Reprinted from SBC Life, September 1998. Published by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.

This essay first appeared in Bulletin of Biblical Research 7 (1997): 107-44 and was reprinted in Chapter 14 of Studies in John and Gender.  Used with permission. 

Editor's note: Scripture references are to the NASB unless otherwise noted. This essay is a summary of the author's argument in "Ascertaining Women's God-Ordained Roles: An Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:15, " Bulletin of Biblical Research 7 (1997): 1-38.