gengwall

Thanks Don. There certainly is disagreement among scholars regarding vs. 11, although the vast majority translate it “a woman”*. Yet the determination on which is correct is crucial. I would think in such an important passage with such significant ramifications where no context is provided to guide us that there would be more grammatical clues.

Some might say, I suppose, that since Paul did use the definite article in vs. 14 and did not in the other instances in vs. 11-15 (for either “man” or “woman”), that he was being clear when “the” and “a” were to be used. But again, I suspect that is simplistic. At any rate, the question remains, especially amongst such scholarly disagreement.

One way to look at the passage would be to say that vs. 12 – 14a are kind of parenthetical. That the meat of the passage is “Let the/a woman learn in silence with all subjection…(14b) for that woman having been deceived has become sinful.” Then 14b provides the context to make 11 definite – since it is one continuous thought about the same woman. It may be that that is what our interviewee was getting at and I was just too dense to pick it up.

*It is ironic that two “old” translations, the KJV and Webster’s, which presumably would be the most patriarchal, are the only ones that translate vs. 11 as “the woman” – the least patriarchal translation. On another translational note, I have no remaining respect for the NLT, which completely butchers this entire passage.