John Dominic Crossan in In Search of Paul writes “In 1 Timothy 3:1-13..the requirements for an elder or bishop and for a deacon, the two male leadership roles discussed are what any Greco-Roman moralist would expect for public office of any type. But two items stand out as somewhat unusual or surprising-marriage is presumed and so is fertility…In that triple requirement of male, married, children, the first element is standard patriarchy, but why are those other two emphasized? Two hints are given elsewhere. One is from 1 Timothy 4:3-5…Another is from 1 Timothy 5:23…That ultraconservative and pseudo-Pauline position on women is due, in other words, not just to general patriarchy, although it is definitely grounded in it, but also to something else as well. We can see that something else most clearly in the various extracanonical Acts of the apostles and most especially in the Acts of Thecla within the present Acts of Paul.”
John Dominic Crossan in In Search of Paul writes “In 1 Timothy 3:1-13..the requirements for an elder or bishop and for a deacon, the two male leadership roles discussed are what any Greco-Roman moralist would expect for public office of any type. But two items stand out as somewhat unusual or surprising-marriage is presumed and so is fertility…In that triple requirement of male, married, children, the first element is standard patriarchy, but why are those other two emphasized? Two hints are given elsewhere. One is from 1 Timothy 4:3-5…Another is from 1 Timothy 5:23…That ultraconservative and pseudo-Pauline position on women is due, in other words, not just to general patriarchy, although it is definitely grounded in it, but also to something else as well. We can see that something else most clearly in the various extracanonical Acts of the apostles and most especially in the Acts of Thecla within the present Acts of Paul.”
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