Long considered a series of “loosely connected and grossly editorialized traditions” about the hero Samson,1 Judges 13–16 has been seen as increasingly unified in recent decades, with studies arguing for the coherence of its structure, theme, and even plot. 2 A 1974 essay by James Crenshaw extols the narrator’s skill at achieving a unified composition organized around a universal theme, “the conflict between filial devotion and erotic attachment.” 3 Cheryl Exum’s series of articles published between 1980 and 1983 reveals structural and thematic webs connecting scene to scene, episode to episode, and cycle to cycle, many of them lifting up the theological message that despite his strength Samson is nonetheless utterly dependent on the Lord for life and death. 4 A 1990 essay by Robert Alter describes the structural, thematic, and even psychological connections between episodes forged by the root -36, which underscores Samson’s compulsive drive toward foreign women. 5 Yairah Amit’s 1...
1. Distinction Between Gift and Office. As evangelicals, how are we to assess this situation? Should women in our churches fill the roles of elders,deacons, and/or pastors? In surveying the literature and websites of evangelicals addressing this issue,the usual response is that women cannot become pastors because pastors are also elders, and since elders must be male, this would exclude women from becoming pastors. I submit, however, that this confuses the issue. Scripture consistently maintains a distinction between the office and the gift. Elder-ship is an office, whereas pastor teacher is a gift. Biblicaly speaking, there seem to be six distinctions between the gift and the office.First, the office appears to be limited to apostles (Acts 1:21–25), elders/bishops (1 Tim 3:1–7; Titus 1:5–11), deacons (Acts 6:1–6; 1 Tim 3:8–13), and possibly deaconesses (depending on how one interprets 1 Tim 3:11 and Rom 16:1). Gifts, on the other hand, are many. In 1 Cor 12:8–11, 28–30, ...