gengwall

This perspective also may shed light on Paul’s use of indefinate nouns for woman and man. If Timothy did not provide names or specifics, but simply outlined a general problem in some families (or even in an individual family), Paul would not be addressing a specific woman but would be addressing wife/husband combinations. If that was true, then the indefinate “woman” and “man” makes perfect sense and would properly translated “I do not allow a wife to teach [false doctrine] or dominate her husband”. The later use of the definate article still works, as now Paul gets specific within each marriage. “the woman” (really, “the wife”) and “they” are each individual wife and couple. Just some food for thought.