[quote:c6a16e20d2]Women were next to chattel, they learned to run the home and pass on those duties to their daughters under Jewish tradition but Paul now opens the way for women to learn the doctrines of the faith. It's an AMAZING shift. If we couple that verse with Paul's exhortation to 'not be hearers of the Word only, but doers" we must ask "Why shouldn't a woman teach?" While learning she remained silent (not out of submission but out of ignorance) now let her teach. [/quote:c6a16e20d2]

in one sense, i think you are quite correct.....it is an amazing command and quite a shift, in a sense, to exhort women to learn and study all the doctrine they can. They should be as mentally active in pursuing God and study as the men in leadership are. I think that is a great point in the text.

However, i do not see how you can put the idea in the text that "once she learns enough and becomes well enough studied, why not let her teach?" - this is simply absent in the text. If this is what paul had in mind, he certainly would have said as much. And to the contrary, He spoke about the REASON why women are not to teach or have authority over a man.....and that reason was NOT that they were incapable of sufficiently understanding doctrine, but because of the very nature of things - giving his justification from the accounts of Adam and Eve (v. 13 - "For" ). This reasoning is not a subjective or cultural crutch paul leans upon for his argument, but a timeless truth that men are to be in headship in both the church and home.

to simply put my objection - your implicit statement that women should not have led because they were incapable, but once they are learned enough to do so then they should - is simply not in the text......while the text DOES directly say that women should not teach or have authority over men in the church - the reason for this command is NOT that they were unqualified in doctrinal learning, but because of the nature of things - Adam was formed first, then Eve...and it was the woman who fell into transgression first.

As long as it remains true that Adam was formed first, then Eve....and that Eve was first deceived and became a transgressor, then paul's conclusion from that reasoning (that only men formally lead and teach the church) is still valid.

[Edited on 4-15-2004 by smhbbag]

__________________
Jeremy Gage
First Baptist Church
Durham, NC

"No heart can conceive that treasury of mercies which lies in this one privilege, in having liberty and ability to approach unto God at all times, according to his mind and will." - John Owen