Mike has also posted his own open letter here. I have responded with a couple of comments but I realize that I have not completed my response to the original open letter. Here are the three points in Grudem's letter that I had not responded to. First, Dr Grudem's question and then my answer.
Dr. Grudem writes,
3. “or’’ (Greek ē): In 1 Corinthians 14:36, some of you argue that the Greek word ē (“or’’) shows that the preceding verses are a quotation from the Corinthian church which Paul denies. Therefore you say that Paul is not really telling the Corinthian church, the women should keep silence in the churches. ...
Will you please show us one example in all of ancient Greek where this word for “or’’ (¯e) is used to introduce what the readers know to be false, so the author can deny both what goes before and what follows?
In the notes of the NET Bible, we find this conclusion, regarding 1 Cor. 14:34-35,
- The very location of the verses in the Western tradition argues strongly that Paul both authored vv. 34-35 and that they were originally part of the margin of the text. Otherwise, one has a difficulty explaining why no scribe seemed to have hinted that these verses might be inauthentic.
Until there is a consensus on the placement of these verses in the original, we cannot do more than speculate on the meaning of the word "or" in this passage.
5. “neither X nor Y’’: In 1 Timothy 2:12, where Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man,’’ the grammatical structure in Greek takes the form, “neither + [verb 1] + nor + [verb 2].’’
Will you please show us one example in all of ancient Greek where the pattern “neither + [verb 1] + nor + [verb 2]’’ is used to refer to one action that is viewed positively and one action that is viewed negatively?
In my previous response I explained that there is no evidence for a positive connotation for authenteō in 1 Tim. 2:12. BDAG cites its meaning as "to assume a stance of independent authority, give orders to, dictate to." In fact, Dr. Kostenberger comments,
- owing to the scarcity of the term in ancient literature (the only NT occurrence is 1 Tim. 2:12; found only twice preceding the NT in extrabiblical literature) no firm conclusions could be reached on the basis of lexical study alone.
- They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
Dr. Grudem writes,
6. Women teaching false doctrine at Ephesus: In 1 Timothy 2:12, where Paul says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man,’’ many of you say the reason for Paul’s prohibition is that women were teaching false doctrine in the church at Ephesus (the church to which 1 Timothy was written).
Will you please show us one reference in all of ancient literature, whether inside or outside the Bible, that states that all the Christian women at Ephesus (or even that any Christian women at Ephesus) were teaching false doctrine?
This is an argument from silence. What we do know is that there was a goddess Artemis worshiped at Ephesus. She was the patron goddess of women in childbirth and there were priestesses in her service. This was clearly a very contentious issue and caused a considerable commotion in Acts 19:34.
- But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
While any answer to these three questions of Dr. Grudem's can only be speculation, I hope that I have demonstrated that the balance of the evidence does not support the complementarian view to the exclusion of the egalitarian view.