Paul and Gender: Chapter 4

a book summary

This is a summary of the fourth chapter of Cynthia Long Westfall's book: Paul and Gender. This summary is not as long as the last one. I promise. In this chapter, entitled The Fall, Westfall gives some alternative ways of understanding one of Paul's strangest chapters in the entire New Testament as voted by Abby Stevens. I mean 1 Timothy 2 where Paul says Eve was deceived, not Adam.

Up until now, I (Abby) thought that 1 Timothy 2:14 meant that Eve was deceived first and then Adam was deceived second, but Westfall has a completely different take, and I think hers makes more sense. She also shows how this relates to the rest of 1 Timothy and Paul's writings on sin, primarily Romans 5, which talks about how sin entered through one man, and that man was Adam, not Eve. 

Side Note: Westfall presents her information in this chapter in a different order than I have summarized it. I do not like her order. Also, please remember that these are merely summaries without much of Westfall's supporting evidence, counter-arguments, or footnote citations. There's far too much information in her chapters to summarize here. This is just a basic outline/summary.

Summary of Viewpoints

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In this chapter, Westfall outlines the basic views people have on this 1 Timothy 2:13-14 passage, —"For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor" (ESV).  What does Paul mean when he writes this? What does the story of the Fall have to do with Timothy or the Ephesians? Here are the basic views taken straight from her book, except the bits in parentheses. That is me.

1) "Woman is the origin of sin and death, as in Sirach 25:24, and is the source of Adam's sin." (Boo! Hiss!)
2) "Woman is weak and therefore more susceptible to sin than men and more likely to teach error." (Ugh!)
3) "Eve's temptation and fall were sexual, and she in turn seduced Adam." (WHAT IN TARNATION?!)
4) "Women are created to be subordinate to men, Eve disturbed that order at the fall, and Paul is addressing unacceptable role reversals at Ephesus." (This one is the most popular where I come from.)
5) "Paul's account of creation and fall correct the false teaching among the women at Ephesus." (Westfall, 123) (Thank God there's a fifth option!)

She argues for this last point and demonstrates how the other viewpoints fall short. Here's briefly how.

Number one is in direct contradiction to Paul's explanations of how sin came into the world through Adam both in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22. Recall how Eve's eyes were opened after Adam ate the fruit, not after she ate the fruit. There was something different about Adam's sin than Eve's sin. I (Abby) had never thought about that. I thought Adam and Eve's sin was the same.

If number two were true,—"Woman is weak and therefore more susceptible to sin than men and more likely to teach error"—, then God created women inherently flawed. We would also see a noticeable difference in the world between gullible women and less gullible men. It would be a noticeable character trait. But in reality, since, the education of women, we do not see this to be the case. 

Westfall notes an interesting inconsistency with how interpreters take verse 14 "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived" to mean that all women are more susceptible to deception. However, interpreters do not apply the same generalizations about all men, namely that all men are not susceptible to deception. Paul himself states that "all believers are in danger of deception by sin, others, or by oneself" (Romas 7:11; 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:18; 6:9; 15:33; 2 Cor. 11:3; Gal. 6:3 . . ." Forget it! I'm not listing them all; too tedious. (Westfall, 109) 

Not only this, but Paul notes certain groups of people as being deceived and yet this didn't prevent these groups from being corrected by the gospel and from becoming leaders in the church. Paul even mentions himself as being utterly deceived in 1 Timothy 1:12-16.

Paul notes that Gentiles were at one time deceived more than Jews because the Jews were given the law and the Gentiles weren't. (Not sure where in scripture this is.) However, Paul doesn't see the Gentiles' ignorance as grounds for excluding them from leadership after they've been renewed through Christ. Paul also agrees with some harsh things said about the Cretans being always liars and vicious brutes in Titus 1:12-13. And yet, Paul also instructs Titus to appoint "elders and overseers in every town from among the believing population of Crete" (Westfall, 111). That's in Titus 1:5.

