The following words by the apostle Paul are frequently used to denigrate the Bible as sexist: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner” (1 Timothy 2:12–14). Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘯 broadcast and the 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘜𝘯𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 podcast, notes that the criticism that Paul’s teaching is sexist is silenced by a careful consideration of context. Paul obviously did not intend to say that women must always be silent in church. Rather, in a culture in which women were largely illiterate and unlearned, Paul was saying that until a woman learns, she must not presume to teach. If Paul had intended to say a woman must always be silent, he would not have given women instructions on how to pray or prophesy publicly in church (1 Corinthians 11:5). Paul’s words refute the matriarchal authoritarianism practiced by pagan cults in that day. Thus, Paul emphasized that women should not presume undue authority over men. Paul neither elevated women over men nor men over women, but was actually concerned that men and women be granted equal opportunity to learn and grow in submission to one another and to God (1 Timothy 2:11; cf. Ephesians 5:21).