Now Concerning a Woman's Role in the Church. Part 3

{mosimage}What Kind of "Teaching" Is this?

Let's now turn our attention to the other "limiting passage." Before we look at the text, it's important to understand that 1st and 2nd Timothy are unique letters. Paul is writing to his apostolic apprentice-a man he's known for about fifteen years.

Such communication-between two closely-tied individuals-is known as "low context." It simply means that the author can assume an intimate knowledge of the reader's understanding of any particular statement he makes.

Let me unpack that.

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Because Paul had a close relationship with Timothy, he could say things to him that he knew Timothy would understand. His statement had a particular context to it with which Timothy was familiar.

Suppose, for instance, I wrote a letter to one of my co-workers. And in the letter I made a statement about "apostolic priority." Others reading the letter would be lost as to what I was talking about. But my co-worker would be clear because we have had several in-person discussions about it.

In the same way, 1st and 2nd Timothy are very difficult letters to interpret because they are literally dripping with "low-context" statements. That is, statements that have a context that only Paul and Timothy were privy to.

Therefore, the best we can do is try to piece together the exact situation that Timothy faced in Ephesus. Linguistic and historical scholars have uncovered several facts that throw light on the passage we are considering. And it meshes well with what we can uncover by mirror-reading the letter.²

Putting all the facts together, the following scenario emerges: Paul's warning to the church in Ephesus was finally coming to pass. Five years earlier he forewarned the Ephesian elders that wolves would penetrate the church and draw disciples after themselves with perverse teachings (Acts 20:28-30).

Now the wolves had appeared. So Paul exhorts the young Timothy to combat their perverse teachings (1 Tim. 1:3-7; 6:3-5). Since Timothy was well aware of the heresy, Paul doesn't need to explain it in detail. However, it appears that it was a kind of proto-gnosticism.

Gnosticism was a heresy that appeared in the second century. The Gnostics taught that full salvation comes through special knowledge (gnosis) that only the initiated possess. What Timothy was battling in Ephesus appears to have been an extremely embryonic form of this heresy. (Paul seems to refer to the heresy when he says to Timothy, "Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called gnosis"-1 Timothy 6:20.)

According to the false teaching, both eating meat and engaging in marriage were forbidden (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Myths about the Law were also embraced (1 Tim. 1:4-7). We know from historical records that the Gnostics perverted the creation account. Eve was regarded as both a mediator and redeemer figure (compare with Paul's statement in 1 Tim. 2:5). She pre-existed Adam. Man came into existence because of woman, and he was given enlightenment through woman. Since Eve was the first to take a bite from the Tree of Knowledge, she was regarded as the bearer of special spiritual knowledge (gnosis).

It is for this reason that those who accepted this heresy preferred the leadership of women over that of men. The heresy taught that women could still lead people to the illuminating gnosis that was represented by the Tree of Knowledge. It was further believed that redemption completely reversed the effects of the fall so that men were no longer subject to earthly authorities and women were no longer subject to their husbands.

While male teachers were spreading this doctrine (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 2:17), it found fertile ground among the women in the church (2 Tim. 3:6-9). Worst still, their homes provided a network by which the false teaching spread rapidly (1 Tim. 5:13-15; 3:11).

Add to that, the main religion in Ephesus, which had the largest temple, was a female-only cult. The priests who served the temple of Artemis (Diana) were all female. They ruled the religion and kept their men under their subjection. This mindset and influence appears to have crept into the Ephesian church. As a result, some of the women were acting bossy and seizing control over the men. They adopted the heresy and the attitude that goes along with it. And they began to peddle it in the meetings. In short, the women were trying to take over the church with a false doctrine. This, I believe, is what provoked Paul to write the following passage:

Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and become a transgressor ( 1 Timothy 2:11-14, NRSV).

It's striking to discover that there are seven parallel words that appear in both this text and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. Two of them are: learn and silent. This is of no small significance.

In both passages, the word learn is translated from the same Greek word:

1 Timothy 2:11: "A woman should LEARN (manthano) in silence and full submission."

1 Corinthians 14:35: "And if they desire to LEARN (manthano) anything, let them ask their own husbands at home."

In the Timothy passage, Paul says that the sisters in Ephesus should learn in silence and full submission. Why? Because they were misinformed.

The Greek word for silence in this passage is hesuchia, and it means a temporary quietness, as in yielding the floor to let someone else speak. It also has the flavor of listening with studious attention. It's the same word that's used in Acts 22:2, "When they heard him [Paul] speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet (hesuchia)."

In effect, 1 Timothy 2:11 is the same instruction that Paul gave to the sisters in Corinth. Namely, the women ought not to disrupt the meeting with questions and challenges. In the meeting, they should learn in silence.

So the first thing Paul says to Timothy is, "Let the sisters stop asking leading-questions to challenge the brothers. Instead, let them take on humility and learn with studious attention."

But then, Paul builds on this point and says that the sisters are not to teach the brothers (1 Tim. 2:12). The original Greek is illuminating. It's in the present active voice. For that reason, it can be translated as: "I am not now permitting a woman to teach . . ."

