Women In Church

1 Timothy
2:9In like maner also, that women adorne themselues in modest apparell, with shamefastnesse and sobrietie, not with broided haire, or gold, or pearles, or costly aray,2:10But (which becommeth women professing godlines) with good works.2:11Let the woman learne in silence with all subiection:2:12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to vsurpe authoritie ouer the man, but to be in silence.2:13For Adam was first formed, then Eue:2:14And Adam was not deceiued, but the woman being deceiued was in the transgression:2:15Notwithstanding she shall be saued in child-bearing, if they continue in faith and charitie, and holinesse, with sobrietie.

This is clearly teaching a woman is not to step in the authority that has been given to men in the church setting, back then the church gathered in homes and a woman was not to be in authority of men, hence not a teacher or an overseer or a leader. Apostle Paul puts us into remembering that it was Eve who was deceived not Adam.

John Gill
1 Timothy 2:12
But I suffer not a woman to teach, They may teach in private, in their own houses and families; they are to be teachers of good things, Tit 2:3. They are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; nor is the law or doctrine of a mother to be forsaken, any more than the instruction of a father; see Pro 1:8. Timothy, no doubt, received much advantage, from the private teachings and instructions of his mother Eunice, and grandmother Lois; but then women are not to teach in the church; for that is an act of power and authority, and supposes the persons that teach to be of a superior degree, and in a superior office, and to have superior abilities to those who are taught by them:

nor to usurp authority over the man; as not in civil and political things, or in things relating to civil government; and in things domestic, or the affairs of the family; so not in things ecclesiastical, or what relate to the church and government of it; for one part of rule is to feed the church with knowledge and understanding; and for a woman to take upon her to do this, is to usurp an authority over the man: this therefore she ought not to do,

but to be in silence; to sit and hear quietly and silently, and learn, and not teach, as in 1Ti 2:11.

Adam Clarke
1 Timothy 2:12
Nor to usurp authority – A woman should attempt nothing, either in public or private, that belongs to man as his peculiar function. This was prohibited by the Roman laws: In multis juris nostri articulis deterior est conditio foeminarum quam masculorun,; l. 9, Pap. Lib. 31, Quaest. Foeminoe ab omnibus officiis civilibus vel publicis remotae sunt; et ideo nec judicis esse possunt, nec magistratum gerere, nec postulare, nec pro alio invenire, nec procuratores existere; l. 2, de Reg. Juris. Ulp. Lib. i. Ad Sab. – Vid. Poth. Pand. Justin., vol. i. p. 13.

“In our laws the condition of women is, in many respects, worse than that of men. Women are precluded from all public offices; therefore they cannot be judges, nor execute the function of magistrates; they cannot sue, plead, nor act in any case, as proxies.” They were under many other disabilities, which may be seen in different places of the Pandects.

But to be in silence – It was lawful for men in public assemblies to ask questions, or even interrupt the speaker when there was any matter in his speech which they did not understand; but this liberty was not granted to women. See the note on 1Co 14:34, 1Co 14:35 (note).

Joseph Benson
1 Timothy 2:11-14
Let the women learn in silence — Let every woman receive instruction in religious matters from the men in silence, in your public assemblies; with all subjection — With becoming submission to the other sex, neither teaching nor asking questions there. I suffer not a woman to teach — Namely, publicly; nor to usurp authority over the man — Which she might seem to do if she officiated under the character of a public teacher. The word αυθεντειν, here used, signifies both to have, and to exercise authority over another. In this passage it is properly translated usurp authority; because, when a woman pretends to exercise authority over a man, she arrogates a power which does not belong to her. See note on 1Co 14:34-35. For Adam was first formed — As the head and chief; then Eve — To denote her subordination to and dependance on Adam. So that the woman was originally inferior. As if he had said, What I now enjoin is agreeable to what was intimated at the first formation of the human race. And Adam was not deceived — The serpent did not attempt to deceive Adam. But he attacked the woman, knowing her to be the weaker of the two. Hence Eve, in extenuation of her fault, pleaded, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat, Gen 3:13. And Eve did not deceive Adam, but persuaded him; for he said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat, Gen 3:12; insinuating that, as the woman had been given him for a companion and help, he had eaten of the tree from affection to her, which is also intimated Gen 3:17, in God’s words to him, Thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife. “In this view of the matter, the fall of the first man stands as a warning to his posterity to beware of the pernicious influence which the love of women, carried to excess, may have upon them to lead them into sin.” The preceding verse showed why a woman should not usurp authority over the man: this shows why she ought not to teach. She is more easily deceived, and more easily deceives. Let it be observed here, however, that the apostle’s doctrine concerning the inferiority of the woman to the man, in point of understanding, is to be interpreted of the sex in general, and not of every individual; it being well known that some women, in understanding, are superior to most men. The woman being deceived, was first in the transgression — And prevailed upon Adam, by her solicitations, to transgress also. “The behaviour of Eve, who may be supposed to have been created by God with as high a degree of understanding as any of her daughters ever possessed, ought to be remembered by them all, as a proof of their natural weakness, and as a warning to them to be on their guard against temptation. Perhaps also the apostle mentioned Eve’s transgression on this occasion, because the subjection of women to their husbands was increased at the fall on account of Eve’s transgression, Gen 3:16.” — Macknight.