Texts Kept to Silence Women

TEXTS THAT WERE KEPT

1 Timothy 2:12 — 'I do not permit a woman to teach'

1 Corinthians 14:34 — 'Women should remain silent in church'

Ephesians 5:22 — 'Wives, submit to your husbands'

Texts establishing male apostolic succession

Texts supporting episcopal hierarchy

TEXTS THAT WERE REMOVED

Gospel of Mary — Mary as primary theological authority

Acts of Thecla — woman as missionary and baptiser

Gospel of Philip — Mary as Jesus's closest companion

Didache — prophets (including women) above bishops

Gospel of the Hebrews — the Holy Spirit as feminine

The Disputed Texts

Both 1 Timothy 2:12 ('I do not permit a woman to teach') and 1 Corinthians 14:34 ('women should remain silent in the churches') are disputed by scholars as later interpolations, texts added by scribes after Paul's death. The evidence for this includes: the passage in 1 Corinthians 14 appears in different positions in different manuscripts, suggesting it was a marginal note that was later inserted into the text; the vocabulary and style of 1 Timothy differs significantly from Paul's undisputed letters; and Paul himself names women as co-workers, apostles, and leaders in his other letters (Romans 16, Philippians 4). The texts used to silence women for two thousand years may not have been written by Paul at all.

What Jesus Actually Did

In a 1st-century Jewish context, Jesus's treatment of women was radical. He spoke to a Samaritan woman in public (John 4), which violated two social taboos simultaneously: she was a woman, and she was a Samaritan. He allowed women to travel with him and support his ministry financially (Luke 8:1-3). He appeared to women first after the resurrection and instructed them to go and tell the disciples (Matthew 28:10), making them the first evangelists. He used women as the heroes of his parables. He defended a woman against a crowd that wanted to stone her (John 8). The institution that claimed his name spent the next two millennia undoing this.

The Deliberate Erasure

The Gospel of Mary, the Acts of Thecla, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Didache all, in different ways, describe women as spiritual authorities: teachers, prophets, apostles, and baptisers. The canonical texts that were retained include 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34. Both of these texts are disputed by scholars as later interpolations. The excluded texts were not excluded because they were false. They were excluded because they described a movement in which women led, and the institution being built in the 4th century required women to follow.

Junia: The Apostle Whose Name Was Changed

In Romans 16:7, Paul writes: 'Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles.' Junia is a woman's name. Paul is calling a woman an outstanding apostle. From the 13th century onward, scribes and translators began rendering the name as 'Junias,' a male form of the name that does not appear anywhere in ancient literature. The motivation was straightforward: a female apostle named by Paul himself was an inconvenient fact for a Church that had decided women could not hold apostolic authority. The name was changed. Most modern translations have now restored it to Junia.