Cheryl Schatz

Craig,
You said:

He views the context from 2:1 to 3:16 as all about the church gathering (3:15). He thinks that a private matter between husband and wife in 2:11-15 would not fit the context.

The context of 1 Timothy goes beyond chapter 2. The context that is highly important to understand is the very reason that Timothy was left behind in Ephesus.

1 Timothy 1:3 (NKJV) As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

The rest of 1 Timothy has to be understood within the key reason that Timothy was left behind. If you read through chapters 1 & 2 thinking about what Timothy was left behind to do, the passage will start to open up.

The key then is not public vs private teaching but it is false teaching done by deceived teachers. This means that even private teaching is worthy of saving the deceived teachers from their deception. And having a single woman teaching a single man makes sense of verse 15. Without a single “woman”, the grammar of verse 15 “she” and “they” makes no sense at all.

So don’t let him make you think that the issue of 1 Timothy is about public worship. The issue is about deception, false teaching and knowing that Jesus died even for those who have been teaching error through their deception (1 Timothy 2:4) There is hope for these deceived lost people!