A Brief Exposition about THAT part of 1 Timothy 2

God says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." Paul here is talking about teaching in the church and exercising church authority. How do we know this? Well, he's writing to Timothy first of all - who was overseeing the appointment of elders/pastors in churches! He's addressed teaching already (1:6) and goes right on to talking about qualifications for eldership. The reason this is important is because this does not prohibit conversations between men and women regarding the BIble - but it does prohibit the teaching of men publicly. And in our culture, that sounds rather strange. After all, women can be Professors, CEOs, etc - but this isn't really addressing those particular jobs. And so we should ask 'why?'

God begins to give us the reason why in the following verse: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve." That sounds a bit odd, doesn't it? Why would it be significant that Adam was formed first? Paul really only addresses Adam here in 1 Timothy - and in Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 11, and 1 Corinthians 15. In two of those cases when Paul talks about Adam it's in the context of Adam's breaking of the Law having the effect of subjecting all humanity to death. In one (1 Cor. 11), it's about how men and women are to operate in the Church - acting accordingly to how God has created the genders differently - with men acting as the authorities. I'll return to that in a second, though.

And then we look back at Genesis 2 - and we see something very significant happening. Adam was given the prohibition not to eat from the tree before Eve was around; and Adam was given the command to begin ruling the earth (in naming the animals) before Eve was around. So in other words, because Adam (man) was there first, God put him in a position of exercising doctrinal and practical authority. (Eve was given to him to compliment and help him as he led in doing that.)

And so when Adam broke God's Law (covenant, specifically - see Hosea 6:7), it wasn't Eve's lawbreaking that counted for humanity - it was Adam's - because he was acting as the 'covenant head.' That means that he would exercise authority over people in the covenant that humanity had with God - and that he represented them. Adam's being created first put him in that position. Hence, 1 Corinthians 11 and it's focus on 'headship' - that is, authority.

In 1 Timothy 2 - unlike in Paul's other writings - we see Eve's lawbreaking/transgression referred to. Given what we've just looked at, isn't that odd? And isn't it weird that Paul calls her deceived and a transgressor - and says that Adam wasn't deceived? Yeah, that's weird. We need to ask why that is, because Adam indeed WAS deceived and DID become a transgressor.

What happened in Genesis 3 is this: Satan addressed Eve and asked her to make a decision for the family! For the first church! It wasn't that she was more easily tricked or something like that - it was that she was the object of Satan's deception. (The form of the word 'deceived' in Greek permits this idea, and the context, as shown, supports it - Adam was deceived and did transgress.) So what did Satan do? He overthrew gender roles in tempting Eve and having her act as the authority in the relationship - as it regarded God's word and his commands.

And this overthrow results in a further overthrow of what gender roles are to look like. When God curses them (in Genesis 3:16), he tells Eve that her desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over her. That's a weird expression, but it is used again in a more clear way in Genesis 4:7 - Cain sinned against God, and God told him that sin was crouching at his door - and sin's desire was for him - but he must rule over it! In other words - sin was seeking to supplant man - to take him over by deception and manipulation - trickery. And Cain was commanded to 'rule' it - but 'rule' isn't a kind, gentle rule here - it's a dominating, abusive rule that would hurt 'sin' a lot. So the curse becomes further sin - women become manipulative, seeking to supplant man's authority. Men use their authority to abuse - or like Adam, don''t use it at all - even though they should be using their authority for the protection of the Church from sin!

So what is happening in God's recreating the world by what Jesus did - and now in the Church - is that God is restoring human relationships to the way they are supposed to be. Man is to act as the authority at home and in the church - but in a loving, serving way that points us to God. They are to act as God's representatives as elders in churches, communicating God's covenant-message and enforcing it - and in the home, doing the same - and in both - representing the Church's new covenant head - Jesus.

Women are to be subject to men (see this passage, Ephesians 5:21, Titus 2, 1 Peter 3:1-7, etc.). This does not mean they are not to have a ministry in the Church! They ARE supposed to. Rather, it means that their ministries should fit within the rubric of how God has created - and is reforming - relationships - with man as loving and sacrificial authority for woman's holiness - and with woman as responsive to God's word, communicated by the men in authority, serving in the church in various ways for the progress of God's Kingdom - including teaching God's word to other women (Titus 2).