Troublesome Topic: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CALMNESS AND SILENCE – I TIM 2

1 Timothy 2:12

Translation

But I do not permit a woman to teach [a man] nor to exercise authority

over a man,

but to be

in calmness.

Paraphrase

In the prayer and worship times of a local church (and in general) I do not allow a woman to assume the role of teacher or any other role of authority over her husband or another man of authority in her life, or over another man who has authority in his own family. Instead she should be calm and live in tranquility.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CALMNESS AND SILENCE

The word used here is “calmness;” it is the same word used earlier. Its primary emphases seem to be 1) an inner tranquility which supports appropriate action (from help ministries), 2) one who stays at home doing his own work, and does not meddle in the affairs of others (Thayer’s), 3) stillness, meaning to desist from bustle or language (Strong’s). We see from these three sources that silence (to desist from using language) is a possibility, but for the most part the emphasis is on an attitude of inner calmness or stillness which does not step outside of proper bounds. To translate this as “silence” takes an outlier and makes it the main focus.

Silence and calmness as they relate to the authority issue are different. Silence focuses on not making sound, calmness focuses on the proper attitude of heart and mind. The latter is harder to measure, but it fits biblical teaching better. Context tells us that this passage referred to their times of worship in a house-church setting, but Paul connects it to the home setting as well, so it also applies to life in general.

The idea behind the exhortation to calmness is that when a woman begins to assert authority over a man it creates the opposite of calm. She gets exercised in the endeavor, and the man gets exercised in defending his authority. Neither one can calmly go about their business if she is trying to exert authority over him. You may know of couples where the wife does indeed “rule the roost” and her husband seems okay with it. In reality, I think he is not okay with it, but going along with her and keeping her happy is better than trying to fight her and suffering her wrath, her emotional outbursts, her manipulation, or whatever other tools she may use. He has learned early in their marriage that he will likely be forced to give in at the end anyway, so it is best to just keep quiet.

However, there is a connection between calmness and being quiet in that the opposite of calmness is usually expressed through words in order to make happen what the woman wants to happen. If a woman experiences insecurity in her marriage or some other aspect of her life, her tendency is to try to control the outcome of things in order to lessen her sense of insecurity. To make things happen in a marriage setting she will come at her husband with a flood of words in order to persuade him that they need to do something differently. This response to insecurity is a natural human response, but in the marriage relationships, it is the opposite of what God desires a wife to do.

These exhortations are specific to followers of Jesus, so we should not expect people who do not follow Jesus to live by these standards.

Footnotes

1: "authority"

This word is a compound word made up of the word “auto/self” and the word “work or do.” It is a picture of someone who works or does things of his own initiative and without any authority figure over him. He is in charge of himself and no one tells him what to do.

2

This word can mean “man or husband,” just like the word for woman can mean “woman or wife.”

3

This is the verb of being, so here the only real options are “to be or exist.” There is another Greek word for “remain,” but it was not chosen. Therefore I assume this has a general meaning and an application that is broader that the context of a time of corporate worship.