Let a Woman Be Silent
The first thing we have to understand is that, in this
passage, Paul is writing to Timothy to instruct him on how to lead a
church. He is giving him counsel on how to deal with relationships
within the body.
But we cannot divorce the counsel given here from what we
find in other parts of Scripture. Elsewhere Paul mentions “women who
labored with [him] in the gospel” (Phil. 4:3) and others, such as
Priscilla and Phoebe, whom he recognizes as teachers and deaconesses
(see Acts 18:26; Rom. 16:1,3,12). So he can’t be saying that women are
to have no input regarding spiritual matters in the church.
In fact, let me begin by addressing verses 11-12: “Let a
woman learn in silence with all submission. I do not permit a woman to
teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” These
verses are commonly interpreted to mean that a woman is permitted to
teach only other women; in particular, older women may teach younger
ones, as Titus 2:4-5 suggests.
But if this is true, it is true only in the United
States. As soon as a woman goes abroad as a missionary, she is
allowed—even expected—to teach, and not just other women.
And what happens if she becomes a writer? We put no sign
at the top of her articles warning men not to read them—“Caution: This
article was written by a woman and could be hazardous to your spiritual
health.”
So why the dichotomy? Because the word “silence” is
mistranslated in verses 11-12. The same word is translated “quiet” in a
preceding verse (v. 2): “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.”
You can’t take the word that is used in verse 2 to mean
one thing and then claim it means something totally different in verses
11-12. And the two translations of the word are not interchangeable. It
wouldn’t make sense for Paul to tell Timothy to pray that those in
authority would take away the right to speak so that he could live a
“silent” life, a life in which he never got to say anything.
What he is telling him, on the contrary, is to pray that
he’ll have the kind of government that will allow his life to have a
serene quality about it—a sense of peaceableness. In the same way, when
Paul says let a woman learn in “silence” (really, “quiet”) he is making
an appeal that has to do with the dynamics of male-female relationships
in general. He is calling for peace between the genders in a church
setting.
And women are to learn not only in a spirit of serenity,
according to Paul, but also “with all submission.” Some people take the
word “submission” to mean “subjection.” Subjection, or subjugation, is
the term that defined the action of the ancient emperors when they
would overwhelm an enemy and bring them under dominion. “Submission” is
not even a remotely similar concept.
In real life, this erroneous idea of submission would
give us a picture of a wife who just keeps her mouth shut, no matter
what her husband does or says. She would just bite her lip and wait for
him to ask her, “Well, my dear, do you have anything to offer? It’s
difficult to imagine you would, considering that I am primary in the
purposes and mind of God and you are only secondary. But go ahead.”
A more valid understanding of submission shows a wife who
says what she thinks in a very simple and open—not insistent or
demanding—way, with a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:4). Then she
trusts God to help her husband understand the value of partnership—to
see that he and his wife are co-heirs in the life of God (see Rom.
8:16-17)—and respond appropriately.
Serenity and submission are not characterized by
misty-eyed pacifism, but by the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace
and so on. A woman is not to insist on her rights; yet she should be
free to express herself in a gracious way as she feels led. If her
husband does not receive what she says, she must look to the Lord to
take up her cause.
