Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Thursday March 31, 20111 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:11-Paul Orders Christian Women To Discipline Themselves In Making It Their Habit Of Receiving Instruction Silently With Complete SubmissionLesson #46

3. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:11.

4. In 1 Timothy 2:11, the apostle Paul orders Christian women to learn the Word of God quietly with all submissiveness.

5. 1 Timothy 2:11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.

6. 12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

7. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.

8. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

9. 15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. (NASU)

10. In verse 11, the apostle Paul is employing the figure of “asyndeton,” which emphasizes how serious Paul viewed the issue of the women’s role in the household of God, i.e. the local assembly, the church.

11. The figure of asyndeton in 1 Timothy 2:11 is also signifying a change of topic with regards to the role of the women in the household of God.

12. “A woman must receive instruction” is composed of nominative feminine singular form of the noun gune (γυνή) (yee-nee), “woman” and the third person singular present active imperative form of the verb manthano (μανθάνω) (mahn-thano), “must receive instruction.”

13. In 1 Timothy 2:11 as was the case in verse 9 and 10, the noun gune means, “woman” or “female” as opposed or in contrast to men or a male just as aner in verse 8 meant “men” in contrast or as opposed to the women in verse 8.

14. It refers to the Christian women throughout the church age without reference to their marital status.

15. Gune functions as a generic noun, which is appropriate since Paul in verse 11 is addressing a general truth.

16. In relation to this, notice that Paul uses the plural form of this word in verses 9-10 but uses the singular in verse 11 and that is because he is teaching an eternal spiritual truth that is applicable in every dispensation.

17. In 1 Timothy 2:11, the verb manthano means “to learn” and refers to acquiring information as the result of instruction, in the local assembly.

18. This indicates that Paul is commanding Christian women to receive information about the Christian faith through instruction from their pastor-teachers quietly and with complete submission.

19. This verb means that Christian women are to acquire information regarding the thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ quietly and with total submissiveness.

20. It means that they are to receive instruction regarding the doctrines of Christ.

21. It means that they are to be furnished with knowledge of Christ through a systematic method of teaching.

22. They were to be furnished with knowledge of the doctrines of Christ through the systematic method of teaching the Word of God.

23. They were to be educated in the teachings of Christ.

24. They were to be trained in the doctrines of Christ through the systematic method of teaching of the Word of God.

25. It indicates that they were to receive authoritative instructions from their pastor-teachers regarding their conduct as Christians.

26. This is a “customary present imperative,” which is a command for action to be continued, action that may or may not have already been going on and is often a character building command to the effect of “make this your habit,” “train yourself in this, discipline yourself.”

27. The present imperative of the verb is used of a general precept for habits that should characterize one’s attitude and behavior.

28. Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb manthano indicates that as a general precept, Christian women must receive biblical instruction quietly and with complete submissiveness.

29. It denotes that they are to be characterized as receiving biblical instruction from their pastor-teachers quietly and with complete submissiveness.

30. The fact that Paul has to address this issue in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 with regards to the woman’s role in the church implies that there was a problem among the Christian women in Ephesus attempting to be teachers and being insubordinate since why mention it except for preventive maintenance.

31. Undoubtedly, there were many women who were not insubordinate by attempting to teach the Word of God to men in the local assembly and of course there must have been a few that did otherwise he would not addressed this issue in the first place.

32. So it appears that some women were insubordinate and many were not and thus it is best to view this present imperative as Paul, simply communicating a general precept of the Word of God and the Lord and the apostles’ teaching without reference to whether there was a violation of this command or not.

33. 1 Timothy 2:11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. (NASU)

34. “Quietly” is composed of the preposition en (ἐν), “with” and its object is the dative feminine singular form of the noun hesuchia (ἡσυχία) (eece-see-hee-ah), “quietly.”

35. In 1 Timothy 2:11 and 12, the noun hesuchia can either mean “silence” or “quietness.”

36. The latter denotes the attitude of proper deference to another speaking and the former to refraining from speaking in a public setting.

37. The latter denotes demonstrating total deference to the man with spiritual gift of pastor-teacher when he is communicating the Word of God in a public setting in the church whereas the former denotes totally refraining from speaking audibly to the church in a public setting.

38. Specifically, it speaks of refraining from teaching the Word of God in the presence of men in the local assembly.

39. Since in context, Paul is addressing the proper behavior or conduct of Christian women while functioning in the local assembly along with men, the noun hesuchia means “silence” rather than “quietly” or “quietness.”

40. 1 Corinthians 11:5 and Titus 2:2-3 make clear that Paul is speaking with respect to a particular activity in the church, namely the communication of the Word of God since the former permits women to speak if they have the gift of prophecy and the latter permits her to teach other women who are immature or younger.

41. This interpretation is further indicated by the prepositional phrase ἐν πάσῃ ὑποταγῇ· that also modifies manthano.

42. Christian women must learn the Word of God with complete deference to the man with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher when he is communicating the Word of God in the local assembly by not teaching the Word of God to men in the local assembly.

43. Therefore, in 1 Timothy 2:11 hesuchia does not have any reference to the woman’s attitude when receiving the Word of God but rather her conduct and role with respect to the teaching of the Word of God.

44. Paul is prohibiting the women in the Christian community from giving biblical instruction in the local assembly when in the presence of men.

45. They are to show complete deference to those men with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher when they are communicating the Word of God to the church by not teaching men in the local assembly themselves.

46. So Paul’s command here in 1 Timothy 2:11 is specifically addressing the conduct of women in a public worship setting with respect to the exercise of the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.

47. Therefore, this passage teaches implicitly that women have not been given the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.

48. The women’s silence in this public worship setting demonstrates her complete submission to the will of God.

49. “With entire submissiveness” is composed of the preposition en (ἐν), “with” and its object is the dative feminine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “entire” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun hupotage (ὑποταγή) (eepoe-tighee), “submissiveness.”

50. The noun hupotage means “submission” and refers to Christian women submitting to the spiritual authority of the man with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher by receiving silently his instruction while in a public setting in the local assembly.