1 Timothy 2:12
1 Timothy 2:12 is a New Testament passage from the pastoral epistle by that name, authored by the Apostle Paul. It is familiarly quoted using the King James Version translation: ""But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence"". The verse is widely used to oppose women from being trained and ordained as clergy, and from women holding certain other positions of ministry and leadership in large segments of Christianity. Those segments include the Southern Baptist Convention, Roman Catholics, and other particularly conservative evangelical Protestants. Though universally applied among Roman Catholics, application of the ""teach/usurp authority over the man"" passage varies among Protestant denominations and by individual churches within those denominations. Most conservative evangelical churches are complementarian in theology and practices. Some deny women a vote in church affairs since they would be participating in making decisions applicable to the men of the church. They also often deny women the right to serve as teachers of co-ed adult Bible classes or as missionaries, generally disenfranchising them from the duties and privileges of church leadership.1 Timothy 2:12 is a key passage for Protestants in the debate. Some groups not allowing women to become pastors also cite 1 Cor. 14:32-35. Christian egalitarians maintain that there should be no institutional distinctions between men and women. Complementarians argue that Paul's instructions contained in 1 Timothy 2:12 should be accepted as normative in the church today. This latter position denies women equal ministry opportunities, irrespective of their sense of calling from God.The United Methodist Church was at the forefront of the ordination of women as pastors. In 1956, the General Conference of the Methodist Church approved full clergy rights for women. In the past two decades, most Protestant denominations and their seminaries have begun accepting women pastors.By sharp contrast, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) which is the largest Protestant denomination expressly excludes women from serving as pastors in their 2000 Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) policy document. Though the SBC considers each of its local churches to be autonomous up to a point, most all SBC churches comply with the provisions of the BF&M. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), also denies women from becoming pastors.