Sárospataki Füzetek 19. (2015)

2015 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Enghy Sándor: Ézsaiás és Jeruzsálem. Jeruzsálem jelene és jövője az Úr szava és az Úr napja tükrében (Ézs 2-4)

Meaning and Significance of the Instruction about Women in I Timothy 2:12-15

and women together received instruction in the Christian doctrine the male/female relationship was particularly sensitive. That is the reason that Paul disapproves of all hunger after power, due to the fall into sin. The Christian congregation should not give any room to the thinking in terms of power.

1.3 Adam and Eve

The reference from Genesis that Paul bases his argument on is not an exact quotation.9 This reference functions as a memory marker to the history of Adam and Eve. A good understanding of the structure of the text, and so grasping its meaning, is achieved when one takes the verses 13 and 14 together with verse 15a as belonging to Paul’s reference to the history of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.10 This is what the text shows:

1. The subject of verse 15a is the same as in verse 14: “the woman” (f) yuvf], take note of the use of the definite article) who in verse 13 was called Eve (the name Adam later gave her);

2. The term xsKvoyovia in verse 15a, unique in the New Testament, refers to Genesis 3:16 (LXX: tsct] xeKva: ‘you will give birth to children’) and Genesis 4:1 (LXX: eicrr|odpr|V av0pco7tov: ‘I have brought forth a man’);

3. The plural of the verb is used in verse 15b, not earlier, so that grammatically verse 15a must be connected to the preceding sentence.

We see that in regard to the pure male/female relationships within the Christian church, Paul refers back to the beginning of mankind: the creation, the fall and the redemption of the first human couple, Adam and Eve. Surprisingly enough, he considers the primeval history from the perspective of the woman! Thus considered, Genesis tells us the story of human weakness. Eve was created after Adam; the woman let herself be fooled and therefore fell into transgression. She, however, shall find salvation in her motherhood (in verse 15a should be translated: “she,” i.e. Eve).

9 Contra: Krause, Deborah: 1 Timothy (Readings: A New Biblical Commentary; London: T & T Clark, 2004), 60-62; Oyen, GeertVan:"The character of Eve in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 11.3 and 1 Timothy 2.13-14," in (eds.) Becking, Bob & Hennecke, Susan: Out of Paradise, Eve and Adam and Their Interpreters, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2011,14-28.

10 Cf. Mulder, M.C.:"En daarna Eva'. Over het schriftberoep van Paulus, met name in 1 Timoteüs 2:11 -15," in (eds.) J.M. Aarnoudse, J.M. e.a: Vrouwen op een zij-spoor? Emancipate van de vrouw en het verstaan van de Schrift in gereformeerd perspectief, Amsterdam, Buijten & Schipperhe- ijn, 1988, 174-200; Wall, R.W. : "1 Timothy 2:9-15 Reconsidered (Again)," Bulletin for Biblical Research 14, 2004, 81-103; Towner, Philip H.: The Letters to Timothy and Titus, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2006, 233; Spurgeon, Andrew B.: "1 Timothy 2:13-15: Paul's Retelling of Genesis 2:4-4:1," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56.3, 2013, 543-556. Contra: Beattie, Gillian A.: "The Fall of Eve: 1 Timothy 2,14 as a Canonical Example of Biblical Interpretation," in (eds.) Alexander, Philip S. & Kaest- li, Jean-Daniel: The Canon of Scripture In Jewish and Christian Tradition, Lausanne, Éditions du Zébre, 2007,207-216, who claims: "Eve in her guilt is made to stand for all women" [210].

2015-4 Sárospataki Füzetek 19. évfolyam 63