Papyrus Tebtunis 275, lines 25-43
Because 1 Timothy 2:12 continues to be the main Bible verse—for some, the only Bible verse—used to exclude women from certain ministries, and because Paul’s precise meaning of the Greek word authentein, used in this verse, has been difficult to decipher, I thought it time to take another look at authentein. This article looks at the history of authent– words and at how these words and their meanings developed. Hopefully, this information will help us gain a better understanding of the meaning and nuances of authentein in the statement: “But I am not allowing a woman (or wife) to teach nor authentein a man (or husband); instead, she is to be calm (or still)” (1 Tim. 2:12). [A much shorter article on authentein is here.]
The noun authentēs in Classical and Atticistic literature: ‘kin-murderer’
Authentein is an infinitive. Infinitives are sometimes described as verbal nouns but they are typically categorised as verbs. Authentein occurs only once in the New Testament, in 1 Timothy 2:12. It is unrelated to the common word exousia which is sometimes translated as ‘authority’ in the New Testament. Rather, authentein may be related to the concrete noun authentēs, a word that was not uncommon in Classical Greek.
Authentēs typically meant ‘kin-murderer’ in Classical Greek. It occurs with that meaning over two dozen times in literature that survives from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. But “after the Golden Age of ancient Greek literature, this meaning becomes relatively rare, occurring mainly in Atticistic writers.”[1]
For example, authentēs is used with the sense of ‘kin-murderer’ in Wisdom 12:6 where it describes parents who killed their own children.[2] The Wisdom of Solomon is contained in the Septuagint and was probably written in the first century BC, but its style is reminiscent of the Classical Greek tragedies of the past that were written in the Attic dialect. Wisdom was written in Atticistic Greek rather than the usual Koine (‘common’) vernacular of its period, the Hellenistic period.[3]
The noun authentēs in Hellenistic Greek from around the turn of the era: ‘murderer,’ ‘mastermind’ and ‘master’
Linda Belleville writes about the broader range of meanings in Hellenistic Greek:
During the Hellenistic period, the primary meaning of ‘authentēs’ was still ‘murderer,’ but the semantic range widened to include ‘perpetrator,’ ‘sponsor,’ ‘author’ and ‘mastermind’ of a crime or act of violence. . . . By the first century AD, lexicographers defined authentēs as the perpetrator of a murder committed by others [and not just by kin].[4]
A nuance of ‘perpetrator’ is seen in most occurrences of authentēs dating from the Hellenistic period (c. 300-30 BC), as well as later, with the word often used in contexts of murder, suicide, and violence. But a meaning of ‘master’ was also emerging.
Wolters mentions that the two meanings of ‘murderer’ and ‘master’ are distinct and that “the two senses may go back to separate etymological roots.”[5] Other scholars, such as Linda Belleville and Philip Payne, state that the etymology of all authent– words is autos (‘self’) + hentēs, derived from anuō (‘to effect’), giving the sense of ‘self-achieving.’[6]
Apart from one occurrence in a disputed passage,[7] authentēs meaning ‘master’ does not occur until the first century AD; but ‘master’ became the more usual meaning from the first century onwards in ordinary Koine (‘common’) Greek, gradually eclipsing any sense of ‘murderer.’[8]
There are indications that from the second century AD the usual meaning of authentēs in everyday use was ‘master’ and that “‘murderer’ had become a poorly understood literary sense.”[9] (Belleville prefers ‘mastermind’ to ‘master,’ acknowledging a nuance of ‘perpetrator.’)[10] This change in meaning is demonstrated in disagreements and confusion about the correct definition of authentēs in the lexica (dictionaries), grammars, and scholia (margin notes) written by Roman and Byzantine authors when referring back to authentēs in Classical Greek works. Wolters concludes, “authentēs in the living language meant ‘master,’ and the meaning ‘murderer’ was largely forgotten.”[11]
The abstract noun authentia from the first century BC onwards: ‘sovereignty’
Sometime in the first century BC, the abstract noun authentia was coined. The first known occurrence of authentia is in 3 Maccabees 2:29, but the meaning of the word in this text has puzzled translators. Wolters states that the word refers to ‘authority,’ as it does elsewhere in contemporary literature.[12] But the sense of authentia is usually stronger than just ‘authority.’ It can have a meaning of ‘sovereignty’ or ‘absolute power.’
Authentia is used with the sense of ‘supreme authority’ in Patristic texts in reference to God or Jesus.[13] In Gnostic texts, it “was the name of the supreme deity in the systems of the early Gnostics Cerinthus and Saturninus, and in the gnostic writing Poimandres (first and second centuries AD).”[14] Authentia is also found in “papyri and inscriptions to refer to the authority of Roman officials.”[15] The word often refers to an authority or power at the highest level.
The verb authenteō (and authentein) from the first century BC onwards
Around the same time as the noun authentia was coined, a related verb was also coined. The verb authenteō may be derived from authentia with some sense of sovereignty. Wolters, however, writes that the verb authenteō is dependent on authentēs with the meaning of ‘master.’[16]
The verb is rare in surviving texts that were written before the fourth century AD, occurring only eight times, not counting 1 Timothy 2:12. Of these eight, “three involve debatable readings of fragmentary papyri [P.Herculaneum 220; BGU 1208 P.Tebtunis. 276] while a fourth [an entry in Moeris Atticista Lexicon Atticum] depends on a conjectural emendation.”[17] As well as finite verbs, these eight occurrences include the infinitive (verbal noun) and participles (verbal adjectives).[18]
Let’s look at these occurrences.
