[Siena Dreaming]

The Ephesian situation was a strange one in which the women were setting themselves as superior to men because of a false belief that Eve was superior because she had bitten of the apple of knowledge first. Notice the unusual reference to Adam and Eve in the Book of Ephesians. Generally, women in Ephesus were held up as superior because of the worship of Artemis that had been going on there for years and which had brought in a lucrative trade (remember Paul and his trouble with worshippers of Artemis in the Book of Acts).

The Ephesian church had trouble dropping all that and Paul was commanding them that women were not allowed to have "authenteo" (domineer) over men, which would imply the superiority of women.

Likely he did not mean that they should not ever teach or have authority in the normal way "exousia".

[paladin1_dcs]

While I agree that something strange was going on at Ephesus and you’re probably right about why Paul commanded that women were not allowed to have “authenteo” over men instead of “exousia”, I also must notice that this was not the accepted understanding of this verse until very recent, being understood as such only within the last 100 years or so. If you can offer proof that this idea was around and supported by the early Church, preferably before the end of the 2nd Century, then I’d be more willing to accept it as the proper understanding.