Why A Shoreline and Not a Cliff: A discussion of Thesis 5

After putting forward 8 Theses on Women Teaching in the Church, there have been helpful comments on a number of them, especially how they could be improved, modified, and some cases removed. In one case, though I’m sure he’s not alone in this thought because I understand where he’s coming from, the case proposed is that we’re not dealing with a shoreline analogy but rather with a cliff. That post and a marjority of the comments were focused on Thesis 5, where I wrote: “It may be permissible for a woman to give public expression in writing (books, magazines, blog posts) to her faith in order to carry out Thesis 2 and 3.” Here, I would like to put forward my reasons for this inclusion and state why I think in this case we’re dealing with a shoreline and not a cliff.

Men are given the authority to teach in the church. This authority is mediated by qualifications (Titus 1:5—9; 1 Tim 3:1—7). So that, in the church, some are called to publicly preach, teach, and administer the sacraments, and other men are not. And yet, Christian men are given the duty to judge their shepherds by the Word of God. Here is a competing duty, an overlapping duty. And when exercising this, one must make that appeal with all reverence to God and His Word. I wouldn’t say tread lightly, for we have not been given a spirit of timidity. But I would say, we should not enter into that inadvisedly or rashly, and rush to judgment on either side.

Women were created as a helper for man in the world so that mankind’s dominion and fruitfulness may be accomplished (Gen 2). They are called to be managers (helpers) of the house under their husbands (1 Tim 5:14). They are authorized by God and in subordination to Him to teach the faith in specific circumstances, as mothers or grandmothers in the home to children and by extension to all children in Christian love as the opportunity is given by God and those who desire that teaching for their children (1 Tim 2:15; 2 Tim 1:5). Older women are to teach younger women what is good, training them to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled (Titus 2:3-5). This teaching is primarily envisioned as shoulder-to-shoulder, one-on-one private settings, where women would teach as the circumstances and necessity arose and would be fulfilled in Christian love for help or aid in those circumstances.

So, on the one hand, I think the analogy of the cliff is apt. The Pharisees were not completely wrong to put a hedge around the law. We should avoid flirting with crossing the line. We should be wary of getting too close to the edge. This is obviously good. Just because we can do something does not me we should. And so the admonishment to take seriously not even getting close to the line is good, lest we become deceived and fall off the cliff. But the Pharisees didn’t just put a hedge around the law of God. They replaced the Law of God with the hedge. And we should be careful not to mistake our hedge with the actual law of the Lord.

However, when discussing Thesis 5, I’m not convinced this is solely a cliff. I used the shoreline analogy because it is better suited for overlapping and/or competing duties of God’s call for men and women. If women are called to teach in the way the Bible expresses it in Titus 2, 1 Tim 2, and 2 Tim 1, then is it automatically going over a cliff for a woman to exercise this in a written form? It might be. And that is why I used “may be appropriate.” It may be appropriate due to the circumstance. But we’re entering into the realm of competing duties, and one must not enter into that inadvisedly or rashly.

The reality is that we have a dearth of older men and older women who are teaching the younger men and women what is good. There are some places who are teeming with this kind of thing, and there are other places where younger men and younger women need this but don’t have access to it. In these kind of circumstances I can envision a woman put pen to paper the kind of instruction she gave or received to help and aid those who do not have it. I can envision a mother particularly gift with teaching her children the things of God, putting pen to paper to help other mothers do the same. It might be appropriate.

But it is an overlapping duty, given also to fathers in the church and the home. So it might not be appropriate, and it shouldn’t be done inadvisedly or rashly. It should not come from an entrepreneurial spirit, or a spirit of self-promotion. And the fallout should be considered. That is, is this so necessary that it is worth giving the wrong impression? It might be. But it might not. This, then, should push us to see what God in his Word has clearly stated so that we don’t find ourselves suddenly overtaken by the waves in the water instead of standing on solid ground on the land.

I have asked older men in the past to teach me how to work on engines or how to wood work or do small electrical and plumbing jobs. They know how to do it. But they either don’t have or make the time to pass it on. Instead, I have to learn it from books or YouTube. It wasn’t always like this, but it is where we now are. I’m thankful for that kind of instruction. And while I understand that this instruction is not of a theological nature, I think we are seeing the same kind of lack of instruction being given to women on how to be godly women, and to men of how to be godly men. And I’d like to see that changed.

Obviously, this needs to begin in the church from the pulpit as I have spoken about often with Petersen, Koontz, Ramirez, etc., on the podcast. But it also needs to happen around the dining room table and in the living room in the home. And our mothers, wives, and daughters need to see examples of this and learn. So it might just be that there are godly women suited to hand this on not just shoulder-to-shoulder, but also in a different medium. But, it might not. So do not do it inadvisedly.