P.Herculaneum 220, fragment 4 = Philodemus, De Rhetorica 2.133 (mid-first century BC).
This papyrus fragment is now lost, and we only have a drawing of it which may or may not be an accurate impression of the original. And some letters are missing from the word authent[__]sin which has been thought to be the verb authentousin. Wolters writes, “It is doubtful whether the verb authenteō appears in P.Herc 220 at all. In any case, given the obscurity and fragmentary character of the text, its hypothetical occurrence there cannot make any reliable contribution to determining its meaning.”[19] Moreover, several scholars suggest that authent[__]sin is not a verb at all, but the noun authentaisin functioning adjectivally. Accordingly, Belleville translates the pertinent phrase syn authent[__]sin anaxin as ‘with powerful lords.'[20] Wolters translates it as ‘with murderous lords.’[21]
Tryphon’s Letter, BGU IV 1208 (line 38) (27/26 BC)
In this papyrus letter, Tryphon tells his brother about a dispute he had with someone about payment to a ferryman who had shipped a load of cattle. Belleville translates the pertinent sentence as: “I had my way with him [authentēkotos pros auton] and he agreed to pay Calatytis the boatman with the full fare within the hour.” Belleville disagrees with George McKnight who suggested the interpretation “I had authority over him“ in his 1984 paper; and she points out that the preposition pros with the accusative auton does not have the sense of ‘over him’ in Greek, but likely means ‘I had my way with him’ or ‘I took a firm stand with him.’[22] Still, Tryphon’s letter presents grammatical and lexical challenges, so any interpretation is conjectural.[23]
Aristonicus Alexandrinus, On the Signs of the Iliad I.694 (9.694) (circa 27 BC)
In this work, grammarian Aristonicus comments on a section of Homer’s Iliad. Aristonicus uses authenteō as an articular participle in the phrase, ho authentōn tou logou.[24] As an articular participle, authenteō functions as a noun. Belleville translates the phrase as “the author of a message.”[25] Payne translates it more woodenly as “the one self-accomplishing the speech.”[26] Wolters translates it as “the originator of the speech.”[27]
Three Astrological Texts (first–third centuries AD)
The verb authenteō occurs in astrological texts written before the fourth century where the word refers to either “the rulership of one planet over another, or to the superior social position enjoyed by those born under favorable astrological conditions.”[28] These texts are (1) Methodus Mystica (first century AD), (2) Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (second century AD), and (3) Papyrus Tebtunis 276 (line 28) (second or third century AD). For example, Ptolemy writes, “Therefore, Saturn when he alone takes control of the soul and has gained dominance/mastery [authentēsas] of Mercury and the moon . . .” (Tetrabiblos 3.14.10).
(The noun authentēs with a meaning of ‘master’ is also found in astrological texts, such as a seventh-century astrological anthology compiled by Rhetorius Aegyptius, which contains earlier material. And the noun occurs in a paraphrase of the Carmen Astrologicum (346) of Dorotheus of Sidon (late first–early second century AD).[29] Dorotheus writes, “if the moon decreases it does not make them [i.e. the leaders and chiefs] masters [authentas] but subservient.”)
Westfall cautions, “It is inadvisable to uncritically apply or transfer the meaning of authenteō from one register to another register such as from the register of astrology to the register of church leadership.”[30] I do not think that church leadership is in view in 1 Timothy chapter 2, but I understand Westfall’s caution. Still, considering the small sample of pre-fourth century texts which include the verb authenteō, we need to look at every text available.
Moeris Atticista Lexicon Atticum, entry on autodikēn (second century)
The name of this work can be translated as ‘Moeris the Atticist’s Attic Dictionary.’ In his dictionary, Aelius Moeris, a second-century lexicographer, lists Attic words with their Hellenistic (or Koine) equivalent. Next to the word autodikēn (which scholars acknowledge as the word autodikein), Moeris has the word authentēn (which scholars acknowledge as the word authentein, the form found in 1 Timothy 2:12).[31]
Armin Panning writes:
Moeris was an Atticist, a purist bent on restoring the Greek language to the elegance it formerly had in the golden age of Athens. Hence, he lines up synonyms in parallel columns, suggesting which ones properly reflect Attic elegance and which fall short. Autodikein he approves as “Attic” (attikōs), whereas authentein is disparaged as being hellenikōs. Thomas Magister [a Byzantine scholar and grammarian] does the same. He urges, “Say autodikein, not authentein, for the latter is koinoteron,” i.e. more characteristic of the koine or common speech . . .[32]
From his entry on the Attic autodikein, we can see that Moeris thought this word had a similar meaning to the common, or non-literary, authentein. The meaning being, ‘to have independent jurisdiction’ or ‘self-determination.’[33] Or, ‘to act on one’s own.’[34]
To sum up so far: The noun authentēs, with the meaning of ‘kin-murderer,’ was mainly used in Classical and Atticistic Greek. The noun was used with a broader sense of ‘murderer’ in the Hellenistic period, and it typically included a nuance of ‘perpetrator.’ In the literary Koine Greek of the Roman period, the range of meanings increased and included ‘master’ and ‘mastermind’ as well as ‘murderer.’ It seems, however, that the verb authenteō was typically used in non-literary, or colloquial, Koine Greek.[35] First Timothy was a letter written in non-literary Koine Greek, though the style is more literary than that of some of the other New Testament letters. The style of First Timothy is a factor we need to consider when trying to work out what is meant by authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12.
Scholion 42a on Eumenides (date ?)
