1 Timothy2:9-15
The Film ‘King Arthur’(Walking on the ice)
We saw last week how the role of women has changed over the years, we looked at the role of women today. We looked at the position of women in society in the centuries before and leading up to the coming of Jesus, we saw from scripture that the life of a woman was not always a happy one, and the expectations on them were immense and not always pleasant.
But let us not dally this morning, let us move on to the verses that we have before us this morning, and our third main point.
What is Paul saying about women in this passage?
Far from belittling women, he actually elevates them to new heights in the society of the day.
We see from the opening words of Verse 9, that Paul is tying this instruction in with that given to men, about lifting Holy hands in prayer, without anger or dispute, we have already seen that he is talking in verse 9 about propriety in worship, in a church setting.
I don’t believe that he is saying here that women should dress in a dowdy fashion, but he is saying, that their outward appearance should not be such that it draws attention to them in any way shape or form, that will detract from the worship of God. Sadly often when this issue is addressed from the pulpit, it is sometimes taken in the wrong way and some of the female of the species see it as a personal affront and take umbrage, I pray that will not be the case this morning.
Surely what Paul is surely concerned with here is the well being of the women of the church and the Glory of God.
It may be helpful to look at this in two ways:
Firstly:
As we prepare to come to church, both men and women, what should the bulk of the preparation time be spent on, is it the outward appearance or the inward preparation of the heart, surely it must be the latter.
[Going to see the Queen]
The day and time that Paul is writing into was a time of Adornment as far as women of the day were concerned, and many would spend hours braiding their hair with Gold and Pearls in order to be noticed by the male of the species, in the same way, much money would be spent on the latest fabric in order to attract the male of the species, we can today so easily fall into the same trap with our designer clothing and our weird and wonderful hairstyles.
Gents, a word of caution here, we may think that this only refers to the ladies, but we like-wise are not to be like strutting peacocks about the place.
The fashion of the world that bares virtually all and leaves very little to modesty, is not the way for a Godly man or Woman to dress, when coming to the house of God or at any other time for that matter.
It is with good deeds that we should be dressed; it is with a heart prepared before God that we should seek his presence, having prepared ourselves in an appropriate manner.
Secondly
We, that is humans are unique, in that we are the only part of God’s creation where the female of the species is in general more attractive than the male, the male being left to be more dowdy, now in and of itself, this is of no problem, however we are also the only part of God’s creation that covers itself with clothing, thus producing a level of modesty that is both acceptable and appropriate and I find myself wondering if in applying this passage today, and in particular verse 9 we also need to bear in mind, and the ladies perhaps more so than the gents here this morning, that the way that you dress can have a direct effect on the ability of the men in the congregation to focus on worship and the things of God and not on the female that they see before them.
Your desire, ladies, should be that the men of this church behave in a Godly way, you have a responsibility not to tempt them to do otherwise by the way you dress.
Paul here is not having a downer on women, he is simply telling it as he sees it, whilst in other places in scripture, Paul tells us that we are all equal, in Gal 3:28 for example we read:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus
Peter in 1 Peter3: 3-4 has a similar message for women of the day where he wrote of wives,
‘Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of Gold jewellery and fine clothes, instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight’.
Remember what God tells us in Matthew 18:20 ‘For, where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them’
God is with us, in our midst, what a privilege, let us therefore be sure we are not the ones who offend such a merciful God by the way that we come before him.
Let us move on, Verses 11 & 12 of our passage, really leave little room for interpretation, yet are probably two of the most bantered and twisted verses in the church today.
Let’s read them [Read verses 11 & 12]
Why does Paul say that a woman must learn in quietness and full submission, again, it is not Paul getting at women, or, is it Paul addressing an issue of the day, was it that the women of the day, with their new found freedom in Christ were in fact seeking to teach and lead in the church, this seems to be the link that some theologians make, yet once again, this applies to us all, we all need to come before God with quiet and submissive hearts, what though do we make of verse 12, where we are told that women are not allowed to teach or be in authority over men.
Is this what Paul is saying?
TWMIYB to:
2 Tim 3:15 page 1197 then 2 Tim 1:5 page 1195
Act 18: 26 page 1115
Clearly Paul is not saying women must never teach, for if he was he would be contradicting himself.
Surely what Paul is saying here, is that women should not be authoritatively teaching doctrine to men, they should not exercise dominion over men.
Some people would argue that Paul here was only saying that these particular women in Ephesus, who had obviously gone OTT, only these women should not be in authority over the men.
If it was only those women that Paul is here referring to and it is Ok in the general run of things for women in to preach the word of God and be in authority over men
Just what are the problems?
Why is this approach viewed by so many sound Biblical Scholars as being wrong?
Firstly
We need to be very careful, when we say that a certain scripture does not apply to us today. In 2 Tim 3:16-17 we are reminded that ‘all scripture is GOD breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’.
Secondly
Paul says a similar thing to the church in Corinth in 1 Cor 14:34 again telling the women to remain silent, you cannot teach if you are silent.
