While looking for a specific passage a friend and I had discussed, I read thru 1st and 2nd Timothy. I find it strange that, although I didn’t find the passage I was looking for, 2 Timothy 3:6-7 really grabbed my attention.
2 Timothy 3:1-9 talks about the kind of people that will mark the difficult/terrible times of the last days.Verse 7 is (in NIV):
always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
I don’t know why, but in memory and in discussions with other people from memory – maybe because of Verse 5 (in NIV):
having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
…I always seem to mark “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth” as something about people in the last days.
But carefully reading it again and again, and in several translations (some make it painfully clear. Here’s a bunch of 2 Timothy 3), it’s pretty obvious to see that it is actually referring to women. Not all women, but women who are weak/gullible/silly/idle/vulnerable/foolish/sinful women (I just listed all the adjectives across the different translations for that kind of women. Here’s a link for the greek gunaikarion), who allow such men (that mark the difficult/terrible times of the last days) to enter their homes and teach them. In other words, these are women (or people) that permit false teachers.
This reminded me of another passage that I had also just freshly read, 1 Timothy 2:12, where Paul asked Timothy not to have women teach men because (v2:14) woman was the first to be deceived, which led to men being deceived (Adam & Eve). It’s all connected!!
(Other than Wikipedia, my knowledge of some of the following comes from the Bible, academic history lessons, pulpit preaching, documentaries in tv/Netflix)
In those days churches met in homes and Ephesus (where Timothy was) was very prosperous (check out Wikipedia) but plagued with false teachings (which is why we now have 1 Timothy). Women were not educated (only men were, especially in the area of religious studies) and could easily be deceived – and there were many churches hosted by women. Hosts get a say in what happens in their homes, and so, a deceived host leads to a deceived congregation.
So, since 1st and 2 Timothy were written to the same person, in the same city, in the same historical time period – there’s a connection! I found a connection I hadn’t seen before.
(It does add more wood to the ‘study the Bible as a whole argument’ when it comes to whether women should be allowed to teach. It gives more light as to why Paul told Timothy not to permit it – since the time/location needed it. Paul, in many other portions of the Bible acknowledges women, whether as a deacon (deaconess) or in leadership. There are also many other portions of the Bible (in the old and new testaments) that show women in positions to teach and lead. But this is all subject matter for another conversation. Too controversial too.)