What About Women, Paul?

First, what part of the text is cultural expression (which changes)? Once again, a concrete example will help illustrate the point. Let's consider Paul's exhortation to women about their "elaborate hairstyles" (v. 9). If we were ministering to an African tribe where Christian women had preserved traditional hairstyles with intricate designs, what would we say to them? Is this sinful? Paul was not saying that all elaborate hairstyles were always sinful in all cultures; he was saying that elaborate hairstyles in Ephesus violated modesty, decency, and good sense. So if the women in that African tribe were dressing to elicit lust or envy, then we would address that as a moral issue. But if the intricate braiding is neither a sign of wealth nor an attempt to seduce, then the answer is "no"; we're not dealing with sinful behavior. In African culture elaborate hairstyles are actually modest, decent, and sensible. In that culture, elaborate hairstyles do not express the same meaning as they did in the Ephesian culture. This is why understanding the cultural context matters.

We need to ask a second question as we approach the text, namely, what part of the text is central revelation (which never changes)? The specific example Paul gives is "elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel"; the general principle he is commending is "modest42 clothing... decency and good sense." The examples will vary in different cultures, but the principle will remain the same. Clearly God has said to all people of all times in all cultures not to be adorned with things that draw other people's attention for the wrong reasons. That principle always remains true. If something is part of God's central revelation, and not merely a cultural expression, then we submit to His Word.

Let me give one word of caution as we apply this latter principle of interpretation. People have begun irresponsibly to throw all kinds of truths out of the Bible, claiming these truths are just commands about cultural issues. Take the issue of homosexuality as an example. Homosexuality was a problem in the time of the Bible, these people say, because the science wasn't available then to let people know that same-sex desires are natural and thus can't be changed. We know better now, or so we are told. This attitude about Scripture is a dangerous mind-set.

We must be extremely careful not to accommodate our culture by discarding truth that the Bible addresses clearly and repeatedly. Homosexuality, like many other sins, is identified throughout Scripture as part of man's rebellion against God, regardless of one's culture or context (Lev 18:22; Rom 1:26-27). When Paul forbade it, his words were grounded in God's pattern in creation (Gen 1:27-28). This is central revelation, not cultural expression.

Now that we've looked at two general principles for interpreting Scripture, we need to consider how to think about the specific issue of gender. It would take much more space to explain fully the foundation of biblical manhood and womanhood we find in Genesis 1-3, but we should note at least two reminders from those important early chapters. First, God created men and women with equal dignity. That is, male and female are equally valuable before God.9 Therefore, to demean men or women is to sin against God. Paul's instructions in 1 Timothy 2 have nothing to do with the value of men and women; rather, he was talking about the roles of men and women, which leads to the second reminder.

God created men and women with complementary roles. Men and women are different and distinct in their respective roles. Man was created with a role that complements woman, and woman was created with43 a role that complements man. And this is all by God's good design. It is even in the nature of God. Once again, the relationships of the Trinity provide us with a helpful analogy.

The Father, as we saw earlier, is fully God. And the Son is also fully God. Yet the Father and the Son have different roles: the Son submits to the Father (Phil 2:8), and the Father directs the Son (John 14:31). The Son doesn't complain, "Oh, I've got to submit to the Father," and the Father isn't domineering over the Son. There are different roles among the persons of the Trinity, though each person has equal value. And all of this is in beautiful harmony. Similarly, God has designed men and women with equal dignity and complementary roles.

God's good design is seen in the home as husband and wife relate to each other with specific, complementary roles. In Ephesians 5:22-32 Paul instructed wives to submit to their husbands "as to the Lord" (v. 22), and husbands were commanded to love their wives "just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her" (v. 25). In a similar way, 1 Timothy 2:11-15 tells us that there are also complementary roles in the church. Men and women have distinct roles to fulfill when God's people gather together. But remember, Paul's instructions in this passage are not new, for they accord with what we see all the way back in Genesis 1-3. Whether in the home or in the church, God has assigned equal value to men and women, yet with roles that complement each other.

So we've considered two principles and two reminders, and this leads us to two prohibitions in this text. Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:12, "I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man." The first prohibition is that women should not teach men in the church. We know Paul encouraged women to teach in some settings, since Titus 2:3 makes clear that older women should teach younger women. Paul was not making a blanket statement, as if women like Beth Moore were in sin. But what, then, was Paul saying? To understand the apostle's point, it's helpful to connect these two distinct prohibitions—do not teach and do not exercise authority over a man. This perspective is warranted from the broader context of 1 Timothy.

