1 Timothy 2.12-14-Christian Women Are Prohibited From Teaching Men And Exercising Authority Over Them Because Of Creation And The Fall
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 10, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:12-14-Christian Women Are Prohibited From Teaching Men And Exercising Authority Over Them Because Of Creation And The Fall
Lesson # 50
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:11.
This morning we will study 1 Timothy 2:12-14 and in this passage the apostle Paul teaches that Christian women are to learn the Word of God silently with complete submission and are prohibited from teaching men and exercising authority over them because of creation and the Fall.
In 1 Timothy 2:12, 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” presents a mild contrast with the command in verse 11 expressing the fact that Christian women are never allowed to teach or exercise authority over men in the church.
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.
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 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.
“Or exercise authority over a man” teaches that Christian woman do not have the gift of leadership, which is mentioned in Romans 12:8 and 1 Corinthians 12:28.
“But to remain quiet” does not have any reference to the 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 men.
Paul in verse 13 presents the first of two reasons why he 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 presents the reason for the prohibition in verse 11 and command in verse 12 and teaches that in a chronological sense 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).
Verse 13 also 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.
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.
In 1 Timothy 2:14, the apostle Paul presents the second reason for his command in verse 11 and his prohibition in verse 12.
1 Timothy 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (NASU)
This verse presents the second reason for the command in verse 11 and the prohibition in verse 12.
“And it was not Adam who was deceived” states in emphatic terms that Adam was by no means deceived by the devil.
“But the woman being deceived” refers to Eve being thoroughly and completely deceived by the devil in the Garden of Eden so that she disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
It indicates that because the women, i.e. Eve was thoroughly and completely deceived by the devil into disobeying the Lord, she entered into transgression and disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition.
“Fell into transgression” refers to Eve entering into the state of disobedience by committing the act of disobeying the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In 1 Timothy 2:14, Paul cites Genesis 3 and is referring specifically to Genesis 3:16 as support for his command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12.
Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (NASU)
“Rule over” is composed of the third person qal imperfect form of the verb mā∙šǎl (מָשַׁל), “rule” and the preposition be (בְּ) (beth), “over.”
The verb mā∙šǎl means “to govern, be in control, be in charge, i.e. have a person or entity exercise authority over persons.”
Thus, the Lord is saying that because of Eve’s disobedience, which was the result of being deceived by the devil, Adam would “govern, be in charge” over her or in other words, he would exercise authority over her.
This verse clearly teaches that Adam would rule over Eve because she disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Paul does not cite Genesis 3:16 explicitly to support his command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12 but rather alludes to Eve’s being deceived which led to the Lord decreeing that Adam would rule over her.
This parallels his use of Genesis 2 in which he does not explicitly mention Genesis 2:7 and 21, which when compared reveal that Adam was formed first and then Eve and also he does not explicitly mention Genesis 2:18, which reveals that Eve was designed to be a helpmate for Adam.
Thus, in verse 13, Paul cites that Adam was formed first and then Eve (Genesis 2:7, 21), which presupposes that his readers know that this was because Eve was to be a helpmate for Adam (Genesis 2:18).
In verse 14, he teaches that Adam was not deceived but that Eve was totally deceived and thus entered into transgressing the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This presupposes that his readers know that this resulted in the Lord issuing the judgment that Adam would rule over her because she was deceived into disobeying His prohibition.
Therefore, we can see that Paul issued the command in verse 11 and the prohibition in verse 12 for two reasons: (1) The Lord designed women to be subordinate to men as a helpmate. (2) The judgment from the Fall.