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AϒΘenteΩ in Reference to Women in 1 Timothy 2.12

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

George W. Knight III
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Extract

At the heart of 1 Timothy 2. 11–14, the passage prohibiting certain activities to women in the life of the church, is the verb αύθεντέω. It and διδάσκω constitute the key terms and the focal point of v. 12. This makes the understanding of this term crucial for the exegete. Two interlocked problems have beset the interpreter. The first was the paucity of occurrences of the term. The second, because of such paucity, was to ascertain its basic meaning and its various nuances.

Type
Short Studies
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 143 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

NOTES

[1] A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament being Grimm's Wilke's Clavus Novi Testamenti translated, revised and enlarged by Thayer, J. H. (Edinburgh, 4th ed. 1901) s.v.Google Scholar

[2] Bauer, W., Arndt, W. F., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, new revised edition, 1979)Google Scholar; cf. also the data provided by Naegeli, Th., Der Wortschatz des Apostels Paulus (Göttingen, 1905), p. 49 f.Google Scholar, who said that αύθεντεīν τωος = κρατεīν τωος.

[3] The translation is either that of the Loeb edition or, if not in Loeb, the translation available. No attempt has been made to select a translation favourable or unfavourable to a particular rendering or meaning and no alternative translation has been excluded.

[4] Smith, O. L., editor, Scholia Graeca In Aeschylum Quae Exstant Omnia Pars I (Leipzig, 1976), p. 45.Google Scholar

[5] The dates are those of standard Greek lexicons, BAGD and LSJ, except in those cases where dates are not supplied by the lexicons and then the dates given in the critical editions are those used.

[6] Mountford, J. F., ‘Scholia’, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford, 2nd ed., 1970), p. 961.Google Scholar

[7] Op. cit., p. xviii.Google Scholar

[8] Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., McKenzie, R., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford, 9th ed., 1940), Vol. 1, s.v.Google Scholar

[9] Sudhaus, S., editor, Philodemi: Volumina Rhetorica, Vol. 3 (Leipzig, 1896), p. 133 line 14.Google Scholar

[10] For an appraisal of Philodemus and of the document, as well as for a paraphrase of the whole, see Hubbell, H. H., ‘The Rhetorica of Philodemus’, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 23, 1920, pp. 243 ff.Google Scholar The paraphrase quoted is found on p. 306.

[11] Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Museen zu Berlin: Griechische Urkunden (=BGU) (Berlin, 1912, Vol. 4), p. 351.Google Scholar A brief description of the papyrus is given and notes are provided.

[12] LSJ give the line as 37 which is where the sentence begins.

[13] Dr. John R. Werner, International Consultant in Translation, Wycliffe Bible Translators at the International Linguistic Center, Dalks, Texas, has graciously provided this and several other translations for this document and others which to my knowledge have not been translated into English. This particular translation was provided in a letter dated March 18,1980.

[14] Preisigke, F., Wörterbuch der griechischen Papyruskunden (Berlin, 1925) Vol. 1, s.v.Google Scholar

[15] Cf., similarly, Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque (Paris, 1968), Vol. 1, s.v. ‘αύθεντέω “avoir pleine autorité sur” (NT, Pap.)’.Google Scholar

[16] Boll, F. and Boer, A. E., editors, Claudi Ptolemaei, Vol. III, 1 Apotelesmatica(Leipzig, 1954), p. 158.Google Scholar

[17] See the Loeb combined volume of Waddell, W. G., ManethoGoogle Scholar, and Robbins, E. E., Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos (London, 1964).Google Scholar

[18] Sophocles, E. A., Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Period (From B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100) (New York, 1900), p. 276.Google Scholar

[19] Wuensch, R., editor, Ioannis Lydi, De Magistratibus Populi Romani, Libri Tres (Leipzig, 1903), p. 131.Google Scholar

[20] Carney, T. F., Bureaucracy in Traditional Society: Romano Byzantine bureaucracies viewed from within, 3 vols. in 1, No. 3 John the Lydian, On the magistracies of the Roman constitution (Lawrence, Kansas, 1971).Google Scholar

[21] BGU, Vol 1 (1895), p. 122.Google Scholar

[22] See footnote 13. This translation was provided in a letter dated March 18,1980.

