I Tim. 2:11-12 - Bible Lessons from Jeff Gulleson

DOES A WOMEN’S SUBMISSION DEMAND SILENCE?

(I Tim. 2: 11-12)

INTRODUCTION:

OVERVIEW OF I TIMOTHY 1:1-20 to 2:15

1:1-2 – Overview of Christian Faith based on names for God and the blessings He bestows on His people.

1:3-4a False teaching in Ephesian Church and how humanistic philosophy effects us today.

1:4b-6 – The goal of the command is love. (Loving God, fellow Christians, the non-Christian world)

1:7-8 – The law is good if used properly. (The law’s deterrent, punitive and educative purposes)

1:8-11 – “Whatever else …” The Gospel Ethic. (Law-Philia University)

1:11 – “The Blessed God” and our Relationship with Him. (We can fill God’s heart with pain or joy and

happiness)

1:12-16 Why Paul considered himself the worst of sinners.

1:12-16 Conversion of the apostle Paul.

1:12-16 Paul’s call to ministry.

1:17 Paul’s doxology of praise for his conversion.

1:18-20 How to avoid shipwrecking our faith.

2:1-3 The Christian is to pray for all men.

2:4,6 Comparison of Calvinism & Armenianism.

2:5-6 The man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator.

2:1-7 The vision, the message, the means.

2:8-15 Treatment of women in the ancient world, the early church and the Bible.

2:8-15 Three key principles of hermeneutics to keep in mind when studying the Bible.

2:8 Praying Men with Peaceful Hearts

2:9-10 A First-Century Christian Woman’s Dress and Deeds

2:11-12 Does Submission Demand Silence?

DOES A WOMAN’S SUBMISSION DEMAND SILENCE?

I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. 9I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 11A WOMAN SHOULD LEARN IN QUIETNESS AND FULL SUBMISSION. 12I DO NOT PERMIT A WOMAN TO TEACH OR TO HAVE AUTHORITY OVER A MAN; SHE MUST BE SILENT. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15But women [she] will be saved [restored] through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. (I Tim. 2:15-18).

As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church (I Cor. 14:34-35).

INTRODUCTION:

Five Hermeneutical Principles:

(1) The Principle of Original Intent

(2) The Principle of Precedent

(3) The Principle of Context

(4) The Principle of Harmony

(5) The Principle of History

REVIEW OF THE FIVE HERMENUTIC PRINCIPLES

IN THE STUDY OF I TIM. 2:11-12

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

1. THE PRINCIPLE OF ORGINAL INTENT

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Gen. 1:27-28).

“[Eve], your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16).

1.1 Men & women were made in the image of God and given a joint mandate to subdue the earth.

1.2. The fall into sin affected the relationship between man and woman, basically because man’s sinful nature would cause him to dominate the woman.

1.3. Equality in person and mandate but a definite change in roles.

1.4. Remember Jesus set the standard against divorce based on the pre-fall relationship between husband-wife as “one-flesh.”

2. THE PRINCIPLE OF PRECEDENT

The question is: Did women ever have a teaching / speaking role in Biblical history and in the early centuries of the church?

“The role of women in the church is a topic that is hotly debated today. Unfortunately, the debate has left the pages of Scripture to find its resolution. The traditional doctrines are being swept away by the flood tides of evangelical feminism. Churches, schools, and seminaries are rapidly abandoning truths they have held since their inceptions. Dozens of books are being written defending the new “truth” regarding the role of women. Ironically, some of the authors of those books formerly held to the traditional, biblical view. But under the pressure of feminism they have abandoned bible accuracy in favor of the culture. The biblical passages on women’s roles are being culturally reinterpreted, ignored because of the alleged anti-female bias of the biblical authors, or dismissed as the additions of later redactors. The ultimate source of those attacks is the archenemy of God, Satan. His goal, as always, is to overthrow God’s plan and corrupt His design.” (John MacArthur, pg 78).

“…the scholarship of patriarchy. I mean the term ‘patriarchy’ here in a literal sense, because, in fact the authors do favor the rule of men in church and home. …Our brothers accuse me and the mainstream of being influenced by modern feminism, rather than the Bible. I accuse these brothers in Christ of being biased against women’s leadership, because these men have absorbed the patriarchal, worldly presuppositions of traditional Western culture (the historic position)” (Alan G Padgett, pg 24).

2.1. Women prophets in the Bible: Miriam (Ex. 15:20); Deborah (Judges 4:4); Huldah (II Kings 22:14); wife of Isaiah (Isa 8:3); Daughters shall prophesy (Joel 2:28); Anna (Luke 2:36); Four daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9).

2.2. Priscilla with her husband Aquila was a valued teacher in the early Church, who led Apollos to a knowledge of the truth (Acts 18:26) [The KJV listed Aquila first in this verse although many translations list Priscilla first. It appears the early translators couldn’t stand to have a woman playing a key teaching role].

