Paul is writing to Timothy in the midst of a serious pastoral crisis. False teaching was spreading rapidly in the young church at Ephesus and causing considerable spiritual damage. New believers were being confused, deceived, and in some cases led away from the faith. It is this urgent situation that prompts this letter to Timothy.
In the context of Ephesus, a city steeped in magic, sorcery, and the well known and oft cited “Ephesia grammata” (magical spells), this was not simply harmless chatter. The Ephesia grammata was a well known incantation inscribed on the statue of Artemis (I expand on this in a future part of this series on women and witchcraft in Ephesus).
The false teaching seems to be a toxic mix of speculative myths, blaspheme, magical practices, and early proto-Gnostic ideas. Some women were apparently involved in spreading it (see 4:7 and 5:13).
Part 10 makes a case that 1 Timothy 2:12 is not about women teaching sound doctrine and truth, but addressing and correcting a specific woman involved in false teaching (didaskein) with an attitude and behavior (authentein) causing confusion and harm in the church in Ephesus.
This letter is about more than worship and church order, it is about people that are causing problems for the believers, including many new converts, and Paul and Timothy restoring truth and trust in the Family of God. It is into a specific problematic situation that Paul writes: “I do not permit a woman to teach (didaskein) or (oude) to authentein a man…” (1 Tim 2:12).
Paul’s deep pastoral concern for the believers in Ephesus is throughout this letter! Consider how Paul describes the false teaching. He does not hesitate to use strong language about the danger of false teaching:
- 1 Timothy 1:3–4 - Paul opens the letter commanding Timothy to confront certain people (men & women) teaching “any different doctrine” and promoting “myths and endless genealogies” that led to speculation instead of “faith working through love.”
- 1 Timothy 1:6–7 — Some had swerved into “vain discussion” (hapax: ματαιολογίαν) and desired to be teachers of the law, “without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.”
- 1 Timothy 1:20 — Paul mentions two specific men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom he had “handed over to Satan” to stop their blasphemy.
- 1 Timothy 3:6 — When giving qualifications for those serving in ministry including teaching, Paul warns that new converts are not ready, because they might “become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the devil.”
- 1 Timothy 4:1–3 — “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, through the insincerity of liars… who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving.”
- 1 Timothy 4:7 — Paul calls it “irreverent, silly myths” (literally “old-womanish myths,” hapax: γραώδεις μύθους).
- 1 Timothy 5:13–15 — Paul warns that some younger widows “learn to be idle, going about from house to house, and not only idle, but also gossips/harmful speech (hapax: φλύαροι) and busybodies/magic/curious arts (2x in NT: περίεργοι), speaking things they ought not to say.” He then adds the sobering harm caused as a result that “some have already turned aside after Satan” (5:15).
- 1 Timothy 6:20–21 — Timothy must avoid the “irreverent babble” (hapax: κενοφωνίας) and contradictions of what is “falsely called knowledge.”
Many scholars, including Andreas Köstenberger, have argued that the Greek construction with οὐδέ /oude (“nor”) in 1 Timothy 2:12 requires that the two infinitive verbs (“to teach” and “to authentein”) must both be positive or both negative. Paul normally uses “teach” in a positive sense to refer to sharing sound Christian instruction. This has been used to support a positive meaning for authentein (“to exercise authority”).
However, Paul used “teach” in negative contexts as well. When we consider the context of 1 Timothy, the multiple references to false teaching carries considerable weight to suggest Paul intended a negative meaning, possibilities include to domineer, to coerce or usurp power, to force one’s will over another, or even possibly a violent control over another person.
Based on Getting the Whole Picture: Part 4-9, using oude to join a negative didaskein/teach with a negative authentein fits the context of 1 Timothy very well. Paul would be prohibiting two related negative activities: disruptive or false teaching and domineering, overbearing behavior or possibly teaching erroneous, problematic beliefs in a domineering, overbearing way. None of these are appropriate for any women or men, especially as believers.
Part 11 and beyond will continue with the corrections in 1 Timothy 2:13-15 regarding created order and childbirth.
Comments
Even though the main focus for this series is 1 Timothy, I want to add the following for additional big picture context of Paul’s letters to Timothy ministering in Ephesus and the syncretic toxic cocktail of pagan/false beliefs/practices as this hasn’t received much attention over the ages.
This appendix organizes Paul's letter to the Ephesians into 3 parts:
Spiritual places, Spiritual powers, Spiritual practices.
Each one will be a separate comment...
