What 1 Timothy 2:11-15 is Actually Teaching

A Lack of Education

In the time and culture in which Paul was writing, women were not being taught or trained theologically. They were not allowed to sit at the feet of the Rabbi to learn from him, right alongside the men (which makes Jesus’ treatment of Mary in Luke 10 so beautiful and revolutionary!) To teach a woman theology was frowned upon, and yet the first thing we see in this passage from 1 Timothy is that Paul WANTS the women to learn.  That is huge! Paul is certainly no chauvinist, despite what some might claim. – link to women in the ministries of post

So, first, here in verse 11, we have the Apostle Paul making the revolutionary proclamation that women are now to not only be allowed to learn theology, but are to be encouraged to do so. This amazing development, combined with the salvation and freedom women are finding in the good news of the Gospel, is leading to a great excitement among them (rightfully so – they are being respected and raised up as never before in this era!) As they get more and more excited, however, a problem begins to arise – the same problem we see Paul write about in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35,

The women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says. ³⁵ If they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, since it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

Chaos in the Churches

There are two things happening here: women are wanting to learn, and women are wanting to teach, but there are also two subsequent problems taking place: these women are wanting to teach, but they have not first learned, and they are wanting to learn, but they are becoming disruptive in the church service in their attempts to do so.

The larger context of 1 Corinthians 14 finds Paul addressing the chaos, commotion, and lack of order found in the early church services – people are speaking in tongues with no interpreters present, women are calling out in the middle of the service asking questions, and there is no semblance of order, peace, or the quiet and calm required for people to truly learn.

This is clearly why Pauls says in 1 Corinthians 14 that women are not to speak in the church service (we will see more on that specific topic in a moment), as well as why he tells them to learn in silence in 1 Timothy 2:11.

Now we move on to 1 Timothy 2:12, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.”

Women Teaching Men – a Biblical Concept!

The issue at hand here is not whether or not Paul believes that it is appropriate for women to teach men (we will see in a moment that God ordained women to do just that throughout the Word, and Paul did, as well!). The issue at hand here is that because these particular women had never before been taught proper, orthodox doctrine, they were currently unfit to teach others. By becoming the teachers, these uneducated women would have led a lot of people astray. That is what you have Paul prohibiting here.

What you do not have is Paul prohibiting women from ever teaching men at all – if he were, he would be going against the rest of the Bible and even his very own writings elsewhere.

We know this because in Romans 16, for example, Paul praises woman after woman for co-laboring with him in the ministry. One of these women is Junia, who he describes as being “well known” among the apostles (see Romans 16:7).  Another woman Paul mentions by name and publicly praises is Priscilla, a woman whom Luke writes about in Acts 18:26, where he points out that Priscilla and her husband Aquila corrected the evangelist Apollos’ false doctrine.

Allowing Scripture to Interpret Scripture

When studying the Word as a whole to better understand Paul’s true meaning in 1 Timothy 2:12, we come to clearly see God using women to teach men in the Old Testament, as well. As I have pointed out before, God specifically chose a woman named Huldah (who was a prophetess and prophesying at the very same time as the more well-known prophet, Jeremiah), to be the one He sent King Josiah and his men to for them to learn from (see 2 Kings 22:13-15 and 2 Chronicles 34:21-23). 

What is so notable about the example of God specifically choosing to send King Josiah and his men to a woman is that, when you read the passage, these men were in need of someone to correctly understand, interpret, and teach them the newly-discovered book of the law (which scholars tend to think was Deuteronomy). God was literally tasking this woman, Huldah, with teaching men the Word of God. That is precisely what prophets do- proclaim the Word of the Lord, and other female prophets throughout the Word include Deborah, Miriam, Joel’s daughters, Philip’s daughters, and Anna.

Allowing Paul to Interpret Paul

In addition to the Word as a whole providing us with a beautiful picture of women freely teaching men the Word of God (and vice versa, of course!) Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11, sheds further light on what his actual intended meaning was in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14. Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 11:4-5 these words, “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.“

The greater context of this chapter (and then chapter 14, as well, as mentioned above!) shows that Paul is referring to how things are to take place in a church gathering, while the phrase “every woman who prays or prophesies” reveals that Paul is assuming that it will be normative and expected, in fact, for women to do both of these things. Through both the Old and New Testaments, both, it is portrayed as normal for men to teach women and for women to teach men. Therefore, that practice is clearly not what is being prohibiting in 1 Timothy 2:12.

So what exactly is being prohibited in this 1 Timothy verse? Well, first of all, Paul is prohibiting uneducated, unqualified women from teaching men – because that would naturally lead to falsehood and perhaps even heresy. But another interesting thing to note in this verse that will enable us to better understand Paul’s point is his use of the specific Greek word he chose that has been translated “authority” in this verse. It is not the typical word he uses for “authority”. In fact, he uses this particular Greek word only this one time in the entire New Testament, and it means quite a bit more than simply “authority”. 

This Greek word is authenteō, and literally means: