Authentein and Grudem

I have more or less avoided discussing authenteo - to have/exercise/assume authority in 1 Tim. 2:12 up until now. I hadn't read the entire list of 82 examples cited in the appendix to Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. 2004. But now I have! It was a rainy day.

So, two things.

First, what does Grudem say about authenteo in the main text of his book?

Second, what do the footnotes to his appendix say?

He suggests in the main text that authenteo is 'approximately synonymous' with exousiazo/exousia echo - 'to have authority' and that we know what it means,

There is a verb exousiazo which means "to have the right of control, have the right/power for something or over someone," but it is not very common in the New Testament either, since it is used only four times (Luke 22:25; 1 Corinthians 6:12, 7:4 [twice]).

The noun exousia is quite common (102 times in the New Testament), but I see no reason why Paul had to be limited to using only common words or why anyone should say he should have used a noun in this verse. Nor can I see any reason why he should not be able to use words that were approximately synonymous, but had different nuances of meaning. There may have been nuances of exousia that he wanted to avoid, or nuances of authenteo that he wanted to include, but it is difficult for us to say what those might be.

In any case, the verb he did use means "to have authority over,"and that meaning now, in the light of much scholarly research, is established beyond reasonable doubt. (Page 322)

He quotes Scott Baldwin, who says regarding authenteo,

In analysing this material it becomes evident that the one unifying concept is that of authority. (page 675)

One gets the impression from this that the meaning for authenteo is established beyond reasonable doubt. However, Kostenberger disagrees,

At the heart of the book [Women the the Church. 1995] were the two chapters devoted to lexical and semantic analysis. In the former, the likelihood was suggested that “exercise authority” (Grk. authentein) carries a neutral or positive connotation, but owing to the scarcity of the term in ancient literature (the only NT occurrence is 1 Tim. 2:12; found only twice preceding the NT in extrabiblical literature) no firm conclusions could be reached on the basis of lexical study alone.

So what is the evidence which Köstenberger admits is not decisive?

Of the 82 examples which Baldwin found and Grudem included in the appendix to his book, only two preceded Paul's epistle. The other examples followed the writing of the epistle by at least one century. They can be excluded as evidence.

So what are the two examples which might give evidence for the meaning of authenteo?

Here is the first,

[1st cent. BC] Philodemus, Rhetorica {ref: 133.14}, "those in authority" {ptc}
Text: Philodemus Philodemi: Volumina Rhetorica, vol. ed. S. Sudhaus (Leipzig, 1896), 133.
Translation: Hubbell, "The Rhetoric of Philodemus,"Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 23 (1920): 306

"To tell the truth the rhetors do a great deal of harm to many people, and incur the enmity of powerful rulers, whereas philosophers gain the friendship of public men by helping them out of their trouble. Ought we not to consider that men who incur the enmity of those in authority are villains, and hated by both gods and men?"

This sounds pretty solid - until you read the footnotes, that is. In Grudem's words,

Several issues bear on this perplexing text. First, while it is true that Philodemus produced elegant but indecent love epigrams ... even a cursory review of this prose work shows that it is serious treatise in seven books concerning the nature and effect of rhetors and rhetoric. ... The assertion of C.C. Kroeger that the word here must have an erotic sense because it was "penned by the rhetorician and obscene epigrammatist" is apposite.

Well, maybe so. It was written by an author known for his obscene writings. Grudem is not disputing that, but he asserts that in this case it doesn't matter. Okay, maybe it doesn't. But what about this? Grudem continues,

Second, the text as given is a reconstruction by Sudhaus. It is entirely possible that authentein could be read as authentaisin, the Old Attic plural of authentes, in which case, it is a noun and not a verbal form at all. [cognate nouns were disallowed from this study. note by S. M.]

Third, it should be remembered that Hubbell is not giving a precise translation but a paraphrase. ... (page 679)

As if this wasn't problematic enough, Linda Belleville (Belleville. page 215) gives evidence that in this case, Grudem quoted Baldwin, who quoted Knight who misunderstood Hubbell. Knight thought that authenteo was the word for 'those in authority' in this passage, but it was actually the word for 'powerful rulers'. In fact, neither Baldwin or Grudem went to the text to check this out. So Grudem wrongly refers to this passage as providing the meaning of 'those in authority' for authenteo.

