1 Timothy 2:11-12. ONE SENTENCE. ONE COMMAND. ONE SUBGROUP. NOT ALL WOMEN. Verse 11 is the main idea of the long Greek sentence that is numbered as verses 11 and 12 in 1 Timothy 2. It contains the only imperative of the passage and merits our focused attention. Paul wanted the wayward women overseers to receive retraining as good rabbinic students. The they could be restored to ministry if that was what they aspired to (see 3:1).
"Woman" This anarthrous noun can stand for a subgroup of women. These women made up the subgroup of women overseers who had gone astray and were being corrected by Timothy in Ephesus and Paul where he was.
Not all the men overseers were being corrected because not all were causing angry disputes in church. Not all the women overseers needed to be retrained. Many were professing the Gospel well.
Verse 11 is the main idea of verses 11 and 12. Verse 12 is subordinate to it. Verse 11 is Paul's command not to limit these women further than appropriate but to retrain them for service. He continues these instructions down through 1 Timothy 3 as we will see.
Go Deeper? Listen to Season Three of The Eden Podcast. Better still get Book Three in The Eden Book Series (forthcoming), Back to Eden, 1 Timothy 2:8-3:16 (Corrected and Retrained by Jesus the Faithful Word).
You are invited to begin studying with The Eden Course, Genesis 2-3. Follow the link for the latest price. "Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear, the other passages become clear."