Charis

Cheryl said: Christ needs to be formed in us, but that happens as we grow and mature in him. Women in general do not need anything special for salvation (that isn’t needed by men), nor do they need to have Christ restore an authority that they lost. The bible has promised that women will be used by God in the last days in a special way in the way that men are used (he has poured out his spirit on all of us). Yes, he has drawn us to himself and it is special. I know exactly what you mean. I too have grown more in the last seven years than I have grown in the time since I became a Christian. But this 1 Timothy 2:11-15 passage isn’t about you and I needing to be stopped from teaching. It is a specific word given to Timothy for a specific situation.

I spose I project my own personal testimony into the passage.
I believe the scripture and try my very best to obey what it says.
I attended seminary for a year in preparation for the mission field (in a muslim country from 87-90). The seminary did not allow women to take homiletics/preaching but I took hermeneutics where I learned that “context is king!”
Although some people try to claim that the restrictions on women ONLY apply in church, that butchers the scripture!!! It is really QUITE CLEAR from the context that the instructions in this passage applies EVERY WHERE:
“I will therefore that men pray EVERY WHERE,, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women…” 1Tim 2: 8- 9

I came to the conclusion that either I was misunderstanding the passage or the passage meant something very much like you stated here, Cheryl:

Verse 12 could be reasonably interpreted to restrict a woman from teaching any thing to any man. A woman couldn’t even give a man directions on how to find an address for fear that she would be teaching him something.

…which would resemble the lot of women in strict muslim countries: no woman teach any man anything, no woman have any authority over any man in any realm.