PART 10 APPENDIX FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
FALSE TEACHING IN PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
The theme of spiritual warfare is weaved throughout Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. False teaching is a significant strategy of the enemy to deceive us. False teaching is never merely an intellectual or doctrinal matter—it is one way the enemy attacks in the spiritual battle that believers face. God warns us around 30 times in the NT to not be deceived, including in Ephesians 4:14 and 5:6.
The Ephesian believers (and Timothy) had Paul’s letter to them that included countering the local pagan context and equipping them for this spiritual battle against Artemis and other god/goddess cults, magic/sorcery (the famous Ephesian spells), astrology, and mystery religions in addition to Timothy’s situation. They remembered the riot and burning their magic scrolls (Acts 19:19). Getting the Whole Picture: A Missing Piece of the Women in Office Puzzle | CRC Network
I love how Paul, the brilliant rhetorician and inspired by the Holy Spirit, often repurposes or contrasts terms familiar from Greek/Hellenistic literature (including pagan and Jewish-Hellenistic sources like Philo) to exalt Christ and redirect believers away from pagan beliefs and practices. His letter to the Ephesians is a powerful example of this!
1. Spiritual / Heavenly Places (ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις – “in the heavenly places/realms” – used 5x in Ephesians)
A. Pagan beliefs
In Greco-Roman thought, the “heavenly” realm referred to the divine sphere of gods, celestial bodies (stars, planets), and spiritual forces influencing earthly life. Pagans sought to navigate or influence this realm through various ways including astrology (ie zodiac signs/horoscopes determining future), magic, and mystery rituals. Classic Greek authors like Homer described heavenly gods; Hellenistic sources tied celestial powers to deities and cosmic order. Philo of Alexandria (Jewish-Hellenistic-Platonic) used epouranios for higher spiritual realities and contemplation of divine things, contrasting earthly vs. heavenly existence. In Ephesus, this worldview supported reliance on amulets, spells, and cults to align with or appease heavenly powers.
B. Paul’s counter
Paul locates spiritual realities “in the heavenly places” but focuses on Christ:
Christ is “far above all rule and authority” (1:21). Believers share His position and victory—no need for pagan manipulation of the heavens.
TBC -> 2. Spiritual / Heavenly Powers
CONTINUED...
2. Spiritual / Heavenly Powers
A. Pagan beliefs
Paganism featured a hierarchy of deities and cosmic powers (archai, exousiai, dynameis, kyriotetes) that influenced life, future, and protection. In Ephesus, this included Artemis (fertility/protection), syncretic worship of Dionysus (wine, ecstasy, debauchery) and Aphrodite (erotic love, sensuality/pleasure). Archaeological evidence from the Terrace Houses (esp. Dwelling Unit 6, home of priest Gaius Flavius Furius Aptus) shows domestic syncretism: Dionysus priesthood combined with Aphrodite worship in elite settings, with spaces for rituals, feasts, and blended cults. Astrology tied human affairs to celestial powers; magic sought to control them. Mystery cults offered secret access to divine power and afterlife benefits. Aphrodite in Ephesos?
B. Paul’s counter
Paul acknowledges these powers but declares Christ’s total supremacy and equips believers to stand strong in God’s mighty power (Eph 6:10):
Eph 5:3-20, includes Paul countering Dionysian and Aphroditic influences: reject sexual immorality, impurity, and “debauchery” (asōtia) linked to wine-induced ecstasy (5:18: “Do not get drunk with wine... but be filled with the Spirit” – interesting that alcohol is sometimes called “spirits”), exposing “deeds of darkness” done in secret instead of participating in them. Paul reframes relationships under Christ’s sacrificial (agape) love and mutual submission to one another.
TBC... -> 3. Spiritual / Heavenly Practices...
PART 10 APPENDIX FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
FALSE TEACHING IN PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
CONTINUED...
3. Spiritual / Heavenly Practices to Influence the Pagan Spiritual Powers: Mysteries, Magic, Astrology
A. Pagan beliefs
Mystery religions (e.g., Dionysian, Eleusinian, Isis, Cybele) emphasized secret initiations (mysteria), esoteric knowledge, secrecy/silence, and ritual actions under the deity for power, purification, salvation—often involving ecstatic rites, wine, and sensuality. Ephesus was steeped in magic (famous spell- “Ephesian letters”, amulets, for protection/power) and astrology to manipulate future and cosmic forces. These practices blended in domestic and public life, in attempts to influence control over heavenly powers through formulas, rites, and secrecy.
B. Paul’s counter
Paul contrasts and repurposes the language:
Eph 5:15-20 — Live wisely in evil days, filled with the Spirit in thankful worship rather than pagan excess.
