Women: A Biblical Perspective
12/07/1997 - The Writings of Paul
This morning we tackle what I believe is the toughest text in the New Testament regarding the issue of women in the church. The passage I'm talking about is found in 1 Timothy 2:11-15. If you have a Bible or a New Testament, please meet me at 1 Timothy 2:11.
In this passage the Apostle Paul writes, A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. At first glance it looks like this passage torpedoes everything we've learned up to this point about the equality and mutuality that women have with men in the eyes of God and in the ministry of his church. It seems like a no brainer. Women should not teach, lead or even speak in church.
Yet this passage was written by the same Apostle Paul who in 1 Corinthians 11 said that women could speak in the church. They could pray and prophesy, as long as they did it properly. And the same Apostle Paul who in Galatians 3:28 erased any distinctions that would oppress or limit anyone in the church when he wrote that, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So what's Paul saying here? Again, like last week, we're faced with the challenge of harmonizing what appears to be Paul's binding comments in 1 Timothy 2 with everything else he wrote in the New Testament that liberates women for ministry.
Rebecca Merrill Groothuis in her excellent book, Good News for Women, illustrates some of the tensions that arise from the interpretation of this passage. Those of us who grew up in the church can probably relate to these inconsistencies.
Groothius points out that, "Because of 1 Timothy 2, some say a woman may not preach from behind a pulpit in a Sunday morning service, but the same woman may give the same message to the same audience in the Sunday evening service. Some say a woman who is a missionary may serve as the leader, teacher and pastor of a church in a foreign country, but she may not lead, teach or pastor a church in America. Some allow women to perform leadership and teaching functions in the church, but don't give them the pastoral title that men are given who perform the same leadership and teaching functions. Some allow women to perform all the pastoral duties and fill any pastoral position except that of senior pastor."
"Because of 1 Timothy 2, some say that women may offer instruction to men in private or in small groups settings like Priscilla did in the New Testament, but can't teach men in a public worship service. Some say that a woman can speak in a public worship service as long as she's not teaching Christian doctrine. Some allow women to write books that teach doctrine or even allow women to teach men in seminaries, but do not permit those same women to teach in the church. And still others say that women may teach their sons and grandsons, like Timothy was taught by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois (2 Tim. 1:5), but women may not teach those same truths to men outside their own family (pp. 209-210)."
All these contrasting views about the leadership and teaching of women in the church appeal to 1 Timothy 2:11-15 as the biblical basis for their position. When I read them this week, I was confused. But I could relate to many of them because I experienced them first hand in my own church background over the years. People draw lines based on this passage, but no one seems to draw the same line in the same place.
So what is Paul saying in 1 Timothy 2? Can a woman speak in church or not? Can a woman lead in church or not? First of all, let's lay out the playing field by setting the context. The book of 1 Timothy is actually a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy around the year 63 AD.
The letter is one of three letters that are called the pastoral epistles of Paul. The other two pastoral epistles are 2 Timothy and Titus. In each of these pastoral letters Paul is instructing Timothy and then Titus on how to pastor the church.
Titus was pastoring the church on the island of Crete. And Timothy was pastoring the church that Paul had started in the city of Ephesus which is in the country of Turkey. In 1984, I had the thrill of visiting Ephesus and exploring its many ruins. It was fascinating. I walked down the same streets that Paul walked, visited the same buildings where the church met. And stood in the same stadium where Paul's ministry had ignited a riot that almost took his life. It was a very moving experience for me.
Paul had spent about three years in that world class city establishing a church. And after he left Ephesus he turned the church over to Timothy who became the pastor. While Timothy was pastoring the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote him two letters, 1 & 2 Timothy.
The theme of this letter is stated in 1 Timothy 3:14-15, Although I hope to come to you soon, Paul says , I am writing you these instructions so that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
So the context of 1 Timothy 2 is how people should conduct themselves in the church. It' the same context as the passages we looked at last week in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14. Paul is concerned about order in the church, specifically the church in Ephesus at that time. So he has instructions for the men and for the women.
