1 Timothy 2 : Controversial No Matter How You Slice It

Paul begins the chapter harmlessly enough.  we are to pray for kings and leaders and seek to live peaceful and quiet lives.  He affirms there is one God and that Christ is the one mediator between God and man.  No argument here.  He wants men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.  Fine.

In verse 9, this chapter gets messy.  And no matter how these verses in 9-15 are interpreted, somebody's going to be bothered by them.  There is a large crowd that insists that common English translations must be taken literally and that because of this passage women may not be pastors or elders in the church.  They must not "teach or have authority over a man".

Many others argue a historical context, stating that this issue of overly ambitious women was unique to the church in Ephesus that Timothy was leading -- Ephesus being a place filled with those who worshiped Artemis, and with women who typically viewed themselves as superior to men.  By speaking out against this, by reminding women that Adam came first, Paul isn't putting women in their place as subordinates to men, but as equals, something that was uncommon among the women of Ephesus.

Still others will tell us that exploration of the original language indicates that Paul's command against a woman holding authority over a man refers to a very specific, graphic, domineering type of authority.  That Paul uses the word "authentin", a word found nowhere else in the New Testament, that has sexual connotations and has nothing to do with preaching and teaching in the early church.

After reading articles coming from all these various viewpoints, my head is spinning.  But I do know this: what I clearly understand in verse 5, "there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" makes it clear that while there will be portions of Scripture we will struggle to grasp, we must always cling to the truths that are abundantly evident.  Mark Twain said something like, "it ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me...it's the parts that I do understand."  Well said, Mr. Langhorne Clemens.