1 Timothy 2:11-15:
Let a woman learn in silence in all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved through childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with self-control.
In the last post I covered how this verse was not intended to be a timeless command, but rather a temporary situation. Now let’s talk about this pesky word “authority.” Are women not supposed to have authority over men? Sadly this has been at the root of a lot of abuse and misunderstanding in the Church. Let’s take a closer look.
There are 47 Greek words which mean to rule or govern, in the sense of authority but Paul did not choose to use those. If Paul meant authority, as we understand it today, he could have used a different term to convey his meaning. The most commonly used word is exousia which speaks of rightful or positive authority. However, in this passage the word authentein is used. Authentein originally had a negative connotation. The word meant to murder, then evolved to mean “to originate from one’s hand” (this is where we get the word author from). Eventually it came to mean to “dominate” or “usurp” authority or to represent oneself as the originator of something. This implication gives this verse a completely different meaning. It does not mean a woman cannot have authority over a man, but rather that she should not dominate or usurp his (or any Church leaders) authority from them.
You might ask, why was Paul concerned with this? In Jewish or Roman culture, this surely would not be an issue since women had little authority and were thought of as the property of men. However, once again context is everything. We must find this out to gain a correct interpretation.
As I mentioned in the last post, the city of Ephesus was known for their temples devoted to the worship of the goddess Artemis. Because of their belief in a female deity they believed that the woman was created first and therefore had authority over men. Because of this many women held positions of prominence in city life. We see an example of one such woman in the book of Acts where Paul encounters Lydia, a very influential woman. This would only happen in Greek culture. These women would have likely tried to impose their cultural standards into the Church, and may have attempted to usurp authority from the Church leaders. Paul was not saying that women in general cannot have authority over men but rather was speaking to these particular women (or any person for that matter) that they must not violently dominate or usurp authority. Further evidence is found in 2 Tim 1:5 where Paul honors Timothy’s mother and grandmother for passing their faith on to Timothy. Timothy learned the Gospel from women so it is doubtful that Paul would prohibit all women from teaching or all men from sitting under a woman’s authority as a teacher.
The other nuanced meaning of authentein, connects to the passage as a whole. I mentioned the word can also mean “to originate from one's hands” or to claim oneself the author of something. This makes sense because in the next verse Paul says, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” Paul is reminding them that Eve (or the goddess Artemis, according to their belief) was not born first, but Adam. And the woman did not save the world through the serpent as their legend had it, but rather was deceived by him, and brought sin into the world.
I have mentioned before that each letter that contained seemingly restrictive passages on women, were only written to Greek churches where there were issues with synchronism with cult practices and Christian doctrine. Just to make it even more abundantly clear that Paul intended those verses for specific people, we can look to the beginning of those epistles and see they are clearly addressed to those churches, not intended to be messages for all churches.
2 Corinthians 1:1, “Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God...to the church of God which is at Corinth” and 1 Timothy 1:1-3. “To Timothy, my true child in the faith...remain on in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.”
When we gather all of this evidence together the picture comes into focus. We can see that this is not about the “women’s place”, or “the curse of Eve” as many would like to have it. This is a verse about false teaching. Paul is not creating a doctrine about women, rather he refuting a false doctrine of the Greek religion. This is not an isolated text, but fits with the whole of Paul’s letter (in fact most of his letters) where he warns the church against false teaching, and reminds them to remain steadfast in the truth of God’s Word.
