When it comes to any discussion of complementarianism and egalitarianism, we need to start with those texts of Scripture that most clearly deal with the question at hand. In 1 Timothy 3:14b-15, Paul outlines the purpose of writing to his young ministry apprentice:
I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.’
This statement follows directly on from his discussion of the behaviour and qualifications of elders and deacons, which itself follows Paul’s controversial words about women in the church (1 Timothy 2:9-15). Therefore, Paul is explicitly dealing with church leadership in this context in contrast to a text like Galatians 3:28 where he is dealing with the issue of equality in terms of salvation.
If we want to know what the Bible teaches about women and leadership in the church, then we must wrestle with 1 Timothy 2:9-15. The most comprehensive interpretation of this passage from a complementarian perspective is that offered in ‘Women in the Church: An Interpretation & Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15’, edited by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner. Both of these men have written extensively on the subject in various commentaries, monographs, and articles, and they have assembled a group of respected scholars to contribute chapters on specific questions that arise from the text.
A Note on the Third Edition
The book has now entered its third edition and has changed publisher from Baker Book House to Crossway. Although this third edition has expanded upon the two previous editions, it does not make the others redundant. In fact, some of the chapters presuppose that the reader is familiar with the earlier editions, especially when the author of the chapter has changed. That does not mean the reader cannot benefit from the book apart from the previous editions but they would be even better served if they had access to this earlier material.
Overview of the Content
The first chapter, ‘A Foreign World: Ephesus in the First Century’ by S. M. Baugh is worth the price of the book. Baugh is one of the foremost scholars of the culture of Ephesus in the first century, having completed his doctoral work on the subject at the University of California. Baugh makes accessible a wealth of technical information by drawing on original source materials from archaeological excavations and various ancient inscriptions which help to illuminate the context in which Paul was writing this letter. His scholarship is careful, non-speculative, and focused on determining what we can and cannot say about the cultural circumstances that might have shaped and influenced Paul’s letter. It is especially with regard to what we ‘cannot’ say that Baugh’s chapter excels. He weighs many of the ‘so-called’ backgrounds proposed by egalitarians to justify their reading of the text. What you discover is that many of these proposed backgrounds are speculative at best (pushing beyond the evidence) or have no substance in reality.
In chapter 2 Al Wolters takes up the discussion of the meaning of the Greek verb αὐθεντέω (‘have authority’ – 1 Timothy 2:12) from Henry Scott Balwin’s earlier work in the previous editions. Wolters builds on and expands Baldwin’s excellent material to show that in both New Testament usage and in the wider Greco-Roman world, the verb has the preponderant meaning ‘have/exercise authority’ rather than the modern translations which offer ‘domineer’ or ‘assume authority’ as the meaning. Wolters makes an exhaustive survey of all known occurrences of the verb in ancient and medieval Greek and demonstrates that the modern renderings cannot be justified. Even if the reader struggles to follow the linguistic complexities of this discussion, they will have no trouble following Wolters’ conclusion.
One of the editors, Andreas Köstenberger, follows on from Wolters work in chapter 3 with another semi-technical discussion of the syntax of the most controversial statement in 1 Timothy 2:9-15: ‘I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man.’ If the average reader is going to struggle with any chapter in this volume, it will be this one. The conclusion that Köstenberger reaches, after presenting a mountain of corroborating evidence, is that the exercising of authority and teaching in this verse are both positive and good activities and therefore the idea that Paul is addressing a specific group of domineering women cannot be justified, and in fact, it is rendered impossible by the syntax. For those who want to dig even deeper, Köstenberger has an appendix to his work at the end of the volume.
Chapter 4 is the most accessible for the average reader as Thomas Schreiner sets forth a full interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-15. Although not every complementarian will agree with all of Schreiner’s conclusions, the substance of what he writes is superb and needs to be taken seriously. For those who enjoy a more technical discussion of the issues, Schreiner offers substantial footnotes that interact with a wide variety of alternative opinions and the best of the egalitarian interpretations up to the time of writing. It was Schreiner’s footnotes that I found most illuminating. Working through them you quickly discover that there is no consensus among egalitarians with regard to how to interpret this section of Paul’s letter and in fact, the views on Paul’s meaning differ so significantly that they often end up contradicting one another. Just by accessing the material in Schreiner’s footnotes you could easily build a strong argument against the egalitarian position from the words of egalitarians themselves. They make some compelling arguments against their fellow egalitarians because they are trying to advance their own interpretation. Again, not all complementarians will view the passage as Schreiner does in every detail but nothing he writes here directly contradicts the work of his fellow complementarians.
Robert Yarborough deals with the issue of the hermeneutics of this passage in chapter 5. This might sound like a somewhat theoretical chapter but it is designed to look at how a given hermeneutic will determine the practice of complementarianism in the church. His chapter explores the meaning of how men’s primary leadership responsibilities as teachers and overseers in the church helps to guide our understanding of Paul’s statement about teaching and exercising authority in 1 Timothy 2:12.
Chapter 6 offers a new chapter for the third edition by Denny Burk (President of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood) on the history of Bible translation. He specifically examines the shift in the NIV’s translation of 1 Timothy 2:12 from ‘have authority’ (1984) to ‘assume authority’ (2011). He draws heavily on the material offered by Wolters (chapter 2) and Köstenberger (chapter 3) in the same volume. He also challenges the claim by Linda Bellevile that the translation ‘have authority’ was actually an innovation in English Bibles in the twentieth century.
The final chapter is devoted to a roundtable discussion related to the application of the teaching advanced in this volume. One of the main criticisms of the earlier editions of the book was that all the chapters had been written by men. But here the roundtable involves the input of six women who are convinced complementarians. This chapter is invaluable for thinking through the implications of the traditional perspective of the role of women in the church but the reader must not be tempted to go straight to this chapter without trying to wrestle with at least some of the exegetical material.
In Conclusion
The one major drawback of this volume is that it is so comprehensive that it will not appeal to the casual reader. Even though this third volume has been made more accessible, it is still semi-technical in parts and therefore of less utility for the ordinary man or woman in the pew. However, if you are more inclined to the egalitarian position, I would caution going straight to some of the negative reviews of this volume from that perspective (especially popular ones). I have read a number of such reviews and they clearly have not engaged with the material on more than a tertiary level and some of their criticisms are simply factually wrong. That being said, for ministers, elders, and those seriously considering the call to leadership in the church, you owe it to yourself to engage with this excellent volume. You cannot credibly say that you have understood the best complementarian arguments if you have not become familiar with this work.
Keith McIlroy