Hopefully this helps give a more comprehensive "picture” of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Before Timothy confronted specific false teachers, the church already possessed this powerful, positive vision of identity in Christ and victory over the pagan spiritual forces in their culture.
I could expand on each of these sections digging further into Paul's Greek and how ancient Greek authors used this language, but for now, this is a somewhat brief overview to give an expanded picture of Ephesus and the believers spiritual struggles.
Ephesians 3:10 His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
If Paul wanted to suppress the Artemis cult, he could say, "I don't permit anyone to teach about Artemis." Rather, he said, "I don't permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man." He makes no mention of Artemis whatsoever. What he does mention is creation, the Church, and how it should be structured. He doesn't say, "I don't permit women ... because Artemis" but "I don't permit women ... because Eve." Even if Paul's primary target is the Artemis cult, that doesn't mean he is providing a context dependent instruction. If males are the only ones allowed to teach in the Church, and women are spreading Artemis falsehood, Paul would obviously use the means already available to him to squelch this problem—these Artemis women shouldn't be teaching anyway! The argument above is like responding to a teacher saying, "There are some 8th graders usurping my authority and teaching about Pokemon in class. I don't permit 8th graders to teach in my class!" By claiming, "This teacher isn't against 8th graders teaching per se, it's just those who teach about Pokemon. If they were teaching math, it would have been OK." This line of reasoning is supplanting the textual evidence with historical evidence. History and word studies simply do not provide enough evidence to implant the Artemis cult as Paul's express intention here. It's very doubtful God allowed such an important passage for Church history to go misunderstood for millennia. It's very disturbing that so many see tenuous evidence as sufficient to radically alter the order of Christ's Church. To do so, we need evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. But we don't have that. We have a hapax (authentien) and a cult plausibly operating in the background. This is not sufficient.
Rob, thanks for sharing your concerns. This is not a short response.
I compiled a fairly significant list of the textual evidence that false teaching is a significant problem in the early church of Ephesus. That's part of why God warns so many times to not be deceived!
I shared the false teaching list from 1 Timothy in PART 10, and a partial list from Ephesians in the above comments. The Ephesians list in the comments is not complete but are some of the ones I found reading through Ephesians to give a general idea for an overall context of Ephesus. Addressing false teaching from pagan sources, compared to truth is throughout Paul's letter to Timothy and to the Ephesians (& other letters). I might post a list from 2 Timothy as well at some point.
I'm working on digging into more Greek words Paul used along with very slowly (taking me years and I'm only about a third of the way through it) reading Dr. Arnold Clinton's Powers of Darkness (1992). Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul's Letters: Arnold, Clinton E.: 9780830813360: Amazon.com: Books I am on p 72 right now under the heading of Jewish Magic: BOQ The occult sciences crossed all religious boundaries and borrowed from all religions. EOQ This is not tenuous, it is pervasive.
That's the syncretic toxic milieu in Ephesus!
It is an amazing and fascinating study of how Paul (inspired by the Spirit) uses and repurposes Greek language for that cultural context of Ephesus and Asia Minor.
Paul does not need to specifically name Artemis. Artemis, etal., is included in Paul's "myths and endless geneaologies" in 1 Tim 1:3. Timothy knew what Paul meant. Artemis was not alone, so Paul was being very inclusive and including the other 40-50+ deities in Ephesus as well, plus others in surrounding communities. No need to name them. In today's culture if I say "sports teams", I don't need to specifically name the Seahawks or Huskies, or whoever, most people know the names of various sports teams. (GETTING THE WHOLE PICTURE: PART 1 & 2)
Paul and Timothy are not just dealing with Artemis and the pagan deities, although that is a significant influence in Ephesus that has historically not received much attention for the cultural context. There were also Jewish genealogies of spiritual angelic beings (based on Nephilim in Gen 6) in various Jewish writings (ie Tobit, 1 Enoch) that were getting more attention and interest in the 2 centuries before Jesus. I am barely scratching the surface on this influence! The early gnostics were also part of the problem in Paul's time, that exploded in the 2nd Cent AD. Paul was brilliant at using language that had significant meaning in not only the pagan context, but also the Jewish.
Paul specifically switches from plural women in 2:9-10 to a singular woman in 2:11-12. That's an intentional Spirit inspired shift that often gets switched back to women when 2:11-12 is being discussed. (PART 3 Continuing to Piece Together the Whole Picture for Women | CRC Network )
and you are right on authentein being a hapax, yet the entire limitation of women in teaching or leading men heavily leans on that one super rare hapax being translated as general authority, which didn't start until about 500 years ago! Before that, authentein primarily had a negative connotation when used in human relationships, both male and female. That is why I addressed authentein, its history before Paul, after Paul, and the dramatic shift of meaning over the ages more extensively than I originally intended in PARTs 4-9.