In chapter 3 Paul talked about elders, or pastors, with authority in the church. And these elders express their authority by doing what? By teaching. In 1 Timothy 3:2 we see that the ability to teach is a qualification for an elder, so that you lead the church through the teaching of God's Word. That's the only authority anyone has to lead in the church. We see the same thing in 1 Timothy 5, where Paul said in verse 17, "The44 elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching." So the picture in 1 Timothy is clear that elders do two primary things: they lead and they teach. To put it another way, they teach with the authority to lead. Therefore, when Paul said women are not to teach or exercise authority over men (1 Tim 2:12), he was pointing specifically to the two primary responsibilities of elders.

At the very least two things are being prohibited in 1 Timothy 2:11-15. First, based on what we've just discussed above, it is clear that women should not teach as elders (or pastors or overseers) in the church.10 Men who don't have a gift of teaching or who don't meet the qualifications of an elder in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 likewise should not teach as elders in the church. We'll see more about elder qualifications in the next chapter, but Paul was making clear here that even a woman who has a gift of teaching is not intended by God to teach as an elder. Instead, women listen willingly to the biblical instruction of elders. When the text says that they should "learn in silence with full submission" (v. 11), it is not saying that once a woman steps into the gathering of the church, she should go mute. We know that because at other points in the New Testament we see women praying or prophesying when Christians gather (1 Cor 11:5). This text is simply saying that a woman should listen attentively with a teachable spirit to the God-ordained leaders in the church when they are teaching the Word.

Paul and other New Testament authors also made clear that women should teach in various settings of the church in accord with elder instruction. This means that, outside of elder leadership, there are all sorts of teaching possibilities for women. In addition to the command in Titus 2:3 for older women to teach younger women, Scripture mentions a number of instances where women played a significant teaching role. Consider the following:

There is also a more general teaching role in the New Testament, applying to both men and women. For example:

Women who are gifted at teaching should use their gifts to build up the body of Christ but not in the role of elder. Their teaching should be in accord with, and not contrary to, what the elders of the church teach. Of course, this requirement applies to both men and women who are teaching in the church.

After the prohibition for women not to teach as elders, Paul gave a second and related prohibition in verse 12: Women should not lead as elders/pastors/overseers in the church. Instead of exercising authority, women should "learn quietly with all submissiveness" (v. 11 ESV). By God's grace women submit gladly to the servant leadership of elders. I emphasize the term "servant leadership" because it needs to be emphasized, for elders are intended by God to lead by serving, or more specifically, by serving the body with the Word of Christ. An elder or pastor is intended to love, care for, nurture, and serve the body of Christ by diligently and wisely teaching the Word of Christ. And as this happens, Paul said, women (and other men who are not elders) should gladly submit to such servant leadership. They shouldn't rebel against the leadership of qualified, Christlike men in the church.

Does that mean, then, that a woman can never be in any type of leadership position in the church? I don't think that's what Paul was saying at all. Based on the rest of the New Testament, women should lead in various positions of the church under the authority of elder leadership. In other words, when they submit to elders, women are free to lead in a variety of different positions. They are intended by God to thrive in various ministries across the church.

When you look throughout the New Testament, you see women teaching, helping, serving, equipping, and spreading the gospel. As46 John Piper has said, "The fields of opportunity are endless... for the entire church to be mobilized in ministry, male and female. Nobody is to be at home watching soaps and reruns while the world burns. God intends to equip and mobilize [all] the saints [under the leadership of] a company of qualified men who take primary responsibility for leadership and teaching in the church" (Piper, "Freedom to Minister"). Don't tell Lottie Moon or Amy Carmichael or Elisabeth Elliot or Kay Arthur that they are sidelined in the church. These women have embraced exactly what Scripture has outlined, and they have thrived for the glory of God through ministering in the church.

Some might ask, "Apart from an elder, are there any other positions a woman should not lead in? What about a small group? What about teaching theology in a class or at a seminary?" There are so many different scenarios and possibilities, each of which I believe need to be approached by the elders of the church with care and consideration. However, I think there are at least two questions that should guide elders on these issues.

First, As a woman teaches or leads, is she reflecting God's pattern in Scripture? We see women doing many different things in the New Testament, and where we see these things happening in healthy ways in the early church, we can be encouraged to see the same things happening in the contemporary church. Just as you see older women commanded to teach younger women in the New Testament church (Titus 2:3-4), so that needs to happen in our churches today. You also see women teaching children, so it is good for us to foster teaching and leadership roles for women among children. (However, please don't forget that our children also need to see prominent men leading them in the church as well!) This leads us to the second question.