"Therefore, we see that even when Paul says that a particular people group is more prone to deception, self-deception, and being deceived, it does not disqualify individuals from those groups from teaching or leadership" (Westfall, 111).

"Paul did not believe that any believers were helpless in their susceptibility to deception, but that they could escape from deception by living in the Spirit and receiving correction" (Westfall, 112).

I'm not going to mention Westfall's rebuttal of number three because it seems so absurd, but one interesting factoid that Westfall points out here that seems important is about the worship of the Greek God Artemis in Ephesus where Timothy was based when receiving 1 Timothy. Artemis was not a goddess that was eroticized in most depictions of her. Artemis was more connected to "symbols of legitimate wife, a figure to be respected" (Westfall, 137). "She was literally the savior to whom the women went for safety and protection in childbirth" (Westfall, 136). More on this later regarding 1 Timothy 2:15's "Yet she will be saved through childbearing" (ESV).

Number Four — "Women are created to be subordinate to men, Eve disturbed that order at the fall, and Paul is addressing unacceptable role reversals at Ephesus." This is the one that I (Abby) hear most often. If Eve had deferred to her husband about eating the fruit, as is the correct order of authority, Eve wouldn't have eaten the fruit. If Eve hadn't been wandering off without her husband's protection, she wouldn't have eaten the fruit.

However, Westfall argues that there is nothing in the 1 Timothy 2 passage that seems to indicate that Paul is saying that Eve's issue was insubordination. Paul says her problem was being deceived, not insubordination. Plus, if insubordination were wrong, wouldn't sin have entered the world the moment Eve wandered off unchaperoned or when being tempted, she didn't consult her husband? Paul says that sin entered the world through one man, and that man was Adam when he ate the fruit, not Eve when she didn't defer to her husband.

Ephesian Woman Problems

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The question remains. What does Eve's deception at the fall have to do with the women of Ephesus spreading myths between households and teaching their husbands? 

"The Epistles of 1 & 2 Timothy show that the Christian women in Ephesus were being deceived in a way that was unparalleled in the other churches addressed in the Pauline corpus" (Westfall, 117). The women in Ephesus seem to be deceived in myths about the origin of man (1 Tim. 2:13)(4:7 "silly myths/old wives tales" [this reference from Westfall doesn't seem very clear to me]), the prohibition of marriage (4:3), the refraining of remarrying for fear of death or injury during childbirth (1 Tim 5:11-15), and widows living for pleasure and following Satan (5:6-7). 

Wow! lots of issues in Ephesus involving women. No wonder Paul talks so much about women in Timothy. Westfall states that Paul mentions the creation account to combat specific false teachings that the women in Ephesus were most likely falling prey to, two big ones possibly being: a reverse order of creation and the best way to avoid death and injury during childbearing.

If the older women in Ephesus were spreading myths and rumors about how Artemis of the Ephesians could protect them during childbirth, then their cultic beliefs were at odds with their Christian faith.

Procedures for enduring and surviving childbirth are stored in the bosoms of old women. (This is Abby talking now. Westfall doesn't say this.) Just ask any pregnant women, and they will tell you the baloney advice older women have given them. When I was pregnant, someone actually told me that if I dangled an object above my stomach and it spun clockwise, it would be a boy. Another advised me to take an herbal supplement to speed along labor.

It doesn't matter what modern medicine says, women who have birthed babies have their theories about the best way to do it.

All this to say, it's not hard to believe that the Ephesian women anchored their hope of surviving childbirth in myths about Artemis. What does this have to do with the passage? Recall that 1 Timothy 2:15 says that a woman will be saved through childbearing.

Westfall argues that this is not talking about salvation, but to be saved through a difficult dangerous trial. She spends quite a lot of time proving this by analyzing the word "to save" and how it's often used to describe surviving earthly ordeals and dangers. She says that Paul is not giving an empty promise here—because some women still die in childbearing—but issuing the same sort of message as the Psalmist and countless other scriptures give about the Lord protecting those who seek after him.

