The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming

In your mind, simply put quotation marks around the three verses of 1 Corinthians 11:4-6. Or better still pencil in quotation marks around them on the page of your print Bible.If quotation marks are missing around these verses in the Bible version you are using, is that wrong? Yes, and no. In koiné Greek in which the New Testament was written there were no quotation marks added. You had to add them yourself because this kind of punctuation wasn’t adopted yet. Translators have to decide whether or not to get the idea across in a modern language by doing nothing, by adding quotation marks or even by adding a few introductory words such as, “someone will say.”Dr. Bill Mounce brings up the example of 1 Corinthians 6:12. He writes, “Many translations put the phrase in quotation marks. “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful.” These include the ESV, and also the HCSB, NRSV and NET. Mounce continues that Paul “is quoting what his Corinthians opponents are saying. He doesn’t agree with them, but he is citing them.”Placing punctuation. The New International Version placed quotation marks around Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:23-26. Not every word in these verses was put in quotes. The translators noted that Paul was dialoguing with his readers in a brisk give and take. They showed this by adding quotation marks, dashes, and a paragraph break to his comments. They added these even though no punctuation marks were used in Paul’s original letter.Here is how the NIV punctuates 1 Corinthians 10:23. The words placed in quotation marks by the NIV I will highlight for you:23“I have the right to do anything”, you say – but not everything is beneficial.    “I have the right to do anything” – but not everything is constructive. The proposals from Corinth in 1 Corinthians 10 are set apart by the quotation marks and the punctuation added by the NIV. This passage immediately precedes the verses on women and angels in 1 Corinthians 11.Modern readers are confused if translations do not add punctuation marks. Nevertheless most translators and editors have not placed quotation marks around verses 4-6.The reader who does not realize that the three verses of 1 Corinthians 11:4-6 are a quotation tries to make it part of Paul’s ideas. This makes the rest of the passage impossible to decipher. By omitting this punctuation translators make it look like Paul is advocating these legalistic ideas! Some scholars have even accused Paul of “reverting to his pre-Christian roots as a Pharisee in verses 4-6.”In order to continue the thought of verses 4-6, major modifications have been made in the translations, including in verse 10. Commentators go to great lengths to try to make sense of the passage as a whole. But none of this is necessary if one simply and reasonably places verses 4-6 in quotation marks.Why do people think the ideas in verses 4-6 could possibly be Paul's? I think it is because they have gotten Genesis 3:16 wrong. That's why we need a true 316.Go Deeper!Support the Tru316 Project for $3.16/month!  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul reminds his Jewish readers, who are monotheists, of the importance of unity. Three times he points to independent elements that together make up one unit. The image he uses is that of the parts of the body that, united, make up one whole body:Believers-and-Christ are united in one spiritual bodyA wife-and-husband are united in one fleshSon-and-Father are united in the Godhead.He states his main idea in the first line of verse 3, and then adds two subordinate parallel images to illustrate it. In his reference to the parts that make up the body Paul challenges the reader to answer the question, Just who is “every man”?“Every man” is every believer – every man and every woman who is a Christian. This image is parallel to the one Paul uses in Ephesians 5:23: “Christ is the head of the church.”1 Corinthians 11:3:  Christ is the head of every manEphesians 5:23b:     Christ is the head of the churchAn extraordinary responsePaul begins his response to those who did not hold to the tradition he had taught the Corinthians with some word play. Usually a “play on words” has an extra  element in it that draws attention to the fact that something extraordinary is being said, even though ordinary words may be used.In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul uses “every man” in Greek to stand for “every person – male or female.” Writing “every man” he makes a gentle play on words to make a point: Do some of you want to focus only on what a man is free to do in Christ? Not I. I will focus on every man in Christ because I want you to focus on what every person – male or female – is free to do in Christ!GO DEEPER  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

The focus of this episode is: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Getting this passage right.Here’s some good advice. “Don't take verses out of context.” How do you do that? One way is to cut off the beginning of a passage. If you miss the beginning thoughts of a passage you risk missing the meaning of the following message. Sadly, this happens every time people skip over 1 Corinthians 11:2 and start at verse 3. And most people start after verse 2. They leave out this critical verse!In verse 2, Paul begins a passage of praise. He praises the Christians at Corinth for resisting pressure to behave differently. He praises them for following exactly what he had advised them to do. Only after the end of the passage of verses 2-16 does he begin to criticize the Corinthians. So, What were they getting right? They were applying what he summarizes in verses 10-12. Have you noticed?Wrong assumptions. In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the Gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Their book Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among a people group where treachery was valued as their highest virtue. They would fatten potential victims with friendship before betraying them for slaughter.The very first time these pioneer missionaries tried to tell the Sawi headhunting cannibals of New Guinea the Good News about the cross of Christ things went very wrong! This occurred as they were telling about Jesus the night Judas betrayed him with a kiss. Jesus, the good guy, was praying in the Garden of Gethemane on the hill across from Jerusalem where soon he would be nailed to a cross for our sins. In the