A note from our Pastor:

“For Adam was first formed, then Eve.”

1 Timothy 2:13

Good Morning Dearly Beloved,

As we look to our study verse this week I highly encourage you to read the From the Pastor’s Desk entries for 1 Timothy 2:11 and 1 Timothy 2:12. I will try to highlight the key points of those writings as we study this verse, but your understanding of the interpretation of this verse will be aided by reading those earlier writings. As we said in an earlier writing, the last verses of 1 Timothy 2 are challenging because we are reading them without the context in which they were written.

In our study verse this week, the Apostle makes reference to the Old Testament and the creation of Adam and Eve. This verse has often been used to support a claim that men are superior to women and that women should live in subjection to men. However, such a claim requires the suspension of the context in which this verse was written and other contextual scriptural passages.

At the time the Apostle wrote this letter to Timothy, the Ephesus church was plagued with false teaching (go read 1 Timothy 1). Two of the false teachings being promoted by the Gnostics were: 1) that Eve came first and gave birth to Adam and 2) that Adam was the one deceived by the devil in the garden and Eve was the heroin (we will address this false teaching in looking at 1 Timothy 2:14). In our study verse for this week, the Apostle is not providing an abstract lesson on the creation for the purpose of promoting men being superior to women. Rather, he was correcting the false teaching which was likely being promoted by Gnostic women in and around the Ephesus church. The point of the verse is to reinforce the accurate account of creation that God created Adam and then formed Eve second from a rib taken from Adam.

Placing this verse in the correct context and understanding this meaning then aligns with what the Apostle would also teach in 1 Corinthians 11. In writing to the church at Corinth, the Apostle addresses the idea of the created order and says Adam was created first and then Eve, so in the creation woman was created from man. However, since Adam every man has been born of woman and is dependent on a woman. Men and women are dependent on one another and more importantly both men and women are dependent on God. Therefore, for both men and women the focus should not be on superiority but rather on serving God.

Ultimately, the context in which this verse was written demanded the Apostle Paul and in turn Timothy address very dangerous false teachings. The Apostle does so in this verse and the context of the writing should constrain our interpretation and application. The lesson here is not about superiority, but about the truth of the creation and the beauty of the work of God.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah