Cheryl

Hi Keith,

Welcome! Glad you stopped by and I hope you enjoy the community here.

Your Pastor is absolutely right in that we must understand 1 Timothy 2:11-15 within the context of the prohibition of false teaching and false deceived teachers in 1 Timothy 1. A point form of my take on the passage is at http://strivetoenter.com/wim/2006/12/02/what-does-1-timothy-211-15-mean/

The question that I have always asked those who believe that 1 Timothy 2:12 is a universal prohibition is to show me point by point from the context of chapters 1 and 2 how Paul could possibly be stopping the teaching of true biblical doctrine. You see if we see 1 Timothy 2:12 as a universal prohibition then it must be stopping godly Christian women from teaching the truth of God’s word to men. But this simply cannot be supported from the context set forward in chapter 1. Paul did not say that Timothy was left behind in Ephesus to stop the false teachers from teaching AND the women from teaching. He simply and clearly was stopping the teaching of false doctrine and the deceived teachers were to be stopped from spreading this false doctrine. If Paul had also wanted godly women in general to be stopped from teaching, then he make the prohibition of 1 Timothy 2:12 to be completely foreign to the context because the stopping of “a woman” is surrounded by the stopping of false doctrine, the stopping of deceived teachers who are ignorantly teaching false doctrine (Paul also reveals that he too had been deceived and acted in ignorance) and the deception of Eve. Where is it possible to input godly women into this prohibition? It simply isn’t possible.

I would love to hear from your Pastor and I think he would be encouraged by my DVD series called “Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free?” In this series the inspired words and the inspired grammar of 1 Timothy 2:11-15 are shown to prove that it is impossible for this prohibition to be stopping all women from ministering the truth of God’s word.