Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Timothy 2:14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
14. the woman being deceived was in the transgression ] The compound verb should be read as in 2Co 11:3, ‘as the serpent beguiled Eve’; ‘Adam was not beguiled,’ a general negative, limited by the compound verb following, ‘you may say he was not beguiled in comparison with the complete direct beguiling of Eve’; the woman being beguiled is found in transgression.
‘Was’ does not represent properly the perfect, lit. ‘is become,’ used, according to Greek idiom, because the past event is viewed as having a present influence, and continuing in its effects.
Here it helps the transition from the particular case of Eve in the past to the general case of women now. This is also aided by the further change to the future in ‘shall be saved.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Adam was not deceived – This is the second reason why the woman should occupy a subordinate rank in all things. It is, that in the most important situation in which she was ever placed she had shown that she was not qualified to take the lead. She had evinced a readiness to yield to temptation; a feebleness of resistance; a pliancy of character, which showed that she was not adapted to the situation of headship, and which made it proper that she should ever afterward occupy a subordinate situation. It is not meant here that Adam did not sin, nor even that he was not deceived by the tempter, but that the woman opposed a feebler resistance to the temptation than he would have done, and that the temptation as actually applied to her would have been ineffectual on him. To tempt and seduce him to fall, there were needed all the soft persuasions, the entreaties, and example of his wife.
Satan understood this, and approached man not with the specious argument of the serpent, but through the allurements of his wife. It is undoubtedly implied here that man in general has a power of resisting certain kinds of temptation superior to that possessed by woman, and hence that the headship properly belongs to him. This is, undoubtedly, the general truth, though there may be many exceptions, and many noble cases to the honor of the female sex, in which they evince a power of resistance to temptation superior to man. In many traits of character, and among them those which are most lovely, woman is superior to man; yet it is undoubtedly true that, as a general thing, temptation will make a stronger impression on her than on him. When it is said that Adam was not deceived, it is not meant that when he partook actually of the fruit he was under no deception, but that he was not deceived by the serpent; he was not first deceived, or first in the transgression. The woman should remember that sin began with her, and she should therefore be willing to occupy an humble and subordinate situation.
But the woman being deceived – She was made to suppose that the fruit would not injure her, but would make her wise, and that God would not fulfil his threatening of death. Sin, from the beginning, has been a process of delusion. Every man or woman who violates the law of God is deceived as to the happiness which is expected from the violation, and as to the consequences which will follow it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ti 2:9; 1Ti 2:14
That women adorn themselves in modest apparel.
Womans true dignity
If we lived in Turkey or in India, we should be better able to appreciate the wisdom of Pauls counsel in respect to the women of his day: and I am not prepared to mitigate or to apologise for his brave and wise words. Remember it was due to him more than to any other apostle that women had been so far emancipated as they were when this Epistle was written, for it was he who had taught that in Christ Jesus there was neither male nor female. But he grieved over some of the evils which at first arose from the great changes effected in their social position. Seclusion had been rigorously maintained by the customs of those Eastern cities. The picture in the Royal Academy, which represents a young girl, with slippers in her hand, drawing aside the curtain of the seraglio, and stepping across the body of a black slave, who is sleeping with naked sword in his hand, fairly represents the slave-like treatment of women in Ephesus in Pauls days. Indeed, even among the Jews the women who came to the synagogue were (and still are) kept out of sight in a carefully screened gallery. It was therefore not to be wondered at that the Christian women emancipated from such treatment felt themselves not only at liberty to assert their new-born rights but bound to do so, and that they claimed a prominence and a freedom which were good neither for themselves nor for the Church. And we must not forget that, so far as women had greater publicity in the heathen cities, it was at the risk of the virtuous reputation which Christians would be the most anxious to preserve. The priestesses of the temples, for example, were notoriously immoral, and the Hetairae were not only a recognized, but even a respectable class in Pagan society.
I. He speaks of it first negatively, declaring that her dignity does not depend upon outward adornment; and this is always and everywhere true. It is probable that the women who came to the Christian assemblies in Ephesus arrayed them selves in costly attire, and sometimes made unbecoming display of their personal charms till the custom was becoming the sensation, if not the scandal, of the city. No one professing godliness ought to spend time, and taste, and money to the extent many do on mere personal adornment, as if the body was everything and the mind nothing, or as if the chief end of a womans life was to win admiration not respect, to please man and not God. Even from a lower standpoint it is a mistake, and I venture to think that many a marriage has been prevented, and many a possibly happy home is fraught with anxiety, because of an expenditure on dress, which cannot be reasonably or rightly met. There are lives which might have been unspeakably happier if only they had been united, if the two young people had been content to face the world together with plain fare and simple habits. Listen to John Ruskin, I say further, that as long as there are cold and nakedness in the land around you, so long can there be no question at all but that splendour of dress is a crime.
