„You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His name in vain.“
/1st commandment, Exodus 20:7/
On 11 May, LELB Archbishop Jānis Vanags published an article under the title „Our help is in the name of the Lord“ in the newspaper „Svētdienas Rīts“, in which he claims to base himself on the Word of the Lord, whereas others supposedly proceed from emotional arguments or social fashion. „Yet at least among us, the considerations against women’s ordination … are based … on seeking answers in the Scriptures.“ In contrast to his supposedly Lutheran approach to interpreting the Bible — using the more clearly understandable passages to explain those that are harder to grasp — the representatives of the opposing view allegedly try to „obscure with less clear passages“ those passages that speak against women’s ordination. Let us test this assertion by looking at Jānis Vanags’s article. It turns out that Jānis Vanags himself does exactly what he reproaches others for.
As the main supposedly clear biblical passage against women’s ordination, Jānis Vanags cites Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verses 34–38. Vanags writes:
„Regarding the prohibition for women to speak in church assemblies, the apostle says: ‘(acknowledge) what I write to you, for it is the Lord’s command. But if anyone does not acknowledge it, he himself remains unacknowledged. … in the case of ‘speaking’, the apostle is not reminding us of the customs of politeness, but conveys the Lord’s command with the highest authority.“
But let us look at this biblical passage ourselves. It is clearly evident that the words Vanags highlighted in bold do not refer to women’s speaking in church at all, but to maintaining order in church assemblies, namely, so that not everyone speaks at once, but in turn. This applies especially to the prophets who, appealing to God’s revelation, do not restrain themselves but feel inspired to speak across one another, which results in chaos. That is why in verse 33 Paul reminds them: „God is not a God of disorder but of peace.“ And verse 36 reminds the prophets: „Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?“ And then verse 37 concludes: „Whoever considers himself a prophet or a spiritual person must acknowledge that (not: because!) what I write to you is the Lord’s command.“ As for the interpolated verses 34 and 35, the biblical manuscripts even diverge — some manuscripts place them considerably later, after verse 40, as indicated, for example, by the Catholic Bible translation „New Revised Standard Version“:
„Other ancient authorities put verses 34-35 after verse 40.“
In any case, the words highlighted in bold do not apply to them; rather, these verses are a reference to the custom of order of that time, which also seemed correct to Paul. Following the previous Latvian translation and the great majority of English and German translations, it should be rendered not as „because“ but as „that“ it is the Lord’s command/will; moreover, the diversity of the Greek manuscripts offers several textual variants — for example, replacing the word „Lord“ with „God“ to rule out the misunderstanding, which Vanags also follows, that „Lord“ here would be „the Lord Jesus“. We do not know of any corresponding word of Jesus at all.
So: even if it might have been difficult for someone to follow in detail the renderings of the text and interpretation of this biblical passage in the previous paragraph, it is evident that this biblical passage, with respect to the reconstruction of its biblical text and to its interpretation, is one of the especially unclear passages of the Bible. To cite precisely this passage, by manipulating omissions, as the main clear biblical proof against women’s ordination is proof of the poverty of the argumentation, counting on a gullible, uninformed body of readers. Here is being done precisely what, according to Luther, one must not do, and what Vanags reproaches those who truly and honestly base themselves on the Word of God for doing. The second commandment seriously warns us not to manipulate the Word of God. Everyone can ask themselves whether
the „Lord will not leave unpunished“ mentioned in the commandment does not appear in the present difficult situation of our Church in Latvia, or also in one’s personal biography. In any case, the sad consequences of such handling of the Word of God in connection with the campaign against women’s ordination are unforeseeable. I therefore call on every voter in the LELB Synod to be aware of their responsibility before God, so that our dear Church may not be divided, but that we may build it up in reverence before the Word of God and in unity with our former archbishops Jānis Matulis, Kārlis Gailītis, with our neighbours the Estonians, the Finns, with Latvians abroad, and with the broad Lutheran family throughout the world.
„The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life“ (2 Cor 3:6). With a distorted, supposedly divine Word, the servants of the letter once justified slavery and serfdom, then apartheid, and now the prohibition for women to serve in the ordained office. If this amendment to the Constitution is adopted, the opportunity for many suitable people to fill the office of pastor will, unfortunately, be killed; the witness of the Gospel will thereby be compromised or hindered, and even more people will turn away from such prehistoric obscurantism. By contrast — may we experience that the Spirit gives life! May we, inspired by the Spirit, have a radiant Church, open to the life God grants, vigorous, compassionate, inviting, courageous, truly free and liberating — and joyful!
Elmārs Ernsts Rozītis, Archbishop Emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Abroad
The article is published with the author’s permission.
Photo: T.Rēdmanis; lelba.org