42: Aimee Byrd on Bridge Building & Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Hi everyone! We have a cracka-lackin’ episode for you this week, featuring our friend Aimee Byrd. Aimee has written a great new book called Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and joins us to talk about it! Along the way we talk about friendship, partnership, and the other 98% of folks in church who have gifts as well.

If you like what we are doing here, please share us with your friends and on your timeline! Feel free to support us on Patreon!

-Nick and Allison and Nolan and Barclay

25: Huldah and Hermeneutics

Howdy! In this episode Nick and Allison have a long-overdue treat for you! If you are in Texas or want to be in Texas during the beginning of August, we have a discount code for the Christians for Biblical Equality Conference that can be found ONLY at the end of this episode.

Nick and Allison talk about the Prophet Huldah and about basic hermeneutics as they relate to the evangelical gender debate. Much could be said but we limited ourselves to the discussion simply to make things a bit breezy.

Excellent resources on Huldah include the articles by Christine Marchetti, Ron Pierce from Biola University, and Brenda Griffin Warren. These works demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that God’s empowering placement of Huldah is a shattering blow to the paradigm of complementarianism.

We hope you enjoy, and we hope to see you in Houston, Texas (Aug 2-4)!

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23: Genesis 3 and the Fall

We’re back at it again! Nick is in the midst of pastoral ministry AND Advent, so that has taken up a lot of his already limited free time. Allison is in the midst of taking over the world, one theological argument at a time. This episode, we tackle Genesis 3 and the notion of the Fall, especially as it relates to male and female relationships. No easy task!

Allison argues (rightly, duh) that

God, the source of life, desires for humankind to live interdependently with each other in worshipful connection to him. This is the picture painted by Genesis 3:16. Gender hierarchy is a result of the fall, when a man and woman who once faced one another as equals become separated from God. Without a savior, their relationship with God and one another will continue to be one of separation.

Thank you for listening, and to our two new patrons!

Nick and Allison

21: In the Image of God: Gender, Genesis and Creation

Welp, we’re back! In this episode we tackle complementarian readings of Genesis 1-3, focusing specifically on Gen 1:25-28, 2:15-25 and 3:1-7. We interact with Ray Ortlund’s article in RBMW (Nick gets mildly sassy a few times) as well as Denny Burk’s article in The Gospel Coalition. Needless to say, we found their arguments/ assertions lackluster and unbiblical.

For those who are interested in further resources on this topic, see Marg Mowczko’s excellent and accessible scholarship and Richard Hess’ article on Genesis 1-3 in Discovering Biblical Equality. For those interested in more hermeneutical work, see the articles by Kevin Giles, Jasmine Obeyesekere Fernando, and John Jefferson Davis in Priscilla Papers. As it is clear, we do not believe Genesis provides complementarianism any ground to stand upon, and instead points toward an egalitarian reading that is consistent with all Scripture.

Tune in next time as Nick and Allison discuss the Fall and the impact this event has for our understanding of gender and mutuality!

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17: Women in and beyond Romans 16

Well it is a new year!

We both hope you all had a happy holiday (or Xmas for those who get mad at the word 'holiday'). Now that Nick has graduated, some interesting life changes have happened and we talk a bit about those events and potential events in this episode. We apologize for the delay, but we think you will understand more once you hear what we have to say.

For an excellent work on women in Romans 16, see the academic work of Mark Reasoner on Romans 16 in general, J. David Miller on the various interpretive options surrounding Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2, Clayton Croy on translational bias in Romans 16, Philip Payne on the equal standing of women in Scripture and on the "titles" of women in Scripture and Robert Hull on the women mentioned in Philippians 4:2-3. For excellent and practical scholarship and wisdom, we commend The Junia Project, Christians for Biblical Equality and Marg Mowczko to you.

If you are interested in learning more about Apphia in Philemon 1:2, see Nick's peer-reviewed article published with Priscilla Papers.

If you like what you hear, please give us an honest five star review on iTunes and follow and connect with both of us on twitter (Nick and Allison)!

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13: Bonus Episode with Road Trip Q&A!

Well, this one was interesting to say the least!

We drove out to Flagstaff, AZ to hang out with one of our best friends (hi Kyle), and then we drove another 7 hours to south Denver, CO for a wedding (hi David and Rebecca and KJ and CJ). That explains the odd audio quality and the different songs.

