Biblical/Theological Preaching

Halim Suh’s sermon from Sunday at The Austin Stone is an excellent example of applying biblical theology to understanding a difficult text of scripture.

Halim did a fantastic job of grappling with 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 by articulating an overall biblical teaching of manhood and womanhood and through Genesis 1-3, and applied the overall perspective toward understanding Paul’s view of women in this text.

The first argument Halim made was to establish the absolute equality of men and women, as created in the image of God.  Using the Trinity, Halim made the parallel that as Jesus is equal to the father, so are women to men.  However, he then articulate the distinctness of the sexes, and as all members of the Trinity have a role, so too do men and women.  In humility women submit out of their equality to fulfill their designed role and display the glory of Jesus.

Halim then applied these ideas in order to understand this passage.  His basic argument was we must understand the “when and where” of what Paul is teaching here, not simply take it as a blanket ordinance for the practice of church.  Based on Halim’s study, the text is about elders weighing a prophet, and women are to remain silent in this process of weighing a prophet because they are excluded from the office of eldership based on 1 Timothy and teachings elsewhere in scripture.

I’d highly recommend listening to it if you would like a good lesson in good exegesis with a view toward the overall teaching of the Bible.