Page 33 - Pastoral Epistles I & 2 Timothy, Titus

1 Timothy 2:11-14. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit
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a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was
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formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
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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 challenge 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 they 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 slanderers or
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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 women to love their husbands
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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.”
 This Greek word, authentein, means "to domineer or to take what is not rightfully yours." In other words,
women are not to take over in a church and become the final, authoritative teachers.

 The interpretation of women as being excluded from eldership is confirmed by one irrefutable fact: There
were, in the New Testament, no women apostles and no women elders! Jesus could have settled this controversy
at the very beginning by appointing a woman as an apostle, but he did not do so. Neither Paul nor any of the
apostles ever chose a woman to be an elder of the churches they founded, though they could easily have done so
if it were right. There were many godly and capable women available, but none were ever put in the office of an
elder.
2 Timothy 2:13. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it
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was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

There are two principles here.
Notice that Paul does not take these reasons from culture but from creation. This is a very important point. Many
of the comments we read on this passage will make it appear that Paul is prohibiting women from this kind of
authoritative teaching because of the cultural patterns of that day. That is not true. Paul says some things are
based right from creation that are different between men and women, which apply to this problem here.

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