1 Timothy 2
v.1-2
I urge, then, fist of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made 2for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
v.8
I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
Lifting up one’s hands in prayer is often mentioned in the OT (e.g., 1 Ki 8:22; Pss 141:2; 143:6). It is a natural gesture, indicating earnest desire… We cannot pray effectively unless our lives are clean and committed to our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing does more to alienate the mind from sincere prayer than an attitude of anger and a quarrelsome spirit.
v.11-12
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
Some have said that the apostle’s prohibition excludes women even from teaching Sunday school classes. But he is talking about public assemblies of the church. Paul speaks appreciatively of the fact that Timothy himself had been taught by his godly mother and grandmother (2Ti 1:5; 3:15). He also writes to Titus that the older women are to train the younger (Tit 2:3-4). Women have always carried the major responsibility for teaching small children, in both home and church school. And what could we have done without them!
v.13-15
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was decieved and became a sinner. 15But women will be saved through childbearing - if they contniue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
When the writer of 2 Peter claims that there are some passages in Paul’s writings which “are hard to understand”, it is easy to imagine that he had 1 Timothy 2:13-15 in mind. Since 1 Timothy 2:13 begins with the connective particle “for…,” it is clear that the following sentences are a continuation of what precedes. Thus this text gives Paul’s biblical reflections that provide a rationale for his prohibition against women’s teaching and usurping authority in the church (1 Tim 2:11-12), discussed in the previous chapter. The conclusion of that discussion was that Paul was addressing problems of heresy in the church at Ephesus and that the women in this congregation were strongly captivated by these false doctrines or were vocal proponents. Their teaching led to the questioning and rejection of culturally accepted norms and roles for men and women, causing difficulties for this young congregation within its social context. Paul is concerned that their witness to the truth of the gospel is thereby undermined. He is concerned with “propriety” (1 Tim 2:9,15), that is, socially accepable behavior; with the possbiliity of being “disgraced” in the sight of outsiders 1 Tim 3:7; and with giving “the enemy no opportunity for slander”1 Tim 5:14; 6:1. Paul’s restrictive admonitions regarding women must be understood within this particular historical situation. They are therefore not to be understood as divine imperatives, applicable universally to all women in all cultural contexts and historical circumstances. Rather, they are authoritative apostolic counsel, given for the correction of abuses in a particular situation that threatened the truth of the gospel and the viabliity of a young church in an antagonistic environment. The transcendent principle standing behind Paul’s particular instruction is the imperative of the gospel (applicable in all cultural contexts), namely, God’s intention that “all be saved” (1 Tim 2:4; see also 1 Cor 10:33).
But why does Paul ground all this in Scripture? Why argue for priority for the male on the basis of Genesis 2? Why does he reason for the woman’s participation in the Fall (Gen 3) to a restricted role for her in the church? And finally what is the point about women being saved through childbearing?
Answers to those questions begin to emerge when we recognize an essential truth of Paul’s life: He was a rabbi who had been transformed into a follow of Christ. As a trained rabbi, he became a disciple of Jesus and an apostle to the Gentiles. His training as a rabbi - gained as a student of Gamaliel, one of the great rabbinic teachers in first-century Palestine (Acts 22:3) - was placed at the service of the interpretation and articulation of the gospel. Thus Paul’s writings are thoroughly pervaded by scriptural citations or allusions. When we read 1 Timothy 2:13-14, we realize two things immediately. First, Paul does not quote the biblical passages directly. He gives us rather a particular and partial understanding of the meaning of those passages. Second, the situtation which he is addressing is a limited, local situation that calls for a limited, partial use of the biblical material. The reason he instructs women to be silent, not to teach and not to usurp authority over men (1 Tim 2:12) is because Adam was formed before Eve (1 Tim 2:13). The Genesis 2 creation narrative is of course referred to here. Within the synagogue, which provided a model for early church life and structure, male dominance was traditionally certified by a reading of the chronological sequence of Genesis 2 in terms of male priority. A further argument for women’s restricted place, given in 1 Timothy 2:14, is that Eve was deceived and became a sinner, while Adam was not deceived. Here as in the appeal to Genesis 2 above, Paul refers to a truth expressed in Genesis, this time in the story of the Fall in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3:13, Eve says that “the serpent deceived me, and I ate.” From this rabbinic tradition reasoned that women were by nature more vulnerable to deception than men. That view of womanhood was widespread in Judaism. Philo, the important Alexandrian Jewish scholar who was a contemporary of Paul, expressed the view tht since woman “is more accustomed to be deceived than man and “gives way and is taken in by plausible falsehoods which resemble the truth,” the proper relation of a wife to a husband is epitomized in the verb “to serve as a slave.” His interpretive method and its application in the particular situation at Ephesus does not mean that he shared with his rabbinic tradition the view that women were inherently more deceivable. This is confirmed by the fact that Paul uses Eve’s deception in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 as an illustration of the possibility that all believers in Corinth, both men and women, may be deceived and led away from faith in Christ. Thus we see that Paul uses the Eve tradition variously, depending on the problem being addressed.
