On Tuesday, October 7, 2014, the Adventist Review published an article titled “Appeal made over Andrews statement on headship. On August 21, 2014 during a quiet summer session, the remaining present Seminary faculty published a seven page statement opposing male headship. The statement aroused immediate concern. Now a group of several theology professors, faculty, alumni, and others has responded with a carefully prepared document titled “An Open Appeal From Faculty, Alumni, Students, and Friends of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary: To Faculty of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Regarding the Recent Seminary Statement on the Unique Headship of Christ in the Church.” While the August Seminary statement was unsigned, the new response document has 24 signatories.
The Adventist Review article is found at this link:
http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/appeal-made-over-andrews-statement-on-headship
Link to Appeal to Seminary document: http://ordinationtruth.com/?attachment_id=2259. NOTE: Updated with minor corrections
Category: Gerhard Pfandl
Evaluation of egalitarian papers
In the January 2014 meeting of the Theology of Ordination Study Commottee (TOSC), several papers were presented. Among these was this short paper prepared by 10 members of the committee. This paper is a concise evaluation of several of the arguments favoring women’s ordination. The ten authors writing this response are Gerhard Pfandl with Daniel Bediako, Steven Bohr, Laurel and Gerard Damsteegt, Jerry Moon, Paul Ratsara, Ed Reynolds, Ingo Sorke, and Clinton Wahlen.
Among other things, this paper addresses the following pro-woman’s ordination arguments advanced by those holding that position:
- In Genesis 1 there is full equality in function between man and woman.
- Adam and Eve were priests in the pre-fall Eden sanctuary.
- Male headship did not exist in the Garden; it is a result of the fall and applies only to the marriage relationship and not to the church.
- The qualification lists in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1:1-11 are gender neutral.
- Junia in Romans 16 was a female apostle.
- Galatians 3:26-29 applies not only to salvation, but it also abolishes the subordination of “females to males.”
- 1 Timothy 2:12-14 applies only to a specific situation in Ephesus and does not refer to the relationship that should universally exist between men and women.
- The priesthood of all believers permits women to be ordained as elders/ministers.
- Ministry in the New Testament Church was non-hierarchical.
- “Head” in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 has the meaning of source rather than spiritual authority.
This sermon by Gerhard Pfandl was preached at the Tridelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church on October 27, 2012. You can benefit from it in text form here, or, in audio form here.
Here is a powerful article by Lee Roy Holmes about the crisis in the church and the biblical concepts surrounding how the church works together on disputed points. A must read! Find it here.