Category Archives: Giles, Kevin

1 Cor 11:3 – Gender complementarity and the immanent Trinity

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1 Corinthians 11:3 reads:

‘But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.’

The statement ‘God is the head of Christ’ comes in a context which deals with the expression of gender roles in public worship.  Does it then provide a basis for gender complementarity on the basis of the immanent Trinity?

Most evangelical egalitarians, such as Kevin Giles, answer with a resounding, ‘No!’ …

Genesis 1:27 – a hint of male headship?

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Genesis 1:27 God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them,
male and female he created them.

Raymond Ortlund argues that this Scripture, in referring to the human race as ‘man’ (and not ‘woman’, or ‘person’) is hinting at male headship. (Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, p97f.).  This view is repeated by the Kostenbergers (God’s Design for Men and Women).

Although I regard this view as rather speculative, I think that Giles (What the Bible Really Teaches on Women) is quite wrong to dismiss it as ‘special pleading’, and not based on ‘serious scholarship’.…

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.”

…

Kevin Giles: Trinitarian orthodoxy according to the Nicene Creed

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Here are extracts from a paper given by Dr Kevin Giles at the plenary forum on the Trinity at the Evangelical Theological Society annual conference, 15th November, 2016 at San Antonia. The other speakers were Dr Bruce Ware, Dr Millard Erickson and Dr Wayne Grudem; Dr Sam Storms presided.

Giles’ main focus was on the Nicene Creed.  In fact, although he mentioned the Bible (or Scripture) over fifty times, and insisted on its primacy, he made relatively little actual appeal to the biblical text itself.…