Preachers! Please stop doing this…

Famously, or notoriously, depending on your viewpoint, he is frequently promoting his viewpoint on the role of women in the New Testament Christian church. This seven-minute video covers that very point. The “expert” conclusion from N.T. is that the Bible teaches that women, like men, are authorized to preach and teach in the church.

Specifically, he is asked to answer the question, “What does the Bible really say about women leading among God’s people?” Dr. Wright proceeds to lay out his case; our objective here is to highlight the three things he deploys as “authority” for his position, and the one thing he ignores.

The Three Authorities N.T. Wright Employs

We can identify three aspects of authority that N.T. Wright uses in his defense for women to have equal footing with men in the church. What follows is a false teacher’s playbook for promoting “a different gospel”. It’s used by preterists, premillennialists, and here by a popular biblical “scholar”.

Worldly Education

Dr. Wright begins with an aside that subtly, almost passive aggressively, reveals where he believes his opinion lives relative to others while putting us Americans in our place. Speaking of the ‘women’s roles’ controversy in general, he states, “We had this argument in the UK thirty-five years ago. We’ve more or less sorted it out.” I suppose we are grateful to receive his enlightenment only now?

This theme of ‘intellectual superiority’ continues throughout his argument. Instead of name-dropping, he will credential-drop. He casually mentions the books he’s written, the commentaries for which he’s credited, and the lectures he’s given. He wants us to know that he’s credentialed; that he’s educated. And while he never says it outright, the implication is clear: he wants to build a defensive wall against any challenge. The impression he wants to leave – whether intentional or not – is, “How dare you question me?” (And it’s successful. His argument is rather weak in the end, but just spend thirty seconds in the comments. He mustn’t be challenged!)

Jewish Culture

For Dr Wright’s “Exhibits A & B,” he wants us to consider Phoebe and Mary Magdalene. Two women of some prominence in the New Testament, to be sure. For this, N.T. must rely on his study into the ‘culture of the day’. Thanks to modern technology, we have ready access in order to presume to know about Jewish culture, at least as recorded by historians.

His education leads him to note the significance of Paul entrusting a letter of such magnitude (his letter to the Roman church) to a woman! And don’t you know, Phoebe the courier would “almost certainly, or at least 90%” according to ancient practices, be the one who would read it out and answer questions about what it means?

And let’s not forget Mary Magdalene. In John 20, Jesus gives Mary the job of announcing His risen Lordship to the others. Surely such an important message would have been given to a man, right? After all, that’s what the culture of the day would probably dictate.

This is his self-proclaimed mic-drop moment. But bear in mind, he’s proved absolutely nothing yet…

Paul’s Command and Greek Words

Finally, Dr. Wright is challenged with “a hard one” from 1 Timothy 2:12. Surely N.T. can’t question the plain statements like “teach” and “exercise authority over” and “remain silent”? But he’s ready and quick to rebut, drawing from his vast well of knowledge. This time it’s a lesson in Greek language, which he carefully reminds his audience is part of his regular study routine (remember,  he’s trained for this).

By going to the Greek, N.T. now has multiple outs or “possibilities” for what Paul “seems to mean”. Of course, he’ll also sprinkle in some Ephesus culture-of-the-day to tilt those meanings toward his preferred conclusion. In the end, we’re left to think….well, we’re not really sure what to think. A single-sentence, directly stated command from Paul to Timothy is shuffled to the back in a morass of “We can’t be sure,” and “What about this?” statements.

He’s quoted some Greek, but still hasn’t proven a thing.

The One Authority N.T. Wright Ignores

What N.T. fails to do himself, and never guides his dutiful, ears-being-tickled pupils toward, is using scripture – and it alone – to resolve the question. He avoids it, ignores it, or just forgets about it. In addressing 1 Timothy 2:12, he doesn’t bother to read further — the same verses he presumably read that very morning. If he had, he could have instructed everyone on an inspired writer’s interpretation – the only one that God has authorized for us.

Instead, he chooses to inject his own superiority complex into the teaching and use three other “authorities” that God never authorized. His, some would say, “enlightened opinion” served just as scripture said it would. Titus said they “reject authority” (vs 8); they “understand instinctively” but actually are “unreasoning animals” (vs 10) who have a reservation in “utter darkness” (vs 13).

He could have read how Paul goes on to explain that the woman was to “not exercise authority over” a man and to “remain silent” because it’s a creation-based principle. It’s from the Father, from the beginning. Adam was created first, and it was Eve who led Adam to sin.

Conclusion and Plea

Dear Preachers (and Bible teachers),
Please stop appealing to these other authorities to make your points. If we truly care about where and how we get our authority, we should also take care to avoid using any authority that God hasn’t authorized.

• God never authorized our intellect or any worldly educational pursuits to understand His word. We already know this, but we’ll promote this book or that commentary for better understanding, follow our name with letters, or take our picture in front of a bookshelf full of “other” authority. He promised that anyone can understand His word if they seek it. I believe Him.
• God never authorized interpreting His word through the lens of a particular culture. This wouldn’t have even been possible before the internet!
• God never authorized using man’s definition for words as the final say on interpretation. God says that His words are “Spirit words” and are “words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit”. Word studies might be an interesting, even useful, ‘first rung on the ladder to understanding,’ but they have no authoritative part in interpretive conclusions.

Using any one of these is not only wholly unauthorized by God, but it’s also ineffective as a practical matter. There will always be another possibility with how a Greek word may be understood. We use it to prove a passage; someone else uses it to disprove the same or another passage. There will always be a question and uncertainty about how first-century culture or practices actually were; we don’t know for sure – even N.T. acknowledges this! There will most definitely always be someone who is more educated and more credentialed than you.

In fact, we all know about someone who, in their own human reasoning and worldly intellectual pursuits, could have put Dr. N.T. Wright to shame. Yet he chose to come without “lofty speech or [worldly] wisdom”. If there were ever someone who could have deployed one, or all, of these other authorities to make his point, it would have been him. But even after taking account of all his earthly pursuits, he willingly “suffered the loss of all things and count[ed] them as rubbish”. Even when he was being relentlessly challenged by the imposter “super-apostles”!

We should be of the same mind.