[23] Deissmann, A., Light from the Ancient East (London, 4th ed., 1927) p. 89 note 3.Google Scholar

[24] Maspero, J., Papyrus grecs d'époque byzantine (Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Vol. 2, 1913), the title p. 85, the word and its text p. 95.Google Scholar Since the initial thousands and ten thousands are not given in Preisigke the actual number of the document in the volume itself is 6 7151.

[25] The full version of that same section is µητε µη ν αύθεντησαι… καιθ [note: καιθ: sic pour καθ] αιον δηποτε τροπον άποσπασθαι παντελως οιον δηποτε πραγµα …

[26] Bell, H. I., Greek Papyri in the British Museum (1917), Vol. 5, p. 119.Google Scholar

[27] Ibid., p. 114.

[28] Op. cit., p. 119Google Scholar note 40, ‘possibly a single payment on taking up the lease? But the point may simply be that Psates [the defendant] not only collected the rent (ενοικολογῆσαι) but, when collected, appropriated it to his own use (οικειώσασθαι έαντῷ τά πρόστεγα).’

[29] Op. cit., p. 119, note 38.Google Scholar

[30] Cumont, F., editor, Codicum Parisinorum (Cat. Cod. Astr. Graec., Bruxellis, 1929).Google Scholar

[31] Op. cit., p. 120 ff.Google Scholar, which indicates that our text is found in fragment 21 of Codex Paris gr 2419 which is of the 15th century.

[32] See footnote 13. This translation was provided in a letter dated April 8, 1980.

[33] Moeridis, Atticistae, Lexicon Atticum edited by Joannes, Piersonus (1831 edition), p. 43Google Scholar (BAGD utilize the 1759 edition of Pierson and therefore refer to p. 58).

[34] Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon, recensuit et emendavit Kurt Latte (Hauniae, MCMLIII), Vol. 1, p. 279, entry 8259.Google Scholar

[35] For this and other information about Hesychius and his lexicon see Forbes, P. B. R. and Browning, R., ‘Hesychius’, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford, 2nd ed. with corrections, 1972), p. 512.Google Scholar

[36] Thomas Magistri sive Theoduli Monachi Ecloga Vocum Atticarum edited by Ritschel, F. (Halle, 1832), p. 18 line 8.Google Scholar

[37] Encyclopedia Britannica (London, 1970), Vol. 10, p. 499.Google Scholar

[38] Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, edited by Niebulus, B. G., Part 16, Michaelis Glycae Annales edited by Bekker, I. (Bonn, 1836).Google Scholar The word occurs on p. 270, line 10. Bekker has basically used the earlier edition (1659) of Philippus Labbeus which included a Latin translation of Iohanne Leunclavio.

[39] I am greatly indebted to Dr. Simon Kistemaker of Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi for his assistance with this document.

[40] Diodorus of Sicily edited with an English translation by Oldfather, C. H. (Cambridge, Mass., 1968)Google Scholar, Book I, section 27, especially sentence 2, pages 86–87.

[41] Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque (Paris, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 138, ‘Deux verbes dénominatifs: αύθεντέω ‘avoir pleine autorité sur’ (NT, Pap.) …. et αύθεντίζω ‘prendre en main, commander à’ (BGU 103, 3)’.Google Scholar

[42] Frish, H., Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Heidelberg, 1960), Band I, p. 185, ‘1.Google Scholarαύθεντέω “Herr sein über etwas, zu etw. berechtigt sein’ (Pap., NT)… 2. αύθεντίζω trans, ‘etw. in seinem Machtbereich haben’ (BGU 103, 3)’.

[43] The apparent exception would be the rendering ‘of its own initiative’ offered in Carney's paraphrastic rendering of Lydus, Mag. But even this rendering can be understood to fit into the category of the others and thus only be an apparent exception.

