1 Timothy 2:12

12 I do not allow them to teach or to have authority over men; they must keep quiet.

1 Timothy 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Timothy 2:12

But I suffer not a woman to teach,
&c,] They may teach in private, in their own houses and families; they are to be teachers of good things, ( Titus 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 ( Proverbs 1:8 ) ( 31:1-4 ) . 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 ( 1 Timothy 2:11 ) .

1 Timothy 2:12 In-Context

10 but with good deeds, as is proper for women who claim to be religious.

11 Women should learn in silence and all humility.

12 I do not allow them to teach or to have authority over men; they must keep quiet.

13 For Adam was created first, and then Eve.

14 And it was not Adam who was deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and broke God's law.