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2 Samuel 1:26 – ‘More special than the love of women’

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Summary: It has been claimed by some revisionists that the relationship between David and Jonathan was of a sexual nature.  This is implausible, since it imports modern concepts and ideas into the ancient text.

In detail:

In 2 Samuel 1:26 David laments:

I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!
You were very dear to me.
Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

Their relationship has been introduced in 1 Samuel 18 –

18:1 When David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship.…

Manton on judgment according to works

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Thomas Manton (1620-1677) dealt with the subject of judgement according to works in a series of sermons on 2 Corinthians 5:10 – ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.’

The proposition he draws from this verse is that ‘there will certainly come a day when every person that ever lived shall be judged by Christ according to his works.’…

Self-enquiry

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Abstracted from Practical Religion, by J. C. Ryle, chapter 1.

(1) Do we ever think about our souls at all?

Thousands of English people, I fear, cannot answer that question satisfactorily. They never give the subject of religion any place in their thoughts. From the beginning of the year to the end they are absorbed in the pursuit of business, pleasure, politics, money, or self-indulgence of some kind or another. Death, and judgment, and eternity, and heaven, and hell, and a world to come, are never calmly looked at and considered.…

Luke 22:36 – ‘Sell your cloak and buy a sword’

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22:35 Then Jesus said to them, “When I sent you out with no money bag, or traveler’s bag, or sandals, you didn’t lack anything, did you?” They replied, “Nothing.” 22:36 He said to them, “But now, the one who has a money bag must take it, and likewise a traveler’s bag too. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. 22:37 For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted with the transgressors.’…

May we speak of male and female roles?

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Well, of course we may.

But, to focus the question down: May we speak of indelible, God-given, complementary roles for men and women?

Kevin Giles (What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women) is a strident critic of this notion, and I want to look carefully at his concerns.

I’ll begin with a summary of Giles’ critique.  Then, I’ll offer a few comments by way of response.

Giles credits George Knight III with the ‘invention’ of evangelical complementarianism, in his 1977 book New Testament Teaching on the Role Relationship of Men and Women.…

This is no way to have a theological debate

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Kevin Giles, in his What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women (Cascade Books, 2018) selects one major ‘conversation partner’ from the complementarian side as a foil to his egalitarian interpretation of Scripture.

That ‘conversation partner’ is God’s Design for Man and Woman: A Biblical-Theological Survey, by Andreas and Margaret Kostenberger (Crossway, 2014).

I have discussed elsewhere some of the substance of this debate.

In this post , I would like to consider how Giles treats the Kostenbergers and their work.…

Male-female differentiation in egalitarian teaching

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Kevin Giles (What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women) repeatedly complains that Andreas and Margaret Kostenberger (and other complementarians) accuse evangelical egalitarians of teaching undifferentiated equality between the two sexes.

Giles insists:

‘Evangelical egalitarians do not deny male-female differentiation, they affirm it.’

‘Yes, in Gal 3:28 Paul speaks of the equality of the sexes in salvation but this does not negate male-female role differentiation.’

‘The Köstenbergers and all complementarians argue that evangelical egalitarians reject the authority of Scripture, embrace cultural relativity, and deny male-female differentiation, arguing for “undifferentiated equality.”

…

Romans 16:7 – ‘Junia…well known to the apostles’

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Romans 16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my compatriots and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

The main issue to be discussed here is whether Junia (along with Andronicus) is being described as ‘well known to the apostles’, or ‘outstanding as apostles’.

A cluster of issues surround this commendation:

1. What general background can we infer about this couple?

Along with Prisca and Aquila, Epenetus, and Miriam, Andronicus and Junia would have quite recently returned to Rome after Claudius’ decree of banishment of Jews and Christians from that city had been reversed. …

1 Timothy 2:11f – ‘I do not allow woman to teach or exercise authority over a man’

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2:11 A woman must learn quietly with all submissiveness. 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. She must remain quiet. 2:13 For Adam was formed first and then Eve. 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, because she was fully deceived, fell into transgression. 2:15 But she will be delivered through childbearing, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

This is a much-debated passage. …

Sex and culture

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Nestling at the back of what I fondly call my mind has been a reference, by O.R. Johnston (in his 1979 book, Who Needs The Family?) to an important but neglected piece of research which presented evidence for a positive correlation between sexual restraint and cultural achievement.

I was pleased to track down Johnston’s book, and his discussion of the research in question.  Here is what Johnston has to say:

I turn now to the various types of marriage pattern in different societies and ask what advantages scholars have perceived in the different types of sexual regulation.…