Why Must a Woman Be Silent? A Liberative Reading of I Timothy 2:12 for Gender Equity in Church Leadership in Nigeria

Abstract

Bible interpretation concerning Pauline letters has been used to exclude women from the leadership in the church such as I Timothy 2:12. Therefore, this paper employs a liberative interpretation of I Timothy 2:12 to address the exclusion of women from church leadership within mainline churches in Nigeria, where this paper is contextualized. In Nigeria, the Bible is being used to exclude women from church leadership due to the patriarchal interpretation of the Pauline text. Such interpretation and reading tend to silence the call of God on several women within the church and they are not allowed to serve with their gifts in leadership because of the exclusive reading and interpretation.  The liberative interpretation employed in this work addresses the marginalization, subordination, and exclusion of women who are also created in the image of God and can equally experience the call of God for their life into church leadership within the mainline churches in Nigeria. This can also serve as a hermeneutical key in interpreting Pauline gender passages using the same Pauline text to broaden the scope of the church's mode of interpreting the Bible as a whole. The interpretation aims to call the attention of the interpreters within Nigeria to balance their interpretation to be more inclusive rather than exclusive.