The second half is as true as the first

Tuesday with Timothy # 18

I Timothy 2:11-12  Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

The church is not to be segregated but we also see that the church is not without order. Nothing could be as clear as to what this passage is saying, except perhaps I Corinthians 14:33-35. Only those with an agenda or those who care little for what Paul has to say on the subject can offer an objection to the clear teaching found in these passages. It is an authority issue, and not the kind you are probably thinking. It is authority of the Word of God and whether or not we will we listen and obey. B.B Warfield said "We may like what Paul says, or we may not like it. We may be willing to do what he commands, or we may not be willing to do it. But there is no room for doubt of what he says."

As we saw last time, the first half said women are to learn, the second half of the verse is as true as the first.

There are two negative commands, i.e., prohibitions.
There are three positive commands, something to be done. All five deal with the same topic at hand, the woman's place in the church.

First, let's look at the positive commands.

• Woman are to learn.
• Women are to be silent (commanded twice, once in each verse).
• Women are to be in subjection.

The negative prohibitions are:

• The woman is not to teach.
• The woman is not to usurp authority over the man.

That is the plain facts of the text. You can have a Greek study until you are making Moussaka all night or at the very least, μέχρι τις αγελάδες έρχονται σπίτι... but there is no place for a woman preacher in God's House, nor is there any place for a woman to usurp men in God's house, not in any language. There is a kind of study that seeks to understand what the author was saying, which is good. There is also a kind of study that seeks to muddy the waters so much that who knows what anyone is saying anymore.

Since blogging is a hobby of mine, not a job, I'll come back again and look a little closer at the text and go ahead and answer some of the objections that I anticipate.