1 timothy 2:15, a woman teaching a man

I recently received feedback that alleged that even though I claim to love God and His word, and be in obedience to it, because I teach and have authority over men, I am a hypocrite who needs to repent of having a Jezebel spirit. I don’t take accusations like this lightly even though I don’t agree with the basic premise, which is, if I post my personal Bible studies on my website, then I am violating 1 Tim 2:15:

And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

I originally started posting my personal Bible studies because my children and grandchildren were benefiting from them, and since we don’t all live in the same state, a personal website was the easiest way for them to access them whenever it was convenient for them. So a mother teaching her children or a grandmother teaching her grandchildren is certainly not a violation of 1 Timothy.

To be honest (I am not 100% sure since I am not a techie and don’t know how to track these things) I believe my biggest audience outside of my children and grandchildren are other women:

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Titus 2:3-5

And the godliness with contentment posts, which is the post the accusation was associated with, are 100% directed at the females among us. Besides respecting our husbands, isn’t contentment in all things our biggest struggle, ladies? It was for me for a long time until the Lord taught me the secret of being content no matter my circumstances.

But back to 1 Timothy. and a woman teaching or having authority over a man. No church or pastor has given me a podium or platform, and said, I have endorsed this woman as a teacher over the men in our body. Nor do I seek out either men, churches, or other avenues of authority to promote my Bible study posts. True, I have this website. I have never advertised this website. I do not put ads on this website to make money from it.

If there is any authority in the truth the Word of God is proclaiming, that I simply point out, that is its own authority, and it is not there because of me but despite me. Now I do have male readers. If they study the Bible study posts, they can do two or three things with what I have pointed out:

• They can agree with it. If they do so, they do so on their own authority as men and leaders of families, recognizing the authority of the truth of God’s Word where it exists, and not because I have lorded it over them and forced a usurped authority on them;
• They can consider it as fodder for their own personal or professional studies. The chiastic structures and other teaching tools studies often fall in this category, to be honest. If there is any revealed truth, witnessed by the word of God and the by Holy Spirit, they are building blocks which the Holy Spirit can use to build other studies which He reveals to them;
• They can disagree with it. If they do so, have they not used their own authority to do so? I do not hear about it nor do I need to, nor does it trouble me.

Any male reader who would rather not look at Bible study posts posted by a woman, is perfectly free to leave this page and not see them. Any man is perfectly free to either encourage or forbid his wife or daughters from seeing such posts. And I have not exercised authority to prevent him from doing so or to coerce him from doing so.