2 Kings 13-14, 2 Chronicles 25, 2 Timothy
2 Timothy 2:6-9, 16-17
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
“Their folly will be clear to everyone.” Except for the weak-willed women, apparently.
Paul does seem to have issues with women.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
So does this mean that the scripture is always true? Well, I guess I’d say that it depends on your interpretation of truth and the context of the passage. For example, in the passage above, it may be true that Paul wrote those words, but they are certainly context-dependent for their relevance. Are they useful to teaching? Yes. Absolutely. Part of teaching is discussion and even dissent. By wrestling with awkward scriptures like this, I am taught something about Paul, and something about myself, and something about how to live in this world and interact with others. But it doesn’t even make sense to read Paul’s lines in a “literally true” sense: Paul postulates a category of women who are “weak-willed… always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” Does such a category exist? How many women does it include? Words like “always” and “never” make me skeptical.