II. Womans dignity is next set forth positively. I will, says Paul, that women adorn themselves in–
1. Modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety. Society owes its tone more to women than to men. What they frown upon will be tabooed; what they thoughtlessly tolerate will grow in evil influence.
2. But in addition to this influence, which may be almost unconsciously exercised, the Christian woman is to adorn herself with good works. She often does this behind the veil which is drawn over every home. There are those whose good works are noble in their self-sacrifice and far-reaching in their issues of whom the Church hears little. Many a man can sympathize with that soldier who said, I can stand before the enemy, but I cannot stand before my sisters prayers. And who does not know of more public work done by Christian women–such as that of our visitors and Sunday-school teachers; of saintly pleaders with the drunkards and the profligate;–of noble women whose writings have purged the atmosphere of moral corruption; of heroines like Florence Nightingale and Sister Dora, who have trodden closely in the footsteps of the Lord. These have been clothed with good works. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
The position of woman
This was–
I. A bold declaration on the part of the apostle. Let the woman learn in silence (or rather in quietness) with all subjection, for I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in quietness; but the course he followed in this matter was wise, in the condition of life then prevailing. In our days there is no doubt a change of those conditions, which would make the rigorous application of such a rule unwise and unjust. Women, in larger numbers now than then, are of necessity independent, and are compelled to earn their own livelihood, and make their own homes; and being, in some respects, the weaker, they should have no artificial barriers put in the way of their doing so. There are disabilities, the relics of feudal times, which slowly, yet surely, are being swept away, though much still remains to be done. Under our English laws, for example, a woman may be compelled to pay taxes, though she has no right to influence the election of those who impose them–as her gardener or coachman may do. But the general law laid down by Paul still holds good. The public work of life, whether in the world or in the Church, is, broadly speaking, not womans but mans. His is the life of turmoil, hers of quietude. She is receptive; he is aggressive: and it is not so much in her conspicuous activity as in her yielding affectionateness that her true strength is found.
II. By a scriptural argument. He goes back to Eden for justification of his teaching–for he was accustomed to regard the facts of the Old Testament as symbolical and parabolical sources of perpetual instruction. Adam was first formed, says he, then Eve. Mans priority in creation, standing as he did alone and in immediate relation to God, was an indication of his place and power, as having the headship over her whom God made to be his helpmeet. But if the helpmeet becomes the head, and the head weakly yields, there comes an overthrow of the Divine order, as there did come in Paradise. Practical shrewdness and discernment; the firm and regulative judgment which should characterize the ruler, are less hers than mans. Her very excellencies, connected as they are with the finer sensibilities and the stronger impulses of a noble and loving nature, disqualify her for the headship, whereas the balance in mans nature is the other way; in the direction of the intellectual and the governing. But it is here asserted that Adam was not deceived, and was therefore more guilty, because with his eyes open to the wrong he yielded to conjugal love. In other words, the will and the judgment were sacrificed to the affections–the essence of moral fall. Paul closes his remarks on woman by alluding to–
III. A blessed assurance. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing; or, as the R.V. has it, through the childbearing. Perhaps there was some hint here of the blessing that comes through pain and travail, of whatsoever kind it be; and also of the great and noble work possible only to motherhood. But the more correct translation gives us rather the thought of what may be called pre-eminently the childbearing –when Jesus Christ, the worlds Saviour, was born of a woman, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh–for it was thus that the great promise was fulfilled which brought a gleam of hope into the darkness of Eves despair, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
Advice against jewellery
As to jewels, let me advise you not to buy any–even though you have the purse of Fortunatus, or may hereafter become wealthy. Some may be given you, but still I would say, do not wear them–unless, perhaps, now and then, with the pure desire of affording pleasure to the donors. A fancy for the possession and display of jewellery soon generates into a craze, ever growing, or unsatisfied unless in the ownership of gems superior to those of others around you. It is an unhealthy and vulgar feeling, Which has not seldom led to the ruin of women in all classes. Other reasons may be advanced against the indulgence of this false taste. Valuable jewels cannot but become, at times, a source of trouble and anxiety; and if lost or stolen, a bitter feeling of annoyance is retained. Opportunities for display are few; and often then, through disadvantageous comparison with others, are apt to give rise to heart-burning and envy–feelings which would never be experienced in such a way were the face resolutely set against such vanities. (Lady Bellairs.)
