The restrictions put on women’s functioning in the church by complementarians generally come down to a few key verses. As I’ve written before, most people read the entirety of the Scriptures through the complementarian filter of those few verses. Because they believe those verses must be true as they are literally read, they dismiss anything else that doesn’t fit. Nowhere is this more apparent than with 1 Timothy 2:9-15.
The Meaning of I Timothy 2:9-15
Last Friday Wade Burleson posted what may be the best layperson overview of the culture surrounding 1 Timothy 2:9-15 I have ever read anywhere.
If you don’t remember exactly what is says, here it is in the NIV.
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.
We simply cannot understand what this passage means if we ignore the context and history connected to it.
Understanding I Timothy 2:9-15
Understanding the context and history is not looking for excuses to believe whatever we want. It is reading the passage in the way it was intended.
In Artemis and the End of Us: Evangelical Errors Regarding Women, Wade writes:
Until you understand the problem Timothy faced (the man to whom the words in I Timothy 2:9-15 are written), and until you are familiar with Ephesus (the place where Timothy lived), and until you have a working knowledge of the Amazons (the warrior women that the ancient Greeks believed founded Ephesus), and until you comprehend the influence of the cult of Artemis and the Temple of Artemis which was in Ephesus, the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s words will never be rightly understood. F. F. Bruce once wrote, “Subjugation of a woman is a system of man’s fallen nature. If the work of Christ involves… breaking the fall, then the implication of His work for the liberation of women is plain.” Jesus Christ came to liberate subjugated women. The cultism in evangelicalism regarding women’s behaviors will only be broken when people lay aside stupid, false obedience to I Timothy 2:9-14 and realize the meaning of Paul’s words to Timothy.
I challenge every person reading this to prayerfully read Wade’s entire post and thoughtfully consider what he wrote. It is not for the theologically squeamish. But you should investigate for yourself the truth behind his words. You should investigate the truth for those you influence through your writing, your blogging, your parenting, your volunteering, etc. If you are understanding these verses incorrectly, wouldn’t you want to know? Wouldn’t you want those you are influencing to know?
It breaks my heart to know that there are gifted women reading this today (and men married to gifted women) who are silenced to varying degrees because of a flat out wrong understanding of this passage.
It grieves me that women will one day stand before the Lord and realize they missed out on so many opportunities to serve Him and witness for Him through the power of the Holy Spirit because they were convinced by others that they must be silent. Christians in this country lament the lives lost tragically due to abortion and rightly so. Should we not also mourn the lost spiritual life in the church due to incorrect teachings of Scripture? I do daily as I think of the gifted women I know in my own life who have been silenced and stripped of the ability to use their gifts given by the Holy Spirit.
Introverts, Shyness, And Children In The Classroom
Thank you! so much for posting this , something I could not get my head around for 14 years! Now I have to see how this has influenced my understanding of other parts of the Bible. But I do enjoy women only Bible studies! Lots to think about and research , it just seems to make common sense though. Karen Jones
Karen,
I’m glad the link was helpful. May God bless you as you study His Word. 🙂
How ironic that I have just returned from my first “womens retreat” and these are the exact verses chosen , and the question asked was ” when God gives us a calling and it goes against scripture , what do we do?” The answer eventually was that” you go with your feelings and follow God” . I did a lot of listening but I think the question is faulty, and I have just personally known too many women who” felt ” were called out of marriages and away from thier children when” God” revealed their “soul mate” to them. I thought we were Not supposed to follow our feelings but to test everything against the scriptures.? I know there are more places where scriptures seem conflicting but I would think deeper study of the Bible and history and a concordance are in order ,not a study of our FEELINGS. I have done some research on this before I even went away this weekend and am leaning towards the view of the history of Ephesus being correct. You can imagine my shock to find we were discussing this! I ran it past one lady who is a historian and she pondered it for awhile and said the most she had ever heard before was simply that social customs may have been very different, but no specifics. Also to my hearing it seemed like the focus was to be “how come those men kept womens accomplishments out of the Bible and names and acts of women are left out of the Bible because men did not want women recognized…..Does it REALLY matter who did what ..? I belong to a very liberal church and it seemed weird to me to spend so much time on the sexes. Is this the way “womens” retreats are? This is all very new to me.And I am disappointed to find out how liberal my church is . It seems the focus is to have sin not be called sin… but sin is such a trap, I believe we should flee not embrace it?? Well there I have written a book now…….if you want to respond to any of this I would appreciate your view or if not thats fine, I know you are busy and I will let this swirl in my brain for awhile ’til it settles.!
Karen,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Here are a few thoughts…
I believe that God will never lead someone to do something that contradicts His written word. So the women who were teaching that we should follow our “feelings” that contradict the teachings of the Bible are, in my opinion, wrong. The tricky part is being confident that we are correctly handling God’s Word.
The other tricky part is learning to discern the promptings of the Holy Spirit as opposed to our wishful thinking or emotions. The Holy Spirit will guide and prompt a believer according to God’s Word. I do believe we can be confident of the Spirit’s leading as we grow in Christ. I also think a believer needs to want to know the Holy Spirit’s true leading and not use the idea as an excuse to do what we want.
Re: keeping women out of the Bible… The Bible is what it is. Wondering why the Bible was written by men really wasn’t/isn’t an issue that keeps me awake at night. Understanding how Jesus viewed women, how He interacted with them, how Paul viewed women, how Paul interacted with them, and what the entire scope of the Bible says about women… That is what matters to me.
My quest for the past several years has been the intersection of these things. Remaining truthful to God’s Word as He intends it, discerning the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and studying the Bible with all the resources available to me. My feelings are secondary to the truth. I realize that isn’t a popular view in our postmodern culture, but the truth is the bottom line for me. What I feel, what others feel, how I make other people feel… Those things aren’t important. I care about knowing God’s truth and living my life in light of it.
The overriding “feeling” I have about all of this in my life? I wish I didn’t care so much and I wish it didn’t impact my life so much. But it does and so my feelings have little to do with it. I’ve said to David more than a few times that sometimes I really wish I was a shallow, non-thinking person. My life would be so much simpler. But those are just feelings, not the reality of who God created me to be and the path He has put me on.
Keep seeking God, Karen. He wants to be known and He wants you to be confident of His truth.
Thank you so much for answering in such a clear way . I am not the most educated person but my thoughts also take me where I do not wish to go sometimes , You have answered my questions in a way that has put my mind at ease. I think I get overcome with confusion when someone in authority speaks in a way that is contrary to the way I have understood the Bible , I have read over the years enough of your writings to see that you truely think your beliefs through. and even on a few subjects I haven’t agreed with you I can certainly see how you came to your conclusions, so I really appreciate the time you put into this answer to me , you have gotten me out of a quagmire!!! I to wish I was simple minded or as my husband says “put your mind into the “nothing” box!!” LOL