Read with Me
1 Timothy 2:11-15 (HCSB)
A woman should learn in silence with full submission. I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to be silent. For Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed. But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with good judgment.
Listen with Me
Paul’s words seem out of touch and chauvinistic to many today, to men as well as to women. But the context of not only these statements, but also of Paul’s entire ministry and corpus of writings is needed to understand the point he is making here.
To begin with, this paragraph comes in the immediate context of addressing the issue Paul wrote about before it: the problem of the prominent women of Ephesus pushing themselves forward in the Church and striving to be recognized and given credibility because of who they were and what they possessed. They were perhaps wise in the ways of the world, but not in the ways of the kingdom.
Some of these women were even trying to overrule the men who had been placed in charge of the Church by Paul and Timothy, and who had been called to teach the people. Thus, these women were contributing to the confusion and division being caused by false teachings (1:3-4). This could not be allowed to continue.
Paul’s corrective was to remind these women that, even though they might have a lot of authority in the world and in their homes, the Church ran on a different sort of standard. Paul had no problem declaring that in God’s kingdom women were not seen as inferior to men (Galatians 3:26-28). He had no problem with women who were called to lead in the Church, as shown in Roman’s 16:3, here even putting Priscilla ahead of her husband Aquila, and Roman’s 16:7, where the form of Junias indicates that this person, imprisoned at one point along with Paul and considered outstanding among the apostles, was a woman.
He did not push back against women who were specifically called to teach, even when their students were men (Acts 18:24-26, where Priscilla is listed before Aquila again, this time as those who taught Apollos the way of God more adequately). And he did not push back against women like the four virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9), the counterpart of today’s preachers who deliver God’s word to the people both, both men and women.
Paul’s point here was addressed to those women who were pushing themselves forward and trying to seize authority apart from a distinct and confirmed calling from God. Instead of trying to move the Church in the direction they desired, Paul instructs them to learn in silence and in full submission to those who had been called and assigned to lead, realizing that, apart from the clear calling by God, He had given responsibility for leadership to men cleared back in the garden of the Eden (Genesis 3:16), and that it was those men who would be held accountable for the direction and growth of the Church.
Pray with Me
Father, this added context brings some welcome clarity to this passage. Some have used this passage without the larger context to declare that women can never hold any position of authority in the Church. But these additional Scriptures show that that is not the complete story. Instead, being able to see that what we have authority to do in Your Church is not a matter of social position, force of personality, or even of gender, but a matter of specific calling by You is very helpful. As always, your complete counsel of Scripture gives the best light. Thank you, Lord! Amen