The Meaning of Feminine Submission

“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” — 1 Timothy 2:11-12

Such is the teaching of St. Paul, with similar verses found in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and Ephesians 5:22-24. It can be safely asserted that this Pauline prohibition is not applied literally in the Catholic Church. After all, the writer of this article holds a Ph.D. in theology and has taught hundreds of men over the past four decades (including men studying for the priesthood), instructing them and standing in judgment of the worthiness of their academic work. I have thus “exercised authority over men.” The same can be said of the many other women who hold positions in Catholic high schools and institutions of higher learning.

Inez Fitzgerald Storck, in her well-done review of my book In the Beginning: Crucial Lessons for Our World from the First Three Chapters of Genesis (Jul.-Aug.), seemed uneasy with my exegesis of Genesis 2:18 regarding the creation of Eve, as I reject any interpretation of this verse indicating that women have a status subordinate to men. In this verse, God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” The term “suitable partner” in the New American Bible (1970) is a translation of the Semitic term ezer. Sometimes ezer is translated as “helper fit for him,” “helpmate,” or “helper,” the latter being far closer to the sense of the word, which literally means “savior.”

These common translations, however, give the wrong impression that woman is secondary to man, as if Adam were given primary responsibilities, and Eve is there to simply aid him, as a person in charge of a project might have an assistant. But “helper” here does not mean that woman is man’s subordinate. The noun ezer is derived from the verb azar, which means to aid, to succor, to help — and to offer such help in desperate circumstances. It is often used to describe God’s aiding His people. It is also used in reference to dire military circumstances, for instance, when a band of skillful archers come to the aid of David in his battles with Saul (cf. 1 Chron. 12:1). Ezer, therefore, does not describe someone who is inferior or subordinate. Indeed, an ezer is a savior figure.

Thus, God created woman to rescue man from his original condition of “extremity” — in other words, from the isolation that is the antithesis of authentic human living. Woman, therefore, exercises a feminine authority, a true strength in relation to man, as she saves him from the “not good” from which he needed freeing. Eve brings Adam into human communion, and thus with her begins the moral center of creation: marriage and the family.

As mentioned above, ezer is most often used in reference to God, for example, in Psalm 115:9: “The house of Israel trusts in the Lord; he is their help [ezram עֶזְרָ֖ם] and their shield.” As Hebrew scholar Sarah E. Fisher explains, “Clearly God was not a servant here. He was a rescuer (help) and a defender (shield). Ergo, the same can be said of a woman. Being an ezer had nothing to do with being subservient; an ezer was not a docile assistant or submissive sidekick” (hebrewwordlessons.com, May 13, 2018).

If we want to characterize Eve as Adam’s “helper,” it must be as one who aids the sufferer of a terrible accident, as the Good Samaritan helps the man beaten by robbers and left half dead.