LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 378

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378 THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

previously thought, though conclusions must further be drawn, of
course, regarding Paul’s use of it in 1 Timothy 2. Making use of a
vastly expanded database, New Testament scholars have now been
able to refine their conclusions and to limit significantly the prob-
able range of meaning for this New Testament hapax. As Scott
Baldwin notes in the final paragraph of his important work, “We
have come a long way in our understanding of the meaning of
av0evtéw [authented) as it is used by speakers of koine Greek.”’"*

3. Summary of Baldwin’s Study.

In what follows, the Commission has summarized the signifi-
cant findings of H. Scott Baldwin in his chapter titled “A Difficult
Word: av8evtéo in 1 Timothy 2:12” in the Késtenberger, Schreiner
and Baldwin book previously mentioned (see note 2) and then also
has included a brief summary of the conclusions reached by Al
Wolters in his recent comprehensive study.!° The Baldwin chapter
is readily accessible and it is methodologically and lexically thor-
ough. It includes an appendix listing the original Greek texts and
English translations of every known occurrence of the verb av@ev-
t€@ [authented) for those who wish to examine the evidence them-
selves. Commendable as well is this study’s cautiously modest
approach to the evidence, with the repeated reminder given to the
reader that an examination of occurrences of the word contempo-
raneous with the New Testament limits the range of possible mean-
ings (and appreciably so) but does not itself establish with absolute
certainty the exact nuance of Paul’s use in 1 Timothy 2:12.

a. Database.

Employing two CD-ROMs containing documentary papyri (as
well as ostraca—small pieces of pottery with written items on them)
and the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, Baldwin has isolated about 110
occurrences of the word authented. Removing citations where church
fathers quote 1 Timothy 2:12 and another 10 occurrences in an
undatable work, Baldwin bases his study on 82 references spanning a
period of fourteen centuries (see his “Chronological Distribution
Table,” 78).

b. Methodology.

Baldwin begins his study by noting limitations attached to an
investigation of the meaning based merely on New Testament and
ancient Greek lexicons. Their listings of sources where authented
can be found are very few in comparison to current data available,
and there is no precise consensus among them on the meaning of
the word.'* With respect to word studies in general, Baldwin stresses
the necessity of analyzing the context of each use of a word," a prin-
ciple given new importance as a result of modern linguistic study.
Lexical studies, it should be remembered, do not prescribe what a
word must mean nor do they proscribe what it cannot mean in a
given context. Rather, they describe contemporaneous uses of
words. Moreover, no lexical study “is a 100 percent guarantee that
a word has a specific meaning in a given passage.” But when a se-
mantic range is established, the burden of proof lies with those who
argue for a meaning not normal or well attested. Finally, on the ba-
sis of lexical data available and through a process of trial and error
one must seek to determine the possible meaning of a word in its
specific context.'®

c. Results of Analysis o Data.

Limiting his analysis to the verb authenteo,'? Baldwin concludes
that “the one unifying concept is that of authority” and he presents
the following summary table:

1. To rule, to reign sovereignly

2. To control, to dominate”

a. to compel, to influence someone/thing

b. middle voice: to be in effect, to have legal standing
c. hyperbolically: to domineer/play the tyrant

d. to grant authorization

2007 Convention Workbook

3. To act independently
a. tO assume authority over
b. to exercise one’s own jurisdiction
c. to flout the authority of
4. To be primarily responsible for or to instigate something
5. To commit murder (10th Century AD Scholia on Aeschylus
Baldwin discusses in some detail the data from which each of
these meanings is derived, making the final observation that “there
appears among these data only limited historical development of
the meaning of authented across fourteen centuries” [represented
by the database}.””

21)

d. Baldwin’s Conclusions.

Baldwin concludes his study by providing the following sum-
mary with respect to the meaning of av@evtéw in 1 Timothy 2:12:

1. The root meaning involves the concept of authority.

2. The context of | Timothy 2 appears to make meaning 1, “to rule, to

reign sovereignly,” impermissible.”

3. Meanings 2 or 2a, “to control, to dominate” or “to compel, to influ-

ence someone,” are entirely possible.”4

4. Meaning 2c, “to play the tyrant,” could only correspond to Chrysos-

tom’s unique usage if the context could be shown to intend the same
clear use of hyperbole, and the context does not seem to do that.?*

5. Noting that av@evtéo is transitive, a translation of “assume author-

ity over” (i.e., meaning 3a) could be appropriate, while 3 or 3b, which
are intransitive, would not. If a negative meaning were intended,
meaning 3c, “to flout the authority of,” could be possible.

6. It is difficult to imagine how meaning 2d, “to grant authorization,”

or meaning 4, “to instigate,” would make sense in 1 Timothy.

7. Meaning 5 appears to be impermissible on chronological grounds.”

8. Further syntactical/contextual studies of 1 Timothy are required to

decide with certainty among the meanings 2, 2a, 3a, and 3c.

We may note here that following Baldwin’s study in the afore-
mentioned volume, Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of
I Timothy 2:9-15, a study of Greek syntax by Andreas Késten-
berger sheds more light on the meaning of authentein as it is used
in 1 Timothy 2:12. Késtenberger concludes the following based on
an analysis of New Testament, as well as extrabiblical, examples
of syntactical constructions similar to 1 Timothy 2:12:

Since, therefore, the term 5:8doxevv is used absolutely in the New Tes-

tament for an activity that is viewed positively in and of itself, and since

ov85é coordinates terms that are either both viewed positively or nega-
tively, adGevtéw should be seen as denoting an activity that is viewed
positively in and of itself as well.?’

That is to say, according to Kdéstenberger authentein viewed
within its grammatical context in | Timothy 2:12 should not be un-
derstood as having a pejorative or negative connotation (such as, for
example, the translation “domineer” would have), but a positive one.

4. The Contribution of Albert Wolters.

In 2000 Dr. Al Wolters of Redeemer University College, On-
tario, Canada published his “A Semantic Study of av@évtng [au-
thentés) and Its Derivatives.”’ On the basis of a near-exhaustive
examination of every occurrence of the noun authentés and its de-
rivatives in classical and Hellenistic Greek, Wolters has concluded
that this noun appears to have had three distinct senses in ancient
Greek: ‘“‘murderer,” “master,” and “doer.” For New Testament
scholars, he states, “the issue is whether adOevtéo in 1 Tim. 2.12
is based on the meaning ‘master’, thus yielding the traditional ren-
dering ‘have authority over’ (possibly with the pejorative connota-
tion of ‘domineering’ ), or whether it is semantically indebted to one
or both of the other two senses of adOévims.”??

Wolters first of all summarizes his findings regarding the three
meanings of authentés. The meaning ‘“‘murderer,” while found 24
times in classical Greek literature of the fifth and fourth centuries
BC (almost all in Attic writers), became relatively rare, occurring
only 16 times in 7 centuries from its last occurrence in the early
fourth century BC to AD 312. However, duthentés “in the meaning