Latest / Scripture Central / Peter & Paul’s Paradoxical Passages on Women: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me)

Transcript

Peter & Paul’s Paradoxical Passages on Women: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me) · Scripture Central

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Hello, my name is Lynn Hilton Wilson and I'm giving a special
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edition on a come, follow me example of Peter and Paul's
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paradoxical passages on women. I've mentioned most of these
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things throughout each of the different epistles in the
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Apostolic Church, but I thought it would be helpful to bring it
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together and to talk about the challenges that the early church
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had and why. Sometimes we interpret some of
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these statements as misogynist, or I've even heard it stated at
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at Society of Biblical Literature meetings that the
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reason why we have a problem with gender in the world is
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because of some of these traditions that came from the
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biblical text. And I totally disagree.
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And I would like to defend not misogyny, but to defend the
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prophets and to say, let's really look what they're saying,
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Let's try to understand. And if we misunderstand, let's
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just wait because it doesn't fit with our modern prophets,
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because we're blessed to have both the written word and our
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modern prophets. Earlier I've discussed many
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times in the Gospels and in Christ's emancipation of women
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how Christ changed dramatically the culture.
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But many people have said what happened.
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If Christ made all these changes, why didn't it carry
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through? Well, I believe that not only
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did does it take time to grow and nurture things, but seeds of
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truth have to sprout. And it was very difficult when
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before the printing press, before we already read
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information, before you're able to get the text of the Bible.
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And it was difficult and it took time for people to understand.
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It's interesting to me to notice that the most literate nation in
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the world was early Americana, whereby the mid 16, hundreds,
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98% of Massachusetts is literate because they wanted people
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reading the Bible. And once they started reading
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the Bible 200 years later, they're starting to say why
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don't we have more equality between the genders?
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Why don't we give vote to the women, you know?
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So I just see these things took time to nurture and grow.
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It wasn't until we got into the text that we realized that there
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was a problem. When I refer to the Apostolic
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Church, I refer to the time of our Lords death until the time
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of Trajan and that's about 100. Trajan actually works until 110
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and we have records that John was living in Ephesus and
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guiding the church from Ephesus during the time of Trajan.
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So I'm going to approximately 33 to 100 but give or take a few
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years on either side. That is known as the Apostolic
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Church when John is still running the church.
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I also want to remind you that it's the Apostolic Church that
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recorded the Gospels. So with Luke's account we have
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one story of a man, one story of woman.
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All these are being recorded by the Apostolic Church.
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And if the Apostolate church has so many examples of women, not
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just in the gospels but in the afterwards in the epistles, that
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let's remember that if they are writing them down, that they
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were important to them. There are 180 references to
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women, 45 of those are names, 94 of the women are unnamed, 14 of
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the women are fictional, and the other ones are just references
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to them. You know he, she, her.
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But of these 45 named women, there are thirty female
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disciples who are noble and upright, And half of those noble
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and upright women are after the death of the Lord.
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They're referred to as mothers and Co workers, and witnesses,
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and disciples and servants of God and sisters, and even a
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deaconess and a wife and a yoke fellow, 1 prominent among the
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apostles. You know, these are all
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different translations, but I just want to remind you that
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sometimes when I ask my students, was Paul misogynist,
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they immediately say yes, and Peter too.
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But I would like to say the majority of the writings of Paul
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and Peter are the antithesis of that.
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That was the culture they were coming out of.
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That was where they were coming from.
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And so perhaps we're misreading some of those texts.
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Because when we look for female witnesses, when we look for
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women's voices, most of them are coming after, not before
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Christ's death. First of all are these house
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churches. We have these wonderful women
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who have opened up their homes. They're very wealthy, so they've
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got large spaces. And before we have church
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buildings, we see churches being gathered together in people's
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homes. In Jerusalem, it's at Mary's
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house, Mary the mother of John, Mark.
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And then we have Lydia and Chloe and Priscilla.
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We have women of faith like Tabitha and Eunice and Lois and
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Phoebe and Junia. And of these 94 unnamed women,
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we have some of those significant women in the entire
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New Testament. Do you remember in the book of
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Philippians it says these, those women's which labored with me in
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the gospel? We've got unnamed women who were
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missionaries and I love that. I mentioned this when we
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discussed Philippians already, that Paul refers to a very close
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female companion as a yoke fellow.
