Babies and Bad Teaching

Yesterday I preached on 1 Timothy 2.  If you’re not familiar with this portion of Paul’s writings, there’s a part there that calls women to not speak or have authority over their male counterparts (1 Tim. 2:12).  It’s bad teaching to interpret this text literally.

Here’s part of the story that’s often untold:

1.  Instability between men and women the Ephesian church (as well as other parts of the Roman World like Corinth) created chaos in worship.

2.  That instability had to do with false teachings based on speculations about Old Testament genealogies (1 Tim. 1:3-4) that led people to believe and teach deception and lies about marriage, food, and other things (1 Tim. 4:1-3).

3.  Since women’s education was not highly valued in the patriarchal society of the New Testament, women were particularly vulnerable to false teachings–like the ones in Ephesus at the time of Timothy’s ministry.

4.  The false teachers were going house to house and taking advantage of the uneducated women.  They were “worming” their way into these homes and gaining control over “weak-willed women” (2 Tim. 3:6-7).  In those homes they found women of means (perhaps young widows or married women whose husbands were away on business) that were leading house church gatherings.

5.  Those women embraced the false teachings–likely a radical agenda: to be ‘free’ from their husbands and children, become sexually liberated (hence the appeal to dress and act modestly in 1 Tim. 3:9-10), and abandon their roles as wives and mothers.

Perhaps that’s why Paul calls the Ephesian women to learning in silence rather than teaching.

In a bizarre chapter ending twist Paul adds that women will be saved through childbearing (1 Tim. 2:15).  What was the apostle Paul thinking?  Rather than interpreting this to mean that Paul has given up on the Gospel of grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, he is more likely intending to turn the radicalized ‘free women’ back to their husbands and families.