Paul's Correction of the Created Order (Part 1)
The Problem Paul Was Correcting in Ephesus
"For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." (1 Timothy 2:13-14)
In this series, I make the case that Paul was correcting several specific problems Timothy was dealing with in the family of God in Ephesus (1 Tim. 2:8-15).
In the pagan and religiously syncretic environment of Ephesus, Paul was likely helping Timothy address problems that arose as many new converts continued some of their former beliefs and practices. New converts do not abandon every pagan idea overnight; Instead, it takes time to learn, grow, and replace old beliefs with biblical truth.
Throughout 1 Timothy 2, Paul appears to address a series of specific concerns:
- Verse 8 – Men were characterized by anger and quarrelling. Paul instructs them to pray without anger and permits the lifting of holy hands.
- Verses 9-10 – Some women were dressing extravagantly and drawing attention to themselves. Paul calls for modesty and good works.
- Verses 11-12 – A woman was teaching false ideas and behaving in an arrogant, domineering, and harmful manner. Paul instructs her to learn quietly and receptively.
- Verses 13-14 – False beliefs about Eve, women, and the created order were circulating. Paul responds by clarifying the Genesis account.
- Verse 15 – Concerns surrounding women and childbirth are addressed through faith. This verse will be explored further in a later article.
The focus of this article is verses 13-14. There were false ideas circulating about men, women, and creation that likely drew from various pagan cults as well as Jewish influences that distorted the Genesis account.
Ephesus was not merely a Roman city. It was one of the great religious centers of the ancient world. The city was dominated by the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and was also influenced by magic, astrology, mystery religions, and various philosophical traditions. Acts 19 demonstrates how deeply rooted these beliefs were in Ephesian society.
Within this environment, ideas about spiritual power, secret knowledge, female divinity, and cosmic authority were common. Some of these ideas appear to have found their way into the church through false teachers.
Paul's response in 1 Timothy 2:13-14 is remarkably simple. Rather than engaging in lengthy arguments, he points Timothy back to the Genesis account:
"For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor."
Paul appeals to the straightforward biblical narrative. Adam was formed first. Eve was formed afterward. Eve was deceived by the serpent. These are basic facts from Genesis, yet they directly challenged beliefs that may have been circulating in Ephesus.
Several religious movements and belief systems present in and around Ephesus promoted ideas that elevated women as spiritually preeminent, portrayed female figures as possessing superior knowledge, or reversed aspects of the Genesis creation order. Among the most significant influences were the cult of Artemis, the worship of Hecate, and emerging forms of speculative wisdom traditions that later developed into full Gnosticism. In the classic Greek myth, Artemis and Apollo were twins. In Homer’s Hymn 3 (7th century BC), Artemis is born 9 days before her twin brother Apollo; many interpreted this to mean they should elevate the feminine above the masculine.
While we cannot prove that every false teacher in Ephesus taught Artemis mythology or Gnostic doctrines directly, these cultural influences help explain why Paul would emphasize the created order so strongly. His appeal to Genesis was not random. It served as a correction to ideas that distorted God's design for humanity from the very beginning.
In the next article, we will examine Artemis of Ephesus in more detail and consider how Paul's statement, "Adam was formed first, then Eve," may have functioned as a direct challenge to cultural and religious beliefs that exalted female primacy and authority.
Comments
Still speculative, but at least you're clearer than Sandra Glahn! How can you know Paul was addressing a specific woman?
Thanks for asking!
Paul gives us several clues:
Certain people or some per the Greek (not just men) in 1 Tim 1:3 that Paul is encouraging Timothy to instruct because of their false teaching. The singular woman in 2:11 is specifically someone Timothy is to instruct per Paul.
Paul specified 2 men in 1:20 as part of the problem mentioned in 1:3, but there were others (the Greek in 1:3 is gender inclusive) …
1 Timothy 1:3 As I urged you on my departure to Macedonia, you should stay on at Ephesus to instruct certain men not to teach false doctrines (use this link for parallel translations)
Paul switches from plural men and women in 2:8-10 to singular woman and man in 2:11-12 but instead of handing her over to satan like the 2 men, Paul commands Timothy to teach and help her learn in a respectful manner, reiterating the instruction in 1:3.