night, Judas, the bad guy, came up to him in the darkness with a crowd with clubs and swords. He wanted to make it clear to them who to arrest. He didn’t want them to get the wrong person. He didn’t want Jesus to get away. He told the brutal crowd, watch for the one I greet with a kiss. He is the one to arrest.The listeners held their breath as the scene unfolded before them for the very first time. Up came Judas, the follower, to Jesus his teacher. “Teacher” the betrayer said to Jesus and then kissed him.The listeners went wild! What a master stroke! What a fantastic betrayal! The missionaries were horrified at the unexpected response their teaching produced. These headhunting cannibals saw Judas as the hero of that night scene. He had just betrayed his victim. To them, he had triumphed!In the Sawi culture they valued treachery. They would deceive their enemies pretending to be friends. Judas for them was a master of betrayal. Jesus was just a witless target. Undoing the results of that session took lots of work. In a less spectacular way, people have been getting wrong the message of 1 Corinthians 11. Coming to these verses with the wrong presuppositions, readers and translators alike have missed the message the passage. They have misread the key verses. Let’s start with the overall flow of thought which is Praise for Proper Practice 1 Corinthians 11:2-16.2Now I praise you, brothers and sisters, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. …10Therefore, a woman should have authority over her own head …16But if anyone thinks of being contentious, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.17Now I do not praise you in giving these next instructions since you come together not for the better but for the worse. …After Paul moved on from Corinth in his missionary journeys, the church he had founded there continued the practices he had taught them to follow. They followed what he had taught them about women and men ministering to the congregation. God raised up both women and men to lead the congregation in worship and to teach God’s Word.Apparently there were grumblers who tried to restrict some people from leading the group. They wanted their old religious traditions to be followed and grew contentious about it. But the rest of the congregation maintained the course on which Paul had set them. They earned his praise for this. Paul wanted them to continue what they had started together in Corinth. In every church he started, this was the way he wanted the believers to worship and teach.Incomplete or incorrect? Paul learned from the visitors from Corinth (1:11) that the church had developed four distinct factions. Some people purported to be “of Paul,” others “of Peter,” and still others “of Apollos” or “of Jesus.”In spite of all this, Paul was still their unquestioned spiritual parent, the one who first planted their church. Divisions of opinion had arisen among them on practical issues dealing with marriage (7:1) and idolatry (8:1; 10:14). Some wanted the church to follow the rules and regulations found in the Jewish oral law, for example in 14:34-35.In 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Paul addresses those in the church at Corinth who wanted to limit the ways women were participating in ministry. Had Paul really meant that women should pray and prophesy along with men? Shouldn’t the women have to submit to some extra regulations? Jewish tradition overflowed with restrictions on women. Shouldn’t women have to follow these extra restrictions too?In verses 2-16, Paul affirms that women are full members of the body of Christ and are fully gifted by the Holy Spirit to minister in the name of Jesus. Paul appeals to Genesis, and to reason, to restate his case. He is firm. There is no room for dissension on this point of doctrine and practice.Five keys to understanding. A number of people find 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 difficult to understand. Whenever a passage seems difficult, it is important to look at the surrounding context of the passage to see if some tips to its meaning may be found. In this case, the immediate context will give us two helpful keys to unlocking the meaning of the passage: praise (key #1), and Paul’s three-fold focus (key #2). To unlock the meaning of a passage it is also helpful to look for internal key words that give insight into the historical context. In this case there are key words in the last and first verses of the passage: “contentious” (key #3 in verse 16), and “traditions” (key #4 in verse 2).The most basic key to understanding the meaning of a Bible verse is a clear translation from the original language into modern language. It will be especially helpful to make a fresh translation from the Greek of the key action verse in this passage, verse 10. And that’s key #5.Key to understanding #1: Praise. Paul praised the Corinthians in verse 2: 2I praise you, brothers and sisters, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. … Apparently there was difficulty for them in keeping his traditions because, in verse 16, he refers to some who were “contentious.” In spite of these contentious ones, the church at Corinth had remembered what Paul had taught them to do and they had done it.He did not always praise them. In the next section of his letter he gave them some energetic criticism:17I do not praise you in giving these instructions since you come together not for the better but for the worse. …What were the Corinthians doing that earned them the praise or the criticism of Paul? In verses 17 and following it is clear that they were criticized for not conducting themselves properly when they celebrated the Lord’s Supper. As for verses 2-16, what they were doing that was praiseworthy is often misunderstood. This is where a basic rule of interpretation is helpful: Whenever you see the word therefore in a passage, check to see what it is there for.In this case, a “therefore” occurs at the beginning of verse 10:10therefore, a woman ought to have authority …Apparently, the verses leading up to verse 10 argued in favor of what he affirmed in verse 10. Paul had taught, and most of the Corinthians had agreed with him, that a woman ought to have authority. Some people in Corinth had been contentious about this. Paul praised the rest (Key #1) and encouraged them to keep following what he had taught them.Key #2: Three-fold focus. Immediately before writing the words of chapter 11, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:32, “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God….”It