2.3. Euodia and Syntyche, in spite of their quarrel, were women who labored in the Gospel (Phil. 4:2-3).

2.4. There were women deacons in the early church (Rom. 16:1) [the original translators used the word servant for deacon here but the Greek word is the same as in I Tim. 3:10,12 for male deacons].

2.5. According to Gordon Fee [commentator], in some of the house churches women pray (I Cor. 11:5) and probably give a teaching from time to time (I Cor. 14:26) and in Titus 2:3-4 the older women are expected to be good teacher of the young ones. Women are also given gifts “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (I Cor. 12:7).

2.6. Paul held Lois and Eunice in the highest honor (II Tim. 1:5), and there is many a woman’s name held in honor in Romans 16.

2.7. “All important modern translations of the Bible now restore the original language used by Paul in I and II Timothy, but somehow the illusions fostered by the King James falsifications remain the common wisdom. Nevertheless, there is virtual consensus among historians of the early church as well as biblical scholars that women held position of honor and authority in early Christianity” (The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark, pg. 109).

2.8. “Amidst contemporary denunciations of Christianity as patriarchal and sexist, it is easily forgotten that the early church was so especially attractive to women that in 370 [34 years after the death of Constantine] the emperor Valentinian issued a written order to Pope Damasus I requiring that Christian missionaries cease calling at the homes of pagan women. …. Classical writers… recognized that Christianity was unusually appealing because within the Christian subculture women enjoyed far higher status than did women in the Greco-Roman world at large” (The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark, pg. 95).

3. PRINCIPLE OF CONTEXT

3.1. False teaching was destroying the Ephesian church.

“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies” (1:5).

3.2. Men were the instigators, proponents and main propagators of these false doctrines and Paul excommunicated two of them.

“Some have rejected these (faith and a good conscience) so have have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme” (1:19-20).

“Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some” ( II Tim. 2:17-18).

3.3. In spite of dealing with the false teachers, the church was still in trouble. Paul describes the atmosphere in the Ephesian church:

Stupid arguments and godless chatter about myths and genealogies generated controversy, disputing, friction, conflict, quarrels, strife, anger and malicious talk.

3.3. Women were also involved in spreading false teaching.

It is important to remember that women, at that time, were very uneducated or under-educated compared to men.

Also the church was giving women a much wider role than they had in Jewish, Greek or Roman culture. Becoming a Christian was a great liberating moment for these women.

Paul speaks of Eve being “deceived” (2:14) and refers to “deceiving spirits” (4:1). Younger widows were “going about from house to house … saying things they ought not to” (5:13). They were giving the enemy an “opportunity to slander” (5:14). Some of the younger widows “turned away to follow Satan” (I Tim. 5:15) and “wandered away from the faith” (6:2).

“They [the false teachers] are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (II Tim. 3:6-7).

“Although our other sources date from a somewhat later period, there is plenty of evidence that religious quackery had an especially fruitful field among women. Both their less-than-satisfying social position in Greco-Roman society and their religious hunger, typical of the era, made women easy prey. …. Women in the church had let themselves be taken in [by these false teachers]. … “gain control” when used metaphorically, as here, means to take captive by misleading or deceiving …. Thus the false teachers and these women feed on one another. The women are give “religious training” – of the worst kind, destined to feed their curiosity but not bring them to freedom of the gospel – and they in turn undoubtedly pay the false teacher handsomely” (Gordon Fee, pgs 271-272.

It appears that some of the younger widows were well off …. They had their own homes, they had time to go from house [church] to house [church] to gossip and spread the teaching of the false teachers.

So Paul dealt with the false teachers by excommunicating them; Now he deals with the women who are becoming the spokesman of the excommunicated false teachers by silencing them in the Ephesian house churches.

4. THE PRINCIPLE OF HARMONY

The Bible contains an underlying consistency. If we find some verses

that seem to go against the flow of the general stream of Scripture we

will try to see how they harmonize with the whole.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit

a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silence. (I

Tim. 2:11-12).

4.1. Do we feel that everything in these two verses are in harmony with the rest of the Bible?

4.2. We have lots of verses that support the concept of male leadership:

“[Eve], your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16).

“For Adam was formed first and then Eve” (I Tim. 2:13).

“Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is man” (I Cor. 11:3).

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church … so wives should submit to their husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:22-24).

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” (Col. 3:18).

“Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands …” (I Pet. 3:1).

4.3. We have only one other verse that indicates that women should be silent in the church whereas we have many, many verses that indicate that women had a teaching ministry in the church.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silence (I Tim. 2:11-12).

5. THE PRINCIPLE OF HISTORY

5.1. No word of God was spoken in a cultural vacuum; every word was spoken in a cultural context. … Scripture is an amalgam of … eternal truth which transcends culture and its transient cultural presentation. The former is universal and normative; the latter is local and changeable. (John Stott on I Timothy, pg. 74-5).

5.2. Three options in interpreting cultural expressions in Scripture.

5.2.1. Enthrone the cultural form with a rigid literalism equating it with eternal truth.

This is “what the Bible plainly teaches …”

5.2.1. Dismiss the cultural form entirely thus downgrading the eternal truth included in the text to the level of cultural expression.