A passion for extravagant dress
The Empress Josephine had twenty-four thousand pounds for her personal expenses, but this sum was not sufficient, and her debts increased to an appalling degree. She rose at nine oclock. Her toilet consumed much time, and she lavished unwearied efforts on the preservation and embellishment of her person. Huge baskets were brought to her containing different dresses, shawls, and hats. From these she selected her costume for the day. She possessed between three or four hundred shawls, and always wore one in the morning, which she draped about her shoulders with unequalled grace. The evening toilet was as careful as that of the morning–then she appeared with flowers of pearls, or precious stones in her hair. Bonaparte was irritated by these expenditures; he would fly into a passion, and his wife would weep and promise to be more prudent; after which she would go on in the same way. It is almost incredible that this passion for dress should never have exhausted itself. After her divorce she arrayed herself with the same care even when she was no one. She died covered with ribbons and pale rose-coloured satin. As long as the heart is unrenewed by Divine grace, regard for the outward is even greater than regard for the inward. True religion reverses all this, and gives the things unseen and eternal their rightful place. The most humbly dressed believer in Christ has a better garment than the empress, even the wedding garment of Christs righteousness.
A good use for ornaments
Some of you might do great good with articles which you might very readily spare. You have ornaments which Christian men and women are better without, which, if broken up or sold, would aid the good cause. I wish many would follow the example of Oliver Cromwell, when he went into Exeter Cathedral, and saw twelve massive images of the apostles in silver. Oh, oh, said he, what do these gentlemen here? They are the twelve apostles, was the reply. Very well, said he, melt them down, and send them about doing good. I wish Christians would do that with some of their gold and silver jewellery. Anyhow, for our own sakes, lest the canker get into our gold, and the rust into our silver, use it for doing good. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A becoming adornment
Goethe was in company with a mother and daughter, when the latter, being reproved for some thing, blushed and burst into tears. He said to the mother: How beautiful your reproach has made your daughter! The crimson hue and those silvery tears become her much better than any ornament of gold or pearls; those may be hung on the neck of any woman; these are never seen unconnected with moral purity. A full-blown flower, sprinkled with purest hue, is not so beautiful as this child, blushing beneath her parents displeasure, and shedding tears of sorrow for her fault. A blush is the sign which nature hangs out, to show where chastity and honour dwell.
The charity purse
Howard, soon after his marriage, sold some jewels his wife had no longer any inclination to wear, and put the money into a purse called by herself and her husband the charity purse. (J. Stoughton, D. D.)
Womans sphere of influence
For so far as a woman is sincere to the nature God has given her, her aspiration is not so much that the world should ring with her fame, or Society quote her as a leader of fashion, but that she should bless and be blessed in blessing. It is not that she should wish for power, but that she should wish for a noble, not an ignoble power. It is not that she should not wish to queen it in this world, but that she should wish to queen it, not by ostentation of dress or life, nor by eclipsing others, but by manifestation of love, by nobility of gentle service, by unconscious revelation in her life, and conscious maintenance in others by her influence, of all things true and pure, of stainless honour in life, of chivalrous aspirations in the soul. (Stoleford A. Brooke, M. A.)
Silence of women
Why, Doctor, exclaimed a shallow, talkative lady, who was in the room with Dr. Johnson, but of whom he took little notice, I believe you prefer the company of men to that of ladies. Madam, he replied, I am fond of the company of ladies; I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, and I like their silence.
Professing godliness.—
The profession of godliness
Such is the description and character of Christians in early days, such of all true Christians in every day. In no one point of view is the inconsistency of the Christian world more strikingly apparent: they would be thought to embrace the gospel of godliness without an idea of becoming godly. What should we think of a physician who had no interest in the science or practice of medicine? What of a husbandman who disliked and avoided the employments of the field? What of a soldier who declined all discipline and all obedience? But, to say the truth, and to do men justice, such instances in the natural world are extremely rare; it is only in the spiritual world, only where God, and the soul, and eternity are concerned, that we find men lost in apathy, and acting in contradiction to their pretended faith; and casting off the consideration of those liabilities and duties upon which they have openly entered. There are men, indeed, who, when charged with such palpable inconsistency, and feeling uneasy under the shame of it, at once deny that they do set up any profession at all; and make a sort of merit of saying that they do not pretend to any of the distinguished excellencies of the Christian character. But this flimsy pretext of honesty can avail them but little. Ii they pretend not to what the gospel requires, why pretend to the gospel at all? Nay, it is a melancholy fact that the generality of heathen in our Indian and other foreign possessions manifest a far more abiding sense of their various deities and idols than the generality of Christians do of the true and holy God. They fear the object of their worship, they respect it, they daily remember it. The wicked enemy, who drove man from paradise with a corrupted flesh into a corrupted world, still uses that flesh and that world as instruments of keeping up and increasing our estrangement from God. I have a message to deliver to-day to every soul that is in earnest in the great work of salvation; not to teach, but to remind you of what the truth really is: be it then understood, be it taken to heart, that godliness is the great good, in the present life, to which Christ came to bring us, as the means of our final recovery and blessedness. (J. Slade, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Adam was not deceived] It does not appear that Satan attempted the man; the woman said: The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Adam received the fruit from the hand of his wife; he knew he was transgressing, he was not deceived; however, she led the way, and in consequence of this she was subjected to the domination of her husband: Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee; Ge 3:16. There is a Greek verse, but it is not English law, that speaks a language nearly similar to that above:-
‘ .
