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 abou t Women in 1 Timothy 2:12-15 a hindrance to each other.14 Take, for example, the Biblical concept of‘submission’ (Greek: ÚTtoxáoosiv). Paul used this term within the framework of a certain ordering of society, while today it evokes a negative perception of the church among outsiders.15 What would Paul say in our society...? As for the creation order argument: sometimes is rightly stated that God has ordained that male should be different than female. To be different, however, is not the same as being authoritative on the one side and subordinate on the other. Or should we rather say that men have to take more a leadership role in the home and in the church? However, ‘leadership role’ is a modern concept, different from ‘authority’ in Biblical times. The use of this modern term marks a shift in the argumentation. Moreover, there is one important element missing here: in society. In western society we accept without any problem women in all kinds of leadership roles, even the leading position of the former queens of the Netherlands. Is that not against the creation order? It is clear that Paul in 1 Timothy 2 interprets the order of creation events from the Genesis narrative as an order of rank. While the notion of a created order of rank, in which each person was assigned their own position, aligned well with existing social patterns of the day, in our situation it is difficult to make sense of such an idea.16 Using this argument in such a way has also to be recognised as coloured by its context. Keener shows that Paul seems to read Scripture in an ad hoc way sometimes, using situation-specific analogies in order to universalize biblical texts.17 Paul brings forward a whole palette of arguments, without giving any indication as to which one, for him, carries the most weight. The question arises whether others have not subsequently assigned a greater value to the creation order argument, so that the idea of ‘the creation order’ has become a virtually timeless theological concept.18 Thinking along redemptive-historical lines, however, we have to reckon with creation (Genesis 1-2), but also with fall and redemption (Genesis 3). And precisely 14 Perhaps we could handle such conflicting arguments in the same way as the classic problem of the collision of duties or obligations. 15 Moreonthismotif:ToiT,AndrieB.Du:"Sensitivitytowardsthereactionofoutsidersasethicalmotivation in early Christian paraenesis," HTSTheological Studies 68.1,2012,7. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ hts.v68il.1212. 16 Even Calvin affords the critical remark that the ranking argument that Paul puts forward in verse 13 is not strong. He comments: "Yet the reason which Paul assigns, that woman was second in the order of creation, appears not to be a very strong argument in favour of her subjection; for John the Baptist was before Christ in the order of time, and yet was greatly inferior in rank. But although Paul does not state all the circumstances which are related by Moses, yet he intended that his readers should take them into consideration". Calvin, John: Commentaries on the Epistles of Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (translated from the original Latin by Pringle, William), Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948, 68-69. 17 Keener, Craig S. "Women in Ministry", in Two Views on Women in Ministry, 27-73 [58-63]. 18 Of particular relevance is the critique of Kevin Giles, "A Critique of the 'Novel' Contemporary Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 Given in the Book, Women in theChurch. Part II,"Evangelical Quarterly 72.3 (2000): 195-215. 2015-4 Sárospataki Füzetek 19. évfolyam 67
