1 Tim 2.12 and the Use of ουδε to Combine Two Elements to Express a Single Idea

Abstract

Paul typically uses ουδε to convey a single idea, as do the two closest syntactical parallels to 1 Tim 2.12. In the overwhelming majority of Paul's and the NT's ουκ + ουδε + αλλα syntactical constructions, ουδε joins two expressions to convey a single idea in sharp contrast to the following αλλα statement. Furthermore, the earliest known commentary on 1 Tim 2.12, Origen's, treats it as a single prohibition. Accordingly, the most natural reading of 1 Tim 2.12 conveys, ‘I am not permitting a woman to teach and [in combination with this] to assume authority over a man’.