TEACHING

NOVEMBER 8, 2020, 10 AM
COLOSSIANS SERIES, WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP (3:22-4:1)
Paul's nuanced way of navigating cultural practices opposed to the Gospel allows it to be heard instead of immediately crushed. He adds practices to the non-Christian household codes of the ancient world which undermine key beliefs about women and class. Paul plants a “virus” at the heart of the patriarchal and class-based rules of the Empire. The “virus” is actually the healthy thing—love as defined in Jesus—to guide all relationships and, instead of limiting, expanding power to all.
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PREVIEW: TWO TASKS TODAY
1. Finish the applications of Colossian 3, particularly looking at the implications of
Paul’s use of pagan Household/Haustafeln Codes.
2. The Church of Saint Nympha - Women in Leadership 

BIG IDEA: TRAJECTORY MATTERS
[William Webb's Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic graphic chart]
APPLICATIONS FROM COLOSSIANS 3 REVIEW
THREE WAYS TO APPROACH THESE TEXTS

• Direct/universal
• Redemptive-Progressive
• Eschatological-improvisational

PAUL SUBVERTS THIS without direct rebuke, but with direct behavioural rebuke.

THE SPIRIT IN THE SCRIPTURES subverts the sinful power structures through the love and lordship of Jesus.

PRINCIPLES we can take from the ancient Slave/Master section

1. COLOSSIANS 3:22-4:1 SLAVES AND MASTERS

2. THE CHURCH OF SAINT NYMPHA, WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

• FOR THIS TO "WORK" some things need to be in place
• WHO IS BEING EMPOWERED? Everyone!
• BIG IDEAS: Complementarism and Egalitarianism in the church and in marriage/household

TEXTS WE GET WRONG: 1 Timothy 2  

• 1 Timothy 2:12 The verb epitrepo
• 1 Timothy 2:13-14 She was more open to deception because she had to rely on Adam's teaching, NOT because she was a woman.

HOME CHURCH

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:
(Texts for questions: Colossians 3:22-4:1; 4:15; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 19:12–27)

1. Name women that have had an influence in your life? How did they influence you?
2. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted big changes but didn’t know the best way to start? What did you do? Where did you start?
3. What principles might apply to employee/employer relationships, knowing the dangers of context, from Colossians 3:22-4:1? 
4. William Webbs speaks of trajectories in scripture (Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic graphic chart). What are the “guardrails” in his system keeping us from making it say anything we want it to? Discuss!
5. When we speak of the Bible being inspired by God, but given through people in their times and cultures, how do you think it speaks to us today (affirming/denouncing, subtle and direct challenges)?
6. Below is a teaching statement about living in a church where we can agree/disagree in love on part of this issue. Read the teaching statement and then discuss: What are the appropriate roles of husband and wife in a Christian marriage?

We affirm that biblical paradigm of a God-centered, agape-oriented covenant marriage relationship. We also recognize the disagreement among evangelical Christians regarding the nature of gender roles within marriage. Some believe the Bible teaches a timeless principle of male headship, where headship is defined as the model of servant-leadership exemplified by Jesus Christ. Others believe that the idea of male headship expressed in Scripture is a culturally-conditioned teaching, and that the ideal model of marriage is that of mutual submission and leadership by gifting, within an egalitarian relationship. We believe that, when guided by the principles of agape-love and servant-leadership, either model of gender roles in marriage can serve to foster God-glorifying covenant-marriages. To that end, we offer the following biblical challenge and encouragement.

• To those couples who follow the model of male headship: Husbands strive to avoid both self-centered control and worldly authoritarianism, and seek to exemplify the self- sacrificial servant-leadership demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ toward his bride, the church. Wives, strive to avoid both selfish independence or passive apathy in the marriage, and seek to exemplify the active, passionate submission that characterizes the church's love for its eternal groom, Jesus Christ.
• To those couples who follow the egalitarian model: Strive to avoid a marriage characterized by indecision, and seek to lead and/or follow in the various areas of your marriage as God has gifted each of you. In all things, exemplify a heart-attitude of submission toward each other, after the pattern of self-sacrificial servanthood demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ toward our heavenly Father.