Thirdly
It would seem however, that the most obvious reason that can be seen to suggest that Paul is not just dealing with the church in Ephesus is the fact that Paul brings to his readers notice, two illustrations from the book of Genesis in order to show that women should not teach in an authoritative manner, at least not in services of public worship.
Paul draws his readers attention to the creation story and the fact that Adam was formed first before Eve. Paul is here talking about the order in which these things happened, he is not talking about importance, rather about roles.
Picture for a moment if you will, the Colonel in the army, he is of a higher rank than a private, than does not mean that he is a better person than the private, in God’s eyes both are equal, the difference is in the roles that they carry out.
The Colonel has to carry more responsibility than the private. Keep this in mind and think on Genesis 2:20-22, where we are told that Eve is a helper to Adam, Paul then in verse 14 draws again from the creation story, and explores the fact that Eve was deceived by Satan, fooled by the snake, it took a woman to lead Adam away.
In other words, instead of being a follower, which was her role, she became a leader and led Adam astray.
Paul is not however saying that women always lead men astray; no that is not the case.
What he is saying is that there are times when in God’s plan, it is right for men to take the lead, that is why Adam took the responsibility for bringing Sin into the world; no where in scripture is Eve blamed for this, Adam take the lead as it were.
It is this blue print that we as Evangelical, Bible believing churches are to follow. In the main, particularly when it involves the teaching of the scriptures men are to take the lead.
A word of caution here to the men, this does not make the man a spiritual giant and the wife a spiritual minnow, to be ridiculed and set right at every possible chance, we men are to honor and love our wives Christ loved the Church, we are not to Lord it over them, we should be able to discuss scriptural issues and often the women will be able to bring a different slant to an issue, yet still the general principle that we see here is that of ‘ Men being responsible for the teaching and preaching of God’s word,
Paul ends chapter 2 on a positive note, reinforcing the importance of women and in particular their role of mother hood, this does not mean that all women will be called to this task, some are set apart by God to live a single life and even some who are married are unable to have children, Paul here points to the principle, we looked briefly at this last week, let me just once again reemphasis the importance of the role of the Mother in the home, God has placed you in a unique situation, very few fathers have the same depth of relationship with their children as you mothers do, you have an impact from the womb to the grave, may that impact be a God centered impact.
What are we to make of the verse 15
‘But women will be saved through childbearing in they continue in faith, love and Holiness with propriety.’
This is a passage of scripture that has been much debated over the years, and many a conclusion has been reached from it’s interpretation. Just like other difficult passages in the scriptures, it is all to easy to pass over and miss the important teaching that it contains, there are several views held by various theologians perseverance view stands out as the best candidate for explaining the message of 1 Tim 2:15. A woman will experience the full reality of her final and ultimate glorification by means of her present good works in the realm of motherhood. It is her continuance in the faith through which she was justified, however, which is the true basis of any person - woman’s final salvation.
This proposed explanation for 1 Tim 2:15 fits well with the theology expressed in the Pastoral Epistles : believers are justified on the basis of God’s grace alone, yet good works—the natural outcome and the present reality of that salvation—are not wholly disconnected from the future experience of salvation. For women in this context, the specific good work of raising and nurturing children is a proper and effective means by which their consecration to the Lord and sanctification may be accomplished. This explanation also fits well with what is known of the historical situation and the false teachings which prompted the writing of 1 Timothy.
First Timothy 2:15 combats portions of the circulating false doctrine in affirming marriage and motherhood as not only roles that are acceptable for believing women, but as roles which actually enhance a woman’s spiritual life rather than hinder it in any way.
In addition, 1 Tim 2:15 combats some of the inappropriate behaviors that were a result of the false teachings by encouraging modesty and self-control. The message of 1 Tim 2:15, then, is in accordance with the message to women throughout 1 Timothy, in which the responsibilities of motherhood are seen as a good work which expresses the present reality of a woman’s salvation, plays a part in her sanctification, and at the same time, serves to safeguard her from falling away from the faith and towards the paths of Satan and the false teachers.
This does not mean that a woman who is childless, is in anyway ‘Disadvantaged’ in her walk or relationship with God.
There are times when God does things that seem almost to fly in the face of passages such as we have looked at these last 2 weeks, for instance, there have been women preachers who have been used in mighty ways by God.
Calvin, himself a staunch believer in the woman being in the home draws our attention to Deborah who was not only a prophet but also a ruler in Israel.
There are many women that God uses for the extension of his kingdom, Evelyn Christianson, Elizabeth Elliot, Anne Graham Lotz are just a few from our time and place in HIS story, may you, the women of this church, be women who seek to live your lives before God, seeking to push out the boundaries, to live outside the box.
And men, may we be those who love and support the women of this church, valuing them as Christ valued his church, seeking to equip, and enable them to have ministries and live lives that bring Glory to our God.
May we be those husbands and fathers, Son’s and Brothers who seek the best for the women in our lives, at all times recognizing their God given gifts and abilities and endeavor to do all that we can to foster and harness these God given gifts in the women in our lives
