Nijay Gupta on 1 Tim 2:11-15

My friend and partner in exegetical crime, Dr. Nijay Gupta, has just published his new book Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023).

While this book does a lot more than discuss 1 Tim 2:11-15, I think we all want to know, what does this book say about 1 Tim 2:11-15?

In a nutshell (pp. 165-66), his view is that:

Paul instructed Timothy to show down destructive patterns that were forming in the Ephesian community, fueled by outside false teaching that was making inroads in the church. Some Christian women were convinced that they held some superior wisdom and directly challenged the church’s leaders (most or all of whom were men). Paul wanted to put a stop to ‘the battle of the sex’ in this community. Women who had fallen prey to false teaching should not disrupt the church gathering. Whoever carried that attitude that women have some leg up over men religiously ought to be reminded that Eve shares the blame in letting sin into the world. God is not honored when one group dominates another; rather, new creation is evident in men and women coming together in faith and love, showing humility, holiness, and self-restraint. We need to stop treating this text as if it is something Paul taught to everyone everywhere. There are enough peculiarities in this passage to say that Paul needed to communicate this to this Ephesian community at this time, and universalizing it should not be an unquestioned assumption.

That is pretty much right on my own view! That said, I’m hanging out for Sandra Glahn’s book on the Artemis cult in Ephesus.

Anyways, there’s good stuff in the book, you should check it out. To get a bigger preview, check out the excellent interview with Nijay on the Biblical Mind Podcast.