For nature suffers not a woman’s rule. God has not only rendered her unfit for it, but he has subjected her, expressly, to the government of the man.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Besides, Adam was not first deceived, nor indeed at all deceived immediately by the serpent, but only enticed, and deceived by the woman, who was the tempters agent; so as that she was both first in the transgression in order of time, and also principal in it, contributing to the seduction or transgression of the man; which ought to be a consideration to keep the woman humble, in a low opinion of herself, and that lower order wherein God hath fixed her.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. Adam was not deceivedasEve was deceived by the serpent; but was persuaded byhis wife. Ge 3:17, “hearkenedunto . . . voice of . . . wife.” But in Ge3:13, Eve says, “The serpent beguiled me.” Beingmore easily deceived, she more easily deceives [BENGEL],(2Co 11:3). Last in being, shewas first in sinindeed, she alone was deceived. The subtleserpent knew that she was “the weaker vessel” (1Pe3:7). He therefore tempted her, not Adam. She yielded to thetemptations of sense and the deceits of Satan; he, to conjugallove. Hence, in the order of God’s judicial sentence, the serpent,the prime offender, stands first; the woman, who was deceived, next;and the man, persuaded by his wife, last (Ge3:14-19). In Ro 5:12, Adamis represented as the first transgressor; but there no reference ismade to Eve, and Adam is regarded as the head of the sinning race.Hence, as here, 1Ti 2:11, in Ge3:16, woman’s “subjection” is represented as theconsequence of her being deceived.
being deceivedTheoldest manuscripts read the compound Greek verb for thesimple, “Having been seduced by deceit“: implyinghow completely Satan succeeded in deceiving her.
was in thetransgressionGreek, “came to be in thetransgression”: became involved in the existing state oftransgression, literally, “the going beyond a command”;breach of a positive precept (Ro4:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Adam was not deceived,…. There is no need to say with interpreters, that he was not deceived first; and that he was not deceived immediately by the serpent, but by Eve; and that he is never said in Scripture to be deceived, as Melchizedek is never said to have a father or mother. The apostle’s positive assertion is to be taken without any such limitations or qualifications; Adam never was deceived at all; neither by the serpent, with whom he never conversed; nor by his wife, he knew what he did, when he took the fruit of her, and ate; he ate it not under any deception, or vain imagination, that they should not die, but should be as gods, knowing good and evil. He took and ate out of love to his wife, from a fond affection to her, to bear her company, and that she might not die alone; he knew what he did, and he knew what would be the consequence of it, the death of them both; and inasmuch as he sinned wilfully, and against light and knowledge, without any deception, his sin was the greater: and hereby death came in, and passed on all men, who sinned in him:
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression: and the serpent really beguiled her; she owned it herself, Ge 3:13. And this is elsewhere said of her, 2Co 11:3 which never is of Adam. She really thought the serpent spoke truth, that she and her husband should not die, if they ate of the fruit; but that it was good to make them wise; and that, upon eating it, they should be as gods, knowing good and evil; and under this deception she fell into the transgression, and was the cause and means, by her persuasions and example, of bringing her husband into the same sin; which involved him and all his posterity in ruin and destruction. And therefore she is called by the Jews p , “the mother of iniquity and sin”; to which they refer, Ps 51:5. And they say, q she was the cause of death to Adam, and to all the world: [See comments on Ro 5:12]. And they observe r the order of the punishment of the serpent, Eve, and Adam, as of their sin; the serpent was first accursed, then Eve, and last of all Adam. They say
“s Samael (the devil) could not subvert Adam, till the serpent came and turned the heart of Eve, and Eve turned his heart, and they both sinned; wherefore it is said, “the woman which thou gavest me”; Samael had no power to turn him, till Eve came, and she was the cause of his eating.”
