Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1–12; 13:2–3, 8–11
Here the Apostle speaks particularly to a Woman in relation to her Husband, to be in subjection to him, and not to Teach, nor usurp Authority over him, and therefore he mentions Adam and Eve: But let it be strained to the utmost, as the opposers of Womens Speaking would have it, that is, That they should not Preach nor Speak in the Church, of which there is nothing here —Margaret Fell
Questions: Where do you most feel the tension between society’s expectations for you and Christ’s expectations for you? What does your way of life say about your commitment to the way of Jesus? What about your meeting’s or church’s communal life? If your neighbors had only your meeting or church to go by, what would they think of Christianity? What would they say are Christians’ priorities?
1 Timothy 2 is a classic passage many Christians have pointed to as a means of justifying the subordinate position of women in the church and in all of society. Paul writes: “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” These are extremely harsh words – words that if taken literally actually go against the teachings and practices of Jesus himself, who chose women to be the first witnesses and heralds of the resurrection. If they were to have no authority over men and to remain silent, we wouldn’t have much of a story. Everything would have ended in the tomb that Easter morning long ago. I choose to believe those first witnesses, and I, therefore, arrive at this text, knowing that there is another way of looking at this passage.
The first thing I try to do is to read Paul through Jesus, and not the other way around. We are Christians – not Paulites – for a reason. Jesus’ life, teachings, and resurrection push me to question any attempt to universalize 1 Timothy 2:11–12 as once and for all truth, interpreted literally. As Christians, we are bound to a “hermeneutic of the resurrection,” which means we interpret everything through the lens of Jesus’ life-giving action. Where is the living and present Christ leading us, and who is this living and resurrected Christ speaking through? I believe the experience of the resurrected and present Christ should always take precedence for Friends.
And speaking of Quakers, Margaret Fell, the cofounder and mother of Quakerism, spoke of this question in her seminal pamphlet, “Women’s Speaking Justified,” where she takes Paul’s words and remixes them within her own context and theology (see the Quaker Quote for this lesson). She reads them in light of what she knows of the work of the Holy Spirit in her own life and in the lives of women all around her. Fell was, as a Christian and a Quaker, absolutely motivated by this “hermeneutic of the resurrection.”
Fell’s closing line to her pamphlet plays off this verse: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” turning it back around on her opponents, who she suggests should “remain silent” when she says, “so let all mouths be stopt that would limit him, whose Power and Spirit is infinite, that is pouring upon all flesh.”
Let us as Friends continue to strive for an authentic openness and honest listening to “the One whose Power and Spirit is infinite, that is pouring upon all flesh.”
–C. Wess Daniels in “Friendly Perspective” from 1, 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; 1, 2, 3 John: The Jesus Movement