The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying Paul's pastoral Epistles (Letters) to his proteges, Timothy and Titus.
In Session 4 we talked about the importance of discussion of prayer in the worship service of the local church snd the men's role in praying for "all men (people)
1 Timothy 2:1-8 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.
The key is that prayer is to be made for all people because "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV).
Here is session 5 we begin the discussion of the women's role in the local church we start with Paul's admonition about submission. The key here is that the word translated submission or subjection or submit literally means “to rank under.” Anyone who has served in the armed forces knows that “rank” has to do with order and authority, not with value or ability. He tells Timothy to tell the women that the "inner person" is much more important than outward appearance.
We should remember that God is a God of order and not confusion. Order implies a neat and logical organization of items, tasks, or people. Paul exhorted, through Timothy, the men and women in the church and reminded them of their spiritual responsibilities, to maintain order.
He starts with—Prayer
1 Timothy 2:1-8 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Why do we pray why is it so important
1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
We know that it is God’s will that everyone is saved so we can pray for "All men. It is God’s will that “all men” come to the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. God loved the world and Christ died for the whole world.
Paul’s emphasis in this letter is on the men praying. He was not excluding women. Paul obviously thought it was important for men to pray because as we will see later he felt that men should be leaders.
1 Timothy 2:8 NIV Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Effective praying, then, demands that I be in a right relationship with God (“holy hands”) and with my fellow believers (“without murmurings and disputings”)
Now what about the women?
1 Timothy 2:9-15 NIV I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
Let's start with the elephant in the room
1 Timothy 2:11 NIV A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
The word translated submission or subjection or submit literally means “to rank under.” Anyone who has served in the armed forces knows that “rank” has to do with order and authority, not with value or ability. A colonel is higher in rank than a private, but that does not necessarily mean that the colonel is a better man than the private. It only means that the colonel has a higher rank and, therefore, more authority.
We had said al along that in order to function and be effective in accomplishing our task as given in the great commission the local church must be orderly without confusion. If there were no levels of authority, the church and society would be in chaos without submission. Children should submit to their parents because God has given parents the authority to train their children and discipline them in love. Employees should submit to employers and obey them. Citizens of a nation should submit to government authorities, even if the authorities are not Christians.
Submission is not subjugation. Submission is recognizing God’s order in the home and the church and joyfully obeying it. When a Christian wife joyfully submits to the Lord and to her own husband, it should bring out the best in her. (For this to happen, the husband must love his wife and use God’s order as a tool to build with, not a weapon to fight with
Ephesians 5:21-33 NIV Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Paul admonished these believing women to give evidence of their submission in several ways.
1 Timothy 2:8-10 NIV Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
First modest dress
1 Timothy 2:9 NIV I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
The contrast here is between the artificial glamor of the world and the true beauty of a godly life. Paul is not saying women should not wear jewelry or lovely clothes, but rather the excessive use of them as substitutes for the true beauty of “a meek and quiet spirit”.
1 Peter 3:3-4 NIV Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, 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.
A woman who depends only on externals will soon run out of ammunition! She may attract attention, but she will not win lasting affection. Perhaps the latest fashion fads were tempting the women in the church at Ephesus, and Paul had to remind Timothy to warn the women not to get trapped by outward appearance only.
The word translated “modest” simply means “decent and orderly.” It is related to the Greek word from which we get the English word “cosmetic.” A woman’s clothing should be decent, orderly, and in good taste.
Ephesus was a wealthy commercial city, and some women there competed against each other for attention and popularity. In that day expensive hairdos arrayed with costly jewelry were an accepted way to get to the top socially. Paul admonished the Christian women to major on the “inner person,” the true beauty that only Christ can give.
Matthew 23:27-28 NIV “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
1 Samuel 16:7 NIV But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Psalms 51:6 AMP Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.
He did not forbid the use of nice clothing or ornaments. He urged balance and propriety, with the emphasis on modesty and holy character.
The next evidence of submission is "good works".
