Paul wrote to Timothy, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia--remain in Ephesus that you may charge (paraggello) some (tis) that they teach no other doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). Timothy was to charge also women to teach no other doctrine, for the word tis (some) is gender neutral.[1] Hence we find that 1 Timothy mirrors the problem found in 1 Corinthians: the concept of some teaching others found in 1 Timothy 1.3 is gender neutral but 2.12 appears to restrict the activity to men, and in both chapters reference is made to both the creation and fall of mankind.
It is not without significance that Wayne Grudem must base the man’s authority on an inference due to the conspicuous absence of a corresponding commandment:
The fact that God first created Adam, then after a period of time created Eve (Gen. 2:7, 18-23), suggests that God saw Adam as having a leadership role in his family. .. .The creation of Adam first is consistent with the Old Testament pattern of “primogeniture,” the idea that the firstborn in any generation in a human family has leadership in the family for that generation. The right of primogeniture is assumed throughout the Old Testament text.[2]
The secular custom of primogeniture is applied only to boys, wherefore Grudem makes the inference that because Adam was male, he had the privileges of the firstborn. But this inference would make only Adam - not every man - the firstborn of the human family, for not every man is a firstborn. In fact, if it is argued that every firstborn is a leader, women cannot be excluded from leadership, since also females are among the firstborns, as is seen in England where, as a consequence, Queens have ruled the nation. But most importantly, it is Jesus who is the firstborn of the creation, of the dead, and the church (Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 12:23). It is He who is the heir (Heb. 1:2) with whom we will inherit the kingdom (Gal. 4:7) for every believer becomes a co-heir with Christ and becomes part of the household of God, wherefore also Peter reminded the husbands to give honor to their wives as co-heirs (1 Pet. 3:7). All believers have God as their Father, and as is true in the natural family, the younger siblings all share the same privileges and responsibilities. Thus primogeniture as an analogy is invalid.
[1] In Revelation 2:20 John rebukes the Christians of Thyatira for they allowed a woman to teach and seduce the people to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. The stress is not on the fact that she is a woman, but that she is leading people away from the truth.
[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Inter-Varsity Press (UK) and Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1994) 461.
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