In this occurrence, the verb authenteō means ‘murder,’ but there is an issue concerning its date. The date of the scholion (a scholarly margin note) on Eumenides (a play by the fifth-century BC playwright Aeschylus), may be from the middle ages. The earliest source of this scholion is in the 10th-century Laurentianus Mediceus 32.9 (or 31.9).
Payne notes, however, that if the scholion was originally written by first-century grammarian Didymus Chalcenterus, as is claimed in the manuscript, then “’to murder’ was a meaning of authenteō in Paul’s day.”[36] Nevertheless, Payne dismisses the idea that ‘to murder,’ in a literal sense, is the meaning of authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12.[37]
Wolters is more emphatic:
The meaning ‘murder’ given to authenteō in this scholion is highly unusual. In fact, the only other place in all of ancient Greek literature where the verb might be taken to have this meaning is in the Job commentary of Olympiodorus Diaconus (ca. AD 500), but the text there is almost certainly corrupt. [Wolters believes] that the Aeschylus scholion is late and represents an example of ‘Atticistic hypercorrection,’ that is, a mistake in usage by an Atticist purist who assumed—because the noun authentēs in Attic meant ‘murderer’ and because the verb authenteō is derived from authentēs—that the proper Attic meaning of the verb must be ‘murder.’ In fact, however, there is no evidence that the verb ever occurred in Attic. . .[38]
Putting aside the considerable problems and difficulties with these eight texts, we have seen that authenteō could have the sense of being powerful (P.Herc 220), of being the author (Aristronicus), of using force (BGU 1208), of rulership and dominance (in astrological texts), of self-determination or acting on one’s own (Moeris), and perhaps of murdering someone (scholion on Eumenides).[39] Belleville sums up and states that the meaning of the verb authenteō in Koine Greek is “to dominate, to get one’s way.”[40]
Later occurrences of authenteō
After the fourth century, the verb occurs more often and a sense of ‘domineering’ and ‘using force’ becomes more evident. Cynthia Westfall has investigated many samples of the verb in ancient Greek and concludes “A basic semantic concept that accounts for the occurrences of authenteō in the database of 60 verbs is: the autonomous use or possession of unrestricted force.”[41]
This sense can be seen in Chrysostom’s homily on Colossians written in the fourth century. Chrysostom uses the verb authenteō (the exact form is authentei) in his tenth homily on Colossians where he writes that husbands should not act this way towards their wives.[42] This verb is translated into English as “act the despot” in Chrysostom’s homily in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church.[43]
Does authentein have a pejorative sense in 1 Timothy 2:12?
Some scholars, particularly those who hold to a hierarchical view of the relationship between men and women, argue that authentein does not have a negative or pejorative sense in Greek texts, including 1 Timothy 2:12. And they believe the prohibition expressed in 1 Timothy 2:12 is a universal one which is predicated solely on a woman’s sex; they do not believe the prohibition addresses the bad behaviour of a woman (or women) in Ephesus.
Wolters is one such scholar. He writes, “Translations of authenteō like ‘domineer,’ though still found in contemporary lexica, have no basis in the actual usage of this verb [in ancient Greek literature.] It is overwhelmingly used in a neutral or positive sense.” I completely disagree.
My problem with Wolter’s statement is two-fold. Firstly, people who had a normal kind of authority in the broader Greco-Roman world had considerable power over those beneath them.[44] This kind of authority and power has no place in the Christian community where all members are brothers and sisters (Matt. 23:8-12; 1 Pet. 5:3). So, even if ancient writers used the Greek verb for the exercising of power in a neutral or positive way, as Wolters claims, though I am not at all convinced, this kind of power is the antithesis of what Jesus wanted among his followers (Matt. 20:25-28).
Secondly, there are indications that authentein was understood as indeed having a pejorative in 1 Timothy 2:12. Payne makes the broad statement that “The preponderance of examples of forms of authent– [words] up to Paul’s time have negative connotations.”[45] Kenneth Bailey provides more specific information. Bailey comments on the translation of authentein into Syriac (a form of Aramaic) in the Perhsitta, the Syriac Bible:
The Peshitta Syriac (fourth century) translates with MAMRAHA. The root of this word has to do with insolence and bullying. The early Arabic versions, translated from the Greek, Syriac and Coptic, read either ‘YATA’AMARU’ (“to plot; to be domineering; to act as ‘lord’ and ‘master’; to be imperious”) or ‘YAJTARIU’ (“to be insolent”). The last two centuries have preferred ‘YATASALLAT’ (“to hold absolute sway”). Thus middle-eastern Christianity at least from the third century onward has always remembered that something dark and sub-Christian was involved [in 1 Timothy 2:12.][46]
Furthermore, in the Vetus Latina (Old Latin) (second-fourth centuries) and Vulgate (fourth-fifth centuries) authentein is translated as dominari (‘dominate’). To dominate or domineer is unacceptable behaviour for any Christian, man or woman. It has no legitimate place in the church. It has no place in Christian marriage.
Conclusion
I suggest that authentein is used in 1 Timothy 2:12 with the sense Westfall gives in her 2016 book Paul and Gender where she writes:
In the Greek corpus, the verb authenteō refers to a range of actions that are not restricted to murder or violence. However, the people who are targets of these actions are harmed, forced against their will (compelled), or at least their self-interest is being overridden because the actions involve an imposition of the subject’s will, ranging from dishonour to lethal force.[47]
I believe Westfall’s statement accurately captures the essence of authenteō (and authentein.) Nevertheless, we can only speculate how this force or coercion was being used by a woman in Ephesus towards a man, probably her husband.