That it the first piece of evidence. What about the second?

[27 BC] BGU 1208 {ref: line 38}
Text: F. Schubart et al., eds. Äegyptische Irkunden aus den königlichen Museen zu Berlin, vol. 4 (Berlin: Weidmannsche, 1912), 351

Translation: John R. Werner, Wycliffe Bible Translators, International Linguistics Center, Dallas, Tex. letter as quoted by George W. Knight III "ΑΥΘΕΝΤΕΩ in Reference to Women in 1 Timothy 2:12," NTS 30 (1984): 143-57.

"I exercised authority over him, and he consented to provide for Calatytis the Boatman on terms of full fare, within the hour." (page 680)

Here we see the translation provided on request to Knight who had set out to prove the meaning of "exercise authority" for this word. What does Grudem say in the footnote?

The translation of this text is disputed. G. W. Knight, 145, gives Werner's translation here. ... P. B. Payne ... implies that the translation of D. Peterson is superior, "When I had prevailed upon him to provide, ... This passage is about a hostile relationship, his action is called 'insolence' in the text." It is difficult to evaluate the strength of Payne's argument. ... However, the meaning of "compel" does seem appropriate. (page 680)

I won't hide from you the fact that I have left out various lexicon citations that Grudem believes support his interpretation. However, I have quoted his conclusion in all honesty. "The meaning of 'compel' does seem appropriate." I am dealing with examples only. We don't have conclusive lexical evidence outside of these examples.

Are these two examples Grudem's only contemporary evidence? Yes, they are. That is why Köstenberger admits that no firm conclusions could be reached on the basis of lexical study alone. He uses other internal linguistic evidence - syntactic, not lexical.

However, when Grudem quotes Baldwin saying,

In analysing this material it becomes evident that the one unifying concept is that of authority. (page 675)

he gives the impression that Baldwin's evidence is relevant to the discussion. It is not. Grudem does supply Köstenberger's linguistic evidence, but I want to make one thing entirely clear. In spite of all the studies undertaken to prove the clear lexical meaning of the verb authenteo at the time of Paul's writing, we do not have sufficient evidence to acertain its lexical meaning in any unambiguous manner.

So how is it that Grudem had this to say about the TNIV?

To take one example: in 1 Timothy 2:12 the TNIV adopts a highly suspect and novel translation that gives the egalitarian side everything they have wanted for years in a Bible translation. It reads, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”. If churches adopt this translation, the debate over women's roles in the church will be over, because women pastors and elders can just say, “I’m not assuming authority on my own initiative; it was given to me by the other pastors and elders.”

Therefore any woman could be a pastor or elder so long as she does not take it upon herself to “assume authority.” Then in the footnotes to 1 Timothy 2:12 the TNIV also introduces so many alternative translations that the verse will just seem confusing and impossible to understand.

I suggest that the TNIV is being very correct to provide the footnotes which they do. The ESV has none here. I suggest that the TNIV is in line with the evidence provided in the footnotes to the appendix in Grudem's book, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. The TNIV is also in line with the KJV.

Why does Grudem, a translator of the ESV, offer public gratuitous negative opinions on the TNIV? I don't know. The more I look at the TNIV the more I realize that the footnotes alone make it an excellent choice in a Bible translation.

Bibliography

Belleville, Linda. Teaching and Usurping Authority: 1 Tim. 2:11-15 in Discovering Biblical Equality. Pierce and Groothuis.

Grudem, Wayne. Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth

Köstenberger, Andreas. 1 Timothy 2:12 - Once more.

Kruse Kronicle. DBE: Chapter 12 – Teaching and Usurping Authority: 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Scholer, David. The Evangelical Debate over Biblical “Headship”

I would like to add that I am expecially uncomfortable when I read the blogs of otherwise intelligent people who gave Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth a good review. It was called scholarly partly because of the inclusion of some of this irrelevant or innacurate appendix material. Imagine, if you can, that there are women who have reined in their gifts on the basis of this book!