Biblical Teaching on Women in Ministry: Exegesis II

This is the last of three blog entries on biblical teaching on women in ministry.

When we last left off, we had seemingly reached a stale-mate on whether the Egalitarian or Complementarian views of the 1^st century context of Ephesus were correct. We move forward with the understanding that, at this present moment, there are two possibilities of the context. Certainly, if the biblical interpretation is dependent upon one of these views, then our certainty of correctness is dependent upon the correctness of our understanding of the context. Yet, if our biblical interpretation is discernable from the text itself without necessary dependency on either context theory, we can move forward with certainty.  God has communicated His Word to us and desires for us to understand it.

In some of the commentaries on this issue (and not all commentaries I’m looking at in this study are thoroughly Orthodox), a common approach employed is to assert the truth from Galatians 3:28 and to subsequently declare the teaching from 1^st Timothy 2:11-12 to be false or incorrect or in need of serious modification.  Though the “analogy of faith” approach of using an easy to understand passage to interpret a difficult to understand passage is time-tested in the Church, this particular case raises the question of which passage is actually the “easy” one to read that will be used to determine the other’s interpretation. In this case, the ”easiness” of reading seems to perhaps stem more from the values (biblical or otherwise) that we bring to the passage rather than the vagueness of the Author’s intent.   This phenomenon is similar to how some people find it difficult to combine the truths from Romans 4:1-4 with the truths from James 2:14-18.  My approach then, in this study, will be to look at the teaching of 1^st Timothy 2:8-15 alone, separate from “analogy of faith” considerations. Subsequently, I’ll look at a Systematic Theology approach, which will combine 1^st Timothy 2:11-12 with Galatians 3:28 (and other verses).

The reference to “woman”  (γυνή)  in this passage can either refer to a woman in general or a wife, but the context seems to support the broader meaning.  The word “silence” (ἡσυχία) can either mean “silence” or “quietness”, but a context of teaching and learning suggests the former. To whom is the woman to be submissive toward? Is it to the men in verse 8 or to the Church authorities in verse 12 or both? The word order chiasm in Greek suggests that it is both. What kind of teaching are women not allowed to do? Teaching here seems to be the transmission of the tradition about Christ as well as the proclamation of God’s will.  As a reminder, the phrase in the passage is “have authority” and not “usurp authority”. Two reasons are given: 1. Order of creation – Being created out of man’s rib shows a woman’s God given role as a subordinate helper. 2. The one who sinned first – Eve’s failure serves as an example and possibly a cause of women in general to be susceptible to deception.  (Moo 63-70)

Now, having seen the prohibition for women to teach in 1 Timothy 2:11-12, we look at how this fits in with other passages in the Bible on this topic.  Galatians 3:28 is one such passage.  1 Corinthians 14:33-36 is another such passage.  Ephesians 5:22-33 is another.  Genesis 2:18 is another. Another is 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.   1 Corinthians 11:2-16 teaches that man is God’s glory and woman is man’s glory.  And the expression of this timeless universal truth is given in the cultural custom of head-coverings. Today, one application of this is that a woman may pray or prophesy in the church under the authority of a man. “Teaching involves a sustained and orderly exposition of divine revelation already given, while prophecy in the New Testament occurs when someone has a spontaneous revelation or impression, the whole or parts of which may or may not be from the Lord.”(Piper 218)  Genesis 2:18 teaches that women were created to complement men.  Women are equally valuable as men, but they were designed for a different function.  Ephesians 5:22-33 teaches that the relationship between a man and a woman is meant to mirror Christ and the Church.  1 Corinthians 14:33-36 teaches that a woman may prophesy but may not participate in evaluating the validity of a prophesy. (Piper 142)   Galatians 3:28 teaches that every believer, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, is equal in Christ.  That is, “every believer in Christ inherits fully the Abrahamic promises by grace apart from legal works.” (Piper 156)

There are some who would like to say that a woman is allowed to teach but not hold authority. Susan Foh calls this the Male-headship view.  But, in arguing for this, her starting point is as follows:

“The Bible may be approached as: (1) God’s word without human error or opinion or (2) God’s word mixed with human opinion.  Those who hold the latter view attribute Paul’s commands concerning women to the human element in Scripture and thus believe these commands are no longer applicable today.”  (Clouse 69)

Essentially, her starting point is that God’s word contains errors and non-authoritative opinions. This is not a Bible-believing approach.  2 Timothy 3:16 teaches us that all of scripture is inspired by God. And this applies both to the Old Testament and the New Testament. What should be done is discerning ideas bound to the original context from ideas which are timeless universal truths for the Church to apply. But, the main point/principle that the Author is trying to make is never culturally bound.  Thus, the “Male-headship” view, as defined by Susan Foh, is not an Orthodox position.

Moo summarizes, “Nothing which would have effect of restricting the application of Paul’s advice in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 to a particular time and place has been discovered. Indeed, the very structure of the passage must point to the inherent improbability of such restrictions, for Paul roots his teaching deeply in the culture-transcending events of the creation and fall of man and woman” (Moo 82)

WORKS CITED

Clouse, Bonnidell, Robert G. Clouse, and Robert Duncan. Culver. Women in Ministry: Four Views. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1989. Print. http://amzn.com/0830812849

Moo, Douglas J. "I Timothy 2:11-15: Meaning and Significance." TrinJ 1.NS (1980): 62-83. Web.  http://djmoo.com/articles/1Tim2.pdf

Piper, John, and Wayne A. Grudem. Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1991. http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_bbmw/bbmw.pdf