Paul’s decision to use the word authentein was deliberate. As was his choice not to use any of the many Greek words that can mean “exercise authority” or “govern.”[48] What Paul precisely or specifically meant by this word in 1 Timothy 2:12 continues to elude us.[49]
Endnotes
I have replaced Greek letters in Greek words with Latin letters, except in journal and chapter titles, to make the information on this page as accessible as possible to my readers.
[1] Albert Wolters, “A Semantic Study of Aὐθέντης and its Derivatives,” Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 1.11 (Spring 2006): 44-65, 45. This article originally appeared in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 1 (2000): 145-175. Authentēs in Classical (Attic) Greek is equivalent in meaning to the Latin word parricida.
[2] The parents are described as authentas, the accusative plural of authentēs.
[3] Albert Wolters, “Aὐθέντης and its Cognates in Biblical Greek,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52.4 (December 2009): 719–729, 720-721.
[4] Linda L. Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority: 1 Timothy 2:11-15,” Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Hierarchy, Ronald Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothius (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 205-223, 212.
[5] Wolters, “Aὐθέντης and its Cognates,” 719.
[6] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 212. Philip Payne, Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul’s Letters (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 363.
[7] The disputed passage is in Euripides’ play, The Suppliants (Supp. 422), first performed in 423 BC.
[8] Wolters, “Semantic Study,” 45. He adds, “Its earliest attestations after [the disputed passage in The Suppliants of] Euripides are in two recently discovered inscriptions from Asia Minor dated to the first century AD, and in the Shepherd of Hermas (first or second century).” This sense of ‘master’ persists, “ultimately leading via the Modern Greek aphentēs to the Turkish word effendi, still meaning ‘master.’” “Semantic Study,” 45.
[9] Wolters, “Semantic Study,” 46. A few authors who wrote in literary Koine Greek (not to be confused with Atticised Greek) did use authentēs with the meaning of ‘murderer.’ In footnote 17 on page 212 of “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” Belleville provides one example from the writings of Philo of Alexandria (early first century AD) (Quod Deterius Potiori Insidiari Soleat 78.7), and five examples from the Roman historian Appian of Alexandria (mid-second century AD) (Mithridatic Wars 90.1; Civil Wars 1.7.61.7; 1.13.115.17; 3.2.16.13; 4.17.134.40). Wolters provides these same examples in Appendix 1A in “Semantic Study,” 55-56. But, instead of the reference to Appian’s Mithridatic Wars, he has one from Appian’s Roman History 12.4.23. He also provides the examples of Josephus’ Jewish Wars 1.582 and 2.240
[10] “’Master’ can be found but it is in the sense of the ‘mastermind’ of a crime rather than one who exercises authority over another.” Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 213. Nevertheless, the meaning of ‘master’ is plain in a few texts such as the Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.5.6-7, where authentēs is used interchangeably with despotēs (‘master’).
[11] Wolters, “Semantic Study,” 47.
[12] If Wolters is correct, 3 Maccabees 2:29 indicates that certain Jews in Egypt were restored to their “previously restricted/limited authority/power” (tēn prosunestalmenēn authentian) to follow their own customs and laws. Wolters, “Aὐθέντης and its Cognates,” 723-724. Wolters adds, “This interpretation is confirmed by the Syro-Hexapla of [3 Maccabees]. The Syriac word which it uses to render authentia is sultana, meaning ‘power, authority, right.’” “Aὐθέντης and its Cognates,” 724.
[13] For example, “Man, too, was the workmanship of angels, a shining image bursting forth below from the presence of the supreme power (tēs authentias) . . .” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.24.1.
[14] Wolters, “Semantic Study,” 50.
[15] Ibid., 50. “As early as the mid-second century, authentia, was also used in a bilingual Roman inscription as the Greek equivalent of Latin auctoritas [‘authority’].” “Semantic Study,” 50.
[16] Ibid., 48.
[17] Wolters, “An Early Parallel of Aὐθεντεῖν,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54.4 (December 2011): 673–84, 673.
[18] Only in Methodus Mystica and Ptolomy’s Tetrabiblos does authenteō occur with an object in the genitive case, as in 1 Timothy 2:12. Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[19] Albert Wolters, “The Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 (Third Edition) Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner (eds) (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 65-116.
[20] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 215. Wolters states that authentaisin, the old Attic dative plural of authentēs, is a plausible reconstruction of authent[__]sin. “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[21] Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[22] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 214.
[23] Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[24] A participle with an article before it gives the participle “the character of a noun.” Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar (Harvard University Press, 1920, 1984), 454.
[25] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 214.
[26] Payne, Man and Woman, 362.
[27] Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[28] Wolters, “Early Parallel,” 680.
[29] Wolters, ibid., 682 & 683. Furthermore, two other authent–words occur in early astrological texts.
These are the noun authentēsis, a hapax legomenon meaning something like ‘governorship’ or ‘foremanship,’ found in the astrological treatise of Vettius Valens (second century AD), and the adjective authentikos, ‘authoritative,’ which occurs five times in Ptolemy’s Apotelesmatika (Tetrabiblos) to indicate authority or dominance of some kind. There is also a text attributed to Vettius Valens, which uses authentikos . . .
ibid., 683.
[30] Cynthia Long Westfall, “The Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, 10 (2014): 138-173, 149-150.
[31] “Scholars have long recognized that these apparently nominal forms are a corruption of the verbal forms autodikein and authentein.” Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[32] Armin J. Panning, “Authentein—A Word Study,” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 78 (1981): 185-191.
[33] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 216.
