1 Tim 2:11-15 - Seven Crucial Questions

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

If you don’t know Preston Sprinkle’s Theology in the Raw podcast and his you.tube page, you really should. He does excellent work, especially on Bible, church, sexuality, and culture.

As it goes, Preston made a massive two-hour video about 1 Tim 2:8-15, including all the interpretive issues one must address to figure out what Paul says about women, teaching, authority, and the church. It is a terrific video, very reasonable, and balanced approach by Preston. I strongly recommend it.

Here are the seven questions Preston says need to be answered:

1. Does 1 Tim 2:8-15 talk about wives and husbands in the home, or, men and women in the church?

2. What is the relationship between the statements about clothing and behaviour in 1 Tim 2:9-11 and the prohibition on teaching in 1 Tim 2:12?

3. What is meant by “quietness” (complete silence or not causing a ruckus) and “in all submission” (submit to whom, husbands, pastors, all men)?

4. Concerning the disputed contents of v. 12:

   1. What is the significance of the verb “I [do not] permit” (ἐπιτρέπω)?

   2. What is the meaning of the verb “to have authority” (αὐθεντεῖν)?

   3. What is the meaning of the verb “to teach” (διδάσκειν)?

   4. What is the significance of the syntax of “neither/nor” (οὐκ/οὐδὲ)?

5. Does Paul’s appeal to the creation story in v. 13, form the basis for or merely an illustration of, the prohibition in v. 12?

6. What is the significance of Eve’s deception in v. 14?

7. What is the meaning of salvation through child-bearing in v. 15 and how does it function as a whole?

Wow, that’s an impressive list, and Preston does well in his own breakdown of them. These are indeed THE questions one must wrestle with!

So how would I answer those questions?