[44] This analysis of BAGD understands their second meaning, ‘to domineer’ as having reference to the astrological documents they cite immediately after this. Even if that was not intended by BAGD, it would seem to be suggested by the evidence itself as the proper evaluation which should be rendered, as ‘domineer’ is not appropriate to the other documents (see for a further reflection on ‘domineer’ in BAGD the text below; even ‘domineer’ for the planets is questionable).

[45] It is this cumulative evidence which causes me to reject the suggestion by Kroeger, C. C. in the Reformed Journal, Vol. 29, 1979, pp. 12–15Google Scholar, that the word means to ‘engage in fertility practice’ (p. 14). It would also seem that the contextual considerations of 1 Tim. 2. 12, which I offer in the body of the text, would indicate that this suggestion does not fit the meaning in that verse in its context. For a detailed demonstration of the erroneousness of Catherine Kroeger's suggestion, by means of an analysis of the texts she cites for evidence, see the thorough article by Armin Panning, J., ‘AϒΘENTEIN - A Word Study’, Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. 78, 1981, pp. 185–91.Google Scholar

[46] See the ύποταγή, ύποτάσσω entries in BAGD and G. Delling, TDNT 8, 46 and note especially the usage of ύποταγή in the following 1 Tim. 3. 4 and the use of ύποτάσσω in the sense of voluntary subordination (TDNT 8, 42 f.) in connection with women in Eph. 5. 21, 22, 24; Col. 3.18; 1 Pet. 3.1,5.

[47] Robertson, A. T., Word Pictures in the New Testament (New York, 1931), Vol. 4, p. 570.Google Scholar

[48] See for example The Oxford English Dictionary.

[49] Lampe, G. W. H., editor, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford, 1961), p. 262.Google Scholar Only as a subcategory under 3 is a more negative usage proposed in two homilies of Chrysostom on Colossians, 10. 1 and 11.2, and in both of these places the more positive usage of the category is not out of the question. In Chrysostom's homily 9 on 1 Timothy he is completely silent on αύθεντέω and does not treat it in a negative way.

[50] Sophocles, E. A., Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods (From B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100) (New York, 1900), p. 276.Google Scholar Two other nuances are given for the active voice, ‘to be the originator of anything’ and ‘to compel’ but only one example is cited for each, for the first from the 8th century and for the second from the 6th century.

[51] See Chantraine, P., Dictionnaire Étymologique, Vol. 1, p. 138 f.Google Scholar, and Frish, H., Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, p. 185Google Scholar, and their presentation of this position and the literature referred to, especially the work of Fraenkel.

[52] Moulton, J. H. and Milligan, G., The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (London, 1930), p. 91, ‘The history of this word has been satisfactorily cleared up by P. Kretschmer in Glotta iii (1912) p. 289 ff.’Google Scholar; Moulton, J. H. and Howard, W. F., A Grammar of New Testament Greek (Edinburgh, 1929), 2, 278Google Scholar; Robertson, A. T., Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. 4 (New York, 1931), p. 570Google Scholar: ‘The word authenteō is now cleared up by Kretschmer, (Glotta, 1912, pp. 289ff.).’Google Scholar

[53] Kretschmer, P., ‘Griechisches: 6. αύθέντης, Glotta, Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache, Vol. 3 (1912), pp. 289–93.Google Scholar

[54] The British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1973.

[55] The meaning given in Bauer's lexicon and the first meaning given in BAG and BAGD. For a sampling of non-English translations compare La Sainte Bible (translated by L. Segond, nouvelle edition revue, 1965) and the Bonnes Nouvelles Aujourd'hui (1971) ‘de prendre de l'autorité sur l'homme’; Bijbel (van het-Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, 1977 ‘gezag over de man heeft’;Die Bibel (nach der Übersetzung Martin Luthers, Revidierten Text 1975) ‘dass sie den Mann zurechtweist’; The Jerusalem Bible (English translation, 1966) renders the αθεντέω phrase by ‘to tell a man what to do’.