1Ti 2:11

1Ti 2:11  Women should learn quietly and submissively.

I would like to say that I have the knowledge to answer all the questions around this verse and the next 4 verses but that would not be true. You need to put yourself in a time where previously women were not allowed to speak at all in the Jewish synagogues.

Life Application New Testament Commentary 2:11 Many women have read these verses and been distressed. However, to understand these verses, we must understand the situation in which Paul and Timothy worked. In first-century Jewish culture, women were not allowed to study. Jews and Gentiles regarded it disgraceful for women to discuss issues with men in public. The Jews were stricter, not even allowing women to teach the male children past the age of five. In Greek philosophy, Plato granted women equality with men. Aristotle severely limited their activities, and his view was more widely accepted.

At this point you can see that women were not allowed to study. Christianity comes in and all of a sudden they are on an equal platform. The problem is up to this point they were not allowed to study scriptures so they needed to learn first prior to teaching. It was sort of a conundrum for these ladies. You have a new privilege but you have not learned the scriptures and in the past they were not allowed to talk so the men were not used to allowing it. Not a lot different than when the suffragettes were fighting for their rights.

Life Application New Testament Commentary 2:11 When Paul said that women could learn, he was affirming their recognition as teachable members of the church. Christian women were given “equal rights” with men when it came to studying the Holy Scriptures. This was an amazing freedom for many of the Jewish and Gentile women who had become Christians.

There were several problems in the Ephesian and Corinthian churches that made teaching in this area difficult. Some women, converted Jews, had grown up in an atmosphere repressive toward women. Suddenly these women experienced their freedom in Christ. Some may have overreacted, flaunting their freedom and disrupting the church service. In addition, some of the women may have been converts from the cult of temple prostitution, so widespread in these major cities. These women were immature in the faith and doctrine of Christianity. They needed to learn, not teach. Against this backdrop, we have the influence of the false teachers who emphasized elitism and special knowledge. A third group would be widows or weak-willed women (identified in 1Ti_5:3-16 and 2Ti_3:5-9) upon whom the false teachers were preying. These women should not be put up front to pray or teach until their doctrine had been straightened out.

I know this sounds like we are picking on women but I think that me have stricter guidelines. Eph_5:25  For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her

Col_3:19  Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.

Christ loved the church so much that he gave his life for it. What does that say men should be doing? If they love their wives shouldn't they be teaching them the ways of Christ if they are Christian me? I think so. They should be bringing them up to speed so the family will grow in a Christian environment.

Such women were to learn at home from their fathers or husbands; they were to maintain silence and not disturb the worship services (1Co_14:35). They were to speak, pray, or prophesy only when it was from the Spirit (1Co_11:5). Paul’s prohibition was not against women in general. In several places Paul wrote about women in the church who were coworkers—helping him (Rom_16:1-3) and contending beside him for the faith (Php_4:2-3). Paul said women were coheirs of the image of God in Christ, that they were full members of the body of Christ, and that they fully shared in the responsibilities and gifts of serving.

Paul had started to use women in the ministry and even though it seemed slow it had started,

Women were to learn quietly and submissively. The Greek word for “quietly” used here (hesuchia) and in verses 2 and 12 means settled, calm, with voluntary restraint. Another Greek word, sigao, means “to be silent,” which is used in Luk_18:39 and 1Co_14:34. “Submission” warns against presumptive and inappropriate grasping after authority.

I am sure that the male ego's were having difficulty in accepting what women said. 4000 years the men were dominant and in the span of 3 years Christ changed all of that. I am sure that it took years for men to change. We are slow learners you know. Had to say that. But tradition is a hard thing to stop. We will do the last four verse in the next few days.