Ligon Duncan on this, quoting Piper/Grudem at the end....
CBMW » Women in the Church and Silence in the Church
Then turn forward three chapters to I Corinthians 14:26-40, and look very closely at verse 26. Write these words down if you're taking notes: teaching, revelation, tongue, interpretation. Top to bottom: teaching, revelation, tongue and interpretation. Listen to this. Paul says this (verse 26): "What is the outcome then, brethren? Edification." Now notice what Paul does: he begins to work through this list in the reverse. He starts with tongues and interpretation; then he moves to revelation; then he moves to teaching. It doesn't say anything about the psalm, presumably because there was no controversy about that: it was self-explanatory. So watch what he says: "If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret; but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God." So there he deals with the last two things: tongues and interpretation. Then "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." And so there he deals with the revelation. So he's dealt now with tongues and interpretation; he's dealt with revelation.
Now what does he say next? Verse 34: "The women are to keep silent in the churches."
Now what does that correspond to? It corresponds to teaching. So this is not a universal gag order on women. You know, when you walk through the doors on the way into the sanctuary, "Better zip it, honey. No more talking." That's not what Paul is talking about; he's talking about teaching in the gathered assembly of God's people. "Women are to keep silent in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but they are to subject themselves, just as the Law says. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home for it is improper for a woman to speak in church."
What's Paul's proscription there? His proscription is against women teaching authoritatively in the church. And he even suggests that they ask their own husbands questions at home because you know how questions can be used to make a statement. I'm a seminary professor on occasion, and about half the questions I get are really comments. "I'd like to ask a question about that last, very fallacious statement that you just made." You know, and then you get the three-point rebuttal followed by the pseudo-question. Well Paul's saying here, nothing, nothing should be done which undercuts the authority of the elders teaching God's word in the church, and, therefore, women are not to be engaged in teaching in that way or challenging it in any inappropriate way.
And notice what he says in verses 37 and 38. Once again, "Let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandments. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized." Once again, the Apostle Paul stresses that this is not an ad hoc directive, but it is something which is to be universally applied in the life of the church.
Listen to how John Piper and Wayne Grudem summarized this answer to this question. "When Paul says in I Timothy 2:12, ‘I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent,' we do not understand him to mean an absolute prohibition of all teaching by women. Paul instructs the older women to teach what is good, then they can train the younger women. And he commends the teaching that Eunice and Lois gave to her son and grandson. Proverbs praises the ideal wife because she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction on her tongue. Paul endorses women prophesying in a church and says that men learn by such prophesying. And that members should teach and admonish one another with all wisdom as you sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. And then, of course, there is Priscilla at Aquilla's side correcting Apollos. It is arbitrary to think that Paul has in mind every form of teaching in I Timothy 2:12. Teaching and learning are in such broad terms that it is impossible that women not teach men and men not learn from women in some sense. There is a way that nature teaches and a fig tree teaches and suffering teaches and human behavior teaches. If Paul did not have every conceivable form of teaching and learning in mind, what did he mean? Along with the fact that the setting here is the church assembled for prayer and teaching, the best clue is by coupling teaching with having authority over men. We would say that the
teaching inappropriate for a woman is the teaching of men in settings or ways that dishonor the calling of men to bear the primary responsibility for teaching in leadership. This primary responsibility is to be carried by the pastors or elders. Therefore, we think it is God's will that only men bear the responsibility for that office."
