[Philip] Payne’s work on 1 Timothy 2 [see his Man and Woman, One in Christ (Zondervan)] is not dramatically different from what is argued by many other egalitarian commentators, but it is the second longest part of his book. He devotes eight chapters to expositing 1 Timothy 2:8–15. Payne maintains that the letter is authentic and that the key to understanding the text is to recognize that false teachers were threatening the congregation, and hence 1 Timothy should not be understood as a manual of church order. Women are prohibited from speaking because they were uneducated and purveyors of the false teaching (1 Timothy 2:14). The terms used to discuss the false teachers, according to Payne, encompass men and women. The reference to myths characteristic of old women also indicates that they were spreading heresy (1 Timothy 4:7). Payne contends that 1 Timothy 5:13 demonstrates that women were propagating the heresy. They were speaking out things that are not fitting, and the word phlyaroi in the verse designates an aberrant philosophy or teaching. The women were not merely busybodies; they were spreading the unhealthy teaching which was the object of Paul’s concern.
Payne’s arguments for the notion that women played a central role in spreading the false teaching come up short. Describing 1 Timothy as a manual of church order, as Payne suggests, does not fit precisely the purpose of the letter. It is directed to a specific situation, and yet what Paul teaches in the letter stems from his worldview and theology and thus is rightly used today for the life and practice of churches (cf. also 1 Timothy 3:14–15). Payne does not emphasize this latter truth sufficiently. Even though Payne focuses on female false teachers in Ephesus, the only false teachers actually mentioned in the Pastorals are men (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2:17; cf. 2 Timothy 4:14). Paul does not concentrate on women spreading the false teaching. Instead, he focuses on their being duped and deceived by the false teachers (cf. 1 Timothy 2:14; 2 Timothy 3:6–9).
Payne emphasizes that the only command in the text is found in v. 11 where women are commanded to learn. Once women have learned sufficiently, they will be able to teach. A woman should learn quietly until they are instructed. The women are to be submissive to the truth of God’s word, not to men or their husbands. The words “I do not permit” (epitrepō) in v. 12 do not represent a permanent command. The verb “permit” is regularly used to denote temporary restrictions according to Payne. It is illegitimate to derive from the present indicative a command that continues to be binding. Furthermore, teaching refers to an action not an office, and teaching cannot be limited to formal doctrinal instruction. Payne claims, e.g., that 2 Timothy 2:2 refers to “personal discipleship” (326) rather than formal teaching. The infinitive “to teach” in v. 12 is used broadly to designate any kind of teaching, and since women can teach according to other texts of scripture the prohibition can’t be universal here. Payne goes on to say that the teaching of younger women by the older women in Titus 2:4–5 shows that women can teach. The restriction to younger women does not show that women may only teach women since “purpose clauses are rarely exhaustive” (330), and Paul doesn’t say they can only teach women. Timothy was taught by his grandmother and mother, and there is no indication, says Payne, that this was limited to only his childhood (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14–17). We also see women teaching in Priscilla’s instruction of Apollos and in 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Colossians 3:16. Paul prohibited women from teaching in 1 Timothy 2:12 because they were duped by and spreading false teaching and were uneducated.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: Thomas R. Schreiner
Keywords: head covering, Covering one's head, Female head covering, Headship, Male headship, Kephale, Philip Payne, Authority over, Subjection, Submission, Wives subject to husbands, Wives subject to their husbands, Wifely submission, Saved through childbearing, Women saved, Women saved through childbearing, Female teachers, Female elders, Church leaders, Church government, False teaching, False teacher, Paul prohibits female teaching, Paul prohibits women from teaching, Women teaching men, Egalitarian, Women, Feminism, Female equality, Equality of sexes, Gender equality
Bible reference(s): 1 Timothy 1:20, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 3:14, 1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Timothy 5:13, 1 Timothy 5:17, 2 Timothy 1:15, 2 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 3:6, Titus 1:9, Titus 2:4
Source: “Philip Payne on Familiar Ground,” Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Vol. 15, No. 1, November 30, 1999.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.