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submitting to quiet discipleship
1 Timothy 2:11-15 (JDV)
1 Timothy 2:11 A wife should be discipled1 quietly with full submission.
1 Timothy 2:12 I do not allow a wife to teach or to have authority over a husband; instead, she is to remain quiet.
1 Timothy 2:13 You see, Adam was formed first, then Eve.
1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the wife was deceived and overstepped.2
1 Timothy 2:15 But she will be rescued through childbearing, if they stay in faith, care, and devotion, with good judgment.
submitting to quiet discipleship
In the strongly patriarchal world Paul lived in, he had to make concessions to male domination, and this passage is certainly an example of such a concession. He discourages Christian wives from dominating their husbands. Instead, he encourages them to submit to being discipled quietly.
As an example of this, he points out how Eve had to be rescued from her mistake, and through God’s grace received forgiveness.
His objective is not “putting women in their place” but keeping the culture open to the gospel. Although he taught that in Christ, gender differences do not matter (Galatians 3:28), he knew that unbelievers would be looking for opportunities to reject the gospel. So, he encouraged Christian wives to voluntarily submit to quiet discipleship rather than showing off their freedom in Christ.
There are some cultures on the planet today where Christian wives should practice the same thing. But, hopefully, we will all soon outgrow the need to concede to patriarchalism. God has no sexual preference. We are all one in Christ.
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1 μανθάνω = be discipled. 1 Timothy 2:11; 5:4, 13.
2παράβασις = overstep.
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