A Response to John Dickson's Hearing Her Voice (4 of 7)

Critique | Is the focus on exposition the right focus?

Another aspect of John’s argument that the contemporary sermon should not be equated with the ministry of teaching that Paul forbids to women in 1 Tim 2:12 is that contemporary sermons are chiefly characterised by exposition, whereas this is never what Paul means when he refers to teaching.  John is clearly in support of exposition as a method for contemporary preaching.  It’s just that he doesn’t think it really features in the New Testament, let alone is put forward as the definition of teaching.  And he devotes considerable space and time to proving that various texts often held up in support of exposition don’t actually show this at all.

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I think John is broadly right that exposition of Scripture in the way that we are used to thinking of it, and doing it, hardly features in the New Testament.  But I think the whole issue of exposition is a real distraction as we try to work out whether women should be permitted to preach, and whether a contemporary sermon is what Paul meant by teaching.  The reason for this is that the question of exposition is a question of method, whereas the question of teaching is one of activity.

To try and make the significance of all this a bit clearer, let’s start with an activity other than teaching.  For example, John suggests several times that the contemporary sermon is probably closest to the New Testament ministry of exhortation.  The main reason for this I can find is a group of passages he refers to that show an exposition immediately following a reading of Scripture (Acts 13:15; 15:31-32; 1 Tim 4:13).  In other words, the reason John thinks contemporary sermons are closest to New Testament exhortation is because of the proximity of the two activities in these three passages, not because he thinks exhortation means the exposition of Scripture.  He couldn’t think that.  After all, he has already said (logically at least) that exposition of Scripture hardly features in the New Testament.

But these are all observations about activity.  Let’s now try and focus on method, by asking how Paul exhorted his hearers in Acts 13:15.  Or how Judas and Silas exhorted the brothers in Acts 15:31-32.  Or how Timothy was to exhort in 1 Tim 4:13.  Does exhorting in these passages simply mean giving a series of ethical instructions?  Does it mean re-stating the truths of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection?  Would it have include any exposition of Scriptures?  Would it be the application of Scripture?  Would it have simply involved urging the listeners to continue on in steadfast faith and obedience? 

These are all much harder questions to answer.  In fact I’m not certain that we can answer them with any great precision, because the passages in question are refering to a particular activity, without really telling us anything about the particular method that was used.

It's the same with teaching in 1 Tim 2:12.  To focus on whether teaching equals exposition confuses an activity with a method.