Order in the Church- Is Paul a Sexist Part 2
Many will call the instructions and expectations for behavior written in 1 Timothy 2 “sexist”. But the labels of the ignorant or the apostate ought not to dissuade us from faithfulness to the Lord. Christ was Himself accused of all sorts of things, labeled and named a great many untrue things by the standards of His day. His family thought He was insane (Mark 3:21). The Jewish religious teachers claimed Jesus was possessed (Mrk 3:30). Jesus taught that His people were blessed when “people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). When on trial Jesus was accused of a great many things, although none of the accusations proved true (Matthew 26:59-60). By whose standard will we live? The ever-changing and swirling standard of contemporary finite culture, or the never-changing, ever-true standard of the living God?
Last week in part one of our series answering the question “Is Paul a Sexist?”, we began to observe some of the topical areas of conflict between the scriptures and current culture within the New Testament book of 1st Timothy. We noted that:
Every passage has a main point
1st Timothy emphasizes ordered, Christian, living for:
the ordering of Godly worship,
the ordering of church community life,
and the ordering of family life.
"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Tim 1:3-5
Today let me give you the conclusions of this argument, and then allow you to engage with the reasons for those conclusions as you should choose (or if you dare haha).
Question: Is the writing of the Apostle Paul called sexist by some today?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Does this mean that the writing of the Apostle Paul ought to be rendered unhelpful, ungodly, or not authoritative for the church today?
Answer: No.
Humanity as Binary Sexual Beings
If 1st Timothy is a document originating from the error-prone mind of a fallible human, our reception of its commands will differ vastly than if 1st Timothy originates from the unchangeable, holy, unerring, eternal God. In 1st Timothy 2, we come to a topic that our present Western culture abhors: order commanded within the family of God emphasizing humanity as created binary sexual beings. This order is often accused of as sexist, although as we will see today, sexism isn’t about order, it’s about value (or belief of a lack of value). 1st Timothy 2 is about order, and doesn’t make statements of value regarding men or women. Consider the text in question, 1 Timothy 2:8-15 below:
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. (1 Tim 2:8–15 NIV)
Depending on how this passage is read, these are either corrective, beneficial, Godly instructions, or this is the peak of Pauline sexism. George Bernard Shaw when making an evaluation, said Paul was the "eternal enemy of woman."(1) Juliet Mitchell described Paul as one who hated women, believing women to be inferior to men. (2) David Kimberly states the difficulty in studying 1st Timothy 2 is “the blatant chauvinism that it appears to reveal and express.” (3) Christopher Rollston points out the supposedly discriminatory points of 1 Timothy 2:
“[1 Timothy 2] begins by stating that “men should pray” (and the word used here for men is Andras, a gendered word that refers only to males) and then says “women should dress themselves modestly and decently” (vv. 8–9). So men are to pray, and women are to dress modestly. That’s quite a contrast. But there’s more: “Let a woman learn in silence and full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to be silent” (vv. 11–12). The author’s rationale: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” (vv. 13–14). According to this text, women were to be silent in worship gatherings (and men were certainly not told to be silent), and the rationale for this mandate is that woman (Eve) was created second and sinned first. And the final blow is this: A woman “will be saved” (the future tense of the standard word for “be saved,” “be given salvation”) “through childbirth if she remains in faith and love and sanctification with modesty” (1 Timothy 2:15). (4)
Using contemporary standards, preferences, and perspectives it has been claimed that Paul hated women, and was sexist and chauvinist. Using the standards of today a person may conclude that Paul is indeed guilty of all these things. And not only Paul. But also the writers of Genesis, Leviticus, Proverbs, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and, well, pretty much every book of the Bible. In making such an assessment, we as creatures have attempted to flip the created order by trading places with the great creator God. We as creatures assert our standards and demand that God’s timeless character and truths as revealed in sacred scripture conform to our limited perspectives and preferences. God is no longer judge in this framework, God is on trial, while the dominant cultural voices of the day seat themselves as judge and jury. This is of course nothing new. This is the pattern of the sinful heart. It’s the pattern of my own heart when I’m in sin, and it' is the pattern of all our hearts when we rebel against God.
Definition of Sexism
If sexism is defined as viewing men and women as created uniquely by God, with differences in design, but sameness in value, then Paul is indeed a sexist. A different definition results in a different verdict. Consider sexism defined as the Cambridge online dictionary defines it:
(actions based on) the belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, able, skillful, etc. than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men. (5)
If we use Cambridge’s definition then Paul, and the rest of the biblical authors are most certainly not guilty of the charge of sexism. Within the passage of 1 Timothy 2, there is no comment on the intelligence, skill, or ability of men or women. The passage does differentiate between men and women, and there are unique instructions for each group. But does the mere presence of unique instructions by an author demand that the author holds a belief of differing value? The answer to this question is of course no.
The New Testament, and Bible as a whole makes no value statements about the skill, or ability of men or women as related to their value, as though one was inferior to the other. Men and women are created uniquely, with distinct abilities and skills. Those distinctions do not in themselves change their value. As believers we value human life. We are to value the life of the unborn child who is completely unable to contribute to society in the same way a gainfully employed adult can contribute. Difference in ability does not demand an inequality in value. The same can be said of the dementia patient, the plumber, the mother, the politician, and the convict. Each of these individuals may have differences in skills and abilities, but in terms of their value, none of them are superior or inferior. This is one of the reasons the truth of God’s Word comes as such a shock and a relief to the lost world. It is the lost world that ascribes different values to humans based on their abilities. God so highly values humanity, every category of humanity, men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, young and old, aged and unborn, so much that He sent His only begotten Son Christ Jesus to pay for the redemption of lost sinners with His precious blood.