is helpful to note that Paul was sensitive to the needs of these three overlapping groups:JewsNon-Jews (also called Greeks or Gentiles)All Christians without regard to their backgroundIn 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, Paul focused parts of the passage on each of these three groups in the church:Verses 3-9: to the converted Jews.Verses 11-12: to everyone in church.Verses 13-15: to the converted non-Jews.In these three sections, there are details appropriate to each group. Paul’s appeal to Nature, in verse 14, is a case in point. The non-Jews would have related to an appeal to Nature, but not the Jews. Paul had to appeal to the Jews on other grounds.In the verses not addressed to any specific group – verses 2, 10 and 16 – Paul deals with the real business of this passage. He praises the Corinthian Christians (verse 2). He gives instructions on how to behave (verse 10). He dismisses any who want to be contentious (verse 16).Key #3: Contention. A third key to understanding this passage has to do with Paul’s reference in verse 16 to those who had been “contentious.” The ones who were the most contentious about Paul, his teaching and his practice were those who promoted Jewish legalism.As the early church spread across the Roman Empire there was confusion as to whether Christianity was something new, or whether it was just a subgroup of Judaism. This confusion was understandable since the promises of a coming Messiah had been given to the Jews. Jesus was a Jew. And the first converts were Jews.When non-Jews began believing in Jesus as their savior it seemed logical to the Jews who had become Christians that the new Gentile believers should become practicing Jews as well. But there were two main reasons why this logic was incorrect.First, many of the practices required of Jews in the Old Testament served to represent spiritual truths that only pointed to the promised Messiah. The blood sacrifices of spotless animals in the Temple pointed to the ultimate blood sacrifice that would be made by the sinless Messiah. The regulations that guided the behavior of the priests on duty all worked to keep the symbolism of the future spotless Lamb of God perfectly clear.These practices and these rules were made obsolete with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The early church dealt with these regulations and discarded them early on. They were famously discussed in depth in the meeting of the church in Jerusalem described in Acts chapter 15.Second, there were other lesser regulations and rules that had been built up during the hundreds of years that passed between the ministry of the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, and the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus.This system of case law and regulations obscured the message of the Old Testament. At times it contradicted it altogether. Jews at the time of Jesus, including Paul, practiced these legalistic regulations to a greater or lesser degree in their daily lives. These regulations were scrupulously followed by the Pharisees. The Scribes were teachers of this law.One of the things these regulations required was the covering of the head both by women and men. This covering symbolized that sin caused an ongoing separation of the worshipper from God. Covering the head, hiding the head of the sinner from the holy God, was the appropriate thing to do. Perhaps you have seen movies with an actor playing the role of Jesus covering his head just as he was about to pray to God.Jesus fought against baseless legalistic Judaism during his earthly ministry. He confounded self-righteous sinners who followed these rules.In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus identified and rejected their regulations. Six times he said: “You have heard it said, …, but I say to you ….” (Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43).As a Pharisee, Paul had been a scrupulous follower of these laws. But as a Christian, Paul left behind these empty practices. Jesus the Messiah had fulfilled the Old Testament Law and gave each and every believer full status as a child of God (see Galatians 2:14).During the years following his conversion, Paul became skilled at discerning and discarding the dry husks of legalism. He excelled in teaching truths straight from the Old Testament, especially how Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the coming Messiah.After Paul’s first missionary journey, legalists came and tried to impose Jewish regulations on the converted Gentiles. Paul opposed their teachings.Acts 15 records that the church in Jerusalem supported Paul in his work and agreed that Christians did not have to convert to Judaism. Nevertheless, Paul continued to face direct opposition from Jews outside the church and frequent contradiction from legalistic Judaizers inside the church.A number of times, Jews outside the church opposed Paul and denounced him publicly. This resulted in beatings, stonings and imprisonments. At other times, Judaizers within the church visited places Paul had ministered. They contradicted his teachings to modify them to fit more or less with the oral law.Here is Paul’s own description of the havoc wreaked by unbelieving Jews who were hostile to the Christians in Thessalonica. This was the church Paul planted in northern Greece before he started the church at Corinth:14For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. These displease God and are hostile to all people 16in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved….                     