Call to Worship - God's Way of Silence
This is what the Sovereign LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is
your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength
Lord, make me
know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths.
The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
Even fools
are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.
Lord, make me
know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths.
My dear
brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Lord, make me
know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths.
1 Timothy 2:11-15: Pop Quiz
11 A woman should
learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I
do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be
quiet. 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. ~ 1 Timothy 2:11-15 (NIV)
Welcome to your 1 Timothy 2:11-15 Pop quiz. It is open book
so you may want to turn to our passage. You have 25 minutes. First question.
1. 1
Timothy 2:11-15 is an important and far-reaching text about how all women should
be silent in the church because . . .
a. The
grammar and words are clear and easy to understand.
b. The
problem is easily discerned and universally applicable.
c. It’s
consistent with Paul’s other writings.
d. All
of the above.
e. None
of the above.
The answer is E. None of the above. We will see that there
isn’t one thing that is straight-forward about this text.
2. To
understand 1 Timothy 2:12 one must know about hapax logomenon. Hapax logomenon
is . . .
a. a
new Star Wars’ villain dispatched to take out Baby Yoda.
b. when
a word is used only once in a piece of literature.
c. the
name of the Apostle Paul’s grandmother.
d. when
two words are joined to make a single point.
The answer is B. In vs. 12, Paul doesn’t use the normal word
for authority that he always uses – exousia, which simply means to have
authority over and which Paul uses 25 times. The word he uses here is unrelated
to that word and appears only once in the entire Bible - a hapax logomenon,
“a thing said only once.”- αὐθεντεῖν.
In classical
Greek the word meant “kin-murderer” and later came to be associated with more
generalized violent crime or aggressive, bullying behavior. What’s true of any
meaning associated with the word is that the people who are targets of such
behavior are always harmed or forced against their will (it is a negative word).
A proper synonym would thus be dominate/coerce/ bully. As Christians, men or
women, no one should authentein another.
3. This
Greek word describes the practice of joining two words with a conjunction to
make a single point. That Greek word is . . .
a. Momaw
nadon
b. Boshek
c. Hendiadys
d. Ackmena
The answer is C. All the other answers are Star Wars
characters. A hendiadys is when two words, joined by a conjunction, make a
single point. For example, “Don’t eat and run” is an example. The prohibition
is not about eating, but about eating and then leaving quickly. In fact, eating
is being encouraged and not prohibited. In 1 Timothy 2:12 didaskein [to
teach] is joined with authentein by the conjunction oude. Some
scholars argue that this is best understood as a hendiadys. Teaching is not
being prohibited but rather teaching in a harmful or domineering way is being
banned. Such a translation has the advantage of reflecting a more consistent view
of Paul’s understanding of women having teaching authority – he worked
alongside women taught men, like Priscilla.
4. Unlike
English, the language of the New Testament, Koine Greek, has an imperative
tense used for commands. How many commands appear in our passage?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3
The answer is B. The only imperative in the entire passage
is the verb “learn” in vs. 11. Paul’s only command is for “A woman to learn . .
.” Another important point, particularly for those reading the NIV translation,
is that the NIV adds a modifying word that does not appear in the text. The
word “must” as in “she must be silent” (vs. 12). There is no “must” in this
verse and “be silent” is not a command. Furthermore, the Greek word is not
“silent” like we encountered in 1 Corinthians 14. Here Paul uses the word hesuchia,
which means “calmness,” “quietness,” or “gentleness.” The same word is used
earlier (1 Timothy 2:2) for both genders instructing them to a peaceable life
of praying for everyone. At the very least, we might say that Paul is
encouraging women to be good students. Learning quietly and submissively was
(and is) the usual behavior of a good student.
There are other things I could quiz you on. I could ask for
example why vs. 11 switches to the singular “woman” as opposed to vs. 9 which
speaks of women. Is it possible that Paul is referring to a specific couple in the
Ephesian church in which a wife is behaving in an unChristlike way toward her
husband?
5. Why
does Paul write 1 Timothy? Is there a problem?
a. Paul
wrote 1 Timothy as a “church manual” for how all churches should function. Upstart
women are the problem.
b. Paul
wrote 1 Timothy to address the problem of heresy in the Ephesian church.
c. Paul
wrote 1 Timothy to address the problem of heresy which was targeting women in
the Ephesian church.
d. Paul
is the problem. He hates women.
The answer is C. 1 Timothy might seem like a “church manual” but a more careful
reading reveals that the problem is a deviation from proper church teaching in
the form of heresy. Heresy is a belief that is contrary to accepted teaching. Paul
articulates his purpose for writing 1 Timothy in vss. 3 and 4 of chapter 1: 3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay
there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false
doctrines any longer 4 or to devote
themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial
speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. ~ 1
Timothy 1:3-4
Later in chapter 5, he articulates this
again but notes that it’s a particular problem for some women in the Ephesian
church: 13 Besides, they [younger widows] get into the habit of
being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become
idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.
14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to
have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for
slander. 15 Some have in fact already
turned away to follow Satan. ~ 5:13-15.
