I Permit No Woman to Teach a Man.....1 Timothy 2: 12

 

 I was in a debate the other day on another blog about the meaning of 1 Timothy 2: 11-12.  Here is what it says "A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.…"  When I asserted that it didn't really mean what it seems to mean, that women were never to instruct men in matters of faith, the debate was on.

  I tried many ways to show

• that early Church Doctors didn't understand it that way
• that men did learn from the writings of the women saints
• an understanding of the authority of men in that it's only given through the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony and did not endow authority on all men just because they are male
• through trying to make them understand how the Church views men and women together as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ and those being equal, they both could teach each other. 

I made no headway with these arguments, all of which were true and clearly showed their interpretation was wrong.  I should have started with the writings of the Church Fathers.  This is where apostolic Tradition is preserved.  
To see why I should have started there, and the amazing clarity given for this verse of Scripture, read more at The Sincere Gift.