Now inasmuch as the serpent did not attack Adam, he being the stronger and more knowing person, and less capable of being managed and seduced; but made his attempt on Eve, in which he succeeded; and since not Adam, but Eve, was deceived, it appears that the man is the more proper person to bear rule and authority, as in civil and domestic, so in ecclesiastic affairs; and it is right for the woman to learn, and the man to teach: and seeing that Eve was the cause of transgression to Adam, and of punishment to him and his posterity, the subjection of the woman to the man was confirmed afresh: and she was brought into a more depressed state of dependence on him, and subjection to him; see Ge 3:16. The Ethiopic version renders the text, “Adam hath not deceived, the woman hath deceived and prevaricated”.
p Tzeror Hammor, fol. 141. 3. q T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 5. 2. Zohar in Gcn. fol. 27. 3. Caphtor, fol. 37. 2. r T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 18. 1. & Taanith, fol. 15. 2. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 20. fol. 17. 1. s Midrash Ruth in Zohar in Gen. fol. 27. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Being beguiled (). First aorist passive participle of , old compound verb, in N.T. only by Paul (2Thess 2:3; 1Cor 3:18; 2Cor 11:3; Rom 7:11; Rom 16:18; 1Tim 2:14). Not certain that – here means “completely deceived” in contrast to simplex ( ) used of Adam, though possible.
Hath fallen (). Second perfect indicative active, permanent state. See 1Co 11:7.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Was not deceived [ ] . Once in Paul, Eph 5:6. Comp. 2Co 11:3. Rev. beguiled. As it is evident that Adam was beguiled, the interpreters have tried many ways of explaining the expression, either by supplying prwtov first, or by saying (as Bengel) that the woman did not deceive the man, but persuaded him; or by supplying by the serpent, or so long as he was alone; or by saying that Eve was directly and Adam indirectly deceived.
Being deceived [] . completely or thoroughly beguiled. Was in the transgression [ ] . A. V. misses the force of gegonen. Ginesqai ejn often signifies the coming or falling into a condition, as Act 12:11; Act 22:17; Rev 1:10; 1Co 2:3; 2Co 3:7; 1Th 2:5. Rend. hath fallen into transgression.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And Adam was not deceived” (kai adam ouk epathethe) Adam, God’s first order or rank of creation, in His own image and according to His likeness, (with a free volition) sinned without being deceived. He deliberately and knowingly transgressed God’s law influenced by Eve, Gen 3:16.
2) “But the woman being deceived” (he de gune eksapatetheisa)-Yet the woman g deceived,” though the woman was deceived she was without excuse, for the Law of God was plain, Gen 3:6; Gen 3:13; Gen 3:16.
3) “Was in the transgression” (en parabasei gegonen) “in the transgression has become.” In the stream of polluted rebellion and enmity against God, the woman-order of creation, too, has come down.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14 And Adam was not deceived He alludes to the punishment inflicted on the woman:
“
Because thou hast obeyed the voice of the serpent, thou shalt be subject to the authority of thy husband, and thy desire shall be to him.” (43) (Gen 3:16.)
Because she had given fatal advice, it was right that she should learn that she was under the power and will of another; and because she had drawn her husband aside from the command of God, it was right that she should be deprived of all liberty and placed under the yoke. Besides, the Apostle does not rest his argument entirely or absolutely on the cause of the transgression, but founds it on the sentence which was pronounced by God.
Yet it may be thought that these two statements are somewhat contradictory: that the subjection of the woman is the punishment of her transgression, and yet that it was imposed on her from the creation; for thence it will follow, that she was doomed to servitude before she sinned. I reply, there is nothing to hinder that the condition of obeying should be natural from the beginning, and that afterwards the accidental condition of serving should come into existence; so that the subjection was now less voluntary and agreeable than it had formerly been.
Again, this passage has given to some people an occasion for affirming that Adam did not fall by means of error, but that he was only overcome by the allurements of his wife. Accordingly, they think that the woman only was deceived by the wiles of the devil, to believe that she and her husband would be like the gods; But that Adam was not at all persuaded of this, but tasted the fruit in order to please his wife. But it is easy to refute this opinion; for, if Adam had not given credit to the falsehood of Satan, God would not have reproached him:
“
Behold, Adam is become like one of us.” (Gen 3:22.)
There are other reasons of which I say nothing; for there needs not a long refutation of an error which does not rest on any probable conjecture. By these words Paul does not mean that Adam was not entangled by the same deceitfulness of the devil, (44) but that the cause or source of the transgression proceeded from Eve.
(43) “ Et ta volonte sera sujete a la sienne.” — “And thy will shall be subject to his will.”