[34] Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[35] Wolters suggests that the rarity of the verb in surviving Greek literature before the fourth century “is probably due to the fact that it represented a colloquial or subliterary stratum of the language.” ibid., 65ff.
[36] Payne, Man and Woman, 362. In footnote 8 on the same page, Payne mentions an entry in the Suda, a lexicon of Byzantine Greek written in the tenth century AD, concerning the participle authentēsonta. Wilshire also mentions this participle. Wilshire, in his Appendix II on authenteō in Byzantine Lexicographers, first notes that the noun authentēs is glossed twice in the Suda as ho autocheir: ‘one who does things with his own hand.’ Then, in regards to the participle, he writes:
The Suda defines the active participle authentēsonta as a person who has given an order to massacre a specific group and gives the historical example of Mithridates who gave an order to kill every Roman [in 88 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator arranged the massacre of the Romans and Italians residing in the province of Asia with an estimated 80,000 killed]. It then states that the word includes both the autocheira, the perpetrators of a killing, as well as those who order it done.
Leland Edward Wilshire, “The TLG Computer and Further Reference to ΑUΘΕΝΤΕΩ in 1 Timothy 2.12,” New Testament Studies 34 (1988): 120-134, 132-133. (His use of square brackets.)
While this entry is interesting, especially the relation between authentēsonta and autocheir, I’m hesitant to use a secondary source from the tenth century as providing support for the meaning of authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12.
[37] Payne, Man and Woman, 362.
[38] Wolters, “Meaning of Aὐθεντέω,” 65ff.
[39] Authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12 (written in the late first century) has been left out of this discussion.
[40] Belleville, “Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 216.
[41] Westfall, “Meaning of αὐθεντέω,” 71.
[42] Scr. Eccl. Vol. 62, page 366, line 29. Source: Thesaurus Linguae Graecae.
[43] Volume XIII, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), 304.
[44] Andrew Perriman objects to the idea of authority in authenteō:
In fact, to introduce the idea of ‘authority’ into the definition at all may be misleading if it is taken to mean a derived or ordained authority: it is ‘authorship’, not ‘authority’, that is at the heart of the meaning of authenteō. This distinction is crucial. The idea of authority comes into play only when the object of the verb is not an action or state of affairs but a person: one cannot ‘author’ a person, but one can exercise an ad hoc authority over a person in such a way that he or she becomes instrumental in bringing about an action or state of affairs.
Andrew C. Perriman, “What Eve Did, What Women Shouldn’t Do: The Meaning of Aὐθεντέω in 1 Timothy 2:12,” Tyndale Bulletin 44.1 (1993): 129-142, 37.
[45] Payne, Man and Woman, 378. Commenting on later usage, Payne writes, “In the overwhelming majority of these, the authority that is assumed is an authority that has not been properly granted, so it usually carries a negative connotation.” Man and Woman, 391.
[46] Kenneth Bailey, “Women in the New Testament: A Middle Eastern Cultural View,” Theology Matters 6.1 (Jan–Feb 2000): 1-11, 9.
[47] Cynthia Long Westfall, Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle’s Vision for Men and Women in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016), 292.
[48] Belleville writes,
Within the semantic domain of ‘exercise authority,’ the biblical lexicographers, J.P Louw and Eugene Nida [in their Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains #37.35-47; #37.48-95] have twelve entries and forty-seven entries of ‘rule,’ ‘govern.’ [Authentein is absent from both these domains.] Yet Paul chose none of these. Why not? The obvious reason is that authentein carried a nuance (other than ‘rule’ or ‘have authority’) that was particularly suited to the Ephesian situation.
“Teaching and Usurping Authority,” 211.
[49] Taking 1 Timothy 2:15 into consideration, I suspect that a woman in the Ephesian church may have been withholding sex from her husband, thinking it was an expression of piety. There is evidence that celibacy, even within marriage, was considered a virtue in the apostolic church, as well as later. Moreover, some early Christians connected celibacy with salvation (cf. The Acts of Paul and Thecla). Paul corrects this faulty understanding and connects having children, an expected outcome of sex, with salvation. (More on this here.) Some husbands and wives in the Corinthian church were abstaining from sex. Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 7:4. (More on this verse here.)
Related Articles
A much, much shorter article on authentein is here.
An interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:12 that joins the dots of 2:11-15
Jesus’ Teaching on Leadership and Community in Matthew’s Gospel
The Anonymous Man and Woman in 1 Timothy 2:11-15
6 Reasons 1 Timothy is not as clear as it seems
Chastity and Salvation in 1 Timothy 2:15
This is excellent scholarly work and I’m excited you posted this! My summer project is to finish up a book proposal on the “limiting” Scriptures on women. I will definitely be using this piece when I hit 1 Timothy. Thank you for your continual faithfulness to teach and inform God’s people!
I’m glad someone’s excited. 🙂
I thought it might come across as tedious.
It was not tedious. I was especially “excited” with you listing all the usages of the word. That is extremely helpful. Thank you. Great work.
Thanks TL! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your work. It comes across as well researched and not tedious! I am curious what your thoughts are on authentein meaning claiming authorship?
Catherine Kroeger found a nuance of the noun form of authentas “There is support for authenteo as meaning ‘to proclaim oneself the author or originator of something.’ If we apply the meaning of authenteo to 1 Timothy 2:12 we would have ‘I do not allow a woman to teach nor to represent herself as the originator or source of man.’ This then might be a prohibition against a woman teaching a mythology similar to that of the Gnostics in which Eve predated Adam and was his creator.”