A final difficulty of this text is the statement that “women will be saved through childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15). What is the meaning of this statement, and how does it function in the context of the whole passage?
First, if there is one truth which Paul spent his entire ministry driving home to his listeners and readers, it is this: that salvation is not gained by the performance of functions and duties or the exercise of specific roles, but by faith in Jesus Christ. It is therefore impossible to conclude that Paul is speaking about personal salvation. That is, women are not saved by any other means than men. Second, 1 Timothy 2:15 is the conclusion to the entire paragraph. In 1 Timothy 2:9-14 the specific instructions to women are restrictive and negative. Verse 15 begins with the word “but” (or, better, “yet”), and what is said is apparently intended a positive affirmation. The various restrictions imposed on women are now qualified. They are not absolute norms, essential conditions determined by gender. Rather, they are necessary adjustments in light of the historical situation in which the missionary effectiveness of the young churches was at stake. In Timothy’s situation, heretical teaching undermined the validity of marriage. We are not told why. But on basis on 1 Corinthians 7, where marriage seems to be rejected by the super spiritualists who despise physical, bodily reality, we can conclude that the heretical teaching viewed marriage, and its specific expression in the bearing of children, as negative, or as unworthy of those who were truly spiritual and members of a new community of “saved” persons. Over against that heretical teaching, Paul may be affirming that the bearing of children, which is a woman’s natural procreative, life-giving function, does in fact not keep her from full participation in the community of the saved. Thus women are and will be saved, even as they perform those domestic and maternal roles expected of women in the social-historical context, but rejected by the heretical teachers. It is possible that the heretical teachers and the women who had been deceived by them saw a rejection of normal domestic and maternal roles as evidence that they were only truly saved and spiritual. Such a situation makes Paul’s strong and difficult restrictive injunctions to the women in Ephesus absolutely necessary, for the heretical teaching and its consequences represented a comprehensive misunderstanding and denial of the gospel.
The apostle adds that the wife’s role of submission to her husband is inherent in creation. Adam was created first, and then Eve (the story of Ge 2:21-23, where God made Eve from a rib taken from Adam). Many commentators have noted regarding this story that Eve was not made out of Adam’s head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him and near his heart to be loved by him. This expresses perfectly the ideal of a happy married life. The husband who has this concept will usually find his wife eager to please him. Paul makes one further point. It was the woman who was deceived by Satan and who disobeyed God (cf. Ge 3:1-6). Since she was so easily deceived, she should not be trusted as a teacher.
v.15
But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
The verb “save” (GKL 5392) is used in the NT for both physical healing (mostly in the Gospels) and spiritual salvation (mostly in the letters). Perhaps it carries both connotations here. The wife may find both physical health and a higher spiritual state through the experience of bearing and rearing children… By begetting children and thus fulfilling the designs God appointed for women, a woman will be saved from becoming a prey to the social evils of her day and will take her part in the local church.