redeeming the club

the pirate knight has made me cry again. (thank you tim!) there is something rich and full in that man's soul, i am so grateful for his ministry in my life. i hope he doesn't mind, but i'm posting his whole post here:

Eve was deceived and Adam knew what he was doing

The verse in 1 Timothy 2:14 (Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner) has been used quite a few times recently to argue against women in leadership. Something about that seemed really odd to me.

I noticed that it said Adam was not deceived. We all know Adam sinned (Romans 5:12-17) so that means that Adam wasn't deceived into sinning. He knew what he was doing when he sinned. It was deliberate. Woman on the other hand was tricked. She didn't intend to sin, rather she was deceived, hoodwinked into sinning.

So, if you want to use the verse that women shouldn't be in ministry because they can be deceived, then what does that say about men? They shouldn't be in ministry either because they will deliberately sin. I think that using this verse for keeping women out of ministry is a misuse of it, making it say something that it was never intended to say.

Also, the deception of Eve does not soley belong to the serpent. Where was Adam? Adam's silence (thanks Dr Crabb) must have confused Eve no end. His lack of running interference for her would have deceived her, lulled her into a false sense of safety. I think to say that Eve was deceived into sin is very gracious, there is no similar concession for Adam. My response is to be gracious to women and to recognise that I deceive women and then blame them for the mistake (as Adam did). So this verse is not something that can be used against women, because it says far more about men.

Posted on August 28, 2004 at 18:20

i don't know how many times that verse was used in my past to club me and other women into submission and silence. i don't know if i can express fully how redeeming these words are to me. thank you tim!