Last updated on December 14, 2024
It’s been two months since I began this practice of daily reflections through the New Testament. We normally read the Bible one verse/passage/book at a time, but one of the greatest benefits of this practice has been reading through the lens of the entire story.
It’s impossible for us to understand every bit of the context of what was going on since we’re separated by 2000 years, but this practice has helped to bridge a lot of the gaps.
Today’s reading comes from 1 Timothy. I enjoyed reading this letter again, but I was reminded of the frustrations that I have with it. This one letter, written to Paul’s son in the faith, has been used to subjugate women throughout the past 2000 years. It has been used to perpetuate patriarchy throughout culture and within the church itself.
Here’s the passage that I’m referring to…
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
1 Timothy 2:9-15
This passage seems pretty black and white, and the majority of churches throughout the centuries have treated it as such. In my opinion, the problem is that it goes against Paul’s practices, which we’ve been looking at for the past month. We’ve seen several women play major roles in Paul’s ministry. Lydia helped Paul start the church in Philippi. Phoebe is a deacon whom Paul asks to journey to Rome to deliver, and most likely read, his letter to the Roman church. If she read it, she was most likely then fielding questions on what many call the greatest ever work of theology. And then there’s Priscilla. She and her husband Aquila formed a powerhouse team, but team is exactly what they were. They helped Paul start churches in Corinth, Ephesus and Rome. And they mentored Apollos, who would become a strong teacher in the church.
None of these women were held to these rules that he presents in 1 Timothy. They didn’t learn in quietness and full submission. They led. They taught. They had authority!
So what in the world in going on here? Well, here is one of those instances where context is key!
First, some background on Timothy…Paul most likely met Timothy on his first missionary journey. Paul then invited him to join he and Silas in his second missionary journey. Timothy remained one of Paul’s most trusted partners. Paul sent Timothy to help several churches, and he co-authored several letters with Paul: 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, . At some point Paul sent him to lead the church in Ephesus.
We know some things about Ephesus. The city housed a temple to Artemis (Diana was her Roman name), which was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was a female-only cult, and it was women who were the priestesses who ran the show. When the message of Jesus came to Ephesus, some of these women were converted, and because this was their context, people assumed that they would lead in the same way in the church. Paul feels the need to push back on this.
Second, we need to understand Paul’s purpose for writing this letter. Paul was writing it for the same reason he wrote the majority of his other letters. There was a problem, and he was being asked to help. Verse 3 of the first chapter says that certain people were teaching false doctrines. Everything in this letter needs to be read with that context in mind. This includes the things he says about women.
Lots of books have been written on this topic. I’ve just scratched the surface with these thoughts. If you want to read a short article, I recommend this one by NT Wright.
I don’t completely dismiss what Paul says in this letter regarding the role of women, but because it doesn’t reflect his previous practices, and because I believe what he was saying was specific to what was going on in Ephesus, I don’t believe it should have any bearings on how we do things today.
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