Homily 9 — First Timothy 2, verses 11 to 15

“Let the women learn in silence with all submission. But I do not permit a woman to teach, or to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.” [a]

Great modesty and great propriety are what the blessed Paul requires of women, and not only in their dress and appearance; he goes on to regulate even their speech. And what does he say? “Let the woman learn in silence.” That is, let her not speak at all in the church. He has given the same rule in his letter to the Corinthians, where he says, “It is shameful for women to speak in the church” (First Corinthians 14, verse 35). And the reason is that the law has made them subject to men. And again in the same place: “If they want to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home” (First Corinthians 14, verse 35).

In those days, then, the women kept silent because of such teaching. But now there tends to be a great deal of noise among them, much clamor and chatter, and nowhere so much as here. You can see them all talking here more than in the marketplace or at the baths. As though they had come here for entertainment, they are all busy chatting about things that do no one any good. So everything is confusion, and they do not seem to understand that unless they are quiet, they cannot learn anything useful. For when our preaching has to strain against the chatter, and no one pays attention to what is said, what good can it do them?

Women should be silent to this degree: in the church they are not allowed to speak, not only about worldly matters, but not even about spiritual things. This is order, this is modesty; this will adorn her more than any clothing. Dressed like this, she will be able to offer her prayers in the most fitting way.

“But I do not permit a woman to teach.” “I do not permit,” he says. What is this command doing here? It is exactly where it belongs. He was speaking of quietness, of propriety, of modesty. So, having said that he wanted them not to speak in the church, he cuts off every occasion for conversation by saying: let them not teach, but take the place of learners. For in this way they will show their submission by their silence. For the sex is by nature rather talkative, and that is why he restrains them on every side. “For Adam,” he says, “was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression.”

If someone asks what this has to do with the women of today, it shows that the male sex held the higher honor. The man was formed first; and elsewhere too he shows their superiority: “Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man” (First Corinthians 11, verse 9). Why, then, does he say this? He wants the man to have first place in every way. He means: let him have precedence both for the reason just given and because of what happened afterward. For the woman taught the man once, and made him guilty of disobedience, and brought about our ruin. So because she made bad use of her power over the man — or rather, of her equality with him — God made her subject to her husband.

“Your desire will be for your husband” (Genesis 3, verse 16). This had not been said to her before. [d]

But how was Adam not deceived? If he was not deceived, then did he not transgress? Listen carefully. The woman said, “The serpent deceived me.” But the man did not say, “The woman deceived me,” but, “She gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Now it is not the same thing to be deceived by a fellow creature, one of your own kind, as by an inferior animal, one placed under you. That is truly being deceived. So, compared with the woman, he is spoken of as “not deceived.” For she was led astray by an inferior, one subject to her; he by an equal.

Again, it is not said of the man that he “saw that the tree was good for food,” but of the woman, and that she “ate, and gave it to her husband.” So he transgressed not because he was captivated by appetite, but merely because his wife persuaded him. The woman taught once, and ruined everything. That is why he says, let her not teach.

But what does it matter to other women that she went through this? It certainly concerns them, for the sex is weak and fickle, and he is speaking of the sex as a whole. He does not say “Eve,” but “the woman,” which is the common name of the whole sex, not her own personal name. Was the whole sex, then, included in the transgression because of her fault? Just as he said of Adam, “after the likeness of Adam’s transgression, who is a type of the one who was to come” (Romans 5, verse 14) —

so here it is the female sex that transgressed, and not the male. Will women not be saved, then? Yes, they will — by means of children. For it is not of Eve that he says, “if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.” What faith? What love? What holiness with self-control? It is as if he had said: “You women, do not be downcast because your sex has come under blame. God has given you another way to be saved, the bringing up of children, so that you are saved not only through yourselves but through others.”

See how many questions this matter raises. “The woman,” he says, “being deceived, was in the transgression.” What woman? Eve. Will she, then, be saved through childbearing? He does not say that, but that the race of women will be saved. Then was that race not involved in the transgression? Yes, it was. Still, it was Eve who transgressed, but the whole sex will be saved nevertheless, “through childbearing.” And why not through their own personal virtue? Does she, then, shut others out of this salvation? And what will become of virgins, of women who cannot have children, of widows who lost their husbands before they had children? Will they perish? Is there no hope for them? And yet virgins are held in the highest honor. What, then, does he mean?

Some explain his meaning like this. What happened to the first woman brought about the subjection of the whole sex — for since Eve was formed second and made subject, he says, let the rest of the sex be in subjection too — and in the same way, because she transgressed, the rest of the sex is also in transgression. [f]

But this is not sound reasoning. At the creation everything was God’s gift, but in this case it is the consequence of the woman’s sin. What he says amounts to this: just as all people died through one man, because that one man sinned, so the whole female race transgressed, because the woman was in the transgression. Yet let her not grieve. God has given her no small consolation: bearing children. And if someone says that this belongs to nature, that other belongs to nature too; for what has been granted is not only what comes by nature, but also the bringing up of children.

