Sandra Richter Responds to John Piper

Sandra Richter Responds to John Piper January 28, 2018

I don’t want to turn this blog into a John Piper bash-fest, but there was a genuinely good FB post from Wheaton professor Sandra Richter to Piper’s claim that women professors don’t belong in seminary:

I keep finding my name posted all over Facebook in response to John Piper’s latest presentation on why women are not allowed to pursue their gifting to teach and preach. I have a lot of respect for John Piper. He has accomplished some amazing things for the Kingdom. But his exegesis on this point has been shaped (and distorted) by his culture, not the cultures of the New or Old Testaments. Reality is, that the Holy Spirit is the head of the Church–not any organization designed by humanity. And according to 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, it is the Lord Holy Spirit who gets to choose to gift whomever he pleases–Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. I am grateful for the accountability that ordination boards keep in our systems. I am grateful for John Piper’s high view of Scripture. And I thank God that there is gate keeping going on as regards who moves into the role of shepherd. But Brother Piper, I’ll take you on any day on this topic. Deborah was not a mistake. Huldah was Prophet. Junia was not a man. Romans 16 is not an anomaly. Priscilla was a preacher. And the women prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11 were exercising the most treasured and authoritative gift of their known covenant. This all in a culture where dowries and bride prices were the norm, women were still required to cover their heads, children belonged to their fathers, and the legal and economic systems rarely recognized a woman’s right to any voice or influence. If she is called and gifted, Church, it is your job to recognize that gift, develop that gift, and deploy that gift. This isn’t your Kingdom, it is His.


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