of coffee followed a slug of red to get through this but worth the effort…
Witherington’s argument certainly doesn’t spring from an Anglican perspective (he clearly has no time for the three fold order of ministry and even less time for the Constantinian settlement – apologies to Leslie Newbigin in this last respect). Rather, he comes from the conservative Protestant stable. This is what makes his argument all the more interesting since he takes on other conservatives on their own ground.
His argument is a bit patchy in places. His view on the particularity of some of the texts (e.g 1 Timothy 2 and Romans 6 passages), raises more questions than it solves for me and he ignores the ontological issues raised in Ephesians 5:23 even though he cites Ephesians 5:21 to support his reading of following teaching. His treatment of women deacons and elders in the pastoral epistles is also very vague and he makes no mention of Romans 16:7 which many argue suggests Junia was the first woman apostle.
Being fair, it would be interesting to read his commentary rather than this summary post. Just the same, Witherington covers a fair amount of terrain so it’s a useful read…
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