“If they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control” — that is, if after bearing children they keep them in love and purity. In this way they will have no small reward because of them, for they have trained up wrestlers for the service of Christ.

By “holiness” he means a good life, modesty, and self-control. [h]

Chapter 3, verse 1: “This is a trustworthy saying.” This belongs to the present subject, not to what follows about the office of a bishop. For since it was doubted, he declares it to be a true saying that fathers may be benefited by the virtue of their children, and mothers too, when they have brought them up well.

But what if she herself is given over to wickedness and vice? Will she still be benefited by the bringing up of children? Is she not likely to bring them up to be like herself? So it is not said of just any woman, but of the virtuous woman, that she will receive a great reward for this too.

Hear this, you fathers and mothers: your bringing up of children will not lose its reward. He says this too as he goes on: “well spoken of for good works, if she has brought up children” (First Timothy 5, verse 10). Among her other merits he counts this one, for it is no small praise to dedicate to God the children God has given. For if the base, the foundation they lay, is good, their reward will be great; and if they neglect it, their punishment will be just as great. It was because of his children that Eli perished. For he ought to have warned them — and in fact he did warn them, but not as he should have. Because he was unwilling to cause them pain, he destroyed both himself and them.

Hear this, you fathers: bring up your children with great care “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6, verse 4). Youth is wild, and it needs many guardians, teachers, guides, attendants, and tutors; and even after all these, one is fortunate if it is held in check. For youth is like an unbroken horse or an untamed wild animal. But if from the beginning, from the earliest age, we fix it firmly in good rules, not much effort will be needed afterward; for good habits once formed will be a law to them. Let us not allow them to do anything that is pleasant but harmful, nor indulge them on the grounds that, after all, they are only children.

Above all, let us train them in chastity, for that is where youth is most easily ruined. This will take many struggles and much attention. Let us find wives for them early, so that their brides may receive their bodies pure and undefiled; that way their love will be more ardent. The man who is chaste before marriage will be much more chaste after it; and the man who practiced sexual immorality before will practice it after marriage too. “To the sexually immoral man,” it says, “all bread is sweet” (Sirach 23, verse 17). Garlands are customarily worn on the heads of bridegrooms as a sign of victory, showing that they come to the marriage bed unconquered by pleasure. But if a man has been captivated by pleasure and has given himself up to prostitutes, why does he wear the garland, when he has been defeated?

Let us warn them of these things. Let us use advice at times, warnings at times, threats at times. In our children a great trust has been committed to us. Let us give them great care, and do everything so that the evil one may not steal them from us.

But as things are, we do exactly the opposite. We take every care to have our farm in good order and to hand it over to a trustworthy manager; we look out for a donkey driver for it, and a mule driver, and a foreman, and a clever accountant. But we do not look out for what is far more important: someone to whom we can entrust our son as the guardian of his character, though he is a possession far more valuable than all the rest. It is for his sake, after all, that we take such care of our estate. We take care of our possessions for our children, but of the children themselves we take no care at all. What an absurdity this is!

Shape your son’s soul rightly, and all the rest will be added afterward. If his soul is not good, he will gain nothing from his wealth; and if it is shaped for goodness, he will suffer no harm from poverty. Do you want to leave him rich? Teach him to be good. That way he will be able to acquire wealth, or if not, he will be no worse off than those who have it. But if he is wicked, even if you leave him boundless wealth, you leave him no one to look after it, and you make him worse off than those who have been reduced to the deepest poverty. For poverty is better than riches for children who are not well disposed; it holds them to some degree of virtue even against their will. Money, on the other hand, does not let even those who want to be self-controlled remain so; it leads them astray, ruins them, and plunges them into countless dangers.

Mothers, take special care to bring up your daughters well, for managing them is easy. Watch over them, so that they may be keepers of the home. Above all, teach them to be devout, modest, despisers of wealth, and indifferent to adornment. Brought up like this, give them in marriage. For if you shape them in this way, you will save not only them but the husband who is to marry them — and not only the husband, but the children; and not only the children, but the grandchildren. For when the root is made good, good branches will shoot out and keep growing better, and for all of these you will receive a reward. [l]

So let us do everything as people who are benefiting not just one soul, but many through that one. For daughters ought to go from their father’s house to marriage like athletes leaving the training ground, equipped with all the knowledge they need, and able, like yeast, to transform the whole batch of dough to their own goodness.

And let your sons be so modest that they are known for their steadiness and self-control, so that they may receive great praise from both God and people. Let them learn to govern their appetites, to avoid extravagance, to be good managers of a household, to be loving, and to be willing to be under authority. For in this way they will be able to secure a good reward for their parents; in this way everything will be done to the glory of God and for our salvation, through Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.