1 Timothy 2:9 NIV I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
Paul did not suggest that good works are a substitute for clothing! Rather, he was contrasting the “cheapness” of expensive clothes and jewelry with the true values of godly character and Christian service. Glamour can be partially applied on the outside, but godliness must come from within.
Now, and this is very important, We must never underestimate the important place that godly women played in Jesus' ministry.
Women had a low place in the Roman world, but the gospel changed that. There were devoted women who ministered to Jesus in the days of His earthly ministry.
Luke 8:1-3 NIV After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
The gospel message had a tremendous impact on women because it affirmed their value before God and their equality in the body of Christ.
Galatians 3:28 NIV There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Women were present at His crucifixion
John 19:25-27 NIV Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
and burial,
Luke 23:50-56 NIV Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
and it was a woman who announced His resurrection.
John 20:17-18 NIV Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
In the book of Acts there's Dorcas,
Acts 9:36-42 NIV In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
Lydia
Acts 16:13-15 NIV On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Priscilla
Acts 18:1-3 NIV After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
and godly women in the Berean church
Acts 17:4, 10-12 NIV Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
and Thessalonian church
Acts 17:1-4 NIV When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
Most scholars believe that Phebe who was a deacon in the church delivered the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Rome.
Romans 16:1-2 NIV I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
Paul greeted at least eight women in Romans chapter 16.
Next, we get into some controversial stuff.
Let's start with
1 Timothy 2:11 NIV A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
“Silence” or quietness is an unfortunate translation because it gives the impression that believing women were never to open their mouths in the church.
This is the same word that is translated “peaceable” in 1 Timothy 2:2. Which we said is an inward calmness.
Some of the women abused their newfound freedom in Christ and created disturbances in the services by interrupting. It is this problem that Paul addresses here.
Paul wrote a similar admonition to the church in Corinth
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 NIV Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
Though this admonition may apply primarily to speaking in tongues.
It appears that women were in danger of upsetting the church by trying to “enjoy” their freedom.
There are several options for what kind of submission is meant:
a) submission of all women to all men. However, as we saw in previous studies, the Old Testament does not require all women to submit to all men, nor does it require them to be silent. Nevertheless, some scholars believe that Paul is alluding to a “principle” derived from Genesis.
b) submission of wives to their husbands However, if Paul is alluding to a rule about family relationships, it would not necessarily apply to authority in the church.
c) submission to a Roman law that restricted women’s roles in pagan worship civil law in this verse; the Corinthians would know by context which law he meant.
d) submission to themselves. for women to control themselves.
Paul has already indicated that women can pray and prophesy in church.
This means that it is permissible for women to have formal speaking roles in the church. Paul was apparently forbidding some other type of speech. Just as he did not allow tongue-speakers or prophets to speak out of turn, he did not want women to speak out of turn, saying things in such a way that they were breaking social customs about what is appropriate.
Paul appealed to church custom, the law, and cultural expectations; we will consider how each of these is relevant to the problem that Paul is dealing with.
1) We know very little about how first-century churches functioned, except for what the New Testament tells us—and the picture is one of variety. Some churches were led by apostles and elders; others by prophets and teachers; some by overseers or elders or deacons. Although we know the names of a number of influential men and women, we can associate those names with specific titles in only a few cases. We know even less about how a typical worship service was conducted..
There is no prohibition on women speaking in public. Scripture provides examples of women who had leadership roles in civil government, in publicly praising God, and in giving authoritative answers about spiritual matters to male civil leaders (e.g., Deborah, Miriam, and Huldah).
Scripture does not require all women to submit to all men.
The next evidence of submission was respecting authority
Now we may get real controversial
1 Timothy 2:12-15 NIV I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
Women are permitted to teach. Older women should teach younger women.
Titus 2:3-4 NIV 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 urge the younger women to love their husbands and children,
We already talked about Timothy being taught at home by his mother and grandmother. There is nothing wrong with a godly woman instructing a man.
Acts 18:24-26 NIV Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He 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.
But she must not “lord it over” men and assume authority in the church and try to take the place of a man.