Now here's the crux of the issue. Those who claim that this passage teaches that women can never speak, never teach, never lead in any church anywhere at anytime see 1 Timothy 2 as a timeless, universal command. They would interpret this passage transculturally and say it is proper conduct for women in every church, everywhere, all the time.
Those who believe that the rest of Scripture teaches that women can speak, can lead, and can use all their spiritual gifts in the local church see 1 Timothy 2 as a specific limitation on women in the church of Ephesus at that particular time. So they would interpret this passage culturally. They say that Paul is only limiting the ministry of women in Ephesus at that particular time.
Now the question is, can we do that? Can we interpret this passage culturally? Can we say that it only applied to the church that Timothy was pastoring in Ephesus? Is there any precedent for that in Scripture? I think there is. In fact, I think the precedent comes right out of this chapter.
In 1 Timothy 2:9-10 Paul wrote to the women in Ephesus that, I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
What is the timeless, transcultural principle in this passage? I think it's that women should dress modestly, with decency and propriety. Literally, in the Greek text, that means modestly, with decency and propriety, dress that's not designed to be a sexual turn on to men. What's the cultural command in this passage? It's the braided hair, the gold, the pearls and the expensive clothes because of what they represented in that culture.
If that's meant to be transcultural for all women in all churches for all time, then that means that the women at Valley View can never come to a meeting of the church with braids in their hair, gold or pearl earrings, bracelets, pins, wedding bands, or expensive clothes. What's expensive? Probably most of what women wear, even in the casual environment of Valley View, would be considered expensive clothes by first century standards.
So why did Paul specifically prohibit certain hairstyles, jewelry and clothing in Ephesus? Most likely because braided hair, gold, pearls and seductive clothing were the mark of loose women who served as sacred prostitutes at the world famous Temple of Diana in Ephesus. The Temple of Diana (her Roman name) or Artemis (her Greek name) was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. People came from all over the Roman Empire to worship at the Temple of Diana. She was the mother goddess of fertility represented by a multi-breasted image that supposedly dropped right out of heaven into the inner sanctuary of this massive temple.
Followers of Diana believed that all life began with her and returned to her. Tombs were cut into the mountains in the shape of the womb and filled with images of Diana. And the women who served as temple prostitutes in Ephesus could easily be identified by their braided hair, gaudy jewelry and seductive clothing. So Paul is saying that the women in the church in Ephesus need to show cultural sensitivity by avoiding any appearance that would bring reproach to the gospel. That's the transcultural principle.
Would seductive dress bring reproach to the gospel in our culture? Absolutely. But what defines seductive dress now is different than what defined it in the first century. In that culture it was the wearing of braided hair, gold, pearls and expensive clothing. That's not the case anymore. That was a cultural thing.
There are other portions of 1 Timothy that need to be interpreted culturally. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul lays out a whole list of qualifications necessary for a widow to be taken care of by the church. That was essential in that culture because if a woman lost her husband she'd be destitute. Women didn't have an education or a career to fall back on. There was no life insurance, health insurance or social security. So one of the responsibilities of the church in that culture was to care for widows. And they needed a very specific list to determine which widows qualified for care. That was cultural. The transcultural principle from 1 Timothy 5 is for the church to take care of those who really are in need.
Some portions of 1 Timothy need to be interpreted personally. In 1 Timothy 5:23 Paul says specifically to Timothy, Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. Is that meant to be a transcultural principle for everyone, everywhere, for all time? Some of you are saying, "Yes, I think so. I like a little wine now and then!" But that command was specifically for Timothy. So if you don't drink a little wine for your stomach you're not violating the Scripture.
The first rule of interpreting any passage in Scripture is to determine what that passage meant to the original audience. Then to determine if that interpretation is meant to be personal, cultural or transcultural. We saw it last week in the head covering passage of 1 Corinthians 11. You can find it in Romans 14 where Paul talks about meat sacrificed to idols. There are passages in the New Testament that refer to slaves serving their masters. These were cultural issues. And I believe 1 Timothy 2 is addressing a cultural issue specifically related to the church in Ephesus.
