Among theologically colliding worship practices, disagreement exists over the roles that women may or may not perform. Both sides have appealed to authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12 to justify their position.
One view claims Paul prohibits women from taking upon themselves roles of authority over men in worship, however Paul had no problem with them having authority. The other perspective asserts Paul prohibited women from possessing roles of authority over men within the assembly.
Translations reflect both positions. The NIV 2011 rendered authenteō as "to assume authority" while the NIV, ESV, NASB, NRSV, NET translate authenteō as either "to have authority" or "to exercise authority."
Might authentēō also contain a pejorative sense of authority such as domineering? Could Paul have been objecting to a woman exhibiting a domineering attitude?
The evidence is not complicated. There are, however, details.
Greek Details
First of all, the noun form of authenteō, namely authentēs, appears to be a homonym. A homonym involves two different words sharing the same spelling. For example, race can refer to either an ethnic designation or a competition.
As for the noun authentēs, it can designate either a kinsman murderer or a master, namely one possessing authority. Our interest lies on discovering what Paul communicated with the lexeme related to a master, not the other one which refers to someone who kills relatives.
Second, Greek verbs expressing some form of ruling are complemented by the genitive case (BDF § 177). This is the grammatical construction in 1 Timothy 2:12 where the word man is in the genitive form. Accordingly, BDF’s Greek grammar cites the infinite authentein of 1 Timothy 2:12 as an example.
Third, when verbs associated with ruling are in the aorist verb tense, they can acquire the meaning of entering or becoming a ruler/master. In 1 Timothy 2:12, authentein is a present infinitive, not an aorist infinitive. Hence, its present verb tense does not communicate the nuance of entering into possessing authority.
In commenting on the present tense of authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12, Daniel Wallace stated it carries the idea of "a general precept that has gnomic implications," which means it implies "a statement of a general, timeless fact" (Beyond Basics, 525, 523). Based upon the context of 1 Timothy 2:12, Wallace further concluded Paul established an enduring principle as opposed to prescribing temporary measures. (Ibid., 525).
Historical Details
Leland Wilshire summarized the data where our interest lies. "Within Christian writings of the Roman period and among the Greek Church Fathers, the word authenteō takes on the predominant meaning of ‘authority,’" as opposed to murder (NTS 34, ’88, 125).
Yet, what about whether the verb itself carried an ingressive meaning implying taking or assuming authority? When Al Wolters examined the usage of authenteō, his research revealed that following 312 A.D. it did increasingly carry the notion of assuming or claiming authority.
However, prior to 312 A.D. this was not the case. Examples of Greek usage prior to 312 A.D. as well as how early translators rendered 1 Timothy 2:12 into their ancient versions led Al Wolters to conclude "authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12 is very unlikely to have either a pejorative or an ingressive meaning." (Köstenberger, Women in the Church, 113-114).
George Knight agreed, "the recognized meaning for the first century BC and AD documents … is ‘to have authority over’. The nuance is positive, or at least neutral, but in any case there is no inherent negative overtone such as is suggested by the word ‘domineer’" (NTS 30, ’84, 152.).
In Plain English
In writing 1 Timothy 2:12, Paul was not prescribing a temporary measure. Nor was he denouncing domineering women who might take it upon themselves to claim authority. Rather, Paul laid down an enduring principle. "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man" (NRSV).
So why do some translations use the phrase "to assume authority?" Last week I began this series with some observations about BDAG. Next week we’ll return to Greek lexicons and press forward into translations.
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