TL

”I personally do not believe that the early church had a “male only” rule of teaching.”

I would not think so according to everything that has been written in the NT. However, it could be that in Ephesus especially, the local Jews TENDED toward mainly males for teachers. One would think this because of the Rabbinical writings of the times. Thus, those women mentioned in 1 Timothy would likely be learning from male teachers. That is one possibility.

”I am probably misunderstanding you because it seems like you are saying that they understood church as a class belonging to a man.”

Craig, probably not. Teaching did not only happen in what would be considered church gatherings. Even though we understand that wherever two or three gather, there is the church, it is meant as there is the Body of Christ and the presence of God. We gather for many things including meals, social stuff, fellowshipping, learning and the gathering for ministry. This is something I’ve been trying to differentiate in Bible Study groups lately. People think that because we are the church then everyone ought to be able to share without any boundaries. But teaching requires certain boundaries in orderliness that are different than the local gatherings. Even when Jesus taught in the temple areas for teaching, it was different in order than when they gathered on the Sabbath.