<p>5:14 <em>I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children- </em>I have repeatedly connected this with the comment that the young women of 2:15 should quit their effective prostitution and teaching within the church, renounce their vow of virginity which they had copied from the Diana cult priestesses, and have children. And by submitting to the spiritual disciplines which come with Christian family life, they would save themselves from a path which was otherwise leading to their condemnation (5:12).</p><p><em>Rule the household</em><i>, give no occasion to the adversary for slander</i>- These women, as teachers, were clearly capable. Paul encourages these particular women to exercise their abilities in spiritually leading their households. But it could be that Paul is also encouraging them to start their own house groups of believers which they would &quot;rule&quot;, instead of going around teaching idleness to the other house groups (see on :13).</p><p>The New Testament speaks of households run by women: Mary (Acts 12:12), Lydia (Acts 16:14,40); Nympha (Col. 4:15) and Chloe (1 Cor. 1:11). These women were presumably wealthy widows or divorcees who hadn&rsquo;t remarried. We are left to speculate whether they were in some way the &lsquo;leaders&rsquo; of the house churches which met in their homes. Women are described as ruling households in 1 Tim. 5:14; Tit. 2:4,5. The woman of Prov. 31 clearly had autonomy within the private sphere of the household, even though the husband was the public leader. Seeing Christianity was initially a house-church, household religion, we are left to wonder how much women actually led house churches, especially seeing that the majority of early Christian members appear to have been women. The wall paintings frescoes found in the Christian catacombs around Rome are highly significant for our present study. The significant ones for our purposes are the catacombs of Priscilla on the Salaria Nuova, Callixtus on the via Appia Antica, and that of Domitilla on the via Ardeatine. They feature in places scenes of female Christians raising cups, with the inscription <em>agape</em> over them. Some show a woman occupying the central place in the meal, with a large cup in her hand, with the other women looking at it intently. Some of the frescoes there are many of them show women dressed as slaves doing this in what appears to be a wealthy home. These frescoes seem to me indicative of how groups of slave women formed house churches, and faithfully kept the breaking of bread. Some frescoes show the women sharing the bread and wine with children around the table; one shows a woman holding a scroll, as if she is reading Scripture to the others. One fresco features a woman holding a cup of wine inscribed &lsquo;<em>nobis</em>&rsquo;- &lsquo;for us&rsquo;.&nbsp; Some frescoes show men in the group, but the woman in the centre, as if she is leading the meeting, or as the host of the household.</p><p>Paul encourages younger mothers to &ldquo;rule their households&rdquo;, using a word <em>oikodespoteo</em> which would usually be used about the man ruling the house. His implication is surely that in Christ, husband and wife together rule the household, notwithstanding the wife being in submission to her husband.</p><p>&ldquo;The adversary&rdquo; is not the same word as &ldquo;Satan&rdquo;, although it may still refer to the Jews seeking opportunity to criticize the. It can mean &ldquo;an adversary at law&rdquo; in a legal sense, implying that the Jews could get them in trouble at a Roman court. There&rsquo;s plenty of historical evidence of this.</p>