Bible Phrasing: 1 Timothy 2:11–15, Part 1
First Timothy 2:11–15 has two commands, one negative ("do not") and one positive.
1) Paul issues a positive command: let a woman learn. He provides two ways a woman can do this. First, she can learn quietly. And secondly, she can learn with all submissiveness. Although there is no direct referent for the verbal noun "submissiveness," it is connected to the teacher from whom the woman is to learn. In the context of a church, such a posture of submission to teachers is not only for women but for all true disciples of the Word, including men, women, and children (1 Corinthians 16:16). Here, Paul's point is clear: women should learn
2) Paul issues two negative commands: 1) I do not permit a woman to teach and 2) I do not permit a woman to exercise authority over a man. From these two negative commands, Paul issues forth an adversative "rather": she is to remain quiet. Two reasons form the remaining portion of the passage
- First, Paul explains that a woman is to remain quiet because (1) Adam was formed first, then Eve. The focus seems to be on temporal sequence, not preeminence or priority. God formed Adam first, then Eve second.
- The second (2) reason has to do with Eve's deception in Genesis 3. In other writings, Paul clearly teaches that Adam sinned (Romans 5). So, the issue at hand seems again to imply temporal sequence. Adam was deceived, but Eve was deceived first. The result of this sequence is that Eve 'became a transgressor.'
- To recap, Paul wishes for women to remain quiet, and not teach or exercise authority over a man because Eve was formed secondarily to Adam, and because she was deceived first.
- Paul roots the prohibitions for women in the created order of Genesis 2, and the subsequent fall of humanity into sin from Genesis 3.