1 Thessalonians 2:14-16Key #4: Traditions. If some of the Corinthians were “contentious,” as Paul said in verse 16, what were they contending for and what were they challenging? Verse 2 tells us. They challenged “the traditions” Paul had taught the Corinthian believers. What might they have wanted to change? Since, in verse 10, Paul focuses on women, it can be assumed that they were challenging Paul on what he had taught about the status and ministry of Christian women.There were numerous regulations in the Jewish oral law that applied to women in the synagogue. These regulations implied, or said outright, that the nature and status of the women was not on a par with the men.Much like some modern non-Christian religious regulations that require women to cover their heads differently from men, so the ancient Jewish regulations required women to cover their heads in a way different from men. While the Jewish oral law said that men and women both had to cover their heads, there were many more reasons given for why women had to cover their heads.Paul never passed on such legalism to his spiritual children in Christ. If the Jews had their reasons for restricting women, Paul had his for ensuring their full participation in ministry. No wonder people flocked to hear Paul’s teaching! He presented a vibrant counterpoint to the dead legalism of his day.As we will show, Paul’s words in verse 10 confronted those who wanted to impose regulations on women believers. Both men and women believers had the right to discard any covering hinting at sin. No one had the right to tell them to do otherwise and it was obviously wrong to do so.Key #5: Translations. In 1 Corinthians 11:10, Paul restated his position. A look at the Greek words in which the New Testament was written makes this quite clear. But modern translations of this passage make it look as if Paul is saying something here opposite to what he originally wrote!Before taking a look at what Paul said these in 13 Greek words, here is a sampling of what translations present verse 10 as saying:Good News Translation (GNT) On account of the angels, then, a woman should have a covering over her head to show that she is under her husband's authority. (24 words)Contemporary English Version CEV. And so, because of this, and also because of the angels, a woman ought to wear something on her head, as a sign of her authority. (26 words)Living Bible TLB: So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign that she is under man’s authority, a fact for all the angels to notice and rejoice in. (30 words)New International Version NIV: It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. (20 words)English Standard Version ESV That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. (19 words) Clearly, something is going on here with all these differences from translation to translation. However, in Greek, verse 10 is made up of just thirteen easy words. The following is a word-for-word transliteration of the Greek of 1 Corinthians 11:10:1. “therefore” or “for”            7.“to-have” 2. “this” (“reason”)                8.  “over”3. “ought”                               9.  “the” (“her”)          4. “the”                                    10. “head”5. “woman”                            11. “because-of”        6. “authority”                         12. “the”13. “angels.”The verse can be translated simply as follows in 14 English words:Therefore, the woman ought to have authority over her head, because of the angels.Although it rearranged the words, one version translated clearly the original Greek text. It was the TNIV or Today’s New InternationalVersion:"For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have authority over her own head."Thus, Paul affirms that a woman is in charge of her own head. How this meaning fits with the verses around it is what we will address next.Bruce C. E. FlemingFounder of the Tru316 Project, Tru316.comAuthor of The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

God didn't curse Eve or limit woman in any way in Genesis 3:16. This is what Dr. Joy Fleming discovered in the 11 Hebrew words of this key verse. But your Bible doesn't read that way because of a translation error!!This and much more has been put into The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3 by Bruce C. E. Fleming available on Audible HERE.  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

 Welcome to this bonus episode of The Eden Podcast where we think again about the Bible on women and men and we start with a correct understanding of what happened in the Garden of Eden back in the beginning.I’m Bruce C. E. Fleming, founder of the Tru316 Project and a former Academic Dean and Professor of Practical Theology.This bonus episode celebrates our arrival at the end of Season Three on The Eden Podcast. I’ve started getting messages from some letting me know you have listened to all of the episodes up to this point. Congratulations! You have just completed a major achievement! We don’t hand out certificates just yet. But I would like to encourage you for your achievement.Let’s look at what has been accomplished!Season One of The Eden Podcast is the foundation of it all. What happened in Genesis 2-3 is so important to what we know of God, of one another, of the liar who attacked murderously at the Tree, of the difference between the responses of the man and the woman and of God’s responses to all three. We focused especially in Episodes 6 and 7 on God’s words to the woman in Genesis 3:16. Basing our insights on the research of Dr. Joy Fleming we observed that God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way! And we learned much more. That’s why we put all of Season One in a book and added Study Guides at the end of each chapter. The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3 is 124 pages long in paperback. It is also available from Amazon as a Kindle E-book, and shortly should be available on Audible. I encourage you to get at least one copy for yourself today! Just go to Amazon HERE.Season Two is about Ephesians 5:15-6:9. Because people haven’t begun at the beginning of this passage at 5:15 and ended at the end of the passage at 6:9, and because people haven’t recognized the way Paul developed his ideas inside the passage building up to his key idea in 5:32 there has been much that has gone wrong in their interpretation of this passage. Thanks to the insights we gained from a true view of Genesis 3:16 we were able to understand it all much better. This was especially true of Paul’s advice on teaching and admonishing one another and in submitting ourselves to that input from one another.Season Three is about 1 Timothy 2:8-3:13 in context. We covered so much good material here and marveled at Paul’s loving and merciful attitude with the overseers who had gone astray in the church at Ephesus.So, here’s how I would like us to encourage one another!First of all. Spread the word! Of course, above all take what you have learned and apply it in your life as God moves you to. Then tell others. You can refer them to the entire The Eden Podcast series at TheEdenPodcast.com. You can refer them to several specific episodes. My favorites in Season 1 on Genesis are Episodes 1, 6 and 7. (But really I like them all.) My favorites in Season 2 on Ephesians are Episodes 3, 4 and 6. My favorites in Season 3 on 1 Timothy are 2, 5 and 6.Second. I’d love to have you study with us as a member of our Tru School of the Bible. We are now taking early enrollment for our first 8-week course which will be called Unlocking Eden, Genesis 2-3. It will be held during our Summer Session in July and August. The cost will be $316 (of course 316) and the number of places is very limited. So you can sign up today. The cost will be refundable. Here’s the link on our website: Tru316.com/UnlockingEden.There’s more to come! In your life and in mine. God is so good and God’s word the Bible is wholly worthy of our trust, respect and enjoyment!   The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

