MEN AND WOMEN AND GOD – 1TIMOTHY 2:8-15

 

⁸ I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

⁹ I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, ¹⁰but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

¹¹A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. ¹² I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. ¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. ¹⁵But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety

“I am writing you these instructions so that …you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God…” (1Tim.3:14)

 

 

1)Praying is better than punching. (v8)

““if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)”

 

Challenge: What do I need to do?

 

 

2) Serving is better than showing off (v9-10)

“”And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. …So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Jesus in Matthew 6:28-33).

 

If you love Jesus, you serve in the church of the living God.

Challenge: What do I need to do?

 

3) Learning is better than loudness (v11-12)

The shocking thing in v11: “A woman should learn”

quietness (v11) & silent (v12) are the same Greek word, meaning quiet demeanour.

 

All Christians are learners…what is your attitude to learning in church?

Learning is only effective if it leads to action.

“Do not merely listen to the word…Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)

Challenge: What do I need to do?

4) God’s liberation is better than women’s liberation (v12-15)

God created a perfect world and perfect people (v13)

They rebelled against God (v14)

“But women [Greek, SHE ie singular] will be saved through childbearing–if they [PLURAL] continue in faith” (1Timothy 2:15)

We are saved through the descendent of the woman Eve (v15) – who is Jesus

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

(i)Science says men and women are not completely interchangeable.

(ii)God values men and women equally

 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

(iii) The Bible pictures men and women having complementary roles

 

(iv) Is teaching in church something a woman can do?

What does teach (v12) mean? Here it likely means the main teacher in the church.

But

“[Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” (Acts 18:26)

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” (Titus 2:3-5)

“every woman who prays or prophesies with…” (1Corinthians 11:5)

“She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 16 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.” (2Kings 22:15-)

 

(v) Can a woman have authority (v12) over a man in church?

The word is Authentein in Greek. The only time it is used in the Bible – so deciding what it means is tricky. The key to understanding what it means is the link to verse 13 which begins “FOR” – ie v13 and 14 explain v12.

 

(vi) What can women do in church?

 

(viii) Should a woman be the next vicar of St James?

 

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I want to know more:

• What is Christianity? 321 The Story of God, the World and You: https://youtu.be/tKyZjvK-d2M
• Who is Jesus? Roger Carswell – available for free in the foyer.
• More on 1Timothy. The best readable commentary is “The Message of 1Timothy and Titus” by John Stott (Bible Speaks Today)
• What does AUTHORITY mean? Read Andrew Wilson, 12 Words, 12 Interpretations, http://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/twelve-words-twelve-interpretations-1-timothy-212 (Worth reading the footnotes in full as well)
• Can women teach under the authority of elders? https://9marks.org/article/can-women-teach-under-the-authority-of-elders/ (A good summary of the debate on one side of the debate)
• Defusing the 1Timothy time bomb. Gail Wallace. http://juniaproject.com/defusing-1-timothy-212-bomb/ Makes some wrong steps in the argument but interesting all the same.
• Book: Different by Design: God’s blueprint for men and women, by Carrie Sandom