"I Do Not Permit a Woman to Teach" // 1 Timothy 2 Explained

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]What does it look like when the gospel sits at the center of a church's everyday life and weekly routines and rhythms of worship? Well, interestingly, Paul begins here not with strategies or structures, but with prayer. He says, "I urge then first of all that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings, and for all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

[00:00:35]How challenging it is to see that the groundwork for any truly god-glorifying action, it ought to be real persistence in prayer. And what is the hope? What is the aim of all this praying? End of verse two. That we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. As the very next verse tells us, this is good and pleases God our savior who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

[00:01:07]As our prayers should be wide in their scope, so God's love is wide in its scope and he will save people from all tribes, tongues, and nations. In the next section of this chapter, Paul gives some teaching to the men in the church and some teaching to the women in the church. From verse 8, we read, "Therefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing." Think of the disputes that were alluded to in the previous chapter. These men now are being told to stop fighting and instead to pray. Men cannot lead God's people if they themselves are dominated by disagreements and futile foolish thinking. And then Paul addresses women.

[00:01:53]He begins with appearances as he says, "I also want the women to dress modesty with decency and propriety, adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

[00:02:12]Clearly, these were cultural expressions of wealth in this era. Elaborate hairstyles would cost a great deal of money. gold or pearls or expensive clothes are clear obvious external signs of your great wealth. And it seems that this was a real problem in the early church or perhaps particularly in Ephesus. But again, we ought to look at the heart behind these things. It doesn't seem that Paul is issuing a rigid dress code, but he is instructing women in the church about a way in which they might bless the entire congregation of which they are a part by adorning themselves with good deeds appropriate for those who profess to worship God.

[00:02:52]Similar in fact, to the men whose hands are not to be raised up for fighting and falling out, but to be raised up in prayer. I think the modern-day application would be probably not to have a a dress code on the door at your church and insist that anybody wearing pearl earrings must be turned away at the door, but simply for women themselves to ask the question, is my aim here to turn people's attention to the Lord or to turn people's attention to me? Dress in such a way that it is obvious to all that you don't think you're the star of the show. Jesus is.

[00:03:25]And now to close this chapter, Paul gives us one of the most controversial commands found in the New Testament. One day I might do videos unpacking controversial topics in a bit more detail. Let me say for today there is firstly not time to defend what Paul is saying in a way that will adequately satisfy anyone who disagrees. So my appeal is not to them. But secondly, I shouldn't have to defend what Paul is saying or attempt to satisfy those who disagree with what he is saying. Let me read this to you and you in all honesty should think to yourself if this is unclear or not. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. This is in the context of the gathered church as we've been seeing for the entire chapter. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man.

[00:04:12]She must be quiet. Again, this is not ruling out school teachers or university professors. This is within the context of the church. And if God is God, then our question should not be, did God get this right? Or am I going to submit to what he has very clearly said? And here is the reason he gives the command.

[00:04:30]Notice it's not rooted in culture, but in creation. Some people try and dodge this by saying, well, in that era, women were less educated. But now we can put this command in the bin because girls were doing better than boys at school.

[00:04:42]And how backwards would we be to do what God tells us to do in light of those modern-day facts? still see where it's rooted. Not in the culture of Ephesus, but in the creation order. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived. It was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. Now, there's more here. There's loads more here. And this 6-inute format just doesn't allow us time to delve into all the details, obviously. But for now, let this be the lesson. The church is God's idea and he gets to call the shots on how exactly it is run. If we throw his commands aside and say, "Well, God, I think we've got a better idea nowadays."

[00:05:23]Just bear in mind that is exactly what Eve and then Adam did in the garden.

[00:05:27]Yeah, nice idea, God. Restricting us in ways that we don't really like, but actually, we're going to throw off your shackles of arbitrary restriction. Who can tell us this is okay and that is not okay? We will do what we want. Thank you very much. And you see how pleased God was with that attitude. The church should be countercultural and unashamed to say, "We want all that we do to appeal not so much to our culture, but to our king. Our aim is to please him.