1 Timothy 2:8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Possible Interpretations
Ask class for their ideas, but leave it hanging. Return back to this at end.
- Christian women will be saved, but only if they bear children.
- Wrong because Matt 19:12; 1 Cor 7:8-9, 26-27, 34-35; 1 Tim 5:3-10
- Despite the curse, Christian women will be kept safe when bearing children.
- Not contextual, and not true
- Despite the sin of Eve and the results to her progeny, she would be saved through the childbirth—that is, through the birth of the Messiah, as promised in the protevangelium (Gen 3:15).
- The future tense (σωθήσηται, sōthēsētai) is unnatural if referring to the protevangelium or even to the historical fact of the Messiah’s birth
- that only women are singled out as recipients of salvation seems odd since the birth of the Messiah was necessary for the salvation of both women and men
- as ingenious as this view is, its very ingenuity is its downfall, for it is overly subtle
- the term τεκνογονία (teknogonia) refers to the process of childbirth rather than the product. And since it is the person of the Messiah (the product of the birth) that saves us, the term is unlikely to be used in the sense given it by those who hold this view.
- Women will be saved despite having been cursed, which was most pointedly signified by pain in childbearing (Gen 3:16).
- Women will be delivered from/escape Satan's deceit and temptation, not through active teaching and ruling activities, but through faithfulness to their proper role, exemplified in motherhood. In this view τεκνογονία is seen as a synecdoche in which child-rearing and other activities of motherhood are involved. “Saved” = delivered from Satan’s deception/temptation.
- See Ascertaining Women’s God-Ordained Roles: An Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:15 (Köstenberger)
Only Cultural for Ephesus?
- Paul appeals to creation.
- But why does it matter who was formed first? What kind of argument is that?
- Romans 1:26-27 contrary to nature: nature (God’s designed purpose) entails moral obligation
- 1 Cor 11:2-16
- Disgraceful to shave head?
- “The removal of hair has always been seen as an act of defiance. For women, choosing to go bald can be a political statement.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EOqmAeDp4
- rebellion against the patriarchy: it’s “empowering”. “Punk-rock” (a rejection of social norms - SLC Punk)
- But is it rejection of “society’s” norms, or God’s?
- @7:38 “That stereotype does not hold true for men. No one says, ‘Oh, he buzzed his hair? John must be going through something.’ So why is it that women have to adhere to this idea of ‘oh, if you cut your hair, you’re all the way to the left’?… I remember the one that told me he would never cut me bald, he was like, ‘Women are supposed to have hair.’ And I was like, ‘Interesting,’ and I never went back to him.”
- Paul says if a woman has long hair it is her glory, and that woman is the glory of man because she was made for man.
- Women who shave off their hair today are usually doing so as a rejection of the idea that they were made for man.
- 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
- Gen 1:26-28; 2:15-25
- man’s role: dominion, subdue, conquer, make space, fill the earth/be fruitful - but how?
- woman’s role: man’s helper, support, bring forth life, fill the space
- created for man, because man could not fill the earth without her
- Has the earth been filled?
- God did not create women to lead. He created women to support those who lead.
Designed Differences Between Men & Women
- 1 Cor 11:14 nature teaches
- but be careful: we can’t just look at ourselves (”God made me this way…”)
- Scripture provides the necessary foundation, but does not elaborate on details
- (So take the time to study our differences - because our culture is distorting your understanding of nature)
- movies of action hero women distort our perceptions, even if we know it’s fantasy
- God designed everything about us for the purpose he created us for.
- Therefore he did not create men and women the same