Western minds do not understand the boundaries between the Spirit Realm and our fallen existence here in the flesh. They do not understand how those two realms connect.
Evangelicals will choke on this: The current chapter refers to this life in our flesh, not spiritual birth. It should be obvious from the context that Paul is talking about how to walk in this world. To his Hebrew mind, “saved” and “salvation” points to walking in the Covenant; it is the redemption of our lives here below. While his teaching here is certainly connected to spiritual birth, that is not the point. The point is that the salvation he’s talking about is the Covenant life on this earth, the divine privilege of knowing and walking according to God’s revelation for life in this world.
Our human minds cannot understand Election, nor can we do anything at all to change whether someone is elect. The Elect were chosen before the Creation of this world. The whole culture of the Ancient Near East in general, and Hebrews in particular, would not presume to speak directly and clinically of eternal things. So, to pray for everyone is to pray that they find the Covenant life, because Jesus died to open the Covenant to us. His death on the Cross had nothing to do with changing Election.
Praying for humanity at large is pointless; we cannot bring before the Lord something with no clear identity. Paul says pray for everyone we know about personally, including the rulers we may never encounter. We pray that they find the truth of Covenant life, a life of peace, godliness and dignity. Our Lord welcomes such prayers, since He always wanted every fallen human to find His Covenant. That’s why He sent Jesus, so that the Covenant did not remain some obscure secret hidden in a corner of the world, but a message of redemption to all mankind. We want them to walk in the Covenant.
This is also why God commissioned Paul as an apostle, to share this message, to organize and implement a way to gain maximum exposure to every human. For this cause, Paul wants everyone to pray fervently, lifting up holy covenant hands to the Lord. In case it’s not obvious, that phrase “holy hands” refers to a life that is committed to the Covenant in feudal obedience. He refers to letting go of anger, wrath, and contention over fleshly trifles.
Then, Paul gives an example and happens to start with what Christian women should strive to do. He’s not referring to sexual modesty here; that much was already obvious, even in a Gentile world at that time. He’s referring to ostentatious displays of wealth. Women should not flaunt their fancy jewelry and expensive clothes; they shouldn’t show off their hair at all. In that world it meant they should wear a simple head covering, rather like a plain scarf. Instead of flaunting her wealth, she should proudly uphold her covenant covering. She should act like a woman who is under a strong spiritual authority, not an independent harlot. She avoids public attention as much as possible.
Thus, no covenant woman would ever dream of holding or exercising authority over any man. She knows that God made her to support her covering, to be a blessing, a “helpmeet” whose whole mission is her man. The reason for this is that God didn’t grant women spiritual authority; it’s not part of their equipment. In the Garden of Eden, she was deceived about the spiritual nature of what the Devil was saying, but Adam was not. God made males to carry spiritual authority, not women.
It’s not that women simply cannot lead, but that they are not equipped to do it right. They are inherently incapable of sensing the things men can sense about the moral and spiritual context. Paul’s reference to “childbearing” is symbolic; women are meant to be daughters and wives, not social leaders. A world where women lead cannot walk in the Covenant. So, we pray that women stop trying to lead, that men will stand up and take their headship role and do it right, according to the Word.
