1: This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come 2:
For audawm shall be lovers of their
own selves covetous boasters proud blasphēmos disobedient to parents unthankful unholy 3: Without
natural affection trucebreakers false accusers without self control fierce
despisers of those that are good 4: traitors heady highminded lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God 5: Having a form of godliness but
denying the power thereof from such turn away 6: For of this sort are
they who worm their way into homes and gain control over women who are not as
yet spiritually mature[1]
loaded [down] with sins led astray by various sinful desires[2] 7:
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 8:
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth [they
are] men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith 9: But these
[men] shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all as
theirs [Jannes and Jambres] also was 10: But you have fully known my
doctrine manner of life purpose faith longsuffering love patience 11:
Persecutions afflictions which came to me at Antioch at Iconium, at Lystra what
persecutions I endured but out of them all the Lord delivered me 12: Yes
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 13:
But evil men and seducers shall advance [becoming] worse and worse deceiving
and being deceived 14: But you continue in the things which you have
learned and have been assured of knowing of whom you have learned them 15:
And that from a babe you have known the sacred letters which are able to make you
wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus 16: All
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for
reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness 17: That the man
of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works
[1] Concerning the term, “silly” [women] as
used in 2 Timothy 3:6 (excerpt from, Woman this is WAR!
Gender, Slavery and theEvangelical Caste System,
2010, by Jocelyn Andersen)
This example of gender-biased-English-translation-theology
might appear minor to some, but we do not believe it to be so. In 2 Timothy
3:6, a different word for woman is
used and, again, James Strong, in agreement with the translators of the
Authorized Version, displays misogynistic bias. In this passage, we are given a
description of false teachers who target young
women as primary victims. These female victims are described in the Greek as gunaikarion. Strong writes that gunaikarion is a diminutive of gune
(woman, wife, or women). A diminutive of “woman” would indicate a young, not
fully developed, or immature/ inexperienced (in the scriptures) woman. But,
rather than reflecting the young and inexperienced status of these women [in
his concordance] Strong defines gunaikarion
(young and inexperienced) as “silly”
women—which is the word used by the translators of the King James Bible, and
does not reflect with the least bit of accuracy what gunaikarion meant to the
ancient Greeks. The language of most other translations is just as misogynistic
as the A.V., using derogatory words such as, “weak or gullible,” to describe
women who are inexperienced in the Word of God, words that hatefully indicate a
non-existent flaw or fault in the women. Describing these women as “silly,
weak, and gullible,” is inexcusable on the part of Bible translators. The Greek word “karion,” which is added to the Greek word gune [woman] to form the word gunaikarion,
is still used in the Greek language today. It means, nut or kernel. Nuts and
kernels are seeds. so we see, that
the word does not carry a connotation
of weak or foolish (silly, gullible) but rather the promise of growth and development. It is not a stretch to connect a seed with young [and
as yet educationally and spiritually undeveloped] humans. All Christians, no matter what their natural age when they come to
Christ, begin their Christian lives as spiritually young, full of promise, but not
yet fully matured in the faith. So how is it justified that physically or
spiritually immature female believers [victims], targeted by false teachers in
2 Timothy 3:6, are downgraded, using
gender-biased-English-translation-theology, from young and spiritually immature women, to the disparaging [and
incorrectly translated] terms, “silly,
weak, and gullible?” About the word “silly,” in the A.V., it is used only one
time in the New Testament—and that is in reference to. There is no corresponding Greek to support the
use of the word, silly. This
unfortunate rendering is entirely inappropriate and prejudicial against women.
And the fact that it has gone unchallenged up to the present time, indicates
how deeply ingrained and acceptable the derogatory stereotyping of women still
is, among Biblical scholars and the Christian community at large.
Under the Old Covenant, girls and women were not taught the
scriptures in the same way boys and men were. Boys sat at the feet of rabbi’s
and were systematically educated, while girls and women had to catch it on the
fly (so to speak), hearing the Word of God only at Temple and synagogue
attendance and by listening to men have conversations about their males-centered interpretations of
the Law and Prophets [which were blatantly anti-woman]. This does not mean that
women were less devout than men, completely ignorant, or that every woman was
spiritually undeveloped. It simply meant that women as a group were less
privileged and their knowledge was limited by discriminatory traditions that
carried the weight of TORAH within
the Jewish culture of the day. So there would have been many New Testament
women, exhilarated by the new freedom given to them to learn, who would have
been starving for knowledge, and who would have been targeted by false teachers.
** The Greek word, “karion,”
means nut or kernel. “The name, karion,
comes from the word, prokaryote. The word Prokaryote is
derived from two Greek words--'pro' meaning before and 'karyon'
referring to the nucleus.
[2] It is the predatory
male teachers that verse :6 goes on to describe as “laden with sins led away with divers lusts—and not the young women who were their prey. This is made clear in the following verses where no one questions
that it is the false teachers who are 7: Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,”
and who “8:… also resist the
truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.” Despite this,
translation after translation makes it appear
as though it is the women who are
“loaded down with sins and led astray by various lusts,” instead of it being
the men (wolves) who targeted them. It is deceivers who are referenced in verse
:6 as, “laden with sins led away with
divers lusts,” not the ones they
are attempting to deceive. Despite this, translation after translation makes it
appear as though it is the women who are “loaded down with sins
and led astray by various lusts,” instead of it being the men (wolves) who
targeted them.
It is the deceivers, not
the the deceived, who are referenced in verse :6 as, "laden with sins
[and] led away with divers lusts." The women in this passage, are not
bad people. They are not stupid people. They are people whose lack of education
(not by their own choices) has prepared them to become victims.
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