In 1 Timothy 2:8-15, Paul recommended appropriate discipline for disruptive and injurious behavior. His recommendations took into account not only the sin committed, but also the heart motivation of the offender. In 1 Timothy 3:1-12 the women and men leaders who had been disciplined were encouraged to aspire to, and to resume, ministry in the church.In these verses, Paul did not teach any doctrine of “authority-of-a-husband,” or “leadership-by-men” in the church. Instead, he drew a picture of various Christian men and women actively serving Christ, having been made faithful by Jesus, the Word!How did we get here? Likely, much of what we have just covered is not what you have heard before about 1 Timothy 2-3. We faced the same thing in our studies of Ephesians 5-6 and Genesis 2-3. For me, the findings of my wife’s research into Genesis 3:16 makes all the difference. She found that in God’s eleven Hebrew words in Genesis 3:16 God didn’t curse Eve or limit woman in any way.God showed love and mercy to Eve in the Garden of Eden. But Satan, the murderer and liar, wants us to think God cursed her. She unmasked his attack at the tree but he is still the enemy of the woman. He wants us to take as many shots at her as he can get us to!Sadly, translators and theologians have been tricked into playing on his side. They have mistranslated Genesis 3:16 and they have also mishandled other Bible passages related to God’s words to the woman like 1 Timothy 2-3.That’s why we have produced these studies. That’s why we have written The Book of Eden, Genesis 2-3. Where they have gone astray Bible translations need to be corrected based on the true words of Genesis 3:16. That’s the challenge of the Tru316 Project: to bring about change in all the passages that need correcting in the light of what God really said in Genesis 3:16. I invite you to get involved and join the work. You can start at Tru316.com.  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

Jump with me to the heart of the matter. 1 Timothy 3:1 does not teach that only men are to be overseers in the church. Verse 2 does not teach that only married men can be pastors. And verses 4-5 do not teach that men only are to manage the household.1 Timothy 3:1 offers encouragement to the overseers undergoing retraining by saying, “Anyone aspiring to oversight desires a good work.” However, many people cover over the meaning of the verse. They lard it over with teaching full of imported meaning that is foreign to the text. They make it sound something like this: Here’s an 11th Commandment: "Only men should be overseers!" Surprising departure from the previous meaning I described? It certainly is! What do you think of it?In the verses that follow verse 1 there are other departures from the meaning of the inspired Greek text. People repeat their error from verse 1 when they teach that verse 2 says that only married men should be overseers in church. Then, with regard to life in the Christian family they get wrong verses 4-5 saying that men are the ones who must manage the family unit. The Greek words of 1 Timothy chapter 3 don’t say any of these things. Many translations, sadly, go astray. Let’s correct them as we think again about 1 Timothy chapter 3.In the passage of 1 Timothy the three times Paul uses the words pistos ho logos. In 3:1, Jesus, the faithful Word, serves as the high point, the turning point of the second section of the letter to Timothy that runs from 1:18 to 3:16. As Jesus is faithful, Jesus in turn makes others faithful, in this case the overseers Paul has been correcting in 2:8-15.As we arrive at 3:1 we are at a major turning point. Paul turns from “How to correct disruptive wayward overseers” to “How to restore them to ministry.” Keeping this focus on overseers, both female and male, keeps us from going astray in our interpretation and in our practice in church today. The Greek words in the rest of 1 Timothy 3:1 are inclusive of both women and men. They are gender neutral. Paul is talking about tis or “anyone,” female or male who aspires to oversight. Overseers were among the ones gifted to serve the rest of the body of Christ. Those who received this gift were described in Ephesians 4:11-12. In the letter to the Ephesians, only some believers in the body of Christ are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. Because Paul is speaking about those who had gone astray from within this group, when he talks about anyone aspiring to oversight in 3:1 the antecedent to the pronoun “anyone” looks back to those people who already had been gifted and called to be overseers. The “anyone” in 3:1 refers to those who have already been in public ministry and have been stopped from doing so because they had gone astray and disrupted the church. But these were not without hope. To the contrary they could aspire to such a good work once more thanks to Jesus, the faithful Word.Have you looked on wayward church leaders this way? Have you seen defrocked pastors, and elders and preachers and teachers treated this way? I have. But not much in the churches in my own country in America. But in other countries where we have served I have seen a fruitful practice of discipline, retraining and restoration carried out.  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

