1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. Why is it some interpret certain verses in the same chapter to apply literally, and others don't? How can one verse (only Verse 9) be taken out of context to actually apply in a physical sense, which is located between two verses that are spiritualized (verse 8 and 12)? It can only be done with haphazard, inconsistent, unsound, incomplete, indiscriminate interpretation. These verses are instances where some have maximized what Paul intended to minimize, because the idioms he used were not understood. An idiom is a manner of speaking distinctive of a certain people or language. In this case, the idiom was a manner of speaking which would minimize the first clause in order to emphasize the second clause. For correct interpretation, idioms of speech HAVE to be taken into account. If the Bible were written in our generation and contained an instruction to kids (as we often call children), people 2000 years from now could easily think it was speaking of goats, unless the figures of speech and idioms of the time in which it was written were taken into account. If it said, "Take this with a grain of salt," people could believe we accepted certain instructions by symbolically throwing salt into our mouths. If they were of the belief that every instruction that one can possibly take from the Bible is meant for them, they could interpret it that they too SHOULD ALWAYS accept instruction in this manner -- if they did not recognize the idiom of speech used. If they took the literal meaning of someone "dissolving into tears," they would probably think it was something that no longer took place in their day and time.
53