Monday with Mounce

When talking about women in Ephesian leadership, Paul starts by saying, “A woman should learn in quietness, in all submissiveness (ἐν πάσῃ ὑποταγῇ).” The application is that “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to be in quietness.” But submissive to whom?

I was on Preston Sprinkle’s podcast the other day and I don’t know if it was something he said or just that I have been away from this issue for several years, but a thought popped into my head that is making me rethink my conclusion.

This is one of the more difficult exegetical decisions in the Pastorals and one upon which I have changed my mind since writing the commentary. Do the children have to have faith in Christ, or do they have to be faithful kinds of people?

Romans 8:28 is a source of comfort for many in the midst of pain, and it can also be a challenge, even discouraging, for them as well. Part of the problem is that some translations mistakenly give the wrong impression of Paul's intent. Do “all things work for good,” or does “God work all things for good”?

You can watch this blog on YouTube and also my chapel address on the passage.

Sometimes in translating we have to think grammatically, to think through the structure of the passage before trying to actually translate it. This is why all Greek students should do two translations of every verse, one more word-for-word and one in proper English. Revelation 1:2 is a good test case.

One of the dangers of simply translating word-for-word is that sometimes the translation is not only awkward English but actually wrong, depending on your interpretation. In this verse, the often untranslated μή is the culprit.