Conflating Biblical Authority and Biblical Interpretation

Photo by Sarah Noltner on Unsplash

Anyone who knows about me knows about my critique of the American Inerrancy Tradition. Many American evangelicals preach the inerrancy of the text, but what they mean is the inerrancy of their interpretation and the hegemony of their tribe. Something that I’ve been saying and warning about since 2010.

Well, this week Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile courted controversy when he urged people to leave churches with white supremacists pastors and he also told people to pray for their pastor even if their pastor was a woman. Well, the mangelicals had an epic meltdown because Thabiti, himself a complementarian, won’t go Spanish Inquisition on his egalitarian friends.

Thabiti’s response to Owen Strachan was particularly asserting:

Thabiti Anyabwile @ThabitiAnyabwil

Hey @ostrachan, first, keep my name out your mouth. Second, at least learn to ask a question before you take an impromptu pronoun and wrongly ascribe an entire theological position to someone. Third, stop playing with God and his name and get the log out of your own eye.

Owen Strachan @ostrachan

So sad to see this. Thabiti has affirmed all sorts of woke ideology, and now affirms women pastors. Please God: bring this man to repentance. How we all need the Lord. https://t.co/a0JQPwWRHb

But it was no coincidence that others began to circle the wagons around the complementarian flag pole. Pastor Grant Castleberry from North Carolina tweeted thusly.

Grant R. Castleberry @grcastleberry

There is a continental divide between complementarian churches and egalitarian churches. The divide is over the ultimate authority of Scripture. When you cross that divide, you really do enter into a different type of Christianity.

Like I said, they are conflating biblical authority and their interpretation. What do you say to this? Well, I do have an answer!