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Is it his wife? I don't know, but it's someone
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who is leading the women in that part of the church in Philippi.
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And in fact, in the book of Acts, we read that Phillips had
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four daughters. These are unnamed women, but
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with significant roles. These four daughters were
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virgins, which did prophecy. Yeah, by the fact that they're
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calling them virgins, that just mean they're not married yet.
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They're young. That means they're probably
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under, you know, they're in their ten, 11/12/13, maybe 14
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years old, but they're very, very young.
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And they already have the gift of of the spirit they're
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testifying. They're bearing their
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testimonies. That's Acts 21, verse eight and
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nine. Also in First Corinthians
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chapter 12, all on the gifts of the Spirit in the NIV.
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It reads now about the gifts of the spirit brothers and sisters
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and I'll skip down a little bit here, eagerly desire the gifts
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of the spirit, especially prophecy.
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And remember prophecy is defined in in by John the Revelator in.
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I think it's chapter 19, verse 10 as of Revelation as the
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testimony of Christ, the knowledge of Christ.
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And so he's saying I want you women to seek a strong testimony
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and to bear it. And if you are doing so, you
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have the gift of prophecy. This is powerful.
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However, most of you are saying by now, but what about those
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challenging verses? Because there are a few that are
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attributed to Peter and Paul that are terrible.
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They talk about spousal suggestion, they talk about
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women's hair and dress, and they talk about being silent.
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In the church, we have several different family codes of
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conduct, both in the Pauline corpus and in Peter's corpus.
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And Peter, It's first Peter, chapter 3, verse one through 9.
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And then in Ephesians it's chapter 5, verse 22 through
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chapter 6 through 9. And in Colossians it's chapter
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3, verse 18 to chapter 4, verse one.
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And then in Titus it's chapter 2, verses one through 10.
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So let's look at some of those. They overlap so I only have the
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time now to look through one, but I've already gone through
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all of them. Let's just talk about this.
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The topic of marriage. Romans, Chapter 7, Corinthians
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Chapter 7, Timothy, chapter four and five.
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Ephesians 5, Hebrews 13. They are all and also First
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Peter chapter three. They all talk about marriage in
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positive light. Let's start looking at some of
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these family codes of conduct through the eyes of First Peter
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chapter 3, verse one. Likewise, ye wives being
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subjected to your own husbands, and if any obey not the word,
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They also may without the word be one with conversations of
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their wives. Now that's the King James.
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I appreciate John W Welch's book called Charting the New
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Testament, which is in our archives.
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If you want to go to Book of Mormon Central, you can look at
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it for free under the archives. It's He says a wife's obedience
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to her unchristian husband may influence the husband.
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Well, that's exactly what Peter's talking about there.
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He says wives, if you're married to someone who's not a member of
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the church, cooperate with him, Cooperate with him.
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And maybe because you're so kind, it'll help.
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I also like the New English Bible.
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Here it says in the same way you women must accept the authority
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of your husband's so that if there be any of them who
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disbelieve the gospel, they may be won over without a word being
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said. But I also want to go back to
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this word subjugation. I mentioned this many times
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throughout the year. It's.
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It's mentioned over and over in in the Gospels, 6 times in Peter
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and even more in Paul. You know, almost 30 times in the
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Pauline corpus. It comes from the Greek word
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Submit yourselves to every ordinance.
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Peter uses it in chapter 2 and also in chapter 5 Peter uses it.
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Likewise. You younger submit yourselves to
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the elder. You know, no one's very upset
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about those two, but for some reason we get upset when it's in
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the context of marriage. But let's just go back to the
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original meaning and we talked about this whenever it's been
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mentioned, but I'll just review it quickly.
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It was first a military to arrange in fashion under the
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command of the leader, but in a non military fashion.
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It had become a different definition and meant a voluntary
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attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming
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responsibility and carrying the burden.
