and once again...for our dear brother..
Paul was not teaching that women in general are to submit to men in general (
Col 3:18). Paul was speaking about a wife not taking by force the leadership role over her husband.
It would be impossible for a woman to submit to every man...that would be total confusion. How could a woman submit to every man? There is balance in everything.
I submit to my husband...that is what the bible teaches me to do.
We all know that a woman is not to rule her husband...
That is the point Paul was specifying, that a woman should not "usurp authority over the man" (1Ti 2:12,} . This singles out an individual man, not mankind. It refers to a wife not being her husband's boss. Paul was saying that a wife is to let the husband take the leadership role in the church (
Eph 5:22-24). She is to let her husband speak.
The word "usurp" in the next verse further strengthens this interpretation. "Usurp" means, "to seize and hold...by force or without legal authority" (American Heritage Dictionary). Paul was talking against a woman lording over her husband. We've all seen boisterous women with little mousy husbands. That's what Paul was speaking against.
This is similar to what Paul went on to say about the men in the next chapter. He told Timothy not to make a man a bishop who couldn't rule his own house. Likewise, he was saying that a woman should not speak in the church if she's trying to usurp her husband's authority. If a man's home isn't in order, he shouldn't minister, and if a woman's husband isn't in agreement with her saying something, she should be quiet.
The reason for Paul's instruction about the wife keeping quiet was to keep her from usurping authority over her husband. This does not forbid women to speak in the church if their husbands are in agreement.
Paul spoke of women praying and prophesying in the church services (1Co 11:5). Priscilla instructed Apollos (Ac 18:26), and Paul instructed the older women to teach the younger women (
Tit 2:3-4). It appears that Paul did not forbid women to teach under appropriate circumstances.
In 1Ti 2:13-15, Paul continued his argument, using Adam and Eve as an example of a husband-and-wife relationship. This is not a "men are superior to women" passage of Scripture but a "husbands are the head of their wives" (
Eph 5:23) passage.