1 Timothy 2.13-Christian Women Are Prohibited From Teaching Men And Exercising Authority Over Them Because Adam Was Created First Then Eve
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 6, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:13-Christian Women Are Prohibited From Teaching Men And Exercising Authority Over Them Because Adam Was Created First Then Eve
Lesson #48
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:11.
Next, we will note 1 Timothy 2:13, which presents the first of two reasons why Paul prohibits women from teaching in public in the presence of men in the local assembly and exercising authority over them.
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. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. (NASU)
Verse 13 is composed of the conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and the nominative masculine singular form of the noun Adam (Ἀδάμ) (ah-thahm), “Adam” and the third person singular aorist passive indicative form of the verb plasso (πλάσσω) (plah-so), “was created” and the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective protos (πρῶτος) (pro-toce), “first” and the adverb eita (εἶτα) (ee-tah), “then” and the nominative feminine singular form of the noun Eua (Εὕα) (eh-vah), “Eve.”
The conjunction gar is introducing a statement that presents the reason or the basis for the previous command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12.
Therefore, Paul is teaching that the reason for the prohibition in verse 11 and command in verse 12 is that the biological life of Adam was formed first from the dust of the ground and then Eve’s biological life was constructed from Adam’s biological life or physical body.
The Greek noun Adam (Ἀδάμ) (ah-thahm) is the transliteration of the Hebrew term and a reference to the first human being, the first male in the human race.
It specifically refers to the physical body of Adam since the verb plasso is used with respect to the formation of his physical body and not the creation of his soul out of non-existing material.
The verb plasso does not refer to the creation of his soul since Paul would not use this word if that were the case.
He would have used poieo as the Septuagint does in Genesis 1:26 or even ktizo.
Instead he uses plasso since he is referring to Genesis 2:7 which refers to the formation of Adam’s physical body from the elements found in the dust of the earth.
In the Septuagint, in Genesis 2:7, plasso renders the Hebrew verb yatsar, which refers to the Lord forming Adam’s physical body from the elements in the earth.
The verb poieo is used in Genesis 1:26 of the Lord creating the soul of Adam and his wife out of non-existing material since the soul of both is immaterial since it is created in the image of God who is invisible.
Therefore, Paul uses plasso in 1 Timothy 2:13 since he is not referring to the creation of the soul of Adam out of non-existing material but rather the formation of his physical body from the elements of the ground.
The adjective protos functions in a temporal sense and means “first.”
It is used in a chronological sense meaning that the physical body of Adam was formed from the dust of the ground first in time and then Eve’s was formed from her husband’s physical body.
It does not denote Adam’s superiority and Eve’s inferiority since Genesis 1:26 teaches that the souls of both Adam and Eve were created out of non-existing material in the image of God.
Thus, Paul is rejecting that which was taught in Judaism in his day and in Greco-Roman culture, namely that women were inferior to men (Josephus; Against Apion, 2.200; Philo, Apology for the Jews, 7.3).
Protos along with eita emphasizes the chronological priority of Adam with respect to Eve and thus the chronological priority of Christian men with respect to Christian women.
It emphasizes that Eve was designed to be subordinate to Adam, thus Christian women are to reflect this divine design with respect to men and women.
The adverb eita is an adverbial particle of time and means “then, next, afterward.”
It denotes a point of time following another point of time.
In 1 Timothy 2:13, the word denotes the point of time when the Lord constructed the physical body of Eve from the body of Adam after his body was constructed from the dust of the ground.
The noun Eua refers to the first women in the human race.
Specifically, it is a reference to the construction of her physical body from the biological life of her husband Adam since the verb plasso is used with respect to the formation of her physical body and not the creation of her soul out of non-existing material.
Genesis 2 emphasizes that Eve was designed to be subordinate to Adam, thus Christian women are to reflect this divine design with respect to men and women.
It makes clear that Eve was created to be a corresponding helpmate for Adam and not vice versa.
Thus, she was designed to be subordinate to him, though not inferior since her soul like Adam’s was created in the image of God.
Thus, Paul makes reference to this fact in 1 Timothy 2:13 to support his prohibition in verse 12.
He wants the relationships between women and men in the church to reflect God’s original design.
The “liberated” or “emancipated” women in the Roman Empire dishonored the Lord’s original design for men and women by taking a position of authority over men and not subordinating themselves to men.
Genesis 1:26-27 presents the record of Adam and Eve’s creation.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make (‘asah) man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (NASU)
“Make” is the verb ‘asah and in Genesis 1:26 means, “to model” in the sense that the soul of mankind is a “copy” of God and is “patterned” after God’s invisible essence, thus man as to his essence is the shadow image of God who is invisible, thus the essence of man is invisible, i.e. the soul.
The verb bara in Genesis 1:27 indicates that the soul of mankind was created out of non-existing material whereas the verb `asah in Genesis 1:26 indicates that the soul of man was “modeled” or “patterned” after God’s invisible essence.
Genesis 1:27, “God created (bara) man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (NASU)
“In Our image” means that humanity was modeled according to the invisible image or likeness of God meaning that humanity was to reflect God’s invisible essence, thus man as to his essence is the shadow image of God who is invisible, thus the essence of man is invisible, i.e. the soul.
Genesis 2:7 gives us more details concerning the creation of man on the sixth day, which is recorded in Genesis 1:26-27.
Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (NASU)
“Formed” is the verb yatsar, which means “to construct something out of existing material,” which is used in reference to the physical body of Adam and indicates that the Lord designed the appearance and function of the human body.
“From the ground” indicates that the Lord constructed from the elements of the ground, Adam’s physical body.
The physical body of Adam was “not” created in the image of God but rather his soul since Genesis 1:27 states that Adam was created in the image of God and this is not said of his physical body.
“Breathed into” is the verb naphach, which has as its subject, the Lord, thus teaching that He is responsible for human life and not man.
“Breath of life” means that God produces the human soul life.
Genesis 2:7 teaches that Adam did “not” become a living soul until God imputed soul life to his biological life, thus, indicating that life does “not” begin until God imputes soul life to the physical body.
Genesis 2:21-22 presents the record of the formation of Eve’s body.
Genesis 2:21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (NASU)
“Fashioned” is the verb banah, which means, “to build” indicating that the Lord “constructed” the physical body of the woman from the biological life of Adam.
Notice also, that Adam’s physical body was formed first and then Eve’s thus constituting a divine order between the sexes meaning that the man was designed to be the authority over the woman even though she was his equal (see 1 Corinthians 11:1-12).
Principle: You are not “inferior” to authority by submitting to authority and you are not “superior” to those under your authority by being in a position of authority.