1 Timothy 2:13-15 How Eve and Paul were alike, by Bruce C. E. FlemingThe focus of this episode is: 1 Timothy 2:13-15 How Eve and Paul were alike“What’s this Dad?” I asked picking up the flat and pointed piece of chipped stone. “That’s an arrowhead son,” he replied. “What’s it doing here, Dad?” “Ahh. That’s a great question!”“What’s this doing here?” is what many ask when they come across the verses that are numbered as 1 Timothy 2:13-15. They ask, “Why do we find these words in this place?” One could say we have several figurative arrowheads to consider in these verses.- Why does Paul here bring up the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve?- Did they have something to do with the wayward women leaders Timothy was correcting in Ephesus? What?- Where in the text does the reference to Eden end in these verses?- Why does Paul bring up the birth of The Child in verse 15?- And who are “they” at the end of verse 15b?These questions can all be answered. We can answer them now because we have asked the right questions.We can answer them because we have looked at the context and the main actions Paul is recommending in 1 Timothy 2:8 to 3:16. We can answer them because we are not off-the-track wandering in the weeds looking for the answers to the wrong questions, which I’m afraid so many have done.Let’s look at the literary structure of the passage as Paul presented these ideas. As we do we see where verses 13-15 belong in the development of Paul’s thought. He has not written a linear progression of ideas in a 1, 2, 3 manner. He has written using a rainbow pattern of parallel ideas. The main idea is in the middle. On either side are ideas that echo and complete each other.Because verse 9 has no verb and begins with “likewise” we have to start back in verse 8. Then come verses 9-15 which are Paul’s focused advice about correcting-in-order-to-restore-to-ministry the subgroup of wayward women overseers in Ephesus.In verse 8 Paul gives a command to Timothy. He wishes for the wayward men overseers to preach and pray in public worship with holy hands (not tainted by sin) with sound doctrine, which is not a source of angry disputing.In verses 9, 10 and 12, Paul gives a parallel command to Timothy. He wishes for the wayward women overseers to preach and pray in public worship with proper outward dress and behavior.In verse 11 Paul makes use of this passage’s only imperative verb where he says, Let these women learn! as good students paying attention.Then, Paul opens a parenthesis in verses 13-15a before he returns in 15b to advice that parallels his earlier advice. That advice concerned the formerly wayward women overseers Timothy was to retrain and restore to ministry. Verses 13-15a serve as a digression. In them Paul justifies the course of action he is recommending. He explains why he is prescribing such gentle correction for them.Remember, with the wayward leaders Hymenaeus and Alexander back in 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul turned them over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. But with these women wayward overseers he is recommending a very different kind of teaching. They are not being handed over to Satan to be taught. They are to be allowed to learn and get retrained as good students from Timothy himself, or by Priscilla or by other faithful overseers in the church at  Ephesus.Here’s my paraphrase of verses 13-15a in the context of verses 2:11 to 3:111Let the women overseers who were wayward learn in quietness and with all studiousness. 12I am not permitting them to teach men in an incorrect way, but to be retrained in quietness.13Why? For, God formed the two in the Garden, Adam and then Eve 14and Adam was a first-degree eater. He was not deceived but sinned on purpose. But Eve was deceived and as a second-degree sinner, to that degree, she became a transgressor.15But she, Eve, would be saved through the birth of The Child who was to come, as will the women you are retraining if they persevere in faith, love, sanctification and self-control.3:1“Faithful is Jesus the Logos, the Word,” so if any one of those you are correcting aspires to oversight, that woman or that man desires a good work!Like Paul, like EveWhy? The Gospel of Mark recounts how Jesus’ disciples were slow to learn the lesson of the multiplied loaves. First, Jesus fed the 5,000 from a few loaves and some fish (Mark 6:35-44). A second time, Jesus multiplied a handful of food into enough for four thousand people (Mark 8:1-9). A little while later, Jesus and his disciples found themselves in a boat with just one loaf of bread. The disciples were hungry and began to worry. Oh, what could they do in these dire straits?Carefully, Jesus talked to them about their cares and about their blindness to His power to provide for them again and again. He reminded them of all that had happened. Yet they still didn’t understand (Mark 8:14-21). They needed to be told again.In similar fashion, just in case his message has not been fully understood, Paul adds several more verses in 1 Timothy 2. He wants to make sure his instructions about the correction of the errant women teachers are clear.Why does he recommend retraining for these women? In verses 13-15a, Paul calls attention to relevant details from the Garden of Eden.Because “intent” counts. Paul starts verse 13 with the conjunction “for” in Greek. He gives a reason “for” what he has just recommended. Then, he refers to Genesis 3. In the Garden of Eden there were two kinds of sinners. And in Ephesus, where Timothy was, there were two kinds of sinners:1. sinners who were deceived and sinned, and2. sinners who knowingly and defiantly sinned.In verse 13, Paul draws a clear distinction between the first man and the first woman. By referring to their two distinct creations, he focuses attention on them as two distinct individuals.13For Adam first was formed, then Eve.The lesson of verse 13 isn’t who was first, but that there were two individuals created in the beginning – first one, then the other. Paul further distinguishes between these two by using the names, “Adam” and “Eve.”The use of these names in their historical setting is strikingly anachronistic. The woman was not called by the name “Eve” until Genesis 3:20. Yet, Paul uses that name referring to moments in history (Gen 2) that occurred before she was known as Eve.Similarly, the name “Adam” did not refer only-to-the-man at the point in time referred to by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:13. The name “Adam” could refer to them both (Genesis 5:2 – “He called their name Adam”). The man took the name “Adam” for himself, only after God judged him. Breathtakingly, the man rebelled one more time after God spoke to him in Genesis 3:17-19. This was another act of rebellion and self-rule, as opposed to submission to being ruled by the Creator.The man had named the animals who were subordinate to him in the Garden of Eden. He used the naming formula and called them their names. This is similar to the naming formula used today when the Queen or King of England says, “I dub you Sir So and So.” The first chance the man had to respond positively