Kristen

Here is what I posted in the last thread, including a link to the essay by Payne about the nature of the word “oude,” which is what engendered this discussion:
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Cheryl, I’m sure you will agree that our English grammar construction and ancient Koine Greek grammar construction may not always be the same. I am relying on the scholarship of Phillip Payne, author of “Man and Woman, One in Christ,” for the statement that the Greek conjunction “oude” ties together the verbs “teach” and “authentein” as one, and that the placement of the object “man” after “authentein” prevents it from being an object of “teach” as well.
Here is an essay by Payne that explains his position:
http://www.pbpayne.com/wp-admin/Payne2008NTS-oude1Tim2_12.pdf

As for the nature of my statements about Eve, they assume that Paul is saying something theologically similar to what he says about Adam in Romans 5:12, that just as all humans sin in Adam, so all women partake of the sin of Eve, and that to say Eve is “saved” is a metaphor saying that womankind is saved through the belief of women in Christ, just as humankind are saved from the sin of Adam through belief in Christ. To refer to Eve in a form of present tense would be metaphorical; Eve as a symbol of all women.

I’m not saying anything against your reading; in fact, I’m inclined to support it. But you do know that people say something similar to what you just said about the Greek grammar having to mean that “teach” and “authentein” are to be read separately: that to use “a woman” with NO contextual indications that he is talking about one specific woman and not “a woman” as a general singular, is too hard to believe. When Paul said, “I know a man who was caught up to the third heaven,” the word “who,” followed by the specific story of what happened, makes it contextually clear that he’s talking about one man. But the “a woman” in 1 Tim 2 has no such contextual indications. Therefore, it’s hard for people to grasp– and when I present my argument that “she” may mean Eve, a lot of them are more willing to accept that, based on Paul’s similar treatment of Adam in Romans 5.

To me, the point is not that we have to get comps to accept one particular egal reading, no matter how hard it is for them to do so. I’m happy if comps will seriously consider ANY possible egal reading. If from there, they move to the “one woman” reading you favor, that’s all well and good. Baby steps, baby steps. New wine only pours into old wineskin in drops, but sometimes Christians need a period of time of receiving drops in their old wineskins before they become willing to replace them with new wineskins to hold ALL the new wine.