(44) “ Qu’il ne donna lien a aucune persuasion du diable.” — “That he did not yield to any persuasion of the devil.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) And Adam was not deceived.Priority in creation was the ground alleged by St. Paul as the reason why the woman was never to exercise authority over man, the eldest born of God. Adam was not deceived; the Apostle now refers to the general basis of his direction respecting the exclusion of women from all public praying and teaching contained in 1Ti. 2:9-12. The argument here is a singular oneAdam and Eve both sinned, but Adam was not deceived. He sinned, quite aware all the while of the magnitude of the sin he was voluntarily committing. Eve, on the other hand, was completely, thoroughly deceived (the preposition with which the Greek verb is compounded here conveying the idea of thoroughness)she succumbed to the serpents deceit. Both were involved in the sin, but only one (Eve) allowed herself to be deluded. So Bengel, Deceptio indicat minus robur in intellectu, atque hic nervus est cur mulieri non liceat docere. Prof. Reynolds thus comments on the argument of the Apostle:This may sound to our ears a far-fetched argument, when used to discountenance female usurpation of intellectual supremacy. It was, however, a method current at the time to look for and find in the Scriptures the concrete expressions of almost all philosophical judgments. At the present day we could hardly find a more vivid illustration of the essential difference between the masculine and feminine nature. If there be this distinction between the sexes, that distinction still furnishes the basis of an argument and a reason for the advice here rendered. The catastrophe of Eden is the beacon for all generations when the sexes repeat the folly of Eve and Adam, and exchange their distinctive position and functions.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Not deceived He was, perhaps, induced to sin by love of Eve, more knowingly than she, and so perhaps more guiltily.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ti 2:14. And Adam was not deceived, Not first deceived. The apostle hereby seems to intimate, that the tempter chose to make his first attack on the woman, as being, even in her original and most glorious state, the inferior, and consequently less fit in future life to take the lead in important affairs. The verse may be paraphrased thus: “It is further to be recollected, that, at the fatal entrance of sin into the world, Adam was not immediately deceived by the fraud of the serpent; but that artful seducer chose to begin his attack on the woman; who, being deceived by him, was firstinthetransgression,andprevailed upon Adam by her solicitations to offend. Now it should be a humbling consideration to all her daughters, that their sex was so greatly concerned in the introduction of guilt and misery, and make them less forward in attempting to be guides to others, after such a miscarriage.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ti 2:14 . ] In order to justify this expression, the expositors have sought to define it more precisely, mostly by supplying . So Theodoret; Tertullian, too ( De Hab. Mul. ), says, perhaps alluding to this passage: tu divinae legis prima es desertrix. Others, again, supply (Matthies: “As the apostle remembers the O. T. story of the fall, there comes into his thoughts the cunning serpent by which Eve, not Adam, let herself be ensnared”). De Wette thinks that the author is insisting on the notion be charmed, betrayed (by sinful desire), as opposed to some other motive to sin. Hofmann arbitrarily supplies with the thought: “so long as he was alone.”
The apparent difficulty is solved when we remember the peculiarity of allegorical interpretation, which lays stress on the definite expression as such. This here is the word (or ). On this word the whole emphasis is laid, as is clearly shown by the very repetition of it. This word, however, in the Mosaic account of the fall, is used only of the woman, not of the man, for in Gen 3:13 the woman expressly says: ; the man, however, uses no such expression. And in the story there is no indication that as the woman was deceived or betrayed through the promises of the serpent, so was the man through the woman.
Adam did certainly also transgress the command, but not, as the woman, influenced by . Paul, remembering this, says: , . Bengel: serpens mulierem decepit, mulier virum non decepit, sed ei persuasit. To supply anything whatever, only serves therefore to conceal the apostle’s real meaning.
] This betrayal of the woman by the serpent is mentioned by Paul also in 2Co 11:3 , where he employs the same word: .
The emphasis, as is apparent from what precedes, is not on the last words, but on ; hence it is not right to supply with . . here, as elsewhere ( , , Rom 4:15 ), is used in regard to a definite law.
The construction occurs frequently in the N. T. in order to denote the entrance into a certain condition, a certain existence. De Wette: “fell into transgression.” Luther wrongly: “and brought in transgression.”
As to the thought itself, expositors find the force of this second reason to lie in the fact that in the fall the weakness of the woman, her proneness to temptation, was manifested, and that consequently it is not seemly for the woman to have mastery over the man. But did the man resist the temptation more stoutly than the woman? Paul nowhere gives any hint of that. The significant part of the Mosaic narrative to him is rather this, that the judgment of God was passed upon the woman because she had let herself be betrayed by the serpent, and it is in accordance with this judgment that the husband is made lord over the wife. [107]
[107] The right interpretation of this passage does not even in appearance contradict Rom 5:12 . In the latter, Paul does not mention the woman, but the man, as the origin of sin; but then he is thinking of the man as the image of God, of the woman as the image of the man.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Ver. 14. And Adam was not deceived ] i.e. He was not deceived so much by his judgment (though also by that too) as by his affection to his wife, which at length blinded his judgment. Look we well to our affections; for by these maids Satan still wooeth the mistress.