This lines up with Paul saying that Adam was formed first and then Eve in verse 13. I really value your opinion and would appreciate any thoughts you had on this theory. Thanks!
Hi Tricia,
I won’t disregard Cathy Kroeger’s claim, but it doesn’t fit neatly with the grammar of 1 Timothy 2:12. If authentein does mean “to be the originator/author” then the statement in 1 Tim 2:12 would read, “I am not allowing a woman to teach nor to be the originator/author of a man . . .” Too many extra, helping words are needed to make the statement, “I am not allowing woman to teach nor to claim she is the originator of man . . .” On the other hand, if 1 Tim 2:12 contains a hendiadys, the argument could be made that Paul is saying, “I am not allowing a woman to teach that she is the originator of man.”
There is evidence in a few ancient Gnostic texts that some Christian Gnostics had parts of the Genesis creation account backwards and that Eve (or a feminine force) was seen as giving life to Adam. More on this here: https://margmowczko.com/adam-and-eve-in-gnostic-literature/
I personally suspect that 1 Timothy 2:13-14, which is an accurate summary statement of Genesis chapters 2 and 3, corrects the faulty teaching of a woman in the Ephesian church (as per didaskein), and that 1 Timothy 2:15 corrects the faulty exercise of control of a woman towards a man, probably her husband (as per authentein): “but she (the woman) will be saved through childbearing (as opposed to abstinence) if they (the couple) continue in faith and love and holiness with propriety.” More on this here: https://margmowczko.com/chastity-salvation-1-timothy-215/
1 Timothy 2:12-15 is a bit of a mystery, but I do think coercion, control and domineering lies at the heart of authentein.
Excellent article and additional comments.
Excellent treatment Marg. You have summarised other research well (especially Wolters, whose data is generally very good, although I find his conclusions surprising given his own treatment of the data). I hadn’t seen Bailey’s work, so thanks for that. However, far from being tedious, I think you have produced one of the most concise, well-informed and balanced (in scholarly terms) contributions that is very accessible for those wanting to be more informed. I truly want to encourage you to keep up your contributions and posts – consistently very well done.
Thanks so much, Tim. I’m glad it’s accessible.
I’m thankful for Wolter’s work on authent– words, even though I disagree with some of his conclusions. I was delighted to see that Cynthia Westfall and Al Wolters have collaborated. (I read this in a paper by Westfall.) I love it when we can work together.
Good, very useful tedium! Dental work is tedious, but necessary to fix serious, insidious problems.
Do you see a connection between the Artemis phenomenon in Ephesus and the choice of “authentein” to name what Paul (or whoever you think wrote this) did not permit?
Thanks, Rod.
I haven’t seen any authent– words being used for the Ephesian Artemis or her cult, but I don’t rule out her influence in the church at Ephesus or that she is lurking somewhere in the heresy (or heresies) that prompted Paul to write to Timothy.
I’ve written about the Ephesian Artemis here: https://margmowczko.com/regalia-artemis-ephesia/
Thanks for the extensive compendium of Artemis history. From other sources, I’ve gathered that Artemis devotion exaggerated the power of women and minimized the power of men, in a mirror image of how other cultures skew power to favor men.
Doubtless, the church in Ephesus included some of the wealthy, educated men and women of Ephesus, who enjoyed high social status because of their “service” to Artemis. Before maturing in faith, they could assume their former community status prepared them to be leaders in the church. They also could have brought their superstitions and social habits, which had to be corrected.
I’m personally not convinced the cult of Artemis did elevate women and minimise men. I think this has been exaggerated by some. But there were priestesses in the cult, and even high priestesses. To become one you had to come from a socially respectable and wealthy family.
At the risk of overdoing the links, here’s another:
https://margmowczko.com/the-prominence-of-women-in-the-cultic-life-of-ephesus/
First Timothy does indicate that there were wealthy men and women in the church at Ephesus.
Thanks for sharing your excellent work with us!
I’m not sure of your policy on links outside your blog, and this may not be news to you anyway, but FWIW, here’s a link that makes a case for 1 Timothy countering specifically the Artemis cult. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2016/1/19/wealth-and-the-earliest-christians-a-review-of-gary-hoag-by-lucy-peppiatt/
I have no problem with that link. I still haven’t read Hoag’s book, but I read all of Ben Witherington’s ten posts on it, if that counts. 😉
I have read Ephesiaca though, but only in English.
Great work as usual, Marg. Ever since I read Wolters’ article I’ve understood αυθεντειν as ‘dominate, exercise mastery over’ – but arriving at the opposite exegetical conclusions as Wolters did. Appreciate your presentation of the verb, especially the part about not deriving the meaning of the verb from the meaning of the cognate noun (a fallacy consistently demonstrated by one of our soulmates in the egalitarian movement; I’m sure you know whom I’m referring to).
Hi Timothy,
I feel I should know you, but I can’t “place” you. Sorry 🙁
Yes, much of Wolters’ research is sound and reliable even if you and I have come to different exegetical conclusions. I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bath water. Perhaps you can say something to our friend.
No problem, Marg. We’ve ‘met’ on the BCE Facebook page.
Your full name helps. I do remember you now. And I recall that, a while ago, you did engage with our friend. 🙂
Thank you so very much for this amazing piece. So well researched and facsinating! I’m left wanting to learn so much more.
Hi Katherina,
A few of the journal articles mentioned in this post are freely available on the internet. If you google their titles you may find them.
