1 Timothy 2.12-14-The Prohibition Against Women Pastors
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday January 21, 2023
Pastor-Teacher Series: 1 Timothy 2:12-14-The Prohibition Against Women Pastors
Lesson # 22
1 Timothy 2:11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. (NASB95)
“A woman must receive instruction” refers to the Christian women throughout the church age without reference to their marital status receiving information about the Christian faith through instruction from their pastor-teachers quietly and with complete submission.
It means that Christian women are to acquire information regarding the thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ quietly and with total submissiveness and that they are to receive instruction regarding the doctrines of Christ.
“Quietly” denotes demonstrating total deference to the man with spiritual gift of pastor-teacher when he is communicating the Word of God in a public setting in the church.
We must balance this by noting that 1 Corinthians 11:5 does permit women to speak to the church if they possess the gift of prophecy and when they take part in corporate prayer meetings.
Titus 2:2-3 does permit women to teach other women.
Since in context, Paul is addressing the proper behavior or conduct of Christian women while functioning in the local assembly along with men, the correct interpretation is that Christian women are to not speak the Word of God in a public setting in the local assembly with men present in the audience.
So Paul’s command here in 1 Timothy 2:11 is specifically addressing the conduct of women in a public worship setting with respect to the exercise of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.
Therefore, this passage teaches implicitly that women have not been given the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.
Other passages teach this, for example in 1 Timothy 3:2, Paul teaches that an overseer must be the “husband” of one wife.
If an overseer could be a women, then why does he not say the overseer must be the “wife” of one husband.
In fact, Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:4 that the overseer must manage “his” own household if he is to be qualified to manage the household of God.
He does not say “her” household.
In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul tells Timothy to entrust his apostolic teaching to faithful “men” so that they can teach others.
Notice again, there is no mention of women.
1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. (NASB95)
“But I do not allow a woman to teach” emphatically prohibits Christian women to teach or exercise authority over Christian men.
“Or exercise authority over a man” serves 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.
This prohibition prohibits 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.
“But to remain quiet” speaks of refraining from teaching the Word of God in the presence of men in the local assembly.
We must balance this by noting that 1 Corinthians 11:5 does permit women to speak to the church if they possess the gift of prophecy and when they take part in corporate prayer meetings.
Titus 2:2-3 does permit women to teach other women.
Since in context, Paul is addressing the proper behavior or conduct of Christian women while functioning in the local assembly along with men, the correct interpretation is that Christian women are to not speak the Word of God in a public setting in the local assembly with men present in the audience.
Therefore, in 1 Timothy 2:12 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.
1 Timothy 2:13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. (NASB95)
Verse 13 presents the reason or the basis for the previous command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12.
This verse cites the creation account of Adam and Eve, which is recorded in Genesis 2 and specifically, it is citing the formation of their physical bodies as indicated by the use of the verb yatsar in Genesis 2:7 and bana in Genesis 2:21.
Chronologically, Genesis 1:26 teaches that the Lord created the soul life of Adam and Eve simultaneously and both were created in the image of God, thus making them equals.
However, Genesis 2 teaches that the biological life or the physical body of Adam was formed from the dust of the ground and then Eve’s biological life was constructed from the biological life of her husband.
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.
1 Timothy 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (NASB95)
1 Timothy 2:14 presents the second reason for Paul’s command in verse 11 and his prohibition in verse 12.
In this verse, he is citing Genesis 3 and alluding specifically to Genesis 3:16 as support for his command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12.
In 1 Timothy 2:13, Paul does not cite Genesis 3:16 explicitly to support his command in verse 11 and prohibition in verse 12 but rather, he 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.
He also does not explicitly mention Genesis 2:18, which reveals that Eve was designed to be a helpmate for Adam.
Paul is simply presupposing that his readers know the events recorded in Genesis 2 and 3 and does not feel the need to mention these verses explicitly.
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.
In 1 Timothy 2:13 and 14, Paul is using a common rabbinic method of referring to the Old Testament, a method known as summary citation.
That is, he used the summary statement in 1 Timothy 2:13 to point the reader to the entire pericope describing the creation of man and woman (Gen 2:4–24), and in 1 Timothy 2:14 he referred back to the entire pericope detailing the Fall (Gen 3:1–25).
Paul was not limiting his focus to two specific, isolated thoughts; rather, he was drawing on two complete narratives.
Therefore a comparison of Genesis 2:7, 18 and 21 with 1 Timothy 2:13 indicates that Christian women are to learn the Word of God silently with complete submission because the Lord’s original creation design was that Eve would be a helpmate for Adam.
It indicates that Christian women are prohibited from teaching men the Word of God in a public worship service in the local assembly and exercising authority over them but are to be in silence for the exact same reason.
Also, a comparison of Genesis 3:16 with 1 Timothy 2:14 indicates that Paul issued the command in verse 11 and the prohibition in verse 12 because Adam was not deceived by Satan in the Garden of Eden.
But rather Eve was totally deceived and entered into transgressing the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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 the women to be subordinate to the man as a helpmate. (2) The judgment from the Fall.
Thus, in 1 Timothy 2:13-14 Paul is teaching that Christian women are to learn the Word of God silently with complete submission and not teach men the Word of God nor exercise authority over them in the public assembly but be in silence because of creation and the fall.
1 Timothy 5:15 indicates that some Christian women in Ephesus were already following in the footsteps of Eve and were being deceived into following those who taught false doctrine in that city.
Satan was a false teacher and Eve fell victim to his false teaching.
Paul does not want the Christian women in Ephesus to follow Eve’s example and fall victim to the deception of those pastors in Ephesus teaching false doctrine.
Thus, the reason for his command in 1 Timothy 2:12 and his prohibition in verse 13.