Lecture

We have spent nine sessions looking closely at women in the New Testament, mostly named women, although some, such as the Samaritan woman, are unnamed, and we've asked questions about their social and economic status, about their jobs, their marriages, their children, their fears and aspirations. We've discovered women active in the marketplace, in the home, in the synagogue and house church. Within the church, they're leaders, teachers, benefactors. Now, how did we navigate this evidence? Here are three rules that we used.

First, we tried to distinguish between a prescriptive statement and a descriptive statement. Ancient literature, including the New Testament, was composed within an androcentric culture that put men above women in numerous ways. As we've studied women in the New Testament, we've sketched their historical context not only using normative literature, but also private letters, inscriptions, business receipts. Second, we recognized that social location is critical to understanding context. We noticed how ethnicity and wealth shaped women's choices, and how they were viewed by others in the group. We saw women benefactors make real and lasting financial contributions to Jesus' ministry. And third, we've paid close attention to what the biblical text says and tried to hear it apart from our own expectations or biases. Probably the most profound example of bias we covered was the conclusion that Junia could not be a woman because she was also called an apostle, and that's taking our own conclusions and imposing them on the Bible.

We perhaps found some surprises along the way. For example, we might have thought that marriage doomed women to a life of hardship and restriction, but what we found was that most marriages of the day followed the sine manu model, wherein a wife retained control over her property. The husband did not take over his wife's assets. He did control the dowry and its proceeds. Women carried their dowry into marriage, and they retained that wealth, whether the marriage ended in divorce or with the death of their husband. Widows could lead their households. Women made financial judgments and religious decisions within marriage, sometimes without their husband's assent.

Again, we found women were active in the public sphere. We saw women in the commercial world as merchants and shopkeepers. Women populated the marketplace, selling, and buying, and loaning money. Some were educated, like Martha, and some were theologically curious, like the Samaritan woman.

Well, what do we do now? Of course, studying past figures of history is an exciting adventure in its own, but usually, we are more interested in those historical persons which in some way, help inform our present. Getting the story right and the facts correct play a large part in the current debates about women's proper behaviors and attitudes. Faulty, unreflective historical claims, they can serve contemporary ideologies and agendas, but we want to know the women in the New Testament and their productive, messy, and sometimes heartbreaking lives.

For those who study the New Testament, the fact that women were present in most of the communal venues, that entails a reassessment of who would've heard a missionary preacher like Paul or Peter speak to the market crowds, because women were present alongside men in these public places, women from a wide variety of society, including slaves and wealthy patrons. Such a realigned vision offers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the early church concerning not only gender, but also racial and social diversity, and it allows the contemporary church to examine its own record. Let's apply these principles of interpretation to a much-debated passage (1 Timothy 2:11–15).

It's no accident that we've spent the bulk of this study looking at what women did. We take that information with us to some difficult passages about women in the church, but now, with an understanding of what women were actually doing. Our interpretation of difficult passages, such as here, in 1 Timothy 2, need to fit this historical picture. So I'm not going to tell you what to conclude in this passage in 1 Timothy, I'll just give you the material to make your own decision.

So let's walk through these verses. Starting in verse 11, we read, “Let a woman learn,” and it is in the imperative, it's a command. Now, remember, Timothy is in Ephesus, in a mostly gentile church. While Jewish women like Martha and Mary were raised on Scripture, pagan women had no religious education.

Let's go to verse 12. “I do not permit . . .” Now, that's actually in the indicative and could be translated, “I am not permitting.” The verb's meaning is generally contingent on the specific situation. For example, when my kids were little, they might ask if they could have a cookie. Now, if it was 4:00 PM, I would say, “No, I am not permitting this because it's too close to supper time, and you will spoil your appetite,” but if they asked, “May I have a cookie?” And it was 8:00 PM, I might say, “Sure, I permit this, because you've had a good supper, and it'll be nice to have before you go to bed.”

How about the verb “to teach”? It's in the infinitive, and the object of “teaching” should be a noun in the accusative, but the term, “man,” “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man,” that word, “man,” is not in the accusative, it's in the genitive. Therefore, it's possible that Paul is not permitting women at this time or in this church to teach, period.

Now, let's look at the next phrase, have “authority over a man.” This is another thing that Paul is not permitting. The verb translated as “authority” occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. When we find it in other literature, it's always used in a very negative sense, kind of an abuse of power.

In verses 13 and 14, Paul brings up the story of creation, specifically the order of Adam being formed first, and then Eve, and Paul notes that Eve was deceived. Now, why does Paul mention this? One would think he's reminding them, because someone in Ephesus is claiming that Eve was first, or maybe that Eve was not deceived. At least two groups at this time were saying something very much like this, proto-Gnostics, and those who are understanding Christianity through the lens of the Artemis cult.

Verse 15, She will be saved through childbirth. “Saved” is the word typically used by Paul for salvation, but we know that we're saved only by Christ's work, so maybe Paul means delivered. And that's another acceptable translation of this verb, and that would be especially powerful when we realize that Artemis claims to be the protector of women in childbirth. Paul concludes, “. . . if they continue in faith and love and holiness . . .” Paul could be speaking here of birthing virtues, if you will, of having your life match your claim of believing in Jesus Christ.

So as you exegete this passage, remember to put it in its historical context. In this case, in Ephesus, the city which has the temple of Artemis in its midst, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and remember Junia the apostle; Prisca, the teacher of Apollos; Phoebe, the reader and exegete of Romans; Mary, who anointed Jesus in response to believing in Him when He declared His passion was at hand. Remember Mary Magdalene, the first to proclaim, “He is risen.” Let these women help you exegete these and all the passages in the Bible.

So when Paul says that he is not permitting women to teach or to have authority over men, remember this verb is contingent on the context. These women need to learn. It's important to know before you teach, and these women in Ephesus are commanded to learn. Timothy has to find a way, Paul says, to teach these women, these new converts, what the Christian message means. The verb, “I am not permitting,” implies that at some point, permission will be given. The point at which permission will be given is when they know, when they understand, when they're able to faithfully communicate the truth of the gospel.

In a similar way, at the first chapter of 1 Timothy, Paul speaks about silencing men who are teaching falsehoods, who are speculating on endless genealogies, which probably refers to speculations about angels. These men are preaching falsely, teaching falsely, and Paul says to Timothy, They need to stop. So both for men and for women, the prescription is the same. Until you know the Scriptures and the gospel message in its fullness, don't teach it.