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So anytime you read the word subjugation or submission,
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remember it means to carry the burden to share, cooperate,
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assume responsibility. And so when we go to First Peter
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chapter 3 and read about this commandment for a wife to submit
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to her husband, just add in that word, cooperate with your
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husband, work together, share responsibility.
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But what we're also saying is in First Peter, Chapter 3, it says
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husbands love your wives. This is a radical change from
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the day and age, especially in the Greco Roman world where
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marriages are made for economic and social and familial
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convenience. And we even have Greek and Roman
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dramas about keep your keep your girlfriend beside you as a
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concubine and just marry your wife so that we can get the the
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will taken care of and the money can be taken care of.
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But keep your sweetheart as your concubine.
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You know, there's all these comedies that talk about this
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marriage was not for love. And yet Christian marriage,
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we're told to learn, learn to love each other.
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I'll read in commentary on this. This requirement was the new
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radical idea that Christian husbands who were to love and
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submit to their wives rather than to control them.
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That means love and cooperate with their wives rather than
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control them. It's very interesting, isn't it?
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I also appreciate our prophets writings on this, Russell M
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Nelson said. A husband and wife's stewardship
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is equally sacred and important, Do not involve any false ideas
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about domination or subordination, and earlier than
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that, Elder Packer said. In the church there is a
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distinct line of authority, but in the home it is a partnership
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with husband and wife equally yoked together, sharing
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indecisions, always working together, an earlier apostle
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said in 2004 Elder L Tom Perry In marriage, there is not a
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president or a vice president. The couple works together.
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They are on equal footing. I could keep going and going and
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going. Every new conference, I hear it
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again. Elder Bednar has said it
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recently. Elder Oaks has said it recently,
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but let's move on to Peter Chapter 3, verse 2.
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So he's talking about these unbelieving husbands while they
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behold your chaste conversation. That's that's meaning in King
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James. That means your lifestyle
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coupled with fear. Now fear just means respect.
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It's it's hard in King James. No wonder we have such a hard
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time with these words. Let's read other translations in
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the New Jerusalem Bible. It reads the same verses when
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they see the reverence and purity of your way of life.
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Now that is not offensive. And here's the Nas as they
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observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
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So if you're offended by the way some of these words are stated
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in the King James, just step out of the 16th century into the
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23rd century and go read another translation.
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My favorite ones are the BYU New Testament Commentary
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translations that they refer to as the new rendition.
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Continuing on now back in First Peter Chapter 3 now gives an
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example of Sarah as a good example to her to these sisters.
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And in the NIV it reads you are her daughters if you do what is
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right and do not give way to fear.
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So we say we don't want you to be fearing in in a in a
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beautiful Christian marriage we don't want you to have fear and
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and anxiety. No, we want you to have respect
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and love and compassion. I love the NAB.
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It says fear no intimidation. Or in the RSV let nothing
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terrify you. The Jerusalem Bible.
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Don't worry now. This is the way Christian
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marriages are to be. Nothing is supposed to cause
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anxiety. We're supposed to work together
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to become joint heirs. And that's where Peter goes next
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in verse 7. Likewise he husbands dwell with
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them according to knowledge, giving Otter honor unto the wife
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as unto the weaker vessel. We talked about that when I
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talked about Peter. That word it means not weaker
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vessel as it's translated. It means a special vessel, a
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special body, a unique and wonderful prized element.
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Look at how it's used all through the New Testament in the
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Greek, and you'll get a better feel for that word.
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Don't be offended by it as being heirs together of the grace of
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your ark of life. So Peter is saying women are not
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inferior in any way, they are going to be heirs together.
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And we continue reading in verse 7 and verse ten of Second Peter
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and Romans 8 and Titus and the Doctrine Covenants.
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All this idea of becoming a joint heir, of working together
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in cooperation to make a unified marriage where both the husband
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and the wife share the responsibility and the burden of
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bringing forth a family. First Peter chapter set 3 verse
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seven also gives a warning. He's saying you have to do this
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so that your prayers are not hindered.
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And then in verse 8 to 9 I'll continue on in the NIV.
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Finally, all of you be like minded, be sympathetic 1 to
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another, be compassionate and humble.
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Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.
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On the contrary, repay evil with blessing.
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Because to this, you are called that you may inherit a blessing.