to God’s speeches to the serpent, to the woman and to him, he responded negatively! He called the woman a name using the naming formula he used for the animals. He presumed to rule over her by naming her and treating her like just another one of the animals.How was she to respond to that? God was her Creator. God alone was her ruler. God was their Ruler. What to do with a husband who presumed to usurp God’s role by ruling over her in this way?Two kinds of eaters. This is important to understand. In 1 Timothy 2:14, after distinguishing clearly between the first two individuals at Creation, Paul focuses on why and how each individual sinned.While it is clear that each one in the Garden is disobedient to God’s command, the following differences exist between them after the Attack by the serpent tempter:1. The man was not deceived. He sins deliberately and knowingly (Gen 3:12).2. The woman was deceived and only then does she sin (Gen 3:13).In the Garden, God takes these differences into account when imposing judgment on the serpent tempter, on the woman and on the man. God imposes a curse on the serpent. The Hebrew word “curse” is used.Using words in a way parallel to his words to the serpent tempter, God imposes a curse on the soil. This curse is “because of” the man (Genesis 3:17). The Hebrew word for “curse” again is used. It is only used these two times.No “curse” is imposed on the man or on the women. Significantly, no curse is imposed because of the woman as had occurred because of the man. In Genesis 3, the Hebrew word “curse” only occurs in reference to the man (and the serpent tempter).There is something very different between the man’s motives and actions. There is something very different in the way God treats the one and the other of these two humans in Eden.How does Paul know the woman is deceived? In Genesis 3:13, the woman says so, in an accurate admission to God of her wrongdoing. In 1 Timothy 2:14, Paul notes that the man is a different kind of sinner. He “wasn’t deceived.” This distinction drawn between the two sinners is a distinction for Timothy to follow in correcting those who had gone astray in Ephesus.In 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul referred to how God had judged him gently. Discerning Paul’s intent, God dealt gently with him, and even put him into ministry because he had acted ignorantly and in disbelief (1:12).In modern-day courts, even murderers are judged differently, according to their intent. There is “murder in the first degree” for those who kill on purpose, or “with malice aforethought.” And there is “murder in the second degree,” or “manslaughter,” for those who kill but not with malicious advance planning.“Murder one” receives the harshest punishment. Manslaughter merits a lighter sentence.Paul had been a second-degree sinner. The way God dealt with him as a second-degree sinner is the way he wants Timothy to deal with those at Ephesus who also sinned in the second degree. The women described in 1 Timothy 2:9b and 12 are to be treated like Eve, and like Paul, who had not sinned on purpose. He is to let them learn and emphatically so.To underline this, in verses 13 and 14, Paul refers to the two sinners in the Garden in a different order from when each one sinned. If Paul had been preoccupied only with details of timing in Eden, he would have referred first to the woman and then to the man. Instead, he twice refers first to Adam, who sinned on purpose.Here is my paraphrase of verses 13-14 (italics added):13For, God formed the two in the Garden, Adam and then Eve14and Adam was not deceived, but Eve was deceived,  and to that degree became a transgressor.Don’t be deceived! Some people charge that since the first woman was deceived in the Garden, all women are more easily deceived than all men! But Genesis does not teach this. Neither does Paul.Even though the man and the woman were co-regents over the earth by the Creator’s decree (Genesis 1:27-30), some people claim that the timing in the creations of the man and the woman makes the man superior to the woman in some way.Indeed, this was the position held by rabbis at the time of Paul. They thought that a theological consequence could be discerned behind the sequence of events in the Garden. C. K. Barrett (Pastoral Epistles, p. 56) quotes their midrash: “Adam was first in creation, Eve [first] in sin.”Surprisingly, John Calvin held to this position. Even so, he found himself compelled to argue against it, admitting (Commentaries, 21) that any theological conclusions based on the “order of creation, appears not to be a very strong argument in favor of her subjection; for John the Baptist was before Christ in the order of time, and yet was greatly inferior in rank.”Verse 15a – Closing thoughts on Eden.It may seem tiresome to work our way over one interpretive “bump” after another. But as every good road builder knows, it is important to keep leveling the roadbed until it becomes flat and serviceable for all those who follow.In verse 15a, there is one more noticeable bump that needs to be smoothed out before the entire passage in 1 Timothy 2 can be clearly understood. It has to do with Paul’s reference in Greek to “the Childbearing.” According to the Greek in the first part of verse 15, Paul writes:15aBut she will be saved through the Childbearing…The singular pronoun – “she” – of verse 15a refers to the woman who is discussed in verses 13-14 just before it. “She” is Eve!“The Childbearing” of Eve refers to the future birth, future for Eve, of the promised Child. Mary was the physical mother of Jesus, but Eve was his ancestor. Eve’s “childbearing” resulted in the eventual “childbearing” of Jesus.The word “childbearing” is a collective singular noun, a single word packed with the promise of many. This way of speaking may seem awkward to the modern reader. But it is used twice in Genesis 3 when God first gives the promise of a Savior.In Genesis 3:15, God gives the menacing promise to the serpent that the “seed” or “offspring” of the woman will crush his head. The word “seed” is a collective singular noun.In the Hebrew wording of Genesis 3:16, Line 1, God promises the woman that she will have multiplied “conception.” The word “conception” is also a collective singular noun.Looking back at the Garden of Eden from the perspective of history, one can identify the promised “seed” of verse 15, and the “conception” of verse 16, as Jesus. Paul’s use of the collective singular noun – “the Childbearing” – in 1 Timothy 2:15a in the context of a discussion on the Garden of Eden brings to mind Eve’s promised offspring. This would have been recognized immediately by Timothy and the Jewish Christians at Ephesus, as a reference to the promised One, the Messiah.Eve would be eternally saved through her forward-looking faith in the coming birth of the Child. The women in Ephesus are saved through their faith in this same Child as well.Each one of us today faces the question of this Child. What will we do with Jesus?