1 Timothy 2:11-15

v11-12: Women are prohibited from teaching and having authority over men. Practically, this means that the role of elder and of preaching at the formal gatherings of the church to worship on the Lord's Day is for qualified men only. It does not mean that women are inferior to men, that all women must submit to all men, that men cannot learn from women, or that women should never teach. Timothy, himself, had received the benefit of being taught the Scriptures by his mother and grandmother.

v13-14: This command Paul gives is rooted in creation. "Adam was formed first, then Eve; she was created for the man, and not the man for the woman." Just as the responsibility for keeping the serpent out of the garden belonged to Adam, so the responsibility for keeping the serpent out of the church belongs to the qualified men who serve as elders.

v15: The ongoing effect of the curse is felt by many women in the pains of childbirth, but this "will be no bar to their acceptance with Christ." They, like all God's people, will be saved by faith in Christ, and will show the genuineness of this, by continuing to trust in Him and by displaying the fruits of love, holiness, and self-control in their lives.