Women and the Church

Introduction

“Christianity has always been a gendered tradition—as indeed have most religions—insofar as sexual difference has formed an organizing focus for its doctrines, practices, and institutions.” For many centuries, millions of Christian men and women have been battling over the issue of women in ministerial leadership without seeing an apparent resolution. Some of these battles resulted in the splitting of churches, the disrespect of women, the rise of Christian feminism, the hostility towards church authority, and above all, the dishonoring of God in the church’s treatment of this issue. One certainly would not have thought that this big of a disagreement stemmed from within a small passage of Scripture in 1 Timothy 2:12 on two essential words διδάσκειν (to teach) and αὐθεντειν (to exercise authority over). Frederick Norris says that Paul uses stronger language in 1 Timothy to write against heretics and the words he use may convey different meanings in this book. Does διδάσκειν always mean the preaching of the Word of God or can it mean something else? Does αὐθεντεΐν mean exercising authority in general or does it only mean exercising authority in a domineering way? Does ἡσυχιᾳ (to be silent) mean that women can never speak in church or does it apply only in certain circumstances? Until the church understands and agrees on what Paul meant by these words, the church will continue to be divided in their view on women’s roles in the church. In fighting for the equality of genders, the egalitarians have been misguided by their well-intentioned presuppositions in their reading of 1 Timothy 2:12. Looking at Paul’s context, arguments, and choice of words will show that the complementarians have a better and more accurate reading of 1 Timothy 2:12 than that of the egalitarians.

The Meaning of Διδάσκειν

Words can only mean what the author intended the words to mean, but knowing that becomes extremely difficult when Paul and readers today are separated not...