Did Paul permit qualified women to teach? Yes


Bible translators were careless with 1 Timothy 2:12, a passage that addresses female leadership in the church. The New King James Version renders the apostle Paul’s letter in English, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man.” But the Greek text, when interpreted correctly, does not express that.

Translators omitted the word “yet” twice from the verse, twisting Paul’s message. This is how it reads in theĀ Greek Interlinear Bible: “I am not permitting women to teach YET or to have authority over man YET (emphasis added).” Jewish women in Paul’s day were not afforded the same religious training as men. Paul wanted women to wait until they had equipped themselves to teach doctrine correctly. Men were held to the same standard. Men and women are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28), including offices of leadership. Male cronyism in church is a violation of Scripture.

I thank Messengers of Messiah teaching ministry for introducing this information. And helping me smooth out the choppy English in the Greek Interlinear Bible when I researched it myself.



Share
Tags
Written by Jeff King

Jeff is a retired newspaper journalist in the United States and follower of Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth


Twitter feed responded with an HTTP status code of 410.