Kevin DeYoung - Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction

Genesis

1:1

1:27

1:28

1:31

2:7

2:15

2:1617

2:17

2:18

2:1920

2:20

2:2122

2:22

2:23

2:24

3:15

3:6

3:9

3:12

3:15

3:16

3:17

3:18

3:19

3:20

4:7

20:18

21:13

25:2125

30:2224

Exodus

15:20

18:4

18:2122

19:6

21:16

23:26

Leviticus

18:22

Numbers

6:112

Deuteronomy

4:114

4:5

7:1214

Joshua

Judges

4:5

4:57

4:69

4:8

4:9

4:10

4:1416

4:1723

4:2122

4:22

5:2

5:9

5:2430

9:5354

13:324

13:5

Ruth

1 Samuel

1:1920

2 Samuel

6:23

1 Kings

2:2

8:54

2 Kings

8:3

11:1

11:1316

22:14

22:1420

2 Chronicles

15:3

17:9

Ezra

7:10

Nehemiah

6:14

8:8

Esther

Psalms

19:78

33:20

95:6

113:9

127:35

128:3

146:5

Proverbs

30:1617

31:11

31:12

31:13

31:15

31:16

31:17

31:18

31:20

31:23

31:24

31:25

31:26

31:27

Ecclesiastes

9:17

Isaiah

1:18

3:12

Daniel

6:10

Matthew

1:1825

5:17

5:28

5:32

5:46

7:2829

9:2022

12:42

19:9

2123

24:1

24:10 (3)

26:613

26:39

28:58

Mark

1:3031

7:7

7:2430

16:18

Luke

1:13

1:28

2:36

2:51

4:26

7:1213

7:3650

8:23

10:17

10:20

10:3842

10:40

12:1 (3)

13:1017

13:16

15:810

18:15

21:14

22:41

23:2731

24:29

John

4:27

8:1011

11:2027

12:2

20:12

Acts

1:2122

5:29

6:17

9:40

11:2729

11:28

13:12

15:32

16:21

18:2

18:18

18:26

19:24

19:25

19:31

19:35

20:17

20:28

20:31

21:89

21:1012

28:17

Romans

1:1

1:1832

1:26

1:2627

2:14

5:12

5:1221

8:7

8:20

10:3

12:48

13:1

13:5

15:18

16:1

16:3

16:7

1 Corinthians

2:2

3:10

6:1920

7:5 (3)

7:2021

11:2

11:215

11:216

11:3

11:4

11:410

11:5

11:6

11:7

11:8

11:10

11:1112

11:1315

11:14

11:15

11:16

11:2326

11:33 (3)

12:10

12:28

13:2

14:3

14:28

14:32

14:34

14:3435

15:111

15:27

15:28

16:1314

16:16

16:19

2 Corinthians

8:23

Galatians

1:69

2:1114

2:16

3:2

3:23

3:24

3:25

3:26

3:27

3:28

3:29

Ephesians

1:2022

1:22

2:20

3:5

4:11

5:21

5:22

5:2223

5:24

5:2527

5:28

5:32

5:33

6:1

6:4 (2)

6:5

Philippians

1:1

2:12

2:13

2:25

3:21

4:3

Colossians

3:17

3:18

3:19

3:21 (2)

1 Thessalonians

2:78 (2)

2:1112

4:12

5:2021

1 Timothy

1:3

1:810

1:18

2:4

2:8

2:815

2:910

2:11

2:1112

2:1114

2:12

2:1213

2:13

2:1314

2:14

2:15

3:1

3:113

3:2

3:8

3:10

3:11

3:12

3:15

3:16

4:11

4:13

4:14

5:17

6:2

6:3

6:6

2 Timothy

1:11

2:2

2:15

2:2425

4:12

4:19

Titus

1:9

1:11

2:110

2:5

2:9

3:1

Philemon

1516

Hebrews

2:5

2:8

12:7 (2)

12:9

James

4:7

1 Peter

2:9

2:13

2:18

3:1

3:17

3:34

3:4

3:5

3:56

3:6

3:7

3:22

4:1011

5:5

2 John

Revelation

11:6

11:16

2122

21:1821

Other Crossway Books by Kevin DeYoung

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden (2015)

The Biggest Story ABC (2017)

Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem (2013)

Dont Call It a Comeback:The Old Faith for a New Day (editor; 2011)

Grace Defined and Defended: What a 400-Year-Old Confession Teaches Us about Sin, Salvation, and the Sovereignty of God (2019)

The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of God (2012)

Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible Is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough, and What That Means for You and Me (2014)

The Ten Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them (2018)

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? (2015)

What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission (coauthor; 2011)

Men and Women in the Church

1 Timothy 2:815

Because this section from 1 Timothy is in many ways the heart of the matter, and literally almost every word is in dispute, I will move methodically through this passage, giving a verse-by-verse exposition.

Context

Timothys location at Ephesus is thought by some to be highly significant. Some scholars claim that Ephesus was a hotbed for radical feminism, that the cult of the goddess Artemis typified the feminist principle that saturated first-century Ephesus. With this as the perceived background, it is then argued that the situation in 1 Timothy is unique and that Pauls commands are limited to the extreme feminism rampant in the immediate culture.

The problem with this reconstruction is that it is more fiction than fact. Ephesus was a fairly typical Greco-Roman city. The political, cultural, and religious elements were not out of the ordinary. Like in other ancient cities, the magistrates of Ephesus were male. Likewise, the civic groups in Ephesus were dominated by men. The religious climate was, not surprisingly, polytheistic. Temples and houses throughout the city boasted any number of gods and goddesses. And even though priestesses were common in Greek cities, most of the deities in Ephesus were served by priests.

True, Ephesus was famous as the city of the goddess Artemis (Acts 19:35), and no doubt women participated in the cultic rituals along with men. But the description of Artemis of the Ephesians in Acts 19 tells us nothing that would make us think there was a proto-feminist ethos surrounding Timothys congregation. In fact, all the main characters mentioned by Luke are men: Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was a man (19:24), and he addressed the crowd as men (19:25; cf. 19:35); the Asiarchs (high-ranking officers of the province) would have been men (19:31); the city clerk would have been a man as well (19:35). The biblical depiction of Ephesus gives no indication that men were not in charge of the resources and religious activities in the temple of Artemis, as they were in the religious centers all throughout the ancient world.

Ephesus simply was not a radically feminist place. Privileged women of the city were praised for their modesty and devotion to their husbands. The rolesboth good and badthat women filled in Ephesus were no different from the roles women filled in other ancient cities: wives, mothers, farmers, home managers, prostitutes, and fortune-tellers. This is not to suggest that Ephesus was especially harsh toward women. It is only to say that in terms of gender roles, first-century Ephesus was unremarkable.