- Because in the Garden of Eden back in the beginning there had been an attack,- because the man and the woman were now mortal and hiding from God,- because their perfect union with God had been ruptured, God promised the certain conception of the seed of the woman.Why would God promise this? Why would God bother to do so?We learn over and over again in God’s revelation in the Bible that God sent Jesus into the world because we need a Savior who will die in our place. When we ask God to forgive us and to send the Holy Spirit into our heart in new birth and the start of everlasting spiritual life, it is like we have one foot already placed firmly in heaven. We have the assurance repeated over and over again in the Bible that when we die God will pull up that other foot too. We instantly will be with Jesus firmly standing in heaven.The best Bible verse on this is that other 3:16 verse. In the Old Testament, in Genesis 3:16, God promised Eve that truly she would have conception of the Child who would crush Satan’s head. In the New Testament, in John 3:16 we have this promise:For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.Once again, we see the love of God reaching out to us. We see God helping us return back to Eden in a perfect relationship with God with no break to occur ever again.This complete summary of Eve’s situation in 1 Timothy 2:13-15a – as a deceived sinner in the 2nd degree, who is going to be saved because she places her faith in the coming Child – allows Paul to move on to a summation of his instructions to Timothy. He does this in the second half of verse 15 in verse 15b.In verse 15b, Paul changes subjects. He moves on from a singular subject, “she,” to a plural subject, “they.” If the first half of verse 15, verse 15a, had been counted as the end of verse 14 we could have seen this more clearly. Perhaps it is best to think of 2:15b as a new verse, or verse 16.In these words with a plural subject, Paul encourages once again the women who are learning, per his command in verse 11, to follow the wholesome pattern of those who have been right-living overseers all along, as he has described them in verses 9a, and 10.He names four aspects of right living and teaching that must be evident in their reformed lives:15bif they remain in faith, and love, and sanctification with all seriousness.The good news is that God gives John 3:16 to us today.  It is good news that was promised back in the Garden of Eden. It is good news that actually took place as Jesus hung on the cross and died for our sins, rose again, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to live in the hearts of all who believe in Him and receive His gift of payment for our sins.Does that include you? If “Yes” is your answer, then I rejoice with you!Does that include you? If “Not yet” is your situation then I encourage you to pray to Jesus right away. Ask His forgiveness. Ask to be born again and for the Holy Spirit to come live in your heart. Like Eve, you too can be saved through the birth of The Child!LINKS  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

Here's my paraphrase of 1 Timothy 2:8-12 from the Greek:(8) Timothy, I wish for the men to pray and prophesy correctly while leading worship, lifting up holy hands without causing anger and disputing!(9) Likewise, I wish the women who pray and prophesy leading worship to adorn themselves with modest apparel that promotes self-control - not with improper hair plaiting, along with its gold and pearls, and costly clothing - (10) Women preaching godliness are adorned by their good works.(11) Let those women overseers who were wayward learn in quietness and with all studiousness as good students. (12) I am not permitting them to teach men in an incorrect way, but to learn in quietness.Each Greek word is analyzed in the transcript of the Episode. Go DEEPER  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner

1 Timothy 2:8 is not a verse about people in general praying around the world. What should tip us off are the comments at the end of the verse about “anger” and “disputing.”Disruptive Preachers. How often are people angry and how often do disputes break out after prayer meetings where you are? Not often? Never? Is this verse not applicable in your situation? No. It likely is not. It applied to the situation in Ephesus. And would apply in similar situations down through time.In his next sentence, in verse 9, Paul begins with the Greek word “likewise.” And then he uses no verb. When this happens in Greek we are to look back to the verb in the previous sentence and use it in this one. What is the verb we are to use in verse 9? It is the verb “I wish.”Verse 8 is aimed not at all men, nor at all the men overseers. It applies to the men overseers who are praying and preaching incorrectly. Because verse 9 starts with the word “Likewise,” we can assume it is aimed not at all women, nor at all the women overseers. It applies to the women overseers who are praying and preaching incorrectly.Right, wrong, right. In 1 Timothy 2:9-10 Paul describes the characteristics of faithful women overseers in the first half of verse 9 and also in verse 10. He contrasts these with the improper behavior of the wayward women overseers described in the second half of verse 9 and in verse 12.The incorrect behavior of verses 9b and 12 practiced by a subgroup of the women overseers was to be stopped. Then these women were to be taught. Paul says "Let learn!" This command in Greek in verse 11 applied to the women who were being retrained for service after being restrained from false teaching and practice.GO DEEPER  The Tru316 Foundation (www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too. You are encouraged to access the episodes of Seasons 1-11 of The Eden Podcast for teaching on the seven key passages on women and men. Are you a reader? We invite you to get from Amazon the four books by Bruce C. E. Fleming in The Eden Book Series (Tru316.com/trubooks). Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner here: www.Tru316.com/partner