Should Women Teach In Church?

Biblegems #21

1 Timothy chapter 2, which we looked at last week in relation to women being ”saved through childbearing,” has another vexing question, this time in verse 12. The verse reads, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”

The question is—does the Bible teach that a woman should not teach or have authority over a man as a blanket, universal rule?

To answer this question several factors need to be considered: immediate context, Paul’s teaching on the subject elsewhere, historical / cultural considerations and a definition of terms.

The immediate context, beginning with verse 8, is dealing with the public worship of the church. In that context, men are to “lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger and disputing. It’s worth noting that the emphasis here is on the attitudes and behavior while praying, not a command to raise hands in public prayer. Yet some could argue, if they chose to ignore common sense, that Paul is making a universal instruction that all men have to raise their hands when praying. Common sense is part of the interpretive process.

In this public worship context, then, Paul advises Timothy to instruct women to dress modestly to avoid creating temptation for the men present (9-10). He also stresses that women “should learn in quietness and full submission” (11). This instruction is actually closely related to the next, that a woman is not to ”teach or have authority over a man; she must be silent” (12). What is critical contextually is that all this instruction is specific to public worship.

So what does Paul teach elsewhere that might shed further light on this subject?

In 1 Cor. 14:34, where Paul is also dealing with propriety in public worship, he gives an almost identical instruction: “women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.” However, here—unlike 1 Timothy 2—Paul explains the reason for this prohibition in verses 33 and 35. Verse 33 says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” This relates to a situation in the early church that was becoming increasingly problematic as Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ. 


Women from the Greco-Roman world, unlike Jewish women who had come to Christ, had no training in appropriate behavior in public worship. Additionally, they were thrilled with their new-found freedom in Christ that encouraged them to prophesy (Acts 2:17-18, speak in tongues (1 Cor. 14:5) and freely contribute in other ways in public worship (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). This freedom spilled over inappropriately into the time set aside for the preaching of the Word. They would interrupt the preacher to ask questions: “If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church” (1 Cor. 14:35). 


The context makes it clear that the kind of “speaking” that is disgraceful for a woman to engage in is that which is disruptive and disrespectful. It should be kept in mind here also that the word “church” does not refer to the building, but has its literal meaning of “assembly,” referring to their gathering for public worship.

This all fits in perfectly with Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 2:11 that “women should learn in quietness and full submission.” The setting Paul refers to is during the “learning” phase of the public worship service. And the term “full submission,” according to Vine, means “a warning against the usurpation of authority, as, e.g., in the next verse.”¹ It was a caution to be respectful during the public preaching of God’s Word. Women are to recognize and respect the authority of the elders, who are male by definition, as they present the Word of God to the assembled believers.

¹ Vines, as quoted in the Expositors Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor, J.D. Douglas, Associate Editor, Accordance Bible Software, in loc.

Saved Through Childbearing

Biblegems #20

The next Biblegems question come from 1 Timothy chapter 2. The question comes from Paul’s teaching in verse 15 that women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety (NIV). What does the Bible mean when it says that women will be saved through childbearing? Saved from what? —you might ask.

As is usually the case, the answer is found primarily in the context. In this case, the previous verses reveal that the apostle Paul is concerned about the impact cultural norms of the day are having upon the spiritual health of women in the Church at Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:1). These Christian women are predominantly Gentile (non-Jewish), and therefore much less modest in their dress, and much more inclined to “dress-up” (v.9) than their Jewish counterparts. In a public worship setting (2:11-12), this could cause temptation for the men and disdain from the Jewish women who had been trained from childhood to identify godliness with extreme modesty and simple, unadorned attire (Gen. 24:65).

Another important connection in the context comes from Paul’s allusion to the account of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden. Paul stresses the point here that it was Eve, not Adam, who had been deceived. While Adam had his own role to play in outright disobedience, Paul’s purpose in this text seems to be to highlight the fact that Eve was enticed by an outside influence that offered her more than what God had ordained for her. She was tempted to experience right from wrong, to “know” more than God had permitted her to know, to “be” more than God had designed for her to be. By yielding to that temptation, Eve brought upon herself, and upon her female descendants, a level of pain in childbearing that was never part of God’s original design.

Giving birth is at the very epicenter of what it means to be female. To have that joyful experience shrouded in pain created a generational reminder of what happens when human beings step outside of God’s plan for their lives.

So Paul is using the phrase “saved through childbearing” as a euphemism, a figure of speech, meaning ‘saved through being content in her ordained role’ as a woman. The Greek culture of the first century church encouraged women to flaunt their bodies and their femininity—in other words, to be less than content with their God-given role as a wife and mother, set apart solely for her family. What does “childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety,” save her from?

“... she would be saved from becoming a prey to the

social evils of the time and would take her part in the

maintenance of the testimony of the local church.”¹

¹ Vines, as quoted in the Expositors Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, General Editor

J.D. Douglas, Associate Editor, Accordance Bible Software, in loc.