Q: Doesn’t Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 2:12 for women not to teach men show that to disobey this command is a sin?

A: That’s a great question. In 1 Timothy 2:12 we need to determine what the command is and who the command is to. To determine these two things, we refer you back to the section on 1 Timothy 2:12 in the DVD “Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free?” Now to the question about sin. If one interprets this passage as meaning that all women are not allowed to teach the bible to men, then one would have a very serious dilemma about the charge of sin in this passage. The dilemma is that every single sin that is enunciated in scripture is always confirmed at least once. The reason is that there must be at least two or three witnesses for a matter to be established (Deut. 19:15; 2 Cor. 13:1). So, let’s look at scripture. Is there any confirmation in scripture that lists women teaching the bible to men as a sin? No. There is not even one place in scripture that says that a woman who teaches the bible to men is in sin. Why is this important? The reason that this is so important is that to impute sin to a woman for merely teaching God’s word to men is a very serious matter. God never violates his word and he has already told us that in the matter of sin, there must be at least two witnesses. Yet there is no second witness about this “sin”. If there is no second witness about the sin charged to a woman for her disobedience by teaching men, then either God’s word goofed on this one or the interpretation that women are commanded by God to not teach the bible to men is not accurate. We submit that God’s Word did not make a mistake. The fact that there is no second scripture that charges women with sin by teaching the bible to men proves that this interpretation cannot be right. For those of our brothers in Christ who believe that Paul is commanding something for all women to abstain from or be charged with sin, we simply ask them to prove from scripture the second witness or withdraw the accusation of sin to women who are part of the body of Christ but whom God has called to teach the entire body of Christ.