He has made the following statements:
"Eve was created for Adam, not Adam for Eve. Genesis 2:18 God says, "It is not for the for the man to be alone; I will make a helper fit for him." So God is making Eve as a helper fit for him."
"In Genesis 3:16c God says to the woman, ".....Your desire shall be for your husband...." The word "desire" here, which God gave as a punishment, is not a sexual desire, but is an aggressive and hostile desire to compete for leadership and to resist Adam's leadership."
"According to Genesis 3:16d God says to the woman, "And he shall rule over you." Adam is going to rule over Eve, but to rule by virtue that he is stronger. Before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a relationship that was beautiful, harmonious, loving and kind, and yet there was a leadership role that Adam had that Eve did not have. Eve was supporting and helping that leadership role."
Professor Grudem has furthermore stated:
"I think that a women who serves as a pastor, preaching to both men and women, is disobeying the word of God. There are always negative consequences to that. First, there will be an erosion of trust in the Bible, and obedience to the Bible, generally in the congregation, because the methods of interpretation used to justify what she is doing often involves misinterpretation of Scripture or eroding of the authority of Scripture."
"Also, there will be an erosion of male leadership in the family because of the modeling of female leadership in the pastorate will be reflected in a lessening of male leadership in the home. There will be a resulting increase in gender confusion among boys and girls growing up in the church. I think also that anyone who lives in a pattern of constant disobedience to the word of God- if a woman does this, she is opening herself up to the danger of withdrawal of God's hand of protection and blessing on her life."
According to Professor Wayne A. Grudem, Eve was made a helper fit for the man. The word "helper"is a very "weak"translation of the Hebrew term "ezer" since a more correct translation is "strengthener."
ReplyDeleteThe woman, whose name was "Adam" (Genesis 5:2), had been made as an equal strengthener from his side (not from his rib)(Genesis 2:21-22). She was only given the name Eve after the Fall (Genesis 3:20).
The line "Your desire will be for your husband" should have been translated "You will turn to your husband (to have your needs met).
The text does not indicate that the woman wanted to compete with Adam's leadership and resist Adam's leadership since Adam had not been given leadership over her but only over creation together with the woman (Genesis 1:26-28).
As for a woman serving as a pastor, preaching to both men and women, disobeying the word of God, we have examples of women overseers in the Bible such as:
Nympha in Colossians 4:15, Chloe in I Corinthians 1:11 and "The chosen lady" in 2 John:1. Moreover, we have an example of a woman apostle named Junia in Romans 16:7. These women would have preached with the hand of God's protection and blessing on their lives despite what Professor Grudem may be thinking.