184 FEMINIST VIEWS BASED ON UNTRUTHFUL CLAIMS
Does this prove there were women teaching false doctrine at
Ephesus? It does prove there was one woman in the church at Thyatira,
a different church at a later time, teaching false doctrine and claiming
to be a prophetess. And I do not deny that there have been women who
have taught false doctrine at various points in the history of the church.
But one woman teaching false doctrine at Thyatira does not prove that
there were any women teaching false doctrine at Ephesus! There may
or may not have been women teaching false doctrine at Ephesus. My
point is simply that there is no evidence that women were teaching false
doctrine at Ephesus. And so the claim turns out to be speculation with-
out any hard evidence to support it. Should we base our interpretation
of a passage on a claim with no supporting evidence?
At this point someone may object, “Well, there might have been
women teaching false doctrine at Ephesus!” But should we nullify a
direct Scriptural command based on a “might have been”? People can
say “might have been” about most anything they wish, but “might have
been” does not constitute legitimate evidence and should not be allowed
to influence an argument. And in this case it has even less legitimacy,
because this claim for what “might have been” goes contrary to the
actual evidence we have in the text.
(3) If the fact that some people were teaching false doctrine dis-
qualified everyone of the same gender, then all men would have been dis-
qualified from teaching. So the egalitarian argument simply is not
consistent. Even if some women were teaching false doctrine at Ephesus,
why would that lead Paul to prohibit all women from teaching? It would
not be fair or consistent to do so.
As we saw above, the only false teachers we know about with cer-
tainty at Ephesus are men, not women. Therefore if the egalitarian argu-
ment were consistent, it would have Paul prohibiting all men from
teaching, just because some men were teaching false doctrine! But Paul
does not do that, and this shows the inconsistency of the egalitarian
argument.
(4) Once again, Paul gives the reason for his command, and it is the
creation order (1 Tim. 2:13-14), not any false teaching by women. It is
precarious to substitute a reason Paul does not give for one that he does
give. Paul does not mention false teaching by women as a reason for his
command. He does not say, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to