New Testament scholar Ben Witherington writes, "In our study of 1 Tim 2.8-15, we find no universal prohibition of women speaking in church, but a dealing with serious problems that caused the author to ban women from teaching and domineering men in Ephesus. We conjecture that this was a response to women being involved in false teaching and being lead astray into apostasy . . . There is nothing in this material that suggests a permanent ban on women engaging in the ministry of the word."³

Consequently, Paul is not drafting a universal rule for women. On the contrary, he's dealing with a highly specific situation in Ephesus. He's speaking to those women in Ephesus who are peddling a false doctrine. As a result, Paul felt they have forfeited their right to speak in the meetings.

Here is something else to consider. Timothy had known Paul for around fifteen years. Timothy had traveled with the aged apostle on two church planting trips.⁴ And he had visited all the churches Paul planted. If Paul had universally banned women from teaching and speaking in the church meetings, why on earth would he have to explain this to Timothy in this letter? Timothy would have already known this.

Hmmm . . .

But there's more. Paul goes on to say that no woman in the church is to "have authority over a man." The Greek word translated "have authority" (or "usurp authority" as it stands in the KJV) is authenteo. Throughout the entire New Testament this word is only used once, and it's in this passage. Significantly, Paul didn't use the garden-variety word for authority (exousia) that he uses in his other epistles.

Authenteo is an obscure term. The best authorities show that it can either mean "to exercise authority over" or "to seize authority over." Given the context, the second meaning is to be favored: "to seize authority over."¹

After Paul instructs Timothy that the women can no longer teach in the church, he takes dead aim at the content of the heresy:

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. (1 Timothy 2:13-14, NIV)

Here Paul makes plain that Eve did not pre-exist Adam. He also states that it was Eve who was blameworthy. It was she who was deceived-just like the women in Ephesus. In all of Paul's other writings he always hangs the fall around Adam's neck. But given this particular situation, he sets his sights on Eve. And by doing so, he blows to bits the false teaching that the Ephesian sisters were promoting.

Again, Paul couldn't have been grounding a universal rule that forbade all women everywhere from teaching in the church meetings. This would contradict his own words. Consider the following:

* In 1 Corinthians, Paul states numerous times that women may prophesy in the church (1 Cor. 11:5; 14:26, 31). Prophecy contains instruction, for Paul writes, "for you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed (taught) and encouraged" (1 Cor. 14:31).

* All Christians, including the sisters, are to teach and admonish one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16).

* The manifestation of the Holy Spirit, which includes prophecy, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom, is given to the whole church for the common good (1 Cor. 12:1-12). And these gifts are to function in the church meetings (1 Cor. 14). God bestows all spiritual gifts with undistinguishing regard on men and women alike. There's no such thing as a gender-specific spiritual gift.

* The author of Hebrews tells the whole church, including the sisters, that given their relative spiritual age, they all should be teachers (Heb. 5:14).

* The author of Hebrews also encourages the whole assembly, brothers and sisters, to exhort one another when the church gathers (Heb. 10:24-25).

Again, 1 Timothy 2:12 should not be taken as a blanket statement that women may never minister in the church when men are present. To believe this would contradict the New Testament. Sisters would then have to cease from prophesying, exhorting, testifying, and operating in spiritual gifts-all of which Paul encourages.

The overall context of 1 Timothy indicates that a false teaching was afoot and the sisters in Ephesus were pushing it.

Once more, I think Eugene Peterson rightly captures the flavor of Paul's message in this passage. He also throws light on verse 15-which is one of the most perplexing verses in the entire New Testament:

I don't welcome women to take over and tell the men what to do. They should study to be quiet and obedient along with everyone else. Adam was made first, then Eve; woman was deceived first-our pioneer in sin!-with Adam right on her heels. On the other hand, her childbearing brought about salvation, reversing Eve. But this salvation only comes to those who continue in faith, love, holiness, gathering it all into maturity. You can depend on this (The Message).

The real issue in both 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 is the abuse of a God-given privilege. In both Corinth and Ephesus, Paul urges the sisters to give way to the brothers in the area of learning. Why? Because they were interrupting the meetings due to their lack of spiritual maturity and education. In Ephesus, they were out-and-out seizing authority over the men with a false doctrine.

But the genius of Paul's instruction is that the women can learn. They should be tutored by their husbands at home so as to eventually be put on an equal social footing with the men. In this regard, Paul was a progressive thinker and a champion of a woman's honor in his day. A day when the notion of male superiority was well-entrenched.

Paul's arguments, therefore, have nothing to do with ministry. They rather have to do with order in the meetings. He's arguing for proper order where there exists disorder. He is issuing a corrective to, not a denial of, the public speaking of women.

In summary, Paul of Tarsus was called by God to liberate men and women from the bondage of the Law. Ironically, he's treated by some as a new law-giver. The scribes of our Lord's day applied the Old Testament without any regard to local context. Tragically, scribalism is still with us today. Modern scribes have turned isolated New Testament verses into oppressive laws without any regard to local and temporary conditions.

By contrast, Paul's message is one that promotes radical freedom rather than suppression. And that freedom liberally extends to women. Therefore, if our interpretation of Paul contradicts his message of freedom, then we are connecting the dots wrong.

Frank Viola

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