I don’t actually believe that title, I used it to grab your attention.
But some people do.
They like their women to be a certain type of woman. By ‘they’, I mean the men, the opposite sex who are experts in the field of what is acceptable or not have here verses in the Bible that support their graciousness.
“Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But womenwill be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” (1 Timothy 2 v 8-15)
For centuries the great minds of New Testament Greek and Theology have hotly debated what Paul really meant.
So let me join in the fun with a few of my own simple thoughts:
“Therefore …” what’s it there for? Always ask this, it’s important. Previous to this passage Paul had told Timothy to deal with the false teachers that had infiltrated the church.
1. Paul was writing to Timothy not a universal letter to everyone in other nations. The men in this church were angry and the women were problematic causing further division. The main problem is the false teaching and not the gender of the person speaking.
2. The Ephesus church were believing a lot of false strange teaching from women who were not qualified to do so. They obviously came from a class of society that could afford to dress elaborately and expensively the way Paul highlighted. Therefore coming from a higher class they could wrongfully assume that they could also lord it over those beneath them. Just because you have education and can speak more eloquently doesn’t mean you have the calling to teach and preach. These women may not have been discipled to do so. They were deceived, like Eve.
3. Paul does not say, “I will never permit women to teach” as in at any time or anywhere. Though that’s what some will believe. He could have said that but he didn’t. This is a specific period of time to sort out a specific problem in a specific church.
4. The best learning environment is not loud and noisy with a disrespectful disarray, that’s the point and we assume rightly this also applies to men as Paul indicated earlier their use of ‘clenched fists’.
5. Who is the woman Paul has in mind? This is not women in general but a singular woman, maybe a few at the most. She presumably was teaching false doctrines and she was assuming authority over men. The word to focus on is not authority as is the word assuming. The word carries meanings of arrogance, presumptuous and forcefully taking over as opposed to being invited to do so. Paul would not let the woman in question do that.
Not everyone believes the above, the objectors tend to be men.
This is written for a certain church in Ephesus in the ancient world and for a certain reason of addressing false teachers. This has got nothing to do with Paul and his desires for what the genders are allowed to do in church. Both men and women are called to submit to one another. Paul knows and teaches this.
To those men who still walk out of churches when they find out a woman is preaching, stop it! To those male Pastors who suppress women in their churches to that of rotas and children’s workers (children who are male and female) and never allow them to stand behind the pulpit, stop it! Control doesn’t look good on you.
Missions Paul 