I (Abby) like how Westfall equated eternal salvation and being saved from earthly trials here. This expanded my idea of what it means to be saved. "For Paul, salvation refers to God's pragmatic rescue of humanity from the past, present, and future consequences of Adam's sin" (Westfall, 134).

Another Way to Look at the Fall

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Westfall also introduces a new way of looking at the fall story—a new way for me, at least. She states that man was formed first, was told not to eat the tree, and then Eve was created next. This matches up to Genesis Chapter 2. 

Interesting fact: God's command to Adam in Genesis 2:17 is stated in the second-person masculine singular. That is, God told Adam as a singular male the command. However, when the serpent tempts Eve, the serpent asks Eve if God said you (both) shall not eat the fruit (Westfall, 124). The verb "eat" here is in the masculine plural (Westfall, 124).

Perhaps Eve was deceived because God didn't command both of them not to eat the fruit. God told Adam not to eat the fruit. Perhaps Eve thought God's command didn't apply to her. My kids reason this way all the time. I tell Rose not to snack before dinner and Lee tries to tell me that he didn't think my rule applied to him. 

Westfall is saying that perhaps Eve's confusion was due to her not understanding the command properly, which led to Eve's confusion and her sinning unknowingly. When Eve took and ate the fruit, it was different than when Adam took and ate the fruit. Sin and death entered when Adam ate the fruit, not when Eve ate the fruit. Eve's eyes were opened after Adam ate the fruit, not when she ate the fruit. 

This doesn't mean that men are worse than women. It just means Adam's sin was different than Eve's. Paul calls Eve's sin becoming a transgressor. Westfall spends some time explaining the difference between a transgressor and a sinner. A transgressor doesn't know they're sinning. A sinner knows.

Westfall explains that this understanding of Eve's deception in Genesis makes more sense in the context of what Paul is saying. Westfall says that Paul's reference to the fall explains that the Ephesian women were unknowingly deviating from the truth in their child-bearing, women-came-first-myths, just like Eve was deceived about eating the fruit. 

This is quite a gracious view of those myth-spreading old women. I (Abby) certainly wouldn't have been so nice. I would've been like, "Grandma! You don't know anything about childbearing. I'm not going to dangle an object above my belly!" 

This causes me (Abby) to wonder if perhaps Christian men have also been deceived about what Paul meant in these passages. If so, it would help me be more gracious to them. 

So here's my best rewrite so far of this 1 Timothy passage based on what I believe Westfall to be saying so far:

1 Timothy 2:11-15 (Abby Version) 11 The best way to disciple the women who are spreading these false myths is for them to learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit these wives to teach or dominate/subjugate their husbands to these myths; rather, wives humbly learn from husbands who learn from you, Timothy, these things we're teaching 13 just like Adam was formed first and received God's teachings first, then Eve learned from Adam. 14 And recall how Adam was not the one deceived about the tree, but the woman was deceived and sinned unknowingly. 15 Yet a wife's life and health will be spared even through the ordeal of childbearing—if the husband and wife continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

Remember, Westfall's entire last chapter is dedicated to explaining this 1 Timothy 2 passage.

What are the implications of all this, well I can think of some pretty remarkable ones. This is Abby finding implications here. Westfall doesn't say this. If the order of creation is about who was given the law and thus sinned knowingly versus who wasn't given the law and thus sinned unknowingly, this has huge implications for the nation Israel. What if God, through the order of creation, was trying to communicate to the Israelites, "I am going to give you the law. You will be held liable. All the other nations, do not have the law; they sin unknowingly. You need to help them. You are to be a light to the nations." 

If this is true, Eve wouldn't represent females in this narrative but perhaps Gentiles. Oh my gosh! That is a totally different way of looking at the creation order. But it does seem to shed more light on maybe why God made a man first. Historically, Jewish men have conveyed God's law to the rest of the Jews and to their families. Historically, men—dominating because of the curse—have been the teachers responsible for communicating God's truth. Oh man, if this is all true, I think men are in big trouble. 

To read the next chapter summary, click the link after March 15th:

Westfall, Cynthia Long. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2016)