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Silencing The Lambs

WOMEN IN MINISTRY

by Joy Banks

“Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression" —1Timothy 2:11-14 NKJV

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For all Christian women who have considered choking their Pastors

when told to sit down and shut-up. In reference to 1 Tim 2:11-14, I propose that we re-examine its translation and interpretation. 1 Tim 2:11-14 has kept Christian women in subordinate positions in the church and is the first scripture many Christian men present to tell a woman that she cannot preach the word of God or pastor a church. Unfortunately, there are still pastors who will not let a woman preach in their pulpit. Women are still forbidden to enter the ministry in about 80 Christian denominations, including Roman Catholicism, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, and the Seventh Day Adventist. On one hand, Paul is the man who says that men and women are equal in the eyes of God (“...there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus,” —Gal 3:28), yet, on the other hand, he tells women to shut-up and be submissive. My heart sank every time I read, “let the women keep silent”. I assumed that Paul was obviously dictating the prevailing traditional, religious, and social place of woman in his day or was conforming to the practice of discrimination and subordination of women like most Jewish men of that time. To give a clear illustration of women's degraded position, the orthodox Jewish prayer of thanksgiving was a prayer thanking God the he had not been born a woman.

Jewish men blamed Eve for eating the forbidden fruit and consider her transgression the cause of the downfall of mankind. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” Many people believe that, since Eve was deceived by Satan and cursed by God when she ate of the fruit, the curse translates to all women today. This is comparable to Adam bringing sin and death into the world by his disobedience, which affected all generations after him, thus giving us all sinful nature. Therefore, those that believe that women are subordinate to men, and should keep silent, may also believe that women are still under a curse.

But what about the work JESUS did on the cross and His resurrection? Where Adam brought sin and death into the world, Jesus brought righteousness and life. Jesus' blood has covered the transgression of Adam and Eve, and me and you for that matter. Because of Jesus, humankind is free from sin. So why do women have to keep suffering with religious subordination by keeping silent in the Church? Didn't Jesus paid the price for us ALL?

How could Paul say that, ...there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28), and then turn around a say, ...let a woman learn in silence with all submission. I believed that there must be a interpretation or translation problem, since God has given so many women the gift of teaching, preaching, and various ministries. Furthermore, the harvest is plentiful and the laborers a few. Why insist that half the Christian population on earth keep silent when there is so much kingdom work to do on earth? Also, why would the impartial God that I know want women to be silent (Acts 10:34)?

Training School for Wives and Mothers From “In Christ's Stead” by Joanna P. Moore

Women in the Church: Yet there were some internal tensions. With the emergence of middle-class membership came issues about women's participation in the church, as some black women now had the relative leisure to look beyond the immediacies of life. Several female leaders in this era raised the issue of women's ordination, only to be rebuffed by the male hierarchy. Instead, women formed missionary societies to address all manner of local and international needs, from the support of job training in their communities to funding for African American missionaries to Africa. They worked on urban ills, established reading groups, and advocated for better living conditions. They also wrote for religious periodicals, promoting quite traditional ideals of Victorian womanhood, respectability, and racial uplift. Women also continued work among their less fortunate counterparts in the rural South, in what continued to be an uneasy alliance. Like male religious leaders, too, they protested the creeping effects of Jim Crow laws and the systematic violence of lynching.

When I read the Scriptures, Jesus was a champion for women. He condemned the traditional attitudes and practices of His day toward women by His own deliberate actions. He spoke to women in public, which was discouraged by law, and He raised them to a new status by letting them travel with His itinerant party on His preaching tour through Galilee (Luke 8:1-3). Women were faithful in ministry with Jesus, providing him with food and housing during his journeys. Jesus, in return blessed the women in his ministry. Jesus even called the religious leaders hypocrites after they criticized him for healing a woman on the Sabbath. Jesus pointed out that they treated their animals better than they treated women (Luke 13:15-16).

If Jesus were a champion for women, why would Paul fall into traditional attitudes of the time and subordinate women? The answer to this question lies in what was going on at the time when Paul was writing to Timothy. After some research, I now believe that Paul was speaking on an issue that was relevant at the time and addressing the cultural context. I read an article by David Fees which gave me insight about 1 Tim 2:11-14.

David Fees explained that Timothy was in Ephesus. At that time, Ephesus was the world center of paganism, governed spiritually by the female deity Artemis, whom the Romans called Diana. The cult of Artemis taught the superiority of the female and advocated female domination of the male. It espoused a doctrine of feminine procreation, teaching that this goddess was able to bring forth offspring without male involvement. Sexual perversion, fertility rites, and endless myths characterized the cult, and elaborate genealogies traced through female rather than male bloodlines. Rather than an androcentric perspective (dominated by or emphasizing masculine interests or a masculine point of view), they were coming from an estrocentric, or female, perspective.

Also present in Ephesus was a group of Jewish Gnostics who combined the teaching of Artemis with the teaching of the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve. In the most prevalent Gnostic version of the story, Eve was the “illuminator” of mankind because she was the first to receive 'true knowledge' from the serpent, which Gnostics saw as the “savior” and revealer of truth. Gnostics believed that Eve taught this new revelation to Adam, and, being the mother of all, was the progenitor (predecessor) of the human race. Adam, they said, was Eve's son rather than her husband. This belief reflected the Gnostic doctrine that a female deity could bring forth children without male involvement.

Imagine the confusion that was going on in the church with Jewish Gnostics spreading their beliefs to the first Christians. Paul was simply trying to clarify and address the confusion that was going on in the Church concerning the Gnostic version of the Adam and Eve story versus the first Christians' belief. When you read 1Timothy 2:11-14 with this new insight, instead of subjugating women, Paul is actually liberating women.

A key part of understanding 1Timothy 2:12, lies in Greek translation. For example, take the Greek word authentein. Many believe that the word is translated to mean, “to usurp authority” over a man, or “to have authority” over a man. Around the time the New Testament was written, the most common meaning of authentein was “to be, or claim to be the author or the originator of something.” Authentein is the crucial verb of 1Timothy 2:12. Authentein does not appear anywhere else in the Bible, so I will go with the most common meaning of the word. Thus, I believe Paul is saying, “I am not allowing (present tense for that situation) a women to teach or to proclaim herself the originator of man.” Authentein. What a difference a word makes!

Also the word that is frequently translated “silence,” hesuchia, also means harmony, peace, conformity or agreement. I believe that Paul goes on to say; “she must be in agreement,” meaning agreement with the Scriptures and with sound teaching in the Church.

He continues in this vein saying, “Adam was formed first, then Eve.” This statement opposes the doctrine of Eve as predecessor. He also says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was! And Sinned!” This statement directly contradicts the notion that Eve was the “illuminator,” and the carrier of new revelation.” Timothy 2:11-12 (Paraphrased and Amplified).

Now hold on to your hats and check this out:
[Now in response to the Gnostic teaching stemming for the worship of Artemis that Eve was the originator of Adam and the goddess of life], let the woman learn (in agreement with sound doctrine) with all submission (to that doctrine). And I do not permit a woman to teach that she is the originator or the illuminator of man, but to be in agreement (with the church). For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived [his was direct disobedience], but woman being deceived [thus not being infallible], fell into transgression [proving that she was human]. Talk about a revelation!

Christian women, we are no longer bound by the subjugated translation of 1 Tim 2:11-14. Jesus paid it all on Calvary. We are no longer under a curse. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). Women, go out and exercise the gifts that God has given you to edify the saints, evangelized the lost, and exalt the savior! In the words of T.D. Jakes, become a leading lady.

Joy O. Banks
15 December 2002
editor@praisenet.org
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