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Wives vs. women debate: does gyne mean 'wives' or 'women'?

ALL The Debates Over 1 Tim 2_11-15: Women in Ministry part 12 (it took me a year to make this) 01:31:55 – 01:46:20

Mike addresses the egalitarian argument (promoted by Cynthia Long Westfall) that 1 Tim 2 is about husbands and wives, not men and women generally.

The Greek word gyne can mean either 'woman' or 'wife,' and aner can mean 'man' or 'husband.' Westfall argues the passage addresses marital relationships, not church governance. Mike rebuts: (1) The context is explicitly about church order (1 Tim 3 immediately discusses overseers/deacons); (2) Paul uses the plural 'women' in v.9-10, which fits 'women in general' not 'wives'; (3) If this were about husbands and wives, single women could teach and have authority, which no egalitarian actually argues; (4) 'I do not permit a wife to teach or have authority over her husband' would be an absurdly narrow restriction that misses the point of church governance; (5) The parallel in 1 Cor 14:34-35 also addresses women in the church, not just wives; (6) The creation order argument (Adam and Eve) works as a paradigm for all men and women, not just married couples.

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