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You know, when we look at the King James Version, one reason
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why I quote so many other translations is because I feel
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like we miss we we we're giving our prophets a bad rap.
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They were, they are, they are encouraging mutuality and
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marriage. They are encouraging compassion
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and understanding and softness and gentleness and meekness and
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love unfeigned. So go to another translation and
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realize how many times we are talking about a wonderful
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relationship. It's no longer an eye for an
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eye. It's no longer a subordination
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and a strong patriarchy. You know, we are told again in
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another General Authority there's no patriarchy in
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matriarchy in the church. I also want to say that I
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believe Peter really did follow Christ as we read that Paul
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tried to follow the best he could too.
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Now remember, Paul is a Pharisee.
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He comes from a very different tradition, and he's a dynamic
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new convert. But sometimes it's hard to
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separate out some of those ideas that he was so entrenched in.
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So now let's look at some of the epistles.
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Remember, he only has half the story because it's only the
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writings. So let's start in First
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Corinthians. There are several challenging
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areas in First Corinthians. The first one is usually thought
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of as a Pharisaic dress code Chapter 11, and I completely
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disagree. I don't think it's talking about
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that at all. But in the Pharisaic thought, a
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man goes out bareheaded while a woman goes out with her head
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covered. And it's not just her head.
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The woman, if she was going to go outside, had to be completely
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covered head to toe, not even her ankles being seen and nor
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her eyes or her face. Everything is completely covered
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if she were a the Pharisaic tradition living in a place like
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Jerusalem. Now our artists always have the
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men covering their heads, but that tradition does not start
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until after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD.
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So when Paul is writing this letter, the women were only
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allowed out of the house covered and the men did not cover their
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heads. If you want to go back and look
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at my First Corinthians Chapter 11, I talked a lot about it, but
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I just want to remind you that in the Pharisaic tradition, the
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women were veiled as a sign of subordination, as a sign we
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don't want you to be seen or heard if you're in the public.
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We'd rather you never be in the public, but in the Greco Roman
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world, which is most of the Corinthian converts, it was a
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fashion statement. We find coins where the wives of
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the Caesars had beautiful silks coming from their heads and we
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see a tradition on the sarcophaguses where women would
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often have a little veil on the back of their hair.
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We also see religious cults where women would sometimes
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cover their hair coming out of the Egyptian traditions and in
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the Arama Assyrian traditions this is going way back.
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A woman veiled her head because of a social status.
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It was used to show who was the wife.
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So the concubines did not get to veil their head.
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But the wife got to wear a veil so that everyone would know that
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she was the woman of status. But when we look at Paul's
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discussions on the veil, it means none of that.
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It doesn't have social status. It doesn't have subordination.
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The Christian veil, according to Paul's text in First
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Corinthians, is a veil of empowerment.
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Let's look at verse 2. Paul begins by saying keep the
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ordinances as I delivered them unto you.
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And then he skipping down a little bit, he says, I have
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received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you.
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Now the word ordinance in modern translation is often changed to
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be teachings. So I wanted to see how does Paul
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use this word. Specifically, how does Paul use
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this word in this epistle? So I look it over and it's
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parodieses to hand over, to transmit, to deliver it up.
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And he uses it all the time, not only here in First Corinthians,
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but also in Second Thessalonians and in Galatians and in
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Colossians. It's used in mark, and
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consistently they are used to represent teachings from God
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that were given to the apostles. Joseph Smith also taught us that
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Paul and he later said the other early church members too knew
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all the ordinances and blessings that were in the church.
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You can see that on the Joseph Smith papers translation.
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So when Paul says I'm proud of you for keeping the ordinances,
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he then follows it up by saying, But I would have, you know,
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that's verse 3. And whenever he says that, it's
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sort of like turning around saying you're keeping the
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ordinances but you're not doing it right.
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And so he lines up this order of creation and he and in King
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James they use the word head. But that is a little bit tricky
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because the word in Greek, just like in English, there's two
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meanings. It means head and it means the
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source or the origin, like the head of the Nile or the origins
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of the of the river Jordan, you know, So when we read this, he
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organizes like the creation, this order of creation in a
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linear fashion. And he says, you know, God is
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the source of the Son of God, who is the source of Adam as his
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creator and who is the source of Eve as this rib tradition.
