From: CEP7@aol.com
Date: Mon Jun 29 1998 - 11:05:55 EDT
In a message dated 6/28/1998 7:08:31 AM, bwpowers@eagles.bbs.net.au wrote:
<<I published an article entitled "Women in the Church: The
Interpretation of 1 Tim 2:8-15", which argued that the meaning of GUNH in
this passage was "wife", and similarly that ANHR in the passage means
"husband", and moreover that the passage was thus referring to the
husband-wife relationship, and the context was home and family, and not the
man-woman relationship more generally: certainly Paul is not addressing the
question of men and women in Church.
>>
I have questions concerning the context of this passage. It seems to me that
P{aul is addressing questions related to men and women in the church. 1 Tim 1
concerns instructions Paul's instructions to timothy concerning how to handle
false teachers in the church and this is in accordance with Timothy's ministry
and gifts. 1 Tim 3 concerns qualifications for elders and deacons (and perhaps
deaconesses), officers in the church. Chapter 4 concerns apostasy and the
behavior and responsibility of a church leader. Chapter 5 concerns elders and
widows and how the church is to care for widows and how they should respond to
good and bad elders. Now Chapter 2 is concerned with prayer and teaching,
which, lo and behold, are two of the primary functions of the church. So it
seems that men and women in the church fits better with the broader context
(and OUN IN 2:1, 8 seems to suggest a natural transition). There would need to
be stronger transitional and contextual issues than the use of ANER and GUNH
and parallels in 1 Pet 3. One could suggest parallels in 1 Cor 11 and 14 that
would argue the case for the church context. In addition to this, the command
for TOUS ANDRAS to pray seems to apply a bit more broadly than simply
husbands, especially since the exhortation in 2:1-2 seems to apply to
everyone. Likewise, the GUNAIKAS adornment seems to apply to all women and not
simply wives. This would also apply to the women learning. The sinngular does
not enter the picture until 2:12, but there is no suggestion of a transition
from a plural women to a singular wife, especially since the text reverts to a
plural with MEINWSIN in 2:15.
Charles Powell
DTS
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