So, is this the "usurping authority" thread! What a terrible and biased translation by the KJV translating committee. And this is one reason I really don't like the KJV! Because, it says whatever King James wanted it to say, with a helping of Erasmus and the Catholic Church thrown in for good measure. Instead of the Greek. So, a copy and paste by me! In other words, I wrote it earlier, just adding it back to the discussion. Or maybe it is even in the earlier pages of this thread. I just get so sick of the nonsense about "usurping authority," I thought it was time to bring out the truth, again.
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." 1 Tim. 2:12
The word AUTHORITY here is a hapax legomena in Greek. That means it appears only ONCE in the whole Bible. It is not the usual word in the New Testament for authority, which is exousia. (The word used in Matt 28:18)
"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Matt. 28:18
Notice, Jesus says the authority has been given to him, not men or women, or pastors, or priests. Jesus is the one we have to obey. It is better to obey God than man!
Instead, we have a word which cannot be translated in terms of the way it is in other Bible verses, but translators have to turn to other contemporaneous sources to find out what the word means.
The word is authentein, (αύθεμτείν) in Greek. According to every scholarly source I have read, authentein means anything from "to act on one's own authority, to exercise authority, to murder, to domineer, to be an autocrat." So ALL of these terms suggest that a woman is not to be without God's anointing, nor dominate or be an autocrat over a man.
The best translation, which takes into account the infinitive status of authentein "to domineer' as opposed to turning into a noun, and having to add an extraneous verb like "exercise," for the verse to make sense. Authentein is not a substantive, and there is no justification for adding a verb that is not even in the verse.
"I do not allow a woman to teach, or to domineer over a man, rather, she is to remain silent." 1 Tim. 2:12 (my translation!)
Further, the word "silent" or ἡσυχίᾳ in this verse, is the same word the rabbis used when teacher their students. They were not allowed to teach, and were to remain silent. In other words, Paul is following the rabbinic tradition, and saying the women are not ready to teach, and they need to stop domineering men.
Contextually, this is very important, because Timothy was the pastor in Ephesus, which was the home of the goddess Artemis or Diana. The temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and Paul had already had run-ins with their silversmiths, who resented that Paul was pulling people away from worship of Artemis and not needing their idols. (See Acts 19)
Now the big thing about these worshipers of Artemis, was that the temple was run by wild priestesses. They wore their hair long and unruly and they did some nasty things to men in the name of their idol.
So imagine if some of them get saved, or pretend to be saved, and came into a church, and start domineering and doing all kinds of cultic things. Well, I agree these women should not be in control. They should not be exercising authority over anyone. They need to unlearn a LOT of things!
So Paul was right to tell Timothy in a private letter, to kindly keep these women under control in Ephesus. Does this one verse apply to ALL women for ALL time? Well, I think it is best that neither men nor women dominate. So in that sense, it is universal.
But because Paul picked this word - the ONLY time he used it in all his letters, he was not talking about any kind of authority given by God. That would be exousia. Instead, he was giving instructions for Timothy to take these new women converts in hand, and get them to listen and learn. Maybe later, some of them could be preachers and evangelists. Prisca was certainly a teacher of the word. Why would Paul commend her, if he wanted her to be permanently silent? It makes absolutely no sense!
"Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus." Romans 16:3
Note that Prisca or Priscilla is listed first, and in 6 other passages. (Acts 18:18, 19, 26, Romans 16:3, and 1 Tim. 4:19) Aquila is only listed first once in 1 Cor. 16:19. The person that was mentioned first, in Roman and Greek tradition, is the stronger partner or the one in charge. Prisca must have been a very knowledge woman concerning the Word of God, including the New Testament and spreading the gospel.