Sermon Central
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Seven Marks Of A Biblical Elder - Part 1 Series
Contributed by Pat Damiani on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: Biblical church leadership can only function effectively when the local church leaders fulfill the Biblical qualifications for leaders.
And, as in the case of Priscilla and Aquila, it may be appropriate for a woman to accompany her husband and to assist him in teaching the word of God to another man in a private setting. But clearly women are not to take on the authoritative teaching role within the public worship of the local body.
Paul goes on to make it clear that this is not merely some cultural principle that only applies to the church in Ephesus at that time. It is based on the divine order that God established at creation.
The word “first” in verse 13 is a word that conveys the idea that not only was Adam created first in time, but also conveys the idea of first in rank or chief. In other words God designed Adam to take a leadership role in the marriage relationship. We find Paul confirming that principle in 1 Corinthians as well:
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God…For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
1 Corinthians 11:3, 8-9 (ESV)
Before the fall, Adam and Eve had a perfect marriage. Adam didn’t have to hear about all the men that Eve could have married and Eve didn’t have to hear about how Adam’s mother cooked. Adam fulfilled his role as head in the marriage relationship and Eve submitted to his leadership and received the protection of being under Adam’s authority.
But as Paul points out, when Eve decided to move outside the protection afforded her by her God-given role, she became deceived and ultimately gave into temptation. But before we’re too hard on Eve, the implication is that for some reason, which the Bible doesn’t reveal, Adam abdicated his leadership position in that marriage relationship and therefore exposed the vulnerability of his wife.
Unfortunately, one of the long lasting consequences of the fall is that Eve’s desire to usurp her husband’s leadership responsibility has been passed down to every generation of women that followed. So Paul had to deal with a situation in the church at Ephesus where the women were still desiring to usurp the leadership role of the men – but this time it had spilled over into the church.
So this is not merely something that was limited to the culture of the church in Ephesus in the mid first century. It is a problem that stems from violating God’s divine design for men and women. That leads us to this important principle:
The principle of male leadership demonstrates the value of women in the body
Men and women have equal standing before God and are equally valuable to Him:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28 (ESV)
However the fact that we are all equal does not preclude us from having different roles within the body. As we’ve already seen, men and women are divinely designed by God with built in differences. One of those differences is that women are designed by God to function best when they are under the headship of a man. And when Eve, or any other woman, steps out from under that headship, she becomes vulnerable.