What was going on in Ephesus at that time Paul wrote this letter? First of all, false teaching was rampant. And it was threatening to destroy the church. So Paul addresses it right at the top of the letter. Look at 1 Timothy 1:3-4, As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men (literally "certain persons")not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith.
Ephesus, because of the cult of Diana, was a hotbed for false teaching. So Paul's first concern for the church at Ephesus is doctrinal purity. He doesn't want false teaching to creep into the church. So he sets some very high standards for those who do the teaching. And one of the standards for the church at Ephesus at that particular time was no women teachers.
Why no women teachers? Because the women in Ephesus didn't know enough to teach. First, they needed to learn the Scriptures. And so in 1 Timothy 2:11 Paul says, A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. The phrase quietness and full submission was an expression used to indicate a teachable, receptive spirit, not an argumentative or disagreeable spirit. In our 20th century culture it's hard to appreciate how radical it was for Paul to command women to learn in a culture that for centuries kept women ignorant. But Paul wants them to learn before they teach.
Because of the present tense for the word "permit" in verse 12, the passage could accurately be translated, I am not currently permitting a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. Why? Because women weren't ready to teach in Ephesus. They needed to learn first, just like men do. And if they didn't learn first they would fall prey to deception just like Eve did in the garden. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Some have tried to use these verses to support the fact that women are more gullible than men or that women shouldn't teach because they are more easily deceived. I disagree. I don't think that is Paul's point here at all. I think his point is that in the garden, Eve was the lesser informed of the two. She was the latecomer on the scene. Adam had been the teacher. Eve had been the learner. Yet when the crisis came Eve wasn't fully prepared to act as the teacher so she fell into the devil's trap. Eve is an example of a women who wasn't adequately prepared to teach.
I think that conclusion is supported in Romans 5 where Paul doesn't hang the responsibility for sin on Eve's gullible spirit but in that passage singles Adam out as the one who plunged the human race into sin by his willful act of disobedience.
Another difficulty in this passage is the word Paul uses for "authority" in verse 12. It's only found once in the entire New Testament and it means "to dominate" or "to control." So what Paul is trying to prevent here is unlearned women from teaching the Scriptures in a dominating, controlling way. Apparently some assertive women in Ephesus were getting completely carried away with their new found freedom in Christ and were trying to usurp the teacher's place even before they accurately learned the Scriptures.
So Paul says, I am not currently permitting these women to teach! But , he says in verse 15, women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. What in the world does that mean? Again, I think we need to understand the culture here. I think the salvation that Paul is speaking of here is not theological salvation from hell. Women don't go to heaven because they have babies! I think it's physical salvation from death.
Death in childbirth was not uncommon in the first century. And in the city of Ephesus, which was dominated by the cult of Diana, the goddess of fertility, Paul needed to make it clear that the saving of a woman's life in childbirth is not in the hands of Diana. It's the hands of God. Don't look to Diana to save you in childbirth, look to God.
And Eve's sin in the garden is not something that God holds over the heads of women in childbirth. He is the savior of women in childbirth. Instead, what God is looking for in women is faith, love and holiness. The same things he is looking for in men.
So what have we said today about 1 Timothy 2:11-15. If you believe that the passage is transcultural then it does prohibit women from teaching men in any church, anywhere, at anytime. In fact, it even prohibits them from speaking at all. But if you believe the passage is cultural then it is only prohibiting women in the church at Ephesus from teaching at that particular time because they were unlearned.
Is there precedent for understanding this to be cultural? Yes there is. So then what is the transcultural principle that we can conclude from this much debated passage. I think it is this: Unqualified, incompetent persons (men or women) should not be permitted to teach or to lead the church of Jesus Christ. There's too much at stake! Next week we'll wrap the series with how all this affects women today.