Paul’s 2:15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control....
has several options that the translations and commentators do not agree on: Paul is referring to Eve as the “she” and all women with his “they”. Paul is referring to women in general with both the “she” and the “they”. Or is Paul specifically referring to the woman and man in v11-12?
There has been no consensus on this verse with pretty crazy variations of interpretation! I have even heard/read that women cannot have pain relief in labor and that women must birth their babies at home based on this verse and as part of the curse (women were NOT cursed, neither was bearing children, only the serpent and the ground were cursed, yet this has been a common reason used against women!
1 Timothy 2:15 Commentaries: But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. (use this link for commentaries, you can also access the parallel translations through this link as well)
Paul seems to be encouraging marriage and family because Artemis promoted celibacy/virginity, childlessness, forbidding marriage for those who served in her temple.
Perhaps, if this were the only passage to deal with. But how does this relate to 1 Cor 14:34-35? Also, 1 Cor 11:2-16, a different problem, but the same underlying principle.
Btw, you didn't reply to my previous comment. You'd said you'd wanted access to my study of women deacons, but I can only email it to you.
Cameron, thanks again for sharing your concerns.
1 Corinthians 11. Paul affirms men and women are praying and prophesying publicly in the Corinthian gathering (1 Cor 11:5) — forms of Spirit-empowered edifying and encouragement to build up the Kingdom Church.
This important chapter supports the mutuality principle over a strict hierarchy. After discussing head coverings and creation order (vv. 3–10), Paul counters that and redirects attention to a greater reality in the church in verse 11: “However, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman.”
That “However… in the Lord” is crucial. It qualifies everything before it. In the Christian covenant community, relationships between men and women are based on a mutual interdependence under Christ’s lordship. This is in alignment with the dozens of (59) “one another” commands throughout the New Testament (love one another, teach/admonish one another, encourage one another, etc.), which are not gender-restricted.
Couples / women /wives can choose a hierarchical relationship if that's their preference, but God has given a beautiful and healthier principle for mutual based relationships instead of power dynamics: mutual submission, mutual service for His family working together, rooted in agape love for one another as He loves us.
Thanks for testing this! I will respond later on the passages you refer to.
I am not sure what happened, but I can not find your previous comment / response and don't see an email notice from the network but would love to read your work on women. Here's my email: [email protected]. let me know when you send it so I don't miss it!
Much appreciated!
Done. From The Fraser Family ([email protected]).
Thanks. made it to page 50 so far...
I hope to post my response on 1 Cor 11 later this week. Our harvest started last week so I am outside at our farm 10-15 hours a day. I joke that we don't do 9-5, instead we do 5-9 (am-> pm ;)
Here's some of my work on 1 Cor 14. Several years ago I realized that this chapter is actually very inclusive yet ironically it has traditionally been used to exclude women. So as I was reviewing my notes on it, I counted how often Paul uses inclusive language and I got around 35 in this chapter alone. Then I counted how often the 1984 NIV uses male terms in this chapter & that's around 30x with the ESV around 20x, so I updated my info.
1 Corinthians 14
I love this chapter! It is really amazing and I do eagerly desire there to be gatherings today that gives everyone a voice to share what Holy Spirit is putting on their hearts: hymns, scriptures, testimonies, prophecy, encouragement, teachings, praying/speaking in tongues, etc to build up His Kingdom Church, the Bride of Christ...
The Greek in 1 Cor 14 is beautifully and powerfully inclusive, emphasizing a mutual dignity for ALL to participate, until it isn’t, with a jarring exclusion in v34-35 that does not match up with the rest of the context. It should make everyone pause and ask what is going on here?
