1 Timothy 2.12-Paul Prohibits Christian Women To Teach Or Exercise Authority Over Men But They Are To Be Silent
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 5, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:12-Paul Prohibits Christian Women To Teach Or Exercise Authority Over Men But They Are To Be Silent
Lesson # 47
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:11.
This evening, we will note 1 Timothy 2:12 and in this passage the apostle Paul prohibits Christian women from teaching the Word of God in a public setting in the local assembly or exercising authority over men in the church.
Instead he instructs them to remain silent or in other words, don’t teach.
1 Timothy 2:11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. 12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (NASU)
“But I do not allow a woman to teach” is composed of the conjunction de (δέ) (theh), “but” and the first person singular present active indicative form of the verb epitrepo (ἐπιτρέπω) (ehpee-trep-owe), “I do allow” and the emphatic negative adverb ou (οὐ) (oo), “not” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun gune (γυνή) (yee-nee), “a woman” and the present active infinitive form of the verb didasko (διδάσκω) (thee-thah-skoe), “to teach.”
The conjunction de is employed by Paul in an mildly adversative sense meaning that it is introducing a statement that is a mild contrast with his command in verse 11.
The contrast is therefore between the command to learn silently with complete submission and the prohibition in verse 12 to not teach or exercise authority over a man.
In 1 Timothy 2:12 as was the case in verses 9, 10 and 11, the noun gune means, “woman” or “female” as opposed or in contrast to men or a male just as aner in verse 8 meant “men” in contrast or as opposed to the women in verse 8.
It refers to the Christian women throughout the church age without reference to their marital status and functions as a generic noun, which is appropriate since Paul in verse 12 is addressing a general truth.
The verb epitrepo means “to permit” and its meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “absolutely not.”
Thus, Paul is saying with these two words that he absolutely does not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man in the church.
Some interpreters contend that this is a descriptive present indicating that Paul “at the time of writing” is prohibiting Christian women to by no means teach or exercise authority over a man.
The implication is that Paul wanted the women not to teach and exercise authority over a man until they were fully instructed.
The descriptive present would indicate that this prohibition is restricted to a particular period in history when Paul wrote this epistle.
Thus, leaving open the idea that in the future women would be permitted to teach men and exercise authority over men when they had been fully taught.
However, this totally ignores the context and the semantic meaning of epitrepo.
The semantic force of epitrepo is obviously authoritative and this is further indicated by the context.
In verse 11, he commanded women to keep silent with complete submission and now in verse 12 he does not want them to teach or exercise authority over men.
The present tense of the verb is a “gnomic present,” which indicates that Paul is prohibiting Christian women from “at any time” teaching men the Word of God.
That this is a gnomic present is indicated by the fact that it is used with a generic object, namely gune, “woman.”
Also, the reasons given for the prohibition in verses 13 and 14 are based upon creation and the fall.
This would indicate that Paul is teaching a universal truth that applies throughout the church age and all of human history rather than addressing a specific period of history, which the descriptive present would denote.
This could also be interpreted as a customary present used to signal an ongoing state, which would indicate that Paul “always” prohibits women from teaching men or exercising authority over them.
In 1 Timothy 2:12, the verb didasko means “to teach, instruct” and speaks of “providing authoritative instruction” in the Word of God in a formal setting, namely the public worship service.
Thus, Paul is prohibiting Christian women from teaching authoritatively the Word of God to men in the public worship service.
1 Corinthians 11:5 and Titus 2:2-3 make clear that Paul is speaking with respect to a particular activity in the church, namely the function of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher and communicating the Word of God in a public setting in the local assembly.
The former permits women to speak if they have the gift of prophecy and the latter permits her to teach other women who are immature or younger.
Also, Hebrews 5:12 exhorts both men and women to grow to the point where they are able to teach others.
In 1 Timothy 2:12, the present tense of the verb didasko is a “gnomic present,” which is used to describe something that is true “any” time and “does” take place.
With the emphatic negative adverb ou, it indicates that Paul is prohibiting Christian women from “at any time” teaching men the Word of God.
1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (NASU)
“Or exercise authority over a man” is composed of the negative particle oude (οὐδέ) (oo-theh), “or” and the present active infinitive form of the verb authenteo (αὐθεντέω) (aw-then-teh-owe), “exercise authority over” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun aner (ἀνήρ) (ah-near-deh), “a man.”
The verb authenteo means “to exercise authority over” and is used with respect to Christian women “exercising authority over” Christian men.
The negative particle oude emphatically negates the meaning of the verb didasko that appears earlier in the sentence.
Together, oude and ou form a correlative clause that combines the verbs didasko and authenteo together.
They serve to connect two concepts: (1) Christian women are prohibited from teaching the Word of God to men. (2) Christian women are prohibited from exercising authority over men.
They speak of two different spiritual gifts which composed the leadership of the church: (1) Pastor-teacher (2) Leadership, i.e. Administrations.
The present tense of the verb authenteo is a “gnomic present,” which indicates that Paul is prohibiting Christian women from “at any time” exercising authority over a man.
This verb authenteo and the negative particle oude prohibit Christian women from holding positions of authority in the church, which means that the Lord did not give women the gift of leadership nor the gift of pastor-teacher.
The gift of leadership is mentioned in Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28.
1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (NASU)
“But to remain quiet” is composed of the conjunction alla (ἀλλά) (ah-lah), “but” and the present active infinitive form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “to remain” and the preposition en (ἐν), “with” and its object is the dative feminine singular form of the noun hesuchia (ἡσυχία) (eece-see-hee-ah), “quietly.”
The strong adversative conjunction alla is introducing another infinitive clause that stands in direct contrast with the previous correlative clause that prohibits Christian women from teaching and exercising authority over men.
The clause it introduces teaches that women should remain silent.
Thus, the contrast is between Christian women teaching men the Word of God and exercising authority over men with that of their being silent.
The noun hesuchia does not have any reference to a woman’s attitude when receiving the Word of God but rather her conduct and role with respect to the teaching of the Word of God.
Paul is prohibiting the women in the Christian community from giving biblical instruction in the local assembly when in the presence of men.
They are to show complete deference to those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher when they are communicating the Word of God to the church by not teaching men in the local assembly themselves.
They are to show complete deference to those men with the spiritual gift of leadership, i.e. administrations.
So Paul’s command here in 1 Timothy 2:12 is specifically addressing the conduct of women in a public worship setting with respect to the exercise of the spiritual gifts of pastor-teacher and leadership.
Therefore, this passage teaches implicitly that women have not been given the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher or leadership.
The women’s silence in this public worship setting demonstrates her complete submission to the will of God.
Paul feels the need to prohibit women from teaching and exercising authority over men in the local assembly because he is concerned that the women in the church at Ephesus might be influenced by the “new” or “liberated” women of the Roman Empire.
He wants the Christian women in Ephesus to stand in direct contrast with the “new” or “emancipated” or “liberated” woman that was being manifested in the Empire especially in the East.
It would bring shame to the church of Jesus Christ if these women in the church at Ephesus succumb to the influence of this women’s lib movement in the Roman Empire since women were designed by the Lord to be subordinate to the man.