In this episode we talk about:

Christian perfection. Our first meeting at Biola. Submission when it is not mutual. And we answer some listener questions from twitter. Plus some other ideas that we cannot speak of, since we want you to listen to the episode!

Thanks to everyone who has rated us on iTunes and asked us questions on social media! Plus rate us on iTunes! We have 6 reviews and an average of 4.5 stars out of 5! Next episode will have Nick trying out some Jelly Beans!

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10: Galatians 3:28 and 'Should I leave my Complementarian Church?'

Since this episode won't air on Sunday, Happy Mother's Day! In this episode, we had some fun! We went through a lot of Galatians 1-3 for context, and then worked through the parallel passages of Galatians 3:28, as well as the theology within this verse. We also spent a great deal of time answering some listener questions.

If you ever have any questions or comments, feel free to email us.

Allison wrote a killer article entitled "A Woman's 'Role' as a First-Born Son: Full Justification in Christ Leads to Full Participation." Other helpful works include Philip Payne's entire article on Galatians 3:28 (starting at p.11 in the pdf), a post by Margaret Mowczko, and a Priscilla Paper's article by Faith Martin.

Allison writes:

Besides, the earthly implications of being a son or heir and the use of common social divisions, what other reason is there to think Gal 3:28 is practically minded and not limited to a justification that is mainly in spirit? It is also evident in parallel passages. The other similar passages are Colossians 3:11 and the baptismal statement 1 Cor 12:13. Both are applied to practical issues within the church and take on some familiar themes.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Col 3:9-11).

 “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many” (1 Cor 12:12-14).  Clearly, unity in Christ is tied to practice.

Allison's blog post will help answer any additional questions you may have about this passage, as we could not cover every single detail. Thanks for listening! If you would like to help promote the podcast, please retweet this or share us on your social media page, and leave us a (5 star?!) review on iTunes. Thanks and God Bless!

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9: The Future of "Male Headship" with Jamin Hübner and A Response to John Piper

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Allison and I originally planned on working through Galatians 3:26-29 (and more specifically through the entire epistle) in this episode, but some interesting events have occurred in the blogosphere that demanded our response.

On April 19th, John Piper released a short 10 minute video where he responded to a questioner from the United Kingdom. The questioner asked him about the 'future of male headship' and if it was a 'lost cause.' As can be expected, Piper offered four (one? you'll get it later if you listen to our episode) complementarian reasons why he does not think male headship is a lost cause. You can read/listen to the entire thing here, and Allison and I figured this would be worth a detailed response. In order to best examine and critique Piper's comments, we had on our first guest, Dr. Jamin Hübner! Dr. Hübner is Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Associate Professor at John Witherspoon College in Rapid City, South Dakota. Dr. Hübner is a graduate of Dordt College (BA Theology), Reformed Theological Seminary (MA Religion), and the University of South Africa (ThD). He has also blogged at Christians for Biblical Equality.

Dr. Hübner's works include a book called A Case for Female Deacons (a work we have recommended before) and multiple academic articles on various aspects of the gender debate, including peer-reviewed in-depth research on the controversial "assume authority" infinitive in 1 Tim 2:12, Bible translation issues regarding the clarity of Scripture and how to translate the same infinitive in 1 Tim 2:12, and the history of the evolutionary process of complementarian exegesis. So, as you can see, we were deeply blessed to have such a scholar on our podcast! Plus, he's quite fun to chat with as well, as you will see!

The Desiring God video includes a transcript of his response to the questioner, and we invite you to read through it as we discuss in great depth why we all believe John Piper is deeply wrong about this issue. As you will see, egalitarians are not interested in merely accommodating culture. Allison, Dr. Hübner and I all came to our position through rigorous analysis of the Biblical texts and we all profess and live into our commitment to the authority of God's word. Speaking only for myself (Nick), if I thought Scripture said otherwise, I would be a committed complementarian. As such, Scripture gets to dictate my beliefs and I remain a convinced egalitarian.

Far from being a 'liberal' movement, both Dr. Mimi Haddad (President of CBE) and Allison Quient have shown that egalitarianism is far more rooted in historic evangelicalism than complementarianism. Indeed, a mere perusal of the original signers of the Christians for Biblical Equality statement (a statement absolutely saturated in Holy Scripture) include influential scholars such as F.F. Bruce (who was considered the Dean of Evangelical New Testament scholarship, and is a personal hero of mine), Mimi Haddad, Gordon D. Fee, Kevin Giles, Kenneth Kantzer (formerly of TEDS), Richard Longenecker, Aida Spencer, Grant R. Osborne (of TEDS as well), David Scholer (of Fuller), Alvera Mickelson, and Philip B. Payne (who we have recommended many times!). These are giants in evangelical scholarship, and are not people dedicated to the winds of modern cultural trends.

