82 FEMINIST VIEWS THAT UNDERMINE SCRIPTURE
what we would like them to say) which we regard as “basic.” But
those instinctive preferences are normally derived from the tradition
within which we have been brought up, rather than from an informed
and principled choice made on the basis of the texts themselves.^1In his book Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women
in Ministry, Stanley Grenz adopts a similar view in a section titled “The
Question of Hermeneutical Priority”:
Yet one question remains: Which Pauline text(s) carry hermeneutical
priority in our attempt to understand Paul’s teaching about women
in the church? Are we to look to the egalitarian principle the apostle
set forth in Galatians 3:28 as the foundation for our understanding
of the apostle’s own position? Or do we begin with those passages
which seem to place limitations on the service of women (1 Cor 11:3-
16; 14:34-35; 1 Tim 2:11-15) and understand the Galatians text in
the light of such restrictions?
Egalitarians often claim that Galatians 3:28 deserves hermeneu-
tical priority.... At this point, egalitarians, and not complementar-
ians, are on the right track.... The seemingly restrictive texts
complementarians cite... cannot be universal rules but Paul’s
attempts to counter the abuses of specific situations.^2Sarah Sumner says we have to decide “which verse(s) should take
priority over the others,” or “which verse stands in charge as the boss”
(which she then calls the “boss verse”).^3 Elsewhere she claims that we
disagree because “we bring so many assumptions to the text,” and if we
bring egalitarian assumptions we will find egalitarian teaching in the
text, but if we bring complementarian assumptions we will find com-
plementarian teaching in the text.^4
(^1) R. T. France, Women in the Church’s Ministry: A Test Case for Biblical Interpretation (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1995), 93-94.
(^2) Stanley Grenz, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry (Downers
Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 106-107. A similar approach is found in the egalitarian
compendium Discovering Biblical Equality, in I. Howard Marshall’s argument that the texts
on mutual love in the New Testament eventually override the texts on a wife’s submission to
her husband: see the discussion in chapter 6 above, pages 58-59.
(^3) Sarah Sumner, Men and Women in the Church (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press,
2003), 128; see also 256-257.
(^4) Ibid., 249. She also says that our viewpoints are often the result of traditional assumptions
inherited from church history (see 275, 285, 292-293).