It is ironic that about those who are open to women serving as pastors, elders, etc., it's been said they are caving to modern culture (and that could be the case for some). Yet when we go back to the ancient context/culture of Paul's time, that gets discredited as well. It is also ironic that another stmt made is that egals have a low view of Scripture (and that also might be the case for some), yet when we do word studies of the ancient Greek that Paul used, it also gets discredited. God's truth will stand up to both the original context and the original language!
God warns us about traditions of man / elders that nullify His word (Matt 15, Mark 7). Sadly, we are not immune!
Here are some heartbreaking examples of faulty views that continued / God allowed for a long, long time over the ages:
It took centuries for the value of women to generally be viewed equally as men. The primary historic view of women being inferior is one of those traditions that has only started shifting away from that belief in the last 100 years or so, only in some nations, and still is not the case for billions of people in the world. A significant portion of the world still views women as inferior or even as animals or worse. My heart breaks that this has been allowed for so long because of all the harm women suffered and still suffer under this false belief, yet it's on us, not God! He warned / warns us!
Thanks to Rabbi Joshua ben Sira (author of Septuagint's Wisdom of Sirach / Ecclesiasticus), women were considered the sole source of sin (along with a few other misogynist things he writes about women). Jerome perpetuated this view in the Latin Vulgate by leaving out that Adam was "with her" in Gen 3:6, so the blame for sin was placed entirely on Eve for centuries. The RSV also left it out, which influenced translations in other languages, including Hindi which perpetuates this inferior view of women. I think that this view still being perpetuated in places around the world is appalling! I address Joshua ben Sirach and his influence in the early church via the Septuagint, along with Jerome's omission in Gen 3:6, more in one of the Created Order PARTs coming up.
It took centuries to correct some of the Catholic traditions, such as penance/indulgences perpetuated by Jerome's translation of metanoia as paentientia. Or that if children died before being baptized, they were going to hell forever. HEARTBREAKING~ or that Scripture could only be in Latin, denying believers from having God's word in languages they understood. People DIED so we can read it in our native languages. Again, deeply wrong for centuries!
What about Malachi 2:16 and "God hates divorce"? The ESV has corrected it after centuries and God only knows how much harm caused to women in treacherous / abusive marriages that were told by leaders in the Church to stay married no matter what...
ESV: “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless***.”
NKJV: “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously***.”
Malachi 2:16 "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel. "He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence," says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith. ***
*** Strong's Hebrew: 898. בָּגַד (bagad) -- To act treacherously, to deal deceitfully, to betray
Somewhere over the ages the very important Great Commission was lost, so when Justinian von Welz rediscovered it and was deeply convicted to follow it in the latter 1600s, he was considered by the church to be an agent of satan and when William Carey presented it in the latter 1700s (after being inspired by Zinzendorf & the Moravians who were inspired by Justinian), he was told by one of the leaders he was presenting it to, to sit down, God can save the heathens without William's help.
Some pretty important principles that got messed up or missed somehow for a long, long time. Those are just a few I can think of off the top of my head right now.
The "Enlightenment" is one of the significant influences that impacted how the pagan, occultic, demonic influences Paul and Timothy were dealing with are downplayed / dismissed in modern times. I believe that is an example of caving to modern culture. We are immersed in our Western culture that says evil spirits do not exist and there is no spiritual realm, just physical and rational. Some/many? theologians concur with that, while ironically, the New Age influence brought a bit of a shift back to recognizing the spiritual realm over the last 30 -40 years.
However, the authorities, rulers, powers and principalities, etal in the heavenly realms are very real to Paul and Timothy, the people of Ephesus and Asia Minor and pretty much everyone in Paul's day. This understanding was common and pervasive.
Paul states 4x in 1 Cor 10:20-21 that the pagan gods/ idols are demonic. He does not care about their names or hierarchy of respective rank and order. He lumps them all together as demons, powers of darkness, "myths and endless genealogia", deceiving spirits, spiritual forces of evil, etc.
Does this make many of us Reformed uncomfortable? Probably! I also have Clinton Arnold's 1989 book on Power and Magic: The Concept of power in Ephesians that I haven't started yet... I think I will flip through it a bit for now...
The next few PARTs are on created order (1 Tim 2:13-14) and I will be sharing more on the order of Christ's Church at some point as well...
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