DEAR SIR: MAY A WOMAN PLAN A LESSON AND TEACH IT TO A MAN OUTSIDE OF THE ASSEMBLY AND STILL HONOR GOD? DIDACTIC STYLE OF TEACHING? THANKS. I AWAIT YOUR ANSWER. ~ RL JOHNSON SR
The English dictionary definition for “didactic” is “1 a : designed or intended to teach. b : intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment.2 : making moral observations” (Merriam). The question was posed in English and the response is in English as well. So far, “didactic” pertains to conveying information without reference to the manner in which it is conveyed (i.e., either the authority with which one may or may not present the information respecting those to whom the information is conveyed). However, every religious question deserves a biblical answer.
Didasko is the primary Greek word for teaching. “The unambiguous meaning is ‘to teach'”; Didaskalos “…means ‘instructor’ as a. ‘schoolmaster’…” Nomodidaskalos means “teachers of the law”; Kalodidaskalos occurs once in the New Testament (Titus 2:3) referring to “aged women” who are to be “teachers of good things.” Pseudodidaskalos appears only in 2 Peter 2:1 and is translated “false prophets”; Didaskalia means “teaching” or “teaching activity” and is often translated as “doctrine.” Heterodidaskaleo means a different teaching or doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3; 6:3). Didache “…means ‘teaching,’ ‘instruction’ as a fact.” Didaktos “…has three senses: a. ‘taught,’ b. ‘learned,’ and c. ‘teachable'”; Didaktikos means “able to teach” (Kittel and Friedrich).
The biblical context contains the information relative to the respective roles of men and women in Christianity, and when, where and how a woman may teach a man about religion. The leadership roles, including preaching or teaching in the presence of men and women, in the worship assembly is not permitted by Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:34). Under Christianity, women are also prohibited from subjecting men religiously or in the home to them (1 Timothy 2:11-12; Ephesians 5:23-24). However, Christian women do have opportunities and responsibilities for teaching, including teaching other women (Titus 2:3-5) and children (2 Timothy 1:5); Christian women in the first century were endowed with miraculous ability for teaching God’s Word within the biblically permissible parameters (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21; 21:8-9). Christian women participate through (but do not lead) singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in the “speaking” (Ephesians 5:19), “teaching and admonishing” (Colossians 3:16) that occurs in worship through singing. Christian women like any other candidate for conversion must publicly acknowledge their belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, which often occurs in the presence of Christian men (Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37).
Yes, Christian women may teach men, accidentally or on purpose, when not in the worship assembly–as long as men are not required to be subordinate to them (i.e., not violating 1 Timothy 2:12). There are several circumstances where a woman may provide information incidentally or with purpose (essentially teach) where men are not required to be subordinate to her. For instance, a woman who asks a question, reads Scripture or makes a comment in a class over which a male teacher presides is a circumstance in which every male and female in the class has a subordinate relationship to the teacher. In less formal circumstances (e.g., in the comfort of one’s home around the kitchen table), men and women may study the Bible and ask questions, read Scripture or make comments when there is no teacher to whom anyone, male or female, is subordinate; such an informal circumstance in which a Christian woman (and her husband) taught a preacher appears in Acts 18:24-26. Both from consideration of the “silence,” meaning and translated also as “quietness” of 1 Timothy 2:12 and from an example of a Christian woman participating in teaching a man in Acts 18:24-26, contrasted with prohibitions for certain occasions to teach, one can discern the biblical limitations and permissions respecting women teaching men.
Works Cited
Kittel, Gerhard, and Friedrich, Gerhard, eds. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume. CD-ROM. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985.
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. CD-ROM. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1993.
