"But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
(1 Tim 2:12 KJV)

Recently I read where a person took the position that if at any time or any place a woman imparted Bible knowledge to a man she was by such action necessarily exercising dominion over him and thereby in violation of I Timothy 2:12. Such of course is palpably false. If that were the case, a woman could not by her remarks in a Bible class enlighten the male members of the class on some scripture. A wife could not enlighten her husband regarding the meaning of scripture. In fact, no woman anywhere or at anytime could engage in the discussion of the Bible if men were present, lest she risk saying something that might enlighten one of the men regarding the meaning of some scripture. She could not write a letter to her adult son and refer to the scriptures lest she impart biblical information to him. If a man asked her what to do to be saved she could not tell him. Of course, this would mean that it would be a sin for a man to read any religious article, tract, or book written by a woman. Indeed, a grown man could not even listen to his aged mother sing a gospel song lest the words of the song instruct him and thereby she would exercise dominion over him.

    One who holds such a view is really affirming the following proposition: "The scriptures teach that under any and all circumstances it is a sin for a female to impart biblical knowledge to an adult male." Therefore, if she writes a religious article only women may read the article. Furthermore, that being the case, such a person would be forced to affirm: "The scriptures teach that it is a sin for an adult male to read any religious literature produced by a woman."

    The problem with such thinking is this: it equates "imparting of information" by a woman to a man with "exercising dominion over the man." But such is not necessarily the case. That is obvious from the teaching of Apollos done by Aquila and Priscilla. Priscilla taught Apollos in such a way as not to exercise dominion over him.

    It does no good (it possibly does a great amount of harm) to say Aquila and Priscilla's teaching of Apollos has no bearing on this study because Apollos was not a Christian. One who holds such a view is affirming far more than he realizes. Does such a one not understand that he is affirming that the scriptures teach that Christian women may exercise dominion over non-Christian adult males in teaching them the truth of the gospel? By this erroneous logic a Christian woman could preach the gospel to a thousand adult males in one assembly--as long as all them are not Christians. Who believes it? Indeed, I Timothy 2:12 covers the Christian woman's relationship to non-Christian as well as Christian adult males. Why is this the case? Because all persons (in and out of the church) are amenable to the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25; John 12:48).

    Indeed, for a woman to exercise dominion over a male in the process of her imparting Bible knowledge to him there must be some other element involved. What is it? The answer: a woman must be in a position of controlling the man. Likewise, the adult male must be in a subservient state of mind toward the woman. He must be submissive to her as the one who leads, directs and guides him. Such inspiration forbids (I Timothy 2:12). Thus, we have male song leaders. However, in the assembly lead by the male song leader women are singing. As they sing they are "teaching and admonishing" all that hear them--including any adult males who are found in most of our assemblies (Colossians 3:16). Moreover, these Christian sisters are not in a leading and controlling relationship to the adult males who are taught by them. It is the male song leader who occupies that position. Thus, they teach adult males without violating I Timothy 2:12.

    It is obvious by this biblical instruction and our compliance thereto that the mere impartation of knowledge by a woman to an adult male does not in and of itself alone constitute a woman exercising dominion over a man. Hence, there is no sin necessarily inhering in a religious article written by a woman for the public to study. Husbands, have your wives ever enlightened you on a religious subject? If so, did they by such teaching alone usurp your authority?

David P. Brown

©David P. Brown. Permission granted to use this article in any manner, as long as:
1) the content is not changed and 2) the name of the author is left on the article.