“Just as the first half of this chapter showed us Paul at his best, so the second half seems to show him as his worst. Christians are under no obligation to accept Paul’s teaching on women” (A.T. Hanson). “All things in this chapter are mere temporary regulations to meet a given situation” (William Barclay).

“The danger of declaring any passage of Scripture to have only local (not universal), and only transiet (not perpetual) validity is that it opens the door to a wholesale rejecting of apostolic teaching, since virtually the whole New Testament was addressed to specific situations” (John Stott, pg. 77).

5.2.3. Separate the eternal from the cultural – Cultural Transposition: Discerning between God’s essential revelation (which is changeless) and its cultural expression (which is changeable).

5.3. Looking at the three options of interpreting cultural expressions in the light of I Tim. 2:11-12.

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silence (I Tim. 2:11-12).

QUESTION: What concepts in the verse have enough Scriptural support to assure us that they are eternal?

The concept of male leadership and authority.

QUESTION: What concepts in the verse could be considered cultural?

The idea of a woman teaching in a church, the demand for silence on the part of a woman, her need to learn in quietness without speaking.

5.3.1. If we enthrone the cultural form of this text with rigid literalism, what do we get?

Women will never teach men in the church and in fact would not be allowed to sing in the choir, testify, or ask questions. In fact she would not be allowed to ask any question about what was taught until she got home.

This is odd because in our age women are often much more knowledgeable concerning the Scriptures than are their husbands.

5.3.2. If we dismiss the whole passage as cultural expression only relevant in the Palestinian Judaism of the Gospels, what do we lose?

There is no longer any need for male leadership in the home or the church and the roles of male and female are dramatically changed if not reversed.

5.3.3. If we separate the eternal from the cultural (Cultural Transposition) what do we preserve as eternal and what do we accept as cultural expression?

We make it possible for women to play a teaching role in the church under submission while maintaining the Biblical male-female roles and relationship.

6. SOME OTHER MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION

6.1. What would our church look like if we did not differentiate NT culture from the eternal principles in the Corinthian and I Timothy texts.

Men would be required to lift their hands in prayer.

Women would not be allowed to wear braided hair in church.

Women would not be allowed to wear gold/pearl jewelry.

Women would be required to wear a hat in church.

Women not allowed to wear expensive clothing in church.

An uncovered head would be considered a disgrace.

A shorn head would be considered a disgrace.

Women would not be allowed to speak in church.

Women would not be allowed to teach.

6.2. Men are also required to be submissive, under authority.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).

QUESTION: Should not all teachers in the church be under authority of the elders when they teach?

QUESTION: Is Pastor Rich, even though the Senior Pastor, under authority when he teaches at Bethany?

QUESTION: Could a woman, then, teach while being undera uthority?

QUESTION: The law says that a woman must be under the authority of a man but does the law ever say a woman must be silent or not teach?

6.3. Permitting a woman to teach is different then putting a woman in authority.

“Now the overseer must be … the husband of but one wife …. Hemust manage his own family well … He must not be a recent convert etc.” (I Tim. 3:2-5).

“An elder must be … the husband of but one wife ….” (Titus 1:6).

Here it is obvious that the elder/overseer must me a man. Permitting a woman to teach does not mean that you would then permit a woman to be an elder.

6.4. John MacArthur’s Answer to all the above.

In no way does the New Testament treat women as spiritual inferiors … In short, all the promises, commands, and blessings of the New Testament apply equally to women and men. As in the Old Testament, spiritual equality does not preclude differing roles. There are no women pastor-teachers, evangelists, or elders in the New Testament. None of the authors of the New Testament were women. The New Testament nowhere records a sermon or teaching of a woman. While the daughters of Philip are said to have prophesied, neither the occasion nor the message is defined. There is no reason to assume they had an on-going preaching ministry, or that they taught during the public worship. They, like Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:46ff.), or Anna (Luke 2:36-39), delivered some message of truth elsewhere …. When the church gathers, however, women are to listen to men who teach quietly … with entire submissiveness.” (John MacArthur, pg. 85).

6.5. The matter of consistency

John MacArthur does not require men to raise their hands in worship, women to avoid wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothing to church, or requires young widows to marry (“So I counsel younger widows to marry – I Tim. 5:14).

6.6. But there are two sides to this discussion.

We must admit that the Scripture is not clear on a woman’s teaching ministry in the church. John MacArthur and those of his persuasion have some good arguments and they are good men who honor the Word while honoring women too. It is good to hold a position in this matter but it must be held in love recognizing that there are two sides that conscientious and biblically literate people could hold and find support for.

So if we disagree let us agree to disagree in love!

SO WHAT?

1. Are we willing to check our traditions, no matter how long standing, against the Word of God?

The concept of slavery was defended by devout evangelicals in the South who certainly would not support it today. Could we be in the same trap as to women’s ministry in the church?

2. Have we had a correct attitude towards women and their role in the life of the church?