The Mission-Lifestyle Setting of 1 Tim 2:8-15

Abstract

"Literature on both sides of the issue of women in marriage and ministry continues to grow, with scholars espousing variations of traditional hierarchical, complementarian and egalitarian positions on this di¯cult subject.1 In view of a recent study on 1 Tim 2:9–15 and the role of women in the Church2 I thought it worthwhile to give the matter my open-minded attention in the spirit of the scholarly “once more” in the hope that it might shed some additional light on a perplexing passage that continues to cause considerable discussion among evangelicals. While the book itself did not move beyond a restatement of the hierarchical position, it did force me to go back to the Biblical text and reconsider exegetical options. In this article I will focus on what now seems to me to be the critical point in Paul’s3 use of the creation/fall/promise theme in 1 Tim 2:13–15, which has allowed me to appreciate in a better way the valid insights of the competing positions"