1 Timothy 2:11-12 11Let a woman learn in quietness with full submission. 12And I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness.
This passage is one of the more challenging in the New Testament. The critical interpretive question is to determine if these verses are a timeless truth or a truth for a specific situation. Even behind the contextual directions Paul gives here is a timeless truth that should be applied for everyone. Verse 11 is a positive statement that is addressed to the general woman in the form of a principle that Timothy needed to apply in the Ephesian church. In Greco-Roman and Jewish societies, women often were not allowed to attend schools. Any learning was done in the home. Paul does not discourage or prohibit women from learning but they needed to do it in culturally appropriate ways.
Some women in that time were experiencing a degree of liberation, which was causing social friction. It is even possible that the false teachers were taking advantage of this type of vulnerability. Paul basically advocates for women to fit in their culturally expected roles so as not to be a problem for the teachers in the church.
The problem verse for many people is verse 12. The role of women shifts from learners to teachers. Paul uses the first person singular, which makes it possible this verse is his personal opinion like he gives in 1 Corinthians 7. Women were important teachers in the churches associated with Paul’s ministry (Philippians 4:2-3), so this could not be a universal directive for all churches. Even Timothy’s own mother and grandmother were teachers (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15). The issue may have been more of the qualification of the women since few women had any type of formal education. Paul emphasizes the need for qualified teachers later in 5:17.
The word behind exercise authority (authentein) is a rare in literature of the time. It can have the sense of dominating or floating authority. In this context, it could refer to women who were pushing their agendas, being obnoxious and attention getting, or distracting the teachers of the true gospel. These women could have been part of the problem related to the false teachers, or at least these false teachers could have been taking advantage of the vulnerability and propensity of these women. The women need to remain quiet so that they could learn the truth of the gospel from qualified teachers and not be distracted by power plays or attention getting.
Each of us lives in a particular cultural setting. How we live as Christians should be sensitive to this culture but not bound by it. Paul was a male Jew of the first century. God inspired Paul’s letters for the earliest churches. In the centuries that followed, the authority of these letters grew until they were universally accepted as God’s authoritative word. We should recognize both the first-century context and the inspiration of this passage. Paul was addressing a crisis situation by giving practical advice to Timothy about role expectations in that culture. Behind this time bound application is the timeless truth that we must do whatever we must to disciple people with the truth of the gospel and do this in such a way that no one is left out. This may and usually requires some type of order and process.
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