As a woman teaches or leads, is she reinforcing God's priorities in the home? We want to be careful not to undercut God's design in the home with the way we lead in the church. Especially in our day, we want to display godly, humble, loving, and sacrificial leadership by men in the church in a way that models that kind of leadership for men in their homes. And we also want to display glad, willing, godly submission of women in the church that models that kind of life for women in their homes. When we gather as God's people, we should point one another toward biblical faithfulness on these issues of gender.

To be clear, I'm not saying these two questions make everything easy or that all of the answers become evident. However, I do believe these47 questions are helpful in considering what teaching or leadership roles a woman should have. Scripture is clear on the prohibitions against teaching and leading as an elder; beyond this it's not quite as clear. So we need to be clear where Scripture is clear, and we need to be wise where Scripture is not as clear.

Next, I want to consider two reasons from Scripture for understanding these verses in 1 Timothy in this way. First, God's design in creation: God gives authority to man. As Paul says in verse 13 of our passage, "Adam was created first, then Eve." This statement tells us that what Paul is saying here is not just cultural expression—this is central revelation. The basis for what Paul says goes all the way back to Genesis 1-2 when God created man before woman, a reality that undergirds the headship of man. Paul is not basing his view merely on human opinion, which changes, but on divine revelation, which never changes.

After pointing to God's design in creation, he then points to the second reason for his teaching about gender roles: Satan's distortion of creation: man abdicates authority and woman assumes it. When Paul said in verse 14 that it was the woman and not the man who was deceived, he was not saying women shouldn't lead because they're more easily duped. No, he was pointing back again to the picture of sin entering the world in Genesis 3, when Satan subverted God's design by approaching Eve instead of Adam, thereby undercutting Adam's responsibility as the leader of his home. In turn Adam sat back and did nothing, and God's design was distorted. In short, sin entered the world when man abdicated his God-given responsibility to lead. Man didn't step up with godly, gracious leadership. Paul used this truth to say to the church that God's design in the home and in the church is good. God's design for qualified men to lead as elders is good, just as God's design for godly men to lead as husbands is good.

All of this leads to one of Paul's most difficult statements in 1 Timothy 2:15: "But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love, and holiness, with good judgment." What does that mean? Two things we don't know for sure.

First, Is 1 Timothy 2:15 talking about salvation through the offspring of Eve? Some commentators have said that this verse is a deliberate reference to the fact that, even though the woman ate the fruit first and sin entered the world through her, the promise remains that the Savior would enter the world through her. According to Genesis 3:15, a child would be born through Eve's line that would one day48 trample the serpent. John Stott espouses this view when he writes the following:

Stott gives us one possible interpretation. A second question leads to an alternate interpretation: Is 1 Timothy 2:15 talking about the significance of women nurturing children? In light of the ways women's roles in the home, in marriage, and in bearing children were being undercut by false teachers, could it be that Paul was simply emphasizing the one facet that, without question, only women can do—bear children? A culture can do everything possible to minimize the differences between males and females, but this distinction still remains. No guys are giving birth. Paul was possibly saying that God has created women uniquely, and their responsibilities are uniquely good in the church, in marriage, and in bearing children. All of this should be embraced in faith and love and holiness. In other words, women who are truly followers of Christ must and will persevere in obedience to God's will (though never perfectly) as they anticipate full and final salvation. These are the two most plausible interpretations.

This passage does not mean a woman must bear a child in order to be saved. If Paul believed that, he would not encourage some women to stay single, as he did in 1 Corinthians 7. He'd say, "Get married and have a kid... fast. Your eternity depends on it!" There are a lot of things we know Paul was not saying and some difficult questions about what he was saying; however, two things we do know for sure. First, women are49 sanctified as they glorify God in the distinct roles and responsibilities He has entrusted to them. There is meaning and significance behind a woman's gender, so sisters in Christ should be working out their salvation, not as generic persons but as women of God with inherent beauty and value as well as distinct giftings and opportunities. Sisters in Christ should thrive in their roles as wives, mothers, and women of God.

Finally, the second thing we know for sure is that women are saved not through the birth of a child but through the death of Christ. For that matter, women and men are saved through the death of Christ. Sin has disordered this world we live in, and Satan has distorted God's design for our manhood, our womanhood, our marriages, our families, the church, and the culture. But Christ has come, and He has conquered sin and trampled the Devil. In Christ we can all thrive. He died to make us the men and women God created us to be. Will you submit to God's good design?