Posted on October 26, 2017 by Paul Ellis // 74 Comments
I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (1 Tim 2:12)
Oh dear. Don’t tell Joyce Meyer that women aren’t allowed to teach. Or my mum, my wife, or a gazillion other ladies who teach in church. They’re all sinning. They should stop teaching and be quiet. Paul said so. But wait a second. Paul endorsed several female teachers including Junia, Priscilla, Euodia and Syntyche. Was Paul confused about the role of women in the church?
Or are we?
What is Paul really saying?
I want to offer a grace-based commentary of this troublesome passage and the surrounding verses. Credit where credit’s due, much of what follows was inspired by an essay on women’s service written by NT Wright:
Let a woman learn… (1 Tim 2:11, NKJV)
Whoa! Right there we should dip our hats to Paul the liberator of women. Consider the context. Under patriarchal Jewish religion, women had few rights. They could not enter the main part of the temple, they were forbidden to speak in the assembly, and they certainly weren’t encouraged to learn.
The low view of women held by religious Jews is revealed in this saying of Rabbi Eliezer: “Let the words of the law be burned, rather than that they should be delivered to women” (source: Adam Clarke’s Commentary).
In other words, women should not study and learn. To teach women, according to some, was to cast your pearls before swine. This was Paul’s view, but then he met Jesus and got set free from his Pharisaical misogyny.
Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. (1 Tim 2:11, NKJV)
Meaning they should quietly submit to God and his gospel, which is something we all must do. Grace is for the humble and teachable. The proud learn nothing.
I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (1 Tim 2:12)
“Don’t hear what I’m not saying,” the apostle might have said. “I don’t mean to imply that I’m setting up women as the new authority over men in the same way that men previously held authority over women. Under the law, men lorded it over the fairer sex. That was wrong. It would be similarly wrong for women to lord it over men. Instead, let us submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).
Note that Paul is writing to Timothy who lived in Ephesus. Who else lived in Ephesus? Artemis, the Greek mother goddess, and her nutcase followers (Acts 19:28).
Ephesus was a town of radical femi-nazis. Paul wanted to liberate women from religious bondage, but there was a danger the Ephesian Christians might swing the pendulum too far. Lacking role models, they might take inspiration from the priestesses of Artemis. Here’s NT Wright:
Was the apostle saying, people might wonder, that women should be trained up so that Christianity would gradually become a cult like that of Artemis, where women did the leading and kept the men in line? That, it seems to me, is what verse 12 is denying… Paul is saying, like Jesus in Luke 10, that women must have the space and leisure to study and learn in their own way, not in order that they may muscle in and take over the leadership as in the Artemis-cult, but so that men and women alike can develop whatever gifts of learning, teaching and leadership God is giving them.
In short, women aren’t to lord it over men any more than men are to lord it over women. Recall these words of Jesus:
The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. (Luke 22:25-26)
A Biblical teacher does not throw their weight around like a Gentile king but sets an example to others (1 Pet 5:3). He, or she, is one who says “follow me as I follow Christ.”
(Speaking of Jesus, the first person commissioned by Jesus to preach the good news of his resurrection was a woman (John 20:17). And the first person to preach the gospel of Jesus to Gentiles was a woman (John 4:28). So much for women remaining silent and not teaching men.)
That’s 1 Timothy 2:12. What about the rest of the passage?
The bit about Adam and Eve
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Tim 2:13-14)
This verse has been used to club women into submission, as though Eve was somehow inferior or more sinful than Adam. This sort of thinking misses the point which is that Adam entered into sin with eyes wide open, but Eve was deceived. She was younger (Adam was formed first), less knowledgeable, and duped. This is why it’s important for the daughters of Eve to have the same learning opportunities as the sons of Adam. We all need to grow in grace and be taught lest we be deceived (see 2 Cor 11:3-4).
If you were a first-century Jewish woman, you were discouraged from learning and speaking in the assembly. Under no circumstances would you ever be allowed to teach men. Sadly, this bondage is still experienced in parts of the world today. But this was not the case in the churches that Paul planted!
Grace brings liberty. While we may debate the meaning of what Paul said, the evidence of what Paul did is indisputable: Paul empowered women. He identified female teachers by name and, far from naming and shaming them, he called them colleagues in Christ. He would’ve loved Joyce Meyer!
Who taught Tim?
Paul was writing to a young man who had been raised by two godly women, Lois and Eunice (2 Tim 1:5). Who taught Timothy? Lois and Eunice!
After acknowledging the faith-heritage of these ladies, Paul reminded Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.” He would say the same thing to every woman and girl reading this article.
God has given you unique gifts and talents. He’s given you a story and a voice. And what you have, the world needs. The world does not need you to lord it over others like a bad king, but the world does need you to shine with the grace God has given you.
With that in mind I’ll finish with these slightly altered words of Paul:
Let no one look down on your gender, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. (My paraphrase of 1 Tim 4:12)