George,

While I am sure you mean well, what we are speaking about here are far more than mere “peripheral thoughts.” First, I do not consider ANYTHING in God’s Word peripheral or non-essential. God’s holy words in Scripture are meant for several purposes, among them being: to allow us to know Him better, salvation, and to reveal to us how we ought to now live our lives. In addition, God has structured the family in a very particular way and He has seen fit to not leave it to mere chance how we ought to order things here. Thus, we see such passages as those in Timothy and elsewhere that we should examine and apply to our lives—and to those of others.

Second, God’s Word is not a mere smörgåsbord of interpretations—I’ll take the peppery interpretation today. Greek is good, but then you need to properly interpret it—just because a person knows English does not mean he understands what any given sentence means “in context.” Moreover, if you are going to study another’s materials you must at least have a solid foundation so you can discern good from evil. This means observing a proper hermeneutic. While no hermeneutic is perfect, a pure reformed one is much more accurate than the trash you are posting here: i.e. the only Carl Franklin I have heard of is in Worldwide Church of God. What do you know of their theology? While some of is may be accurate—much is not…. While Ward Powers of Tyndale College is better known then Franklin, he still has a different hermeneutic than found by most in the Reformed camp. In addition, his Greek is not as precise as Machen's or Baugh's.

Reformed and Always Reforming,