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But don't think that this word head in the King James refers to
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Archon, that means ruler or chief.
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And Paul uses that word elsewhere when he wants to talk
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about a ruler or chief. But when Paul uses the word
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cafal or what we translate as head in King James, he is
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talking about the source or the origin.
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And you can look up the other times he uses it too.
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He uses it for both the cranium and for the cafal.
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So he has this beautiful ordification, and in verse four
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he says every man praying or prophesying, having his head
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covered, dishonoureth his head. So just use it.
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Every man who covers his his crate, his skull, is
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dishonouring his source or his origin.
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Do you remember back to Genesis where we're told that God said
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let us make man in our image. Now in the NRV it says let us
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make mankind in our image because the next verse says male
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and female created he them, you know, so it it refers to both.
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But in Paul he doesn't want the female here, he wants a line.
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He wants Adam or man. Man is Adam in in Hebrew and it
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also means humanity. So it's tricky.
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But he wants them to represent their creator and he wants Eve
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to represent something different.
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So he says in verse five it's just fine for women to go around
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without their head covering most of the time in the Christian
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tradition. But in verse five, he says if
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you're in this ordinance, every woman that is praying and
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prophesying. So there's some kind of special
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ordinance that he's referring to where a woman is praying and
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testifying. Because remember, prophecy is
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testify where her head needs to be covered.
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So if she's in this prayer and she's speaking out of
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inspiration, it she needs to cover her head.
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It says every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head,
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that's this physical head uncovered dishonoreth her
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source. And that source is Adam, Jesus
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and the Father. So he's just gone through this
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order of creation so that we can understand where we're coming
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from. Now in the ancient world, having
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the female attached to God was a empowering stance, but he goes
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on to explain more about this. He says the man was created in
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the image of God and so he needs to represent the glory of God.
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But the woman is the glory of man.
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What does he mean by that? Well, I'll tell you right away.
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He does not mean woman was created to glorify man.
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We already know that from from, from Genesis.
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Woman was created to be a partner, to be a companion.
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My favorite translation, The TEB says he was created, she was
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created as his one from before. It is bone of his bones.
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So how then is woman the glory of man?
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Well, remember the word man is humanity.
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How is woman the glory of humanity?
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The only way humanity could come is through woman.
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So in this ordinance the female is representing the glorious
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nature of all of humanity, and the man is standing in the place
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of the Son of Man or of his head.
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So in this prayer we have symbolic roles of Adam and Eve,
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and Adam is representing His Creator, and Eve is representing
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all of mankind. And so as Eve comes before God
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in prayer, as if we were before our Creator our source, she is
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to humbly veil her glorious nature.
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It says in verse 10, For this cause ought the woman to have
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power on her head because of the angels.
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So we not only are veiling because we are respecting our
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source, our God we are and humbly coming before him, but we
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are veiling because it shows power.
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Now in the King James it says you have to have power on your
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head to join in this ordinance. But in the NIV it reads, a woman
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ought to have a sign of authority on her head because of
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the angels. So to enter this ordinance the
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women need to have a sign of authority.
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But what is the angels now? Joseph Smith only made one
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change to this entire chapter or this entire section on the veil.
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And this is very early. You know, he's doing this in
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1832, way before any of the ordinances for the temple are
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restored. And so he changes that covering
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the head to a covering. He has to have a covering on her
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head because of the angels. Well, that is beautiful because
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the word atone in Hebrew is covering.
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But remember at the dedication of the temple of the Salt Lake
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Temple, Brigham Young Todd, that we needed to have angels to
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teach us the signs in order to return back to the presence of
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God. And so by just applying that
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statement that Brigham said at the dedication of the
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cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple, women are in a place
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where they're having administration of angels and
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they need to be empowered with authority to pass by these
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angels in order to return to their creator.
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Continuing on in verse 11, it says neither is the man without
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the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord.
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This is such a beautiful reciprocal relationship.
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Adam was created 1st and Eve came from Adam.
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You know they needed the stem cells from the XY to get The xx
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but or whatever way the Lord did it.