Like 1 Corinthians 14 – women were not the problem. The
problem in 1 Cor. 14 was disruption and disorder which women were particularly
struggling with. Similarly, in 1 Timothy the problem was not women per se but a
heresy that women were particularly susceptible to. Doesn’t it make sense that
Paul would speak so strongly because wrong views about the faith were being
taught by some women? That’s why Paul commands them to learn.
6. In
1 Timothy 2:15, the Apostle Paul argues that women . . .
a. become
Christians and come to salvation through pregnancy and motherhood.
b. come
to salvation through faith AND a proper, submissive sexual role.
c. will
be saved from the heresy plaguing the Ephesian church, which, in part, forbids
marriage, by bearing children and managing their homes.
d. None
of the above. Paul didn’t write it.
The answer is C. Understanding the setting of heresy and its pull on women in
the Ephesian church helps makes sense of what might be the most challenging
verse in our passage, vs. 15. If the problem that Paul is addressing is heresy,
which we’ve already seen is amply demonstrated in the letters of 1 & 2
Timothy. And if that heresy relates mostly to women through incorrect visions
of Eve (a particular problem in Ephesus), a forbidding of marriage (1 Tim. 4:3),
then wouldn’t it make sense that Paul would promote “childbearing” as the best
means of combating this heresy. In this way, perhaps the most apt meaning for
vs. 15 would be thus, “But women will be saved [from heresy] through
childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”
This reading makes sense when coupled with 5:14-15: 14 So
I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and
to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15 Some
have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
It’s not consistent with Paul’s other writings and the
Scripture as a whole.
7. In
1 Timothy 2:13-14, Paul uses Genesis 2 to support his point of women learning
quietly. Every time Paul uses the creation account of Genesis, he does so to
make a hierarchical argument which grants authority to men over women.
TRUE FALSE
The answer is False. Paul enjoys using the creation
account in a number of different settings for different reasons: Romans 5; 1
Cor. 15:21-22; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Cor. 11. In Romans 5 he uses the Genesis story to
to discuss how sin entered the world through one man, Adam. And will go on to
say that sin originates with Adam and infects all of us, without ever
mentioning Eve. He does this to highlight the significance of Jesus Christ –
the one man who brings salvation (He says the same thing in 1 Cor. 15:21-22).
In 2 Corinthians, Paul challenges false teachers by describing them as those
who were deceived like Eve (2 Cor. 11:3). Here, Eve’s deception is a negative
model warning all Corinthian believers – men and women – against false
teaching. This shows that Paul did not limit Eve’s deceivability to women alone.
For Paul, the contextual needs of the argument determine what part of the
Genesis narrative he uses and emphasizes. In 1 Timothy, he uses Genesis to
suggest that women should learn quietly. In 1 Corinthians 11:11-12, however,
Paul qualifies any “order of creation” argument stating: “Nevertheless, in the
Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of women. For just as
woman came from man so man comes through woman; but all things come from God.”
8. When
was the first time in English a writer defended the full participation of women
suggesting that Paul in 1 Timothy 2 was actually targeting women who were in
error?
a. 1666
b. 1979
c. 1345
d. February
16, 2020 – right now!
The answer is A. This means that the driver of such a
reading cannot be a modern capitulation to secular feminism. It was written by
a Quaker, Margaret Fell, who argued for the full participation of women in
ministry and suggested that 1 Timothy 2 related to women who were in error not
all women. The driver of such a reading was Scripture itself.
9. Which
of the following Biblical characters could challenge a literal, universalizing
reading of 1 Timothy 2:11-15?
a. Priscilla
b. Huldah
c. King
Lemuel’s mother
d. All
of the above
e. None
of the above
The answer is D. 1 Timothy 2:11-15, even if taken literally in an English
translation, does not represent a biblical consensus on the issue of women
teaching and leading men in the Bible. Let’s not forget Priscilla who taught
Apollos (Acts 18:24-26), Huldah who instructed the King of Israel (2 Kings
22:14-20), and Anna who spoke to the people around the temple (Luke 2:36-38).
Each one advised and instructed men. And let’s not forget Deborah, King
Lemuel’s mother (Proverbs 2`1:1-9), Abigail, and the other women whose voices
became Scripture. Their words were considered important, relevant, and
worthwhile enough to be recorded in God’s Word where they still teach and instruct
both men and women about God.
10. Is the Bible a trustworthy book?
a. Yes
and often reads itself.
b. No
c. Yes.
But like any good gift from God it can be abused and/or misunderstood.
d. A
and C
The answer is D. The Bible is a trustworthy book but like anything that is
good and lovely, it can be misused, even accidentally, or weaponized intentionally.
But, I would like to point out that almost all of the ways in which I have
challenged an overly literal reading of the text come from the Bible itself.
When studied well and as a whole, the Bible reads itself, offers correction,
contains its own GPS. When studied well and read carefully, it will get you
where you need to go – and where that is means salvation and life in Christ and
not being always being right. When it doesn’t seem so clear maintain a humble and
loving attitude and avoid fashioning a theology which promotes a few verses as
being the sole arbiter of a topic. This passage occupies an enormous place in
some churches’ theology on women. Should it? Probably not, when we read it
carefully. we
need to know about God and ourselves. It can be abused. How do we avoid that?
By loving it in return.
1 comment:
One of the most creative and clear treatments of 1 Timothy I have encountered. Thank you.
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