V2,3,4 (2x),5,13,16 Paul's use of "ho" -> gender inclusive the one, anyone, everyone (not exclusively “he”)
V2,3 anthropos => people (not specifically men)
V5,23,24 (3x),31 (3x) pantes/pas-> ALL prophesy in turn so pantes/pas ALL may be instructed and pantes / pas ALL exhorted… V33 pasais / pas ALL congregations; V26,40 panta/pas ALL things… Strong's Greek: 3956. πᾶς (pas) -- All, every, whole, entire
V6,20,26,39 adelphoi ->brothers and sisters! (Not exclusively brothers)
V17 heteros-> other (non- believer, not specifically male)
V19,29,30 allous-> others (believers)
V21 heteroglossois -> other tongues (not specifically foreign men)
V23 hole-> whole church, entire, complete, all
V26 hekastos -> Everyone/each of you has a hymn, etc…
V27,37,38 tis -> Anyone speaks…
Additional concerns including v33-35.
MODERN TRANSLATION PROBLEM:
1984 NIV is quite the opposite to the Greek and uses around 30 specific male terms in this chapter alone… the ESV is a little bit better with about 20 male references, but still not gender inclusive like the Greek with about 35 words that are inclusive!
1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace--as in all the churches of the saints.
Both 1984 NIV and the ESV disingenuously split verse 33 and put a period after the first stmt (SEE BELOW***), then started a new paragraph for the 2nd part to tie it with v34, to imply that the v34 women are to be silent in all churches instead of v33 God’s peace is in all churches… and it seems several online versions of 1984 NIV are revising these verses compared to what is actually in the physical hard copies! BIG RED FLAG on how these verses have been subtly but significantly altered!
***1984 NIV online version: NIV 1984: 1st Corinthians | Christ Unite (COMPARE TO YOUR PHYSICAL COPY! This online version adds v33b to v 34)
33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
34 As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.
35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?
***1 Corinthians 14:33–35 — English Standard Version (ESV)
33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches.
It makes far more sense in this context that God’s principles of order and peace in v33 is what is in All churches!
TEXTUAL VARIANT PROBLEM:
In addition to the heavily male language dynamic in some modern translations that tend toward a complementarian lens, early manuscripts have a 2 dot notation / distigme next to v34-35 to indicate a textual variant noted by ancient scribes, which is another significant flag to pay attention that something is going on here. Philip Payne has done considerable work on this. Is-1-Cor-14.34-35-Marginal-Comment-or-Quotation.pdf
SEPTUAGINT PROBLEM/ WISDOM OF SIRACH (about 180 BC)
“A silent wife is a gift from the Lord, and nothing is so precious as her self-discipline.” (Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 26:14
Sirach 25:20 — “Like a sandy hill to aged feet is a garrulous [talkative] wife to a quiet husband.” (She is burdensome and irritating.)
Wives being silent was an expectation to some extent, thanks to Rabbi Joshua ben Sira, author of the Wisdom of Sirach, included in the Septuagint, as well as part of the oral tradition that later ended up written down as the Mishnah. Are V34-36 Paul's possible refutation of ideas that came from sources like Rabbi ben Sira and perpetuated by others familiar with the Sirach & other oral tradition? This is one possibility.
TRANSLATION OMISSION PROBLEM:
Another variant to consider is that Paul’s use of the equivalent refutation of “bunk” is not translated. Paul’s Missing “Double Bunk” in 1 Corinthians 14:36 | Christian Egalitarian Marriage
I love the chiastic structure that is presented in this article. Plus it helped me realize there seems to be strong refutations Paul might have wrote regarding women being silent that are not translated. This would make sense with his Greek inclusivity!
INCONSISTENCY PROBLEM: There is inconsistent application both here and in 1 Tim 2:12 by comps. Ie. Some say women can read scripture out loud in a mixed gathering, others disagree.
CONCLUSION: There seem to be several variants on this text, especially v33-36 that have impacted the church for a long, long time! What Paul is sharing here is actually very inclusive, inviting engagement by and input from the priesthood of ALL believers, not exclusively men or allowing passivity from the women whenever they gather!
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