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But the next generation, the man comes out of the woman, they are
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completely interdependent. If we are doing things in the
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Lord it only works if we work together.
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And I like another translation as well as verse verse 12.
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For as the woman is of the man, Even so is the man also by the
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woman, but all things of the Lord.
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Then we have two whole chapters on the gifts of the Spirit, 1st
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Corinthians 12 and 14. And remember, every time it says
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brethren, it refers to men and women, and the whole thing is
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encouraging. All the Saints, men, women,
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children, old, young join in the gifts of the Spirit.
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Interestingly, in these gifts the Spirit, five times from
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Chapter 11 and 12 and 14 it is referenced that women are to be
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preaching and prophesying and sharing in the worship service.
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If we look at all of the Pauline corpus, starting with Romans and
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including Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
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Philippians, Timothy, Titus and also the book of Acts.
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So everything that had Paul's influence.
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Remember, Acts is written by Luke and Lucas, Paul's
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companion. So if we look at all those 12
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times, we seek counsel for women to participate in church
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services, to be speaking and prophesying.
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So now when we go to chapter 14, to this difficult section, just
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remember we have all these many, many, many statements
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encouraging women to speak and serve and and build the Kingdom
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of God. Chapter 14, verse 31.
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For ye all may prophecy one by one that all may learn and all
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may be comforted. Now remember this time they're
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having a real problem with people speaking at the same time
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and they're drinking all the the sacrament wine and drunk before
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the other show up and and you know he's really having a
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problem with order in the meetings and he's talking about
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this over and over in this letter.
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I call it the spanking letter because he's just giving them
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corrections. But in verse 32 it says the
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spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
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And in verse 33, for God is not the author of confusion but of
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peace, the churches of the Saints.
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So then we go on to now verse 34 and 35.
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Now these two really don't quite fit the context.
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We've just been talking about the gifts of the spirit.
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And then he says, let your women keep silent in the churches.
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For it is not permitted for them to speak that they are commanded
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to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
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And as they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at
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home. For it is a shame for a woman to
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speak. You know this this really
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contradicts everything that he just said.
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I mean it's just within a few verses, verse 31, he just said
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all the women should be prophesying.
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This is really changing. So let's look at some other
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translations. The the other says the woman
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should be reverent. Another said the woman shouldn't
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be chattering. Another one says the woman
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should be under obedience rather than supportive.
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And Joseph Smith changes it and says the women were not
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permitted to rule in the church rather than speak in the church.
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And Joseph Smith takes it right back to authority, as I
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mentioned earlier. So what is the problem here?
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To me it looks like the Well, it's not just to me.
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The I've read this from the textual scholars.
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For thousands of years people have been studying the text in
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Greek and they say there's a disconnect here.
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You know these two verses don't belong.
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They they, they they were put in here so then they look, could
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this be a later edition? Well, it does sound like it's
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coming from the Gnostics. It sounds like the Judaizers
29:30
ideas, it sounds like the false teachings, it sounds like
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leftover Pharisaic ideas. Well also then I took one of my
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favorite scholars and went back and said was this these two
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verses in the oldest text? So we went to the we don't know
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who was the oldest, but we know that the text from Ephesus was
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guarded over by John for a long time and these verses were not
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there. These verses also were added in
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different orders elsewhere because they didn't know where
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to put them. I think they're in addition, I
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don't think they're Pauline. So when you come across these
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difficult verses, ask yourself a few questions.
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Did the author mean this? Was there a specific problem?
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Is this message consistent in Scripture?
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What do other translations say? Did Joseph change this verse?
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What was this question that brought out this answer?
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And most importantly for me, is this in keeping with Lauder's
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revelation? Because if it's not part of our
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restored church, we don't have to worry about it.
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So let's now look at another challenging one.
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First Timothy, chapter 2, verse 9 through 14.
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This whole section is on replacing worldliness or self
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promotion with selfless service, so some of the vocabulary is
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tricky. So let's now go to a topic of
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prayer. First Timothy chapter 2, verse
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nine says when women pray, they should be shamefaced and have
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sobriety. We don't use that word very
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often. Shamefacedness.