God so highly values humanity, every category of humanity, men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, young and old, aged and unborn, so much that He sent His only begotten Son Christ Jesus to pay for the redemption of lost sinners with His precious blood.
The fact that mustard and mayonnaise have unique names, and are different in their uses does not mean one is of more value than the other. It takes a person to hold a belief, and then act upon that belief to make value assessments (be they proper, or improper). Lets play out some examples of functional statements, and value statements using bustard and mayonnaise as our case study subjects:
Example - “Both mustard and mayonnaise have unique flavors that enhance and improve the enjoyment of various foods.” This is a statement of function.
Example - “Mustard is better than mayonnaise on a hotdog” This is a statement of comparison based on context.
Example - “Mayonnaise is superior to Mustard” This is a statement of value.
Statements about function are not automatically statements of comparison. Nor are statements about function automatically statements of value. Even comparative statements different from value statements based on context. It takes a clear message to show a belief of superiority or inferiority. Do we have such clear statements of value (sexism) in 1 Timothy 2?
Instructions for the Benefit of the Church
If in 1st Timothy 2, there were a statement of value regarding men or women then perhaps we could and should rightly lay a guilty verdict about the sexism of Paul as a writer. So we put the question to the passage of 1st Timothy 2. Are there statements of value, worth, comparison, superiority, or inferiority of either men or women? The plain answer to this is no.
1 Timothy 2 comes with instructions that are for the benefit of the church regarding functional aspects of male and female behaviors within the context of the gathered church. Paul’s stated purpose in writing to Timothy is to support his disciple in the faith (1:2), relate commands from Paul’s source of authority (God himself 1:1), reiterate Timothy’s purpose in ministry at Ephesus (1:3-4), and bolster the Godly orderliness of the church at Ephesus (1:5-6).
Many will call the instructions and expectations for behavior written in 1 Timothy 2 “sexist”. But the labels of the ignorant or the apostate ought not to dissuade us from faithfulness to the Lord. Christ was Himself accused of all sorts of things, labeled and named a great many untrue things by the standards of His day. His family thought He was insane (Mark 3:21). The Jewish religious teachers claimed Jesus was possessed (Mrk 3:30). Jesus taught that His people were blessed when “people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). When on trial Jesus was accused of a great many things, although none of the accusations proved true (Matthew 26:59-60). By whose standard will we live? The ever-changing and swirling standard of contemporary finite culture, or the never-changing, ever-true standard of the living God?
World vs Christ
The labels and standards of the world aren’t what determine what is true. God’s Word is true, even as God’s character and wisdom are true. In 1 Timothy 1, we see the claim of the Apostle Paul that he receives His instructions from God our savior and Christ our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). The same God who made Adam and Eve is the same God who instructed and inspired Paul to write 1 Timothy 2.
How could anyone begin to ascribe an interpretation of value about men and women, when both men and women were ransomed, rescued, and redeemed through the precious blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:11-14)? Any accusation regarding statements of value in 1 Timothy 2 reveals an implicit belief about the value of Christ’s atonement. The world does not value what Christ values. It follows quite easily then, that though Christ values both men and women, sinful fallen humanity does not.
God, in holiness and without sin, can make perfect distinction between statements of value and function. We as fallen humanity often error and conflate the two. Differences in function are mistaken for differences in value. When a church falls for this mistake, we lose out on the beneficial instruction of the very Word of God from 1 Timothy 2. We lose out on the valuable (pun intended) correction given to men and women within the household of God. This was a major reason for Paul’s writing to Timothy in Ephesus as stated in chapter 3:
14 Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15)
Those who dismiss 1 Timothy 2’s commands shoot themselves in the spiritual foot. The commands from God, delivered via Paul, were to inform and instruct Timothy and the Ephesian church on behavior within God’s household. Rejecting 1 Timothy 2 based on suspicions and accusations of sexism is a rejection of God’s values.
In some of the final words of 1st Timothy, Paul doubles down that these instructions originate from the Lord Jesus Christ.
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. (1 Timothy 6:2c-4a)
A line in the sand was drawn two thousand years ago from the Word of God. Which would you rather be accused of? Would you as a Christian rather be called sexist for believing and pursuing the instructions of God as written in 1 Timothy 2, or would you rather be called dismissive and conceited by the Lord of glory?
Value and Function
The Lord of Glory values His people tremendously. He shed His own precious blood for His people! One of the ways Christ displays His ongoing value for His redeemed people is by providing ongoing instruction for their benefit. This ongoing instruction, revealed in the Word of God and impressed upon the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit, is useful for living in a manner that glorifies and delights in God. In speaking of specific expectations for both men and women in corporate worship, God displays His value for both men and women. Both males and females are expected to enter into the very presence of God via thankful praise. For the Bible, the ultimate goal of all of life is the entrance into the presence of the divine. The restoration of perfect fellowship between God and His fallen, rebellious creation. The thing of the highest value in all the universe is God’s very own presence. By God’s grace, believers, men and women, have been redeemed by God’s grace and enjoined through worship into the very presence of the Holy One. Now that is a value statement!
Citations:
1) G. B. Shaw, "The Monstrous Imposition upon Jesus," reprinted in The Writings of St. Paul, ed. W. A. Meeks (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972), p. 299,
2) Juliet Mitchell Woman's Estate, 1971, p. 112,
3) Kimberly, David R. "1 Tim 2:15: A Possible Understanding of a Difficult Text." Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society (1992): 481-86. Web.
4) https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/first-person-misogyny-in-the-bible/
5) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sexism
