Women to Teach
I recently reopened The Excellent Wife and in the beginning it had this scripture and said God has ordained a place for us not to teach or have authority over any men. It bothered me. I am not seeking to have authority or teach any man. It bothered me because it is ignorant. This passage perplexed me for a long time. I read somewhere around a million commentaries on it and dug into the Greek. I wish I could put here everything Spiros Zodhiates said. It is far too much. Basically, he says that the Greek used here actually is best translated wife and husband, not woman and man. It also says woman, not women. Paul also says, "I do not allow." It does not say God does not allow. He was speaking to this particular church because the women who were not Christian married Christian men and were trying to mingle their old way of mysticism in with the Gospel message. Mostly, what I got from Spiros exposition is that the text is trying to convey that a wife should not teach over her husband and make him look like a fool - as though he were not the spiritual leader. She should not take a higher position in the church over him. I am still digging and researching. What are your thoughts?
Disclaimer: I truly enjoy The Excellent Wife. It is a wonderful book full of encouragement and exortation for Chrisitan wives. I simply did not like this take on the verse given.
Comments
If there is a man willing to lead he should do it, and the woman should step aside.
However a woman should not be held back from leading if there is no man willing or able to lead.
I would say it's a delicate balance though, because in my opinion many capable men will not step up if there is a woman leading... so I think women who lead need to be sensitive to the men God has placed there to lead and be willing to step aside without conflict or confrontation.
Ok that's it... very interesting question. Please let us know what you discover.