1 Timothy 2:13-14

1 Timothy 2:13-14

[13] For  Adam  first  formed,  then  Eve.  [14] And  Adam  not  deceived,  but  the woman  being deceived  was  in  the transgression. 

What does 1 Timothy 2:13-14 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Paul gave two reasons why women should conduct themselves in church meetings as he just specified. First, from Creation it was God"s intention that the male should lead the female. He reminded his readers that God made Adam first and then made a suitable companion for him in Eve. God made Eve for Adam; He did not make Adam for Eve. This implies no essential superiority of the male over the female. God created Adam and Eve equals in the sense that they needed and complemented one another. However, God entrusted Adam with leadership responsibility over his wife. Eve was not responsible to God for Adam in the same sense that Adam was responsible for Eve. [1]
". . . the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved." [2]
Second ( 1 Timothy 2:14), as part of the judgment on Eve at the Fall God confirmed (i.e, made permanent) the leadership of the male over the female ( Genesis 3:16). It was a result of her deception by the serpent that Eve fell. I do not believe that God confirmed Eve and all women as followers because they are congenitally more susceptible to deception than males. Adequate evidence to support such a sweeping generalization is lacking (cf. 2 Timothy 1:5; Titus 2:4). Rather it was evidently because Eve on that one occasion was deceived that God confirmed her and her daughters in their position as followers. Some writers believed that Paul argued only from Creation and used the Fall to illustrate his argument. [3] It has seemed to most that he used two arguments.
In the Ephesian church, some of the women had been led astray by false teachers ( 1 Timothy 5:15) who were themselves misled by Satan (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1).
"Verse14is almost certainly a local reference to the deception of some women in the Ephesian church ... [4]." [5]
That Isaiah , one of the reasons Paul referred to the Fall was that some women in the Ephesian church were in danger of doing what Eve did, namely, being deceived by false teachers. [6]
"Paul"s point [7] is that this role reversal that caused such devastation at the beginning must not be repeated in the church. The woman must not be the one who leads the man in obedience to her. Thus when the teaching of the Word of God in the assembly occurs, a qualified male elder should fill the role of teacher." [8]
Some people conclude that women are to be under male authority in all areas of life, not just in church meetings, since Paul appealed to Creation and the Fall. They believe that a man should not submit himself to female authority at all, even in the workplace. Personally I do not think this is what Paul meant. He cited God"s intention for male female relationships specifically in marriage, not in general social situations. Christian men and women should bring their proper relationship to one another in marriage over into church life and apply it in the household of faith (cf. 1 Timothy 3:15) as well as in the household of the family.