Very interesting study, thank you! I think you probably aren’t doing yourself any favors though by attributing bad motives to people with the statement, “some scholars, particularly those who hold to a hierarchical view of the relationship between men and women…”
Yes, I certainly understand what you’re saying. But I do see a connection between hierarchicalists who believe authentein has a neutral or even a positive sense in 1 Timothy 2:12, despite the fact that Paul is disallowing this behaviour, and other scholars who see authentein as having a pejorative sense.
Why would Paul disallow something that is positive?
Thanks for this Marg! I love a good word study and this is one passage I have always wanted to understand better.
1 Timothy 2:12 is a tricky sentence in a tricky passage. It’s not as straightforward as English translations seem to show. That’s for sure!
Do you have any evidence that any of the prominent the early Christians understood this text they way you are interpreting it? Possibly from the the Didache or the Ante Nicene Fathers? It seems that if you are correct, it would have been immediately evident to Christian readers of the time, and should then be reflected in early Christians writings. Of course if your interpretation is entirely absent or even contradicted in those writings then…
Hi Jordan,
This is something I looked into.
The Didache doesn’t mention 1 Timothy 2:12 or authenteō. Origen’s comment on this verse is the earliest we have. He and later commentators understood authentein as meaning “to rule” or “to dominate,” as did the first translators of 1 Timothy 2:12 into Syriac and Latin.
Origen interprets the verse as: “a woman is not to become a ruler/governor of a man by means of discourse” (μὴ τὴν γυναῖκα ἡγεμόνα γίνεσθαι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ ἀνδρός) (Fragment 1 Cor 74.21).
I have not found evidence that early commentators necessarily understood 1 Timothy 2:12 as addressing the bad behaviour of a particular woman, or certain Ephesian women, but more as general advice limiting the participation of women in church gatherings.
However, early church fathers are not necessarily reliable in their commentary or views. Most of these men, generally speaking, had a low opinion of the abilities and potential of women, and this low opinion comes through in their writings; it has flavoured their interpretation of certain Bible verses. There are many instances where the opinions of early church fathers (on a variety of topics) do not accurately reflect the attitudes, hopes, and statements of Jesus or Paul.
I have a post which looks briefly at the attitudes of early church fathers concerning women, here.
Some early church fathers, while maintaining an overall low view of women, had deep friendships with, and a strong admiration for, certain women who were their colleagues and patrons (e.g., Jerome and Paula; Chrysostom and Olympias).
Let me add that Chrysostom recognised that Priscilla was a teacher (Homily 30 on Romans) and Junia was an apostle (Homily 31 on Romans). He said glowing things about these women and other women ministers (e.g. Euodia and Syntyche). Origen, similarly acknowledged the ministries of Priscilla, Philip’s four daughters, and other prophetic women.
>I believe Westfall’s statement accurately captures the essence of authenteō (and authentein.) Nevertheless, we can only speculate how this force or coercion was being used by a woman in Ephesus towards a man, probably her husband.
I can agree with you that this isn’t simple authority–I’m sure there was some cases of male senility back then where some authority had to be exercised–however, you seem to be reaching.
You do know that the Jews looked at Eve’s origin and fall as a reason for not letting her pray, don’t you? Both Peter (1 Pet 3:7} and Paul had to contend with this. You possibly see the curse in Gen 3 as women desiring authority over men, and men using his own methods to keep it. If you do, ask yourself why Paul would start off his request for men to pray with a requirement not to hit anyone. Yes, I’m coupling “hand” with “wrath and dissension.” Then Paul uses a likewise to introduce women praying. However, now he uses a different problem. Could it be a way of manipulating men? IOW, was Paul setting up the Jewish mind to remember the original curse? I.e., women desiring control and men grabbing it back?
Verse 15 talks about The Childbearing. The only sensible solution to interpreting that is to remember that Paul focused on the Son, “born of a woman, born under the Law.” IOW, the curse of the woman, in Christ, no longer exists. Peter, OTOH, points out in 1 Peter 3:7 that an unsaved (IN THIS CONTEXT) wife (or is it any woman under the authority of a man at that time) will cause him to suffer by attempting to manipulate him?
Paul’s good friend, Luke, also emphasized the woman Mary (a.k.a. rebellion) being obedient (compare her reaction to Zacharias’. Why did Luke put it in? He had space limits, you know.), so I think it is probable that the early Christians understood that women no longer were under the first curse–the consequence of trusting so as to accept Life IS Life.
The context in 1 Cor 14 is judging the prophets, so coupled with 1 Tim 2, there seems to be a limit to the “leading” a woman could do in the Church. However, I emphasize the word “leading” for a reason. A woman wearing a head-covering, which merely communicates symbolically that she isn’t “leading”–can both pray and prophesy. This points out a major problem in the debate: what is the difference between the modes of speech?
In the case of prayer and prophecy, picture a female child going to and fro between her father and her brothers carrying messages. No one would consider this “leading.” How about teaching? Most “teachers” are regurgitators. Rarely is a major doctrine of Scripture, according to that group, challenged. What is “preaching”? I don’t know what the modern definition is unless it means “vague”. What is wrong with a woman evangelist? Is sharing the gospel wrong? So the main problem nowadays of a woman speaking doesn’t exist unless it brings in something against the tenets of Christianity. That, of course, should only be done by men. 🙂
I occasionally hear a pastoral sermon, but that is very rare.
Like you, I’m not sure what Paul is saying in 1 Tim 2, but there seems to be some strictures in his mind. I would therefore be against women pastors in some of the groups I’ve been in, but certainly not all! Does ANY group follow 1 Cor 14 practices? I think it is more or less a dead letter now. No, not because it was cultural, but because we “worship” according to Jewish norms or by taking the Revelation symbols and “materializing” them, rather than assemble together for the reasons in Scripture.
