1 Timothy 2:12-13
12 I do not permit a woman to teach nor to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
I. Let's start with this ill-starred verse. The word "authority" in Greek is "authentein". It is a hapax logmena. That means it is only found in ONE place in the whole Bible. To translate it as "authority" is to not pay attention to proper word usage in Greek. The only way you can begin to translate it is to look to other manuscripts written at the same time as Paul wrote this verse. KJV is probably close to the truth, when it translates it as "usurp authority". This specifically refers to the cult Roman and Greek religion of Diana or Artemis, which only allowed women priestesses. Women were not allowing men spiritual authority in their temples and worse, and that is as wrong as the church not allowing women to preach and teach. Further, this word actually originally referred to "murder" then become common usage for "dominate". It is not a positive connotation in any manuscript, so it should not be used to make a doctrine that God wants men in authority over women.
If you said "dominate" I could definitely concur. No one in the Kingdom of God should ever dominate over another. However, as far as it meaning "authority" in the manner of having God-given command over a woman, the fact that there were so many women in leadership in the early church, tells me that this modern translation is simply not the right one.
Further, Romans 16:1-2 speaks of Phoebe as deacon or minister, using the same word that Paul spoke of his being appointed or ordained a minister of the gospel in Eph. 3:7 and Col 1:23. That word is diakonos or διάκονος. It is used of other men, who are ministers of the gospel.
Greek has a complex system of noun cases and endings, and in 1 Tim. 2:12, "the man" is in the genitive, not the accusative case, in which case the verb "teach" "the man" could NOT be the direct object of the verb "teach". As we find in 1 Tim. 5:13, the women (widows) were going from house to house, telling women "what they ought not." Therefore, the content of the teaching was probably the direct object, and a better rendering in context of the issues in Ephesus and other instructions in the chapter would be "I forbid women to teach (anyone!) to maintain that she is responsible for the origin of man." Of course, Paul is right to forbid this heresy. Man was made of the dirt and woman came from his side, and that is neither over nor under the man, but by his heart.
II. As far as 1 Cor. 11:4, a good look at the verse within the context of the letter starting at 1 Cor. 11:2-16 and going to 14:40, reveals first parallel structure. Paul is instructing the church to A. have a right attitude, and B. have right attire. (1 Cor. 11:4-7) He repeats this again in 11:13-16 of this section of the book.
Further if one looks very closely at this section, head coverings and hair length is meant to be localized instruction of manner and attitude which was appropriate in the 1 century Greek culture. Paul even sandwiches in another universal truth between the first and last A, B which is:
"Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. [SUP]12 [/SUP]For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God." 1 Cor. 11-12.
Sounds pretty much like neither man or woman are over anyone, and God is over all, in plain English.
The really sad thing about this passage, as that it is part of an overall structure, which points to the much more universal principle of unity in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-31a) and love as the motive of ministry. (1 Cor. 12:31b- 13:13) There is no qualification with regards to gender in these universal passages.
The word "head" is kephale in Greek (κεφαλή). Greek scholars disagree on the meaning of this word, but it can also be translated as "source" or "origin." In light of the passage, verse 4 could be translated either:
1. But I want you to realize that the authority/leader of every man is Christ, and the authority/leader of a woman is the man, and the authority/leader of Christ is God.
OR
2. I want you to realize that the source/origin of every man is Christ, and the source/origin of a woman is the man, and the source/origin of Christ is God.
Looking at options 1 and 2 above, it is obvious that parallelism is used 3 times. Paul knew what he was doing, and using the same word in the same passage means it must have the same meaning. If we start with "the authority/leader of every man is Christ," we have to acknowledge this is NOT yet true even today. There are many in this world who do not follow Christ, and he is simply not their leader in the first century nor today. Of course, in the future when He returns it will be a different story.
BUT, Christ is the source or origin of every person, or for that matter of everything.
"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." Col 1:16
Another BIG difficulty with this translation of THE man being in authority over A woman, is that man is definite and woman is indefinite. So which man is it? And "a woman" is only usually defined as ONE woman.
Further, the principle of order by Hierarchy, where the man is in authority over the woman is usually cited as follows:
God -> Christ -> man -> woman. HOWEVER, Paul does not use this order. He starts with "every man/Christ", then "the man/a woman" then ends with "Christ/God.
Since we know Paul was very orderly, always clear and precise, building precept on precept, we can assume that there is a different way of looking at this verse than modern English would have us believe. If you simply read the order chronologically, using the translation of origin/source, then the entire sentence makes sense. Christ is the origin or source of every man, the man is the source or origin of the woman (because he was created first -back to that contentious doctrine that the Greek women were spreading lies about!) and the source or origin of Christ is God. Of course, Christ existed throughout eternity with God the Father, but his incarnation and coming to earth as first Savior, and in the future as THE second Adam, which Paul talks about in both Romans 5 and 1 Cor. 15:47 means that Christ voluntarily submitted to the Father and was an example for all Christians.
"The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven." 1 Cor. 15:47
Finally in western theology we believe that Christ was equal to God. While Christ always yielded to the Father on earth, it did not make him below the Father. In fact, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in mutual submission to each other, just as Paul says Christians are to be with each other in Eph. 5:21 Because of parallelism that has theological implications for the relationship between man and woman, who are also to be mutually submitted to one another.
III. Final issue is the passage "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says" 1 Cor. 14:34
Looking back to 1 Cor. 12:1 "Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed."
This verse clearly states Paul is speaking about both men and women. He continues further down with instruction on the spiritual gifts and right use of them - and many are speaking gifts. So women were obviously allowed to speak in church.
With regards to 1 Cor. 14:34, suffice it to say, that if all women are to be silent, then all prophets must be silent (14:30) And the verse also begs the question "Which law is Paul talking about?" A local church ordinance or something in the Bible, or perhaps Jewish tradition??
Well a few more issues to discuss, but there is nothing worse than posts that go on forever. LOL. I am sorry I left to go sit with my husband for a few hours, and missed such interesting posts.
The Bible is not full of contradictions and God is not the author of confusion. Therefore, I think it is important to examine these verses in context, and in the Greek to try and find out the difference between local and universal principles. Of course, we may have to agree to disagree in the end, but we do need to be aware that there are numerous issues raised by these passages, in interpreting them to mean that a woman is not allowed to be a pastor or teach men.
So in answer finally to the OP's question, I attend a church where there are no woman pastors by constitutional by-laws. These were put into place by a man who split the church in half, and it almost went under. Yet women are allowed to be music directors and worship leaders and musicians and directors of education, a teaching sort of position if there ever was one!
I would love a woman pastor, but I know I will have to move denominations to find one that has looked deeper into the above passages, and I have found one for later. But right now, God wants me in a male only pastored church, because he has work for me to do in this community, and this is the church I can best use my gifts. I obey God in all things, even if I do not agree with the doctrine! Actually, neither does the senior pastor, and we have moved to have women deacons which no one can deny is Biblical.
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal 3:28.
I believe that the church will never reach the world if women are not allowed to teach, preach and evangelize the lost, as well as teach men in church. The gospel is seriously impeded, when churches who usually have a majority of women, force those women to not follow their gifts and callings on the basis of some very sketchy translations by men- only committees!
