The key text is 1 Timothy 2:12 " But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to keep silence". This sounds final. Done and dusted. Women forever must take a back seat. But wait, there are several questions to be answered here. The text occurs in a little collection of letters generally known as the Pastoral epistles, because they deal with the church of the second generation. There is no immediate apocalyptic expectation. Yes, the expectation of final judgement is there in the formal charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2,5 .It is there in the letter to Titus, 2:13, but the sense of urgency has disappeared. It is a good discipline to read the two letters that precede the Pastorals- the letters to Christians in Thessalonica. These letters, undoubtedly written by Paul, certainly early in the church's history, breathe the excitement of the expectation of the nearness of the parousia- the nearness of the Lord's coming. By contrast, the Pastorals paint a picture of a settled church, beginning to form a structure of ministry, with Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons and Deaconesses. The contrast is so great between the Pastorals and Paul's other letters that many have questioned their authorship. Were they written by a disciple of Paul after the great man's martyrdom? The question remains open, but the language and subjects of the Pastorals suggests a church in the process of settling down.
Undoubtedly, women had been teaching, otherwise there would be no need to forbid them.Is it there for all time, or is it meant for the Ephesian women in a time of special crisis?
Much of the argument depends on the meaning of one word- authentein, ususally translated "to exercise authority over". This word is a hapax legomenon- a word which only occurs once in the whole of the New Testament. Of course, it depends on which side of the fence you sit as to how you translate this word. If you are an egalitarian-one who believes women should be allowed to take leadership roles in the church- you'll translate it one way If you are a complementarian- a nice word for those who believe women's roles are confined to Sunday school teaching and flower arranging, then you'll translate it another way.
Because of its rarity, it is difficult to be certain. It is dangerous to look at uses in non-Biblicl sources, for the language of the New Testament is firstly what is known as koine Greek- a common language far from the Classical Greek of scholars and then it is a variant of koine too, a semitic version, peppered by words that have their basis in Hebrew. Henry Scott Baldwin has gathered up many of these meanings in a chapter headed, "An Important Word" in AJ Koestenberger &TR Schreiner's "Women in the Church" (Grand Rapids:Baker Academic 1995 39-51) He has gathered up the fruits of other's labours and put them in orderly fashion. He admits the difficulty of being sure and notes that even though Leland Wilshire studied the 314 reference in the computer base of Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, he could not come to a certain conclusion. But, the book being edited by two of the noted complementarians, the idea of authority and domination win the day as the likeliest of candidates.
On the other side, Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger look at Classical Greek instances of the word and find "killing, beginning and copulating" "I suffer not a Woman" ( Grand Rapids: Baker 1991,87) They look carefully at the work of the papyrologist Friedrich Preisigke who finds evidence from Greek Papyrii,that authentein is a legal word, "Usurpation", they find is certainly one possible meaning as the KJV has it, but that is not the end of the story. The word is used in the Mystery religions and to cut a long story short, is involved in odd practices, including ritual castration, murder and men adopting women's roles. The latter, sparked off the idea of an alternative translation of the text. "I do not allow a woman to teach or proclaim herself author of man". This fits well into the context,where the prior creation of Adam is emphasised. As the Kroegers point out,much of 1 Timothy hammers home the primacy of the word. Could it be that some women were teaching false doctrine?
Both writers protest too much! They are concerned to make their point. Both begin with preconceptions.But how hard it is to come to this subject with a clear mind. Gordon Fee certainly does not! Yet in his commentary, written from a conservative evangelical position,he sees the background of the church at Ephesus as sitting in the tourist centre of Artemis, with all its influence. Agreeing that its meaning is probably, "to domineer", he says,"In context it probably reflects again on the role the women were playing inadvancing the errors- or speculations-of the false teachers and therefore is to be understood very closely with the prohibition against teaching." ( "New International Biblical Commentary 172 Timothy,Titus" (Peabody; Hendrickson 1988,73) He notes that those who think that these words have universal application, do not urge younger widows to marry in 5:14!
The two sides will never agree.Yet silently and without too much fuss, women are taking positions of power in the church. It will be a long time before a female Archbishop appears, but it will happen and there will still be pockets of complementarians grumbling along, refusing to give women the place God intended.