Hi muddlegum,
This article focuses on the word authentein. My article is quite long as it is and I chose not to elaborate on possible contexts of 1 Timothy 2:11-15, apart from a short comment in the last endnote.
I have several other articles that look at possible contexts of 1 Timothy 2:11-15, here. (Or click on the category “1 Timothy 2:12”.)
>This article focuses on the word authentein. My article is quite long as it is and I chose not to elaborate on possible contexts of 1 Timothy 2:11-15,
Fine. I’m reading. However, you seem to have missed one type of context that is essential for translation; and that is pop culture. For instance, the word faith might not have been stagnant, but Homer certainly was known well enough that the word faith was easily frozen in stone when Ulysses chose men to go with him against Circe. Another Greek instance is within 1 Tim 2. I’ll have to look up my old notes (I should anyway.) because I don’t remember exactly which of these words that *could* be translate as “modesty” was in a popular play at the time. (Don’t you hate my vagueness?) One of the sisters on hearing that her long-gone brother was home took off running. That was considered immodest because she exposed too much even though she wore a modest dress.
In the same way, the cultural context would affect your word. Again, I’m relying on memory. However, if I’m not mistaken Socrates used AUTHENTEIN or one of its cognates to decry suicide. “We are the cattle of the gods,” he said, “and committing suicide seizes their authority for yourself.” Plato was not unknown to the intelligentsia of the Jews and God-fears and the meaning would have been affected somewhat.
OTOH, the meaning of Greek words used in the early Christian writings after the N.T. was written always seem to me to be changed by those who had an agenda. Similarly, the oldest writing nearly all had been tampered with long ago. I hope you can peel away the cultural debris of centuries without adding your own, but it won’t be easy.
No word is frozen in stone. This is why I provided a brief history of authent– words.
I also provided examples and meanings of authenteō in “pop culture,” that is, in non-literary (everyday) Koine (common) Greek dating from around the time 1 Timothy 2:12 was written.
I hit Post Comment, and I find that I missed a field. There was a “back” that I could hit and I foolishly hit it and lost the comment.
1. “No word is frozen…” a) Most abstract words have multiple definitions. b) A word in a classical tale with a certain amount of context can easily have the definition inherent in the context frozen for long periods of time. In the instance of faith, I’ve learned a lot from Homer’s use.
2. Thank you for demonstrating my point. You mistook my meaning of “pop culture.” I’m pretty socially isolated, but I thought it was known to mean “The tastes in art and manners that are favoured by a social group” in the context I was writing. Pop, of course, would be the “popular” or common social group. The art I was writing about would be the theater of the time.
If I had said of your post, “there is something rotten in Denmark,” I suspect you would be cosmopolitan enough to immediately understand what I was saying (this is a mere example, not the reality of what I was thinking, BTW.) Paul and Timothy had some common points of reference, but by and large they also were cosmopolitan enough to have to mentally interpret what the other said and succeed because of multiple reference points. One of those reference points would have been the arts of that period. Koine was another reference point, but certainly not “set in stone,” as you know, throughout the various cultures and classes in the Roman Empire.
In that case, what Socrates said was part of the common fund of philosophy that was known in general.
I’m wondering if, in this context of guiding Timothy how to handle this very dynamic church where it seems women may well be playing an active role, and men have been told their prayers could well be hindered if they’re grumpy and argumentative, maybe in that sort of society it could be appropriate to translate the slightly agressive and domineering word for what the women aren’t to do to men as ‘no hen-pecking’. I could go with that.
Yes, “no hen-pecking” fits. Though I suspect it was stronger than just “hen-pecking”. 😉
Great article! I’m wondering if you might be able to answer why so many translations simply translate Paul’s “authentein” as “exercise authority.” I have not calculated the percentages, but from a cursory observation, it seems that 99% of the translations of 1 Timothy 2:12 are in favor of the complementarian understanding of the verse, namely that a woman is not to teach or exercise authority over a man.
If the egalitarian emphasis on authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12 is correct in that it ought to be translated to something like “teach in a domineering way”, then would this imply a great lacking in the abilities of translators to understand how to translate words of Scripture? Or even worse, might it imply a hidden conspiracy of translators seeking to hide meanings of words so as to oppress women? If either of these are the case, do we know where else they have blundered?
I know many egalitarians make a strong push to make it known that authentein must mean something else, but why might one want to discard the majority of translations of 1 Timothy 2:12 in favor of a translation made by egalitarians? Wouldn’t some think that it is actually the egalitarians who have more reason to try to coerce a meaning out of a translation than Bible translators?
Just some questions I have as I am wrestling through this issue. Your article was helpful and since I noticed that you respond to questions I thought I would see if I could get your take on these things. Thanks and praise God Almighty!
Hi John,
I’m guessing the answer to your opening question would be “tradition.” (Since I haven’t asked the translators themselves, I can only guess.)
Most of our knowledge of the verb authenteō (authentein) is recent. It is a relatively rare word in surviving ancient documents circa first century, and it seems they applied a later, post-fourth-century meaning to a first-century text. (The meaning of the more common nouns authentēs (“murderer/perpetrator”) and authentia (supreme authority) have been known for much longer.)
I don’t believe there is a conspiracy. I do not think individual translators are being intentionally misleading. However, there is a reasonable consensus among Greek scholars, if not biblical scholars, that authenteō around the first century refers to domineering and controlling behaviour. This is reflected in early translations of 1 Timothy 2:12 in Syriac and Latin but not in much later English translations.