Being deceived, was in the transgression ] Uxor mea tota in fermento est, said he in Plautus. See Trapp on “ Gen 3:6 “ Yet Adam sinned more than Eve, because he had more wisdom and strength. He could set his affections as the artificer doth his clock, to make it strike when and what he will.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 .] Second reason as the woman was last in being , so she was first in sin indeed the only victim of the Tempter’s deceit. And Adam was not deceived (not to be weakened, as Thdrt. , , , : nor, as Matthies, must we supply : nor, with De W., Wiesinger, al., must we press the fact that the woman only was misled by the senses. Bengel and Huther seem to me (but cf. Ellicott) to have apprehended the right reference: ‘serpens mulierem decepit, mulier virum non decepit, sed ei persuasit.’ As Huther observes, the , in the original narrative, is used of the woman only. We read of no communication between the serpent and the man . The “subtlest beast of all the field” knew his course better: she listened to the lower solicitation of sense and expediency: he to the higher one of conjugal love): but the woman (not now Eve , but generic, as the next clause shews: for Eve could not be the subject to ) having been seduced BY DECEIT (stronger than , as exoro than oro : implying the full success of the ) has become involved (the thought is the present state of transgression in which the woman (and the man too: but that is not treated here) by sin is constituted, arose (which was not so in the man) from her originally having been seduced by deceit ) in transgression (here as always, breach of a positive command: cf. Rom 4:15 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Ti 2:14 . : St. Paul says rather than , emphasing the sex rather than the individual, because he desires to gives the incident its general application, especially in view of what follows. So Chrys.
: It is doubtful if we are entitled to render this, as Ell. does, being completely deceived . In 2Co 11:3 St. Paul says , where there is no reason why he should not have used the simple verb. St. Paul uses the compound verb in five other places, the simple verb only once (see reff.). So that the simplest account that we can give of his variation here, and in 2Co 11:3 , from the of Gen 3:13 , is that the compound verb came naturally to his mind.
: Inasmuch as is used of Adam’s transgression in Rom 5:14 , it may be asked, What is the force of St. Paul’s apparent restriction here of the phrase to Eve? Might it not be said of Adam as well, that he . ? To which St. Paul would perhaps have replied that he meant that it was woman who first transgressed, in consequence of having been deceived. , . Sir 25:24 . This notion of coming into a state of sin at a definite point of time is well expressed by . For cf. (2Co 3:7 ); (1Th 2:5 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
deceived. Greek. apateo. See Eph 5:6.
being deceived. Greek. apatao, but the texts read exapatao, as in 2Co 11:3 (thoroughly deceived, or as we say, “taken in. “)
was = came to be.
transgression. Greek. parabasis. Compare App-128.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14.] Second reason-as the woman was last in being, so she was first in sin-indeed the only victim of the Tempters deceit. And Adam was not deceived (not to be weakened, as Thdrt. , , , : nor, as Matthies, must we supply : nor, with De W., Wiesinger, al., must we press the fact that the woman only was misled by the senses. Bengel and Huther seem to me (but cf. Ellicott) to have apprehended the right reference: serpens mulierem decepit, mulier virum non decepit, sed ei persuasit. As Huther observes, the , in the original narrative, is used of the woman only. We read of no communication between the serpent and the man. The subtlest beast of all the field knew his course better: she listened to the lower solicitation of sense and expediency: he to the higher one of conjugal love): but the woman (not now Eve, but generic, as the next clause shews: for Eve could not be the subject to ) having been seduced BY DECEIT (stronger than , as exoro than oro: implying the full success of the ) has become involved (the thought is-the present state of transgression in which the woman (and the man too: but that is not treated here) by sin is constituted, arose (which was not so in the man) from her originally having been seduced by deceit) in transgression (here as always, breach of a positive command: cf. Rom 4:15).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Ti 2:14. , was not deceived) The Serpent deceived the woman; the woman did not deceive the man, but persuaded him: Gen 3:17, thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife. In the preceding verse, we are taught why the woman ought not to exercise authority, now, why she ought not to teach; more easily deceived, she more easily deceives; comp. Ecc 7:29. Deceiving indicates less strength in the understanding; and this is the strong ground on which a woman is not allowed to teach.- , being deceived, fell into[18] the transgression) i.e. was guilty of falling into the deception (Gen 3:13, ), and so she began to be in the transgression. It is not said, , having come to be in the transgression, she was deceived. Therefore does not apply to the very origin of the woman; for the deception followed not until after that; but closely agrees with , which has the meaning of a noun; see Act 22:17 [ , in a state of trance]; and comp. note on Joh 1:15. The state of transgression which quickly followed the deception, once for all admitted, is here intended. A phrase very like this is found at Num 26:10, .
