Page 35 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

This passage clearly implies that as God’s people, we are to pray with right actions and right attitudes,
so likewise women should pray with proper and modest dress, and with a record of a life of good
deeds.

Paul is not trying here to regulate how a woman should dress. If we read it that way, we have
misunderstood this passage. When Paul says, women should dress "not with elaborate hairstyles or
gold or pearls or expensive clothes," he is not attacking the way women dress – but he is saying that
the way a woman dresses should reflect the condition of her heart.

If a woman comes to church with her hair all fixed up and at the same time is wearing suggestive
clothing or a low-cut dress, she is obviously not trying to get God's attention; she wants men's
attention. Her choice of clothing, etc., reveals her heart. This is what Paul is talking about.

1 Samuel 16:7. But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his
height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at.
People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

Out of this discussion on church prayer the subject now very naturally turns to public teaching -- and
especially the role of women in teaching.

1 Timothy 2:11-14. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do
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not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.
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13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it
was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
What role can a woman have in a church service when it comes to leading, speaking and teaching -
especially considering V12 which says, she must be quiet. ______________________
Some churches take this to the extreme that a woman cannot say hello to
someone in the lobby.
 Now there is another thing to consider.

 The Greek word that is translated as silent (HCSB, RSV) or quiet (NIV) in V12 is a
different Greek word that is translated as quiet in V2.

 It simply means that we are to live lives without constantly troubling and
upsetting others.

V12 does not mean that women are always and only to be the learners, while men are always and only
to be the teachers. It simply means that when women are learners, they are to learn in a spirit of
quietness -- as are the men. But women are not always the only learners.

The Apostle Paul means that when women are in the role and position of learners, they are to do so
without aggressive reaction and challenging in a loud and assertive way.

V12 is not an absolute prohibition against women teaching. It is clear from other passages in the New
Testament that did teach. In fact, in his letter to Titus, Paul says this in Titus 2:3-5.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be
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slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge
(only place in NT this Greek word is used – means to admonish or disciple) the younger
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women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy
at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the
word of God.

Paul tells the older women to teach younger women how to love their husbands and rule their
children, etc. So, women were expected to teach.
 The key to V12 is the word translated, "to assume authority over a man.”
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