Verse 11 - “A woman must learn, and be learning without causing a disturbance, in all subjection.”

This verse was very important in light of the first century culture, both Semitic and Greco-Roman, because women were very limited when it came to education. Although there was some encouragement for women to get a limited education in the Jewish culture, most women, whether Jewish or Greco-Roman, had either a very limited education or none at all. It was not at all like the men, particularly the men from more well-to-do families, who got an advanced education the trusted slave who escorted boys safely to and from school;(Gal. 3:24).

In this verse Paul shakes his culture to the core and writes that women are to learn! Of course they are to learn in quietness and submission, but that is how the men learned too. The verse is not saying that somehow men can learn and be raucous and aggressive in the classroom, but women have to be quiet and in subjection. Paul’s point is that the women were to learn just like the men. The present tense active voice emphasizes that the women are to “be learning.” The women are to “be learning” just as every Christian is to be constantly learning and growing in the things of God. Education in the things of God is not to be like it often was in the culture—study for a few years and then stop. We all, men and women, must press ourselves to continually grow in our knowledge of God.

It is a common Christian myth that Paul was somehow against women. Of course, given the way his writings have been mistranslated and misinterpreted, it certainly could seem Paul was against women. However, when we properly translate this verse and others like it, we can see that the New Testament was a Magna Carta for women, giving them rights and privileges they had never had before.

“in all subjection.” The word “subjection” is the Greek noun hupotagē, and it means to be in subjection, be in submission to. It is used in 1 Tim. 3:4 of a man having his children in subjection, which many versions translate as “under control.” The phrase “in all subjection” defines “without causing a disturbance” (en hēsuchia) and is a reason we know that hēsuchia refers, not to being “silent,” but to not cause a disturbance. The woman who is learning is to be under control and not cause a disturbance.

Verses 12,13 - “I do not permit a woman to teach or to proclaim that she is the originator of man, rather she is not to cause a disturbance. For Adam was first formed, then Eve,”

In explaining this verse, it is important to note that more literature has been written on 1 Tim. 2:11,12 in recent years than on any other passage in the Pauline Epistles. There are well known and highly educated scholars who take totally different positions on how these verses are to be translated and interpreted. there is no easy translation and clear meaning of this passage of Scripture. The best idea I can think of about this passage is this.

Paul was writing to Timothy, who was based in Ephesus. Between some types of Gnostic doctrine, and some of the types of the “mother goddess” worship of Asia Minor, it was being taught in the culture surrounding Timothy that a female god created Eve before Adam, or that God created Eve before Adam. It is typical of converts to Christianity that they blend Christian beliefs with their past pagan beliefs (this is referred to by scholars as syncretism, and is how orthodox Christianity picked up many of its modern beliefs and practices, such as “Easter Sunday”). Syncretism could have certainly been occurring in Ephesus, and would have been a very important reason why Paul would tell the women to learn, but forbid them from teaching things from their pagan past such as that a woman was the origin of men.

Added to the above historical context is that authenteō can mean “originator” or “author,” and when linked to the word “teach,” can refer to a person teaching that woman is the originator of man. One translation I read said it like this, “I do not allow a woman to teach nor to proclaim herself author of man.” Another translation reads, “I do not permit a woman to teach that she is the originator of man.”

The other two verses can be answered later so it doesn’t take up so much space here.