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I haven't heard it ever on the last year outside of Scripture
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context. So let's look at some modern
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translations. The Jerusalem Bible.
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Women should pray quietly and modestly, or the Nas modestly
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and discreetly, or the RSV modestly and sensibly.
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I also appreciate John W Welch's translation here in good taste
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and in a manner that brings honor, honorable, respect.
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If this is very different, we want the women there in a in a
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way that will bless the church. Look at verse 11 of chapter 2.
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Let the women learn in silence with all subjection.
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That's the KJV. Well, any of us who are learning
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in silence would know better. I I raised my kids in different
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countries and in France there was no talking in the schoolroom
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starting in second grade, no talking.
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The children sat down and did not speak again until they were
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called upon by the teacher. This is very different than and
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they learn so fast. We're talking about a quiet
32:08
environment possibly here, I'm not sure.
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But let's just think about isn't it always easier to learn in a
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quiet environment? The Neb says a woman must be a
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learner listening quietly with do submission.
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The JB says during instruction. So the bottom line is all of
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these women are to be learning. All of these women are given
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guidelines on the best way to learn.
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Now this is a dramatic change. Remember, in the Judaic world,
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there are statements in the Mishnah.
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Now that's written a little bit later, but there are statements
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that say he who teaches her daughter the the law the same as
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taught her lechery. There are statements that say
32:47
don't allow your women to become literate because they'll be a
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pain. We don't want them to learn to
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read and write. You know, we have all this stuff
32:54
that that took women away from this, and now in Christianity we
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have a liberation. As I mentioned, the Christ was
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the first feminist, and I believe the early Apostolic
33:04
Church is encouraging this. We want women learning the
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gospel, We want them learning, and we're going to now show you
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that it's best to learn in a quiet environment.
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However, in chapter two of First Timothy, verse 15, it sounds
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like Paul's giving some pretty misogynist advice here.
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You know your women shouldn't be talking, they shouldn't be
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invited. You know, it sounds like he's
33:26
just punching him in the nose. I'd like to read from the NASB
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translation though from 2:15, but women will be preserved
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through bearing of children if they continue in faith and love
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and sanctity with self restraint.
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Well, that doesn't really sound too right because a lot of women
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can't bear children. Let's just talk about the great
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Sarah. How many years was she
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infertile? And how many women have never
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had the chance to bear a child? I mean, that doesn't make sense
33:57
at all. Women are covered by the
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Atonement of Jesus Christ. Of course they will be saved.
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So I'm very grateful that Joseph Smith changed this first and he
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didn't say a woman will be saved through childbearing.
34:11
He said, They, Adam and Eve, humanity, if we the purpose of
34:18
this earth is to bring forth bodies for the spirit children
34:22
of the sons of God, and to learn to control those bodies, and to
34:26
come unto Christ by allowing those bodies to learn an adept
34:31
line upon line. And so the Joseph translation
34:34
changed that they shall be saved in childbearing.
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Does everyone bear children? No, of course not.
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But it is not a requirement for women.
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It is a requirement for men and women to marry and bear
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children. I also appreciate this another
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translation. This is the ISV, the
34:55
international standard version, even though she will be saved
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through the birth of the child if they continue in faith, love,
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holiness along with good judgement.
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So he's saying the woman will be saved.
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And I would like to add the man everyone by the birth of the
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child, with a capital C referring to our savior,
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referring to our creator. It is he who will save us.
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To me, this fits doctrinally much better with what I
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understand. But I do believe that Christ's
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emphasis to cut down misogyny and to raise up women and to
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heal the family unit, It's horrific for a man who has to
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always be a a master working with a slave to ever develop
35:44
charity. Whereas if he sees that they
35:48
need to work together, that they need to be a unified family
35:52
organization, that they can treat everyone with respect and
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dignity, whether a child or a slave or a wife.
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You know, let's treat everyone with love.
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I see the things that Christ taught us about servitude
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overlapping into the Apostolic Church.
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And I hope as you study this year, the New Testament, that
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you will step back and take take a pause at some of these very
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difficult verses as I've combined them here to realize
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that our Savior has tried to open the doorway for mutuality
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in all relationships, not just in marital relationships.
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But so that we can be kinder