Should women be allowed to preach to a mixed audience? (Part 2)

1 Timothy 2:11-15 (Part Two)

Last week, we began an investigation into 1 Timothy 2:11, a verse contained in the controversial passage in Paul’s first letter to Timothy about women teaching (presumably to a mixed-gender audience). We established that the Greek hesuchia, translated “quietly receive,” was not complete silence, but an intense listening.

Today we will take a look at two words in v. 11: instruction and submissiveness.

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness…

Learning (Greek: manthano), by definition, is a temporary state, held for a defined time and purpose. The New Testament is critical of those who remain perpetual learners, never moving forward to use their knowledge. Paul himself warns against remaining in that mode in his second letter to Timothy and the church at Ephesus: “…weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7

Hebrews also warns of this: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14

In light of these and other passages where the Christian is clearly expected to be on a path headed for maturity, it is a stretch to think Paul is relegating half the church to be perpetual learners.

Add that to the fact that in reality, Paul’s admonition to “let a woman learn” was actually a liberating command! This was at variance with then-accepted Jewish and Greek culture. Women were typically not included in formal education. Therefore, Paul’s desire that women be educated in the faith was pretty radical. Rather than limiting their participation, he was inviting them to fully participate! But they needed to be educated in order to do so.

 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness…

This word, huppatasso, translated submissiveness, is frustratingly often misinterpreted. It is not simply obedience to authority, as some are quick to assume.

Paul uses huppatasso in Ephesians 5:21. He admonishes the Ephesians “…be subject (huppatasso) to one another in the fear of Christ.” How can this simply mean obey? It would be impossible for everyone to obey everyone else. Later on in that same letter, Paul tells children to obey their parents. But he doesn’t use huppatasso. He uses a different verb: hupakouo. Comparing the two used side by side in Ephesians leads us to the conclusion that the first is quite different than the second.

There is a third word translated obey, peitharcheo, a verb from the root arche, which indicates obedience to a ruler or dictator kind of authority. We see it in Acts 5:29, when Peter tells the Sanhedrin Council “we must obey God rather than men.” But Paul uses neither hupakouo or peitharcheo in 1 Timothy 2:12. He uses huppatasso.

Christ is offered as an example to the church in submission (huppatasso) in 1 Peter 2:21-3:1: “While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed… in the same way, you wives, be submissive (huppatasso) to your husbands.”

Christ’s submission was completely voluntary. He put his privilege and needs aside in order to win our salvation. Huppatasso is that kind of submission. We can all submit to each other, by laying aside our own desires and needs for the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In light of how they are used elsewhere in the New Testament, putting huppataso together with hesuchia and manthano gives us a picture of women who needed to become learners for a while, quietly giving rapt attention to instruction. Eventually they themselves would become teachers, as evidenced by Paul’s admonitions in other places. But for now, they should put aside impulse to vocally participate and settle down to learn.

In Part 3, we will take a look at 1 Timothy 2:12: But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.”