Paul's Got Reasons - 33
Authorial Intention: Let's hear him out on this.
Paul gives the reader three reasons why women should not teach or have authority over a man in the Church.1
One has to do with the order of creation. “For = γὰρ, (gar), Adam was formed first, then Eve.”
Who formed the man and the woman? God did. Had that changed by the first century? No. God still had formed them in the order He formed them. Has that now changed in our day? No. God still had formed them in the order He formed them. So then, if Paul uses God’s creational order as one of his reasons, it is still a reason.
The second reason Paul gives is that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” To which, I’ve heard some people say, “It took Satan to deceive Eve, but only Eve to deceive her own husband.” The implication is that Adam was more gullible than Eve.
Paul’s point, however, is that Eve was deceived. Adam was not. Eve did not deceive Adam, nor did the serpent deceive Adam. You might say his sin was with “eyes wide open.” He walked into it without the excuse of having been beguiled. Adam, ultimately, bears the burden for mankind’s fall.
The third reason Paul gives has to do with women being “saved through child bearing.” This point is a bit more of a mystery, but it appears that the “saving through child bearing” could very well also be an Edenic fact and harken to God’s Word when he announced:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
This announcement was of the Messiah to come. He would come as offspring of the woman. Therefore, it is a great honor for Eve and all women to bear offspring. Child bearing provides salvation to all humanity.
I limit the application of Paul’s instruction to the Church and its corporate worship. Again, Scripture must interpret Scripture, and there are other passages written by the Apostle in which women apparently prophecy (1 Corinthians 11:4), and are fellow laborers in the kingdom (including the husband and wife team: Priscilla and Aquila).