It is also worth your time to read a bit about CBE's history:

Disturbed by the shallow biblical premise used by churches, organizations, and mission groups to exclude the gifts of women, evangelical leaders assembled in 1987 to publish their biblical perspective in a new scholarly journal, Priscilla Papers. Included in the group were Gilbert Bilezikian, W. Ward Gasque, Stanley Gundry, Gretchen Gaebelein Hull, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Jo Anne Lyon, and Roger Nicole. The group determined that a national organization was needed to provide education, support, and leadership about biblical equality.

Roger Nicole, an original signer of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and a deeply influential Reformed theologian, saw no issue between his very outspoken egalitarianism and his commitment to the authority of Scripture. Philip B. Payne was also an original signer of the same influential document.

Egalitarianism, as argued by all of these brothers and sisters, is grounded firmly in the authority of Holy Scripture.

This is why CBE's conferences are so important. Allison and I recorded a video promo for CBE, and if you find it helpful, please share it as well! We'd love to meet and see you in Orlando, FL this July!

We would also be deeply grateful if you would share and tweet this podcast to get the word out! Pastor John Piper is a committed Christian and his words have significant influence. Please review us on iTunes (a nice 5 star review gets you a shout out on the air!). Also follow Nick and Allison on twitter for all the tweets!

Blessings!

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6: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Beanboozled, and "Headship"

Well, this is the first episode of the New Year.

Not much else to say about that, especially given what has happened in the news.

Downer.

Oh well. Anyway.

In this episode, we tackle Paul's most difficult passage, a passage that has kept a lot of Pauline exegetes scratching their heads. Allison coerced Nick into trying a jelly bean or three, and it did not end well. At all. For either of them.

Recommended resources include Philip Payne's article on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Alan Padgett's article on the same passage, Heather Gorman's article on 'origin stories,' and Gordon Fee's commentary. It goes without saying that Payne's book is stellar and you should pick that one up.

Follow both Nick and Allison on Twitter! Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, and give us 5 stars! Please? We can only rise if others share, subscribe and review. If you give us a 5 star review (a 5 star review that is nice and not mean), you get a shout out. Guaranteed. Also, check out Christians for Biblical Equality's conference!

There. I'm good with this.

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4: Ephesians 5:18-33, Mutual Submission, and the Mystery of Marriage

This one was fun!

Allison and I talked about Ephesians 5:18-33 and how we interpret this passage! Rather than enforcing a hierarchy within marriage, we conclude that marriage is not about men or women having final authority in the relationship, but rather that Paul believed in mutual submission.

Allison walks us through vv.18-24 and the grammar and syntax therein, and Nick concludes the section on vv.25-33 which focuses on husbands. Examining the context is always important and the nature of "imitation of God and Christ" in 5:1-2 forms a foundation on which mutual submission is built.

Subscribe! Share! Follow us in iTunes and Twitter (Nick and Allison). For some excellent work, see Christians for Biblical Equality and the Junia Project as well!

For academic resources, see Philip B. Payne and Cynthia Long Westfall's book, Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ.

If you want to help fund Allison's PhD program in Systematic Theology, please consider giving at her Go Fund Me.

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2: An Egalitarian Reading of 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Well, this is the big one.

In most debates in evangelicalism, this is the proof text where most of the fighting begins.

For further evidence in support of Nick's argument about the conjunction οὐδέ, see Philip B. Payne's article or just buy his book where he spends over 100 pages on 1 Timothy 2. It is worth your time. For a review, see J.W. Wartick (a former complementarian) and Paul D. Adams (who wrote a 34 page review!)--both of whom Nick counts as friends and fellow theology nerds.

This text is indeed complex, but God has given us his word to interpret. Because of this, we have concluded that Paul does not restrict women because of this text. Rather, they are prohibited from domineering or "assuming authority" over another person, and this means no one ought to do these things to another person in the body of Christ.

We hope you enjoy.

For further resources on 1 Tim. 2:12, see Jamin Hübner and Jamin Hübner, and pick up a copy of Cynthia Westfall's stellar work, and Payne's work as well.

Subscribe to us on iTunes and give us a (5 star?) review! Follow Nick and Allison on twitter!

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