[18] Was in, Engl. Vers.; rather, Came to be in. For it is , not .-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Ti 2:14
and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled, hath fallen into transgression:-Priority in creation was the ground alleged by Paul as the reason why the woman was never to exercise authority over man. Paul now refers to the general basis of his instruction concerning the exclusion of woman from all public praying and teaching contained in the preceding verses, Adam, and Eve both sinned, but Adam was not beguiled. He followed Eve into sin with his eyes open. Eve, on the other hand, was thoroughly deceived. She fell into Satans deceit. Both were involved in the sin. but only Eve allowed herself to be deluded. It would be difficult to find a more vivid illustration of the essential difference between the masculine and feminine nature. If there be this distinction between the sexes, that distinction furnishes the basis of an argument and a reason for the instruction here given. The catastrophe of Eden is the beacon for all generations when the sexes repeat the folly of Eve and Adam, and exchange their distinctive position and functions. So, according to inspired teaching, she is not to be the leader, but to be in subjection.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
transgression
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Gen 3:6, Gen 3:12, 2Co 11:3
Reciprocal: Gen 3:4 – Ye Gen 3:13 – The serpent Lev 12:5 – General Rev 12:9 – deceiveth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ti 2:14. Eve was deceived but Adam was not. Both of them sinned, but the statement is made with regard to their talents or reliability, more than to their moral character. The main object with Paul still is to show why the man and not the woman is to be entrusted with authority. Since a wman is more easily deceived than a man, she is restricted from authoritative teaching, and when she teaches it must not be over the man, but under his supervision; and such a work may be edifying to others even though it is not the expression of authority. Was in the transgression. It is a sin to transgress the law of the Lord, even though one is induced to do so by being deceived. Jesus taught this same truth in Mat 15:14, and it proves that the mere fact of being honest ( all deceived persons are honest at the time) will not save a person.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Ti 2:14. (2) The woman was in that first typical history the one directly deceived by the Tempter, Adams sin being thought of as more against light and knowledge, and so she has come to be in the state of a transgressor. The implied thought, of course, is that that greater liability to deception continues now; and this was probably strengthened by what the apostle actually saw of the influence of false teachers over the minds of women (2Ti 3:6-7). The history of the fall seemed to him acted over again. Comp. the position of the woman Jezebel in the Church of Thyatira (Rev 2:20), and the false prophetesses in Eze 13:17.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 14
Was not deceived; that is, by the serpent. (Genesis 3:1-6.)–Was in the transgression; was led into transgression.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Ti 2:14 “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
Gen 3:16 shows she is also under man due to the fall. Gen 3:16 states, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and they conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
Many hold that the desire that the woman is to have for her husband is the sexual desire, and/or the love desire. If you really think about that, it does not fit the text well at all. This is just after they sinned and God is bringing forth punishment and consequences. To relegate sexual desire or love to part of punishment just doesn’t fit to me.
The word desire is also used in Gen 4:7. Here we are in the account of Cain and Abel. Cain has offered and his offering has been rejected. Here we see that God is talking with him. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”
Cain is told that evil will desire to rule him, but that Cain must rule evil instead.
Now, let’s reread the last part of Gen 3:16, “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
It seems to me that God is telling Eve that she will desire to rule her husband, yet this will not be so. He will in turn rule her, or at least this is the proper makeup of the marriage. This is more in keeping with punishment.
“The seduction of Eve provides sufficient evidence that women are not endowed with the faculties of spiritual discernment in matters of doctrine and morals. By nature women tend to rely upon first appearances, feelings, intuitive capacities, and aesthetic sensibilities. These qualities, as excellent as they are, do not equip the fairer sex to exercise independent judgment in governing the church or guiding doctrinal discussions. Because women have a greater potential than men for being beguiled, it is inadvisable to give them positions of authority over men.” (Keeping the Faith; Baptist Pub.; Denver; 1971; Adult SS Quarterly, p 11)
I think this quote is a little harsh, though the principle seems correct.
The Jehovah Witnesses realize this, I think. They call in the day time when men are at work. Every time I’ve come home and they were there they fled. They hardly say goodbye. They know they can double talk many women but that it is difficult to face a man with their false teaching.
The proper order is God, man, woman and children. If the woman usurps, it is God, woman, man and children or at times worse, Woman, God, man and children.
There is another thought that Wesley mentions in relation to the woman. He not only noted that she is more easily deceived, but also more easily deceives. I think from personal experience this is probably true. When our kids were at home, our sons were right up front – like Adam – when they went against us. Our daughter on the other hand was quite deceptive in her disobedience.
Woman has a proper position due to her problem, however God gives her a promise and I believe a compensation.
III. WOMAN’S PROMISE
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
2:14 {10} And Adam was not {g} deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
(10) Then, because after sin, God gave the woman this punishment, because the man was deceived by her.
(g) Adam was deceived, but through his wife’s means, and therefore she is worthily for this reason subject to her husband, and ought to be.