Cheryl Schatz

Hi Charis,
I cannot presume to know God’s heart on this matter, but I think that it has something to do with God’s sovereignty and allowing evil to exist for those who want to practice evil.  I could ask the same question of why God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place when by his own foreknowledge he knew that Adam and Eve would eat of it?  Somehow God gets glory from our free-will choices.  If there is no opportunity for evil then there is no real opportunity for the free will choice of good.  It appears to me to be empowering people to do as their passion desires.  For those who wish to see the truth, there has been much evidence in scripture that shows that God uses women along with men for his praise and does not restrict women from flowing in their gifts.  This helps us all to know at least what 1 Timothy 2:12 cannot mean even if for many centuries we did not know exactly what it does mean.  Sometimes it is just as helpful to know what a passage cannot mean as it can be helpful to know what it does mean.

All in all, my thought is that this is destined for God’s glory.  God has given women this passage in order to prove their value to the body of Christ.   When women dig into the text and work through the hard passages of scripture and men who have an open heart to God see the wisdom that God has given to his female “sons”, God will get the glory in the end even through these difficult passages.

When I get to heaven I think I would like to ask God these questions to see if I understood his purpose.  It is God’s ultimate glory that will get the praise and honor and anything that brings God glory is a wonderful and holy thing.  We women have to fight hard to use our God-given gifts because of the prejudice that comes from this passage.  That makes us stronger.  It can be for our own good and ultimately for the glory of God.