BIBLICAL MANHOOD & WOMANHOOD
THE IMAGE OF GOD IN THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH
1 Timothy 2: 11-3:7
INTRODUCTION
Why does it matter how you and I live our lives? The Bible is full of
commands about how we are to live. Many of God�s commands, when obeyed,
have an obvious human benefit. Take for example: "Do not steal."
It�s quite obvious that stealing from others brings harm to the victims
of the theft. If you live in a society where thievery is common you are
going to live in a fearful and violent place as people attempt to protect
their possessions. (For example our friends who live in Mongolia,
made a high fence around their yard and keep a big dog in it.)
I don�t know if you have ever thought about it, but the reason for some
of the commands in the Bible is not immediately obvious. For example,
Jesus commands, "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to
them without expecting to get anything back." Why in the world would
anyone live like that? Some might say that if you treat your enemy nice
he will feel bad and start treating you well. That may happen on rare
occasion but usually if you do not resist your enemy and instead treat
him well, he will just keep taking advantage of you. The reason, the motive
for obeying a command like that has to come from something other than
some idealistic, naïve hope that your enemy will change. That may
happen but there is no guarantee. The rest of the verse in Luke 6 says,
"Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most
High." In other words, the reason to do good to your enemies and
lend without expecting anything back is because you desire God�s reward.
You do this because being God�s son and pleasing him matters more to you
than not having an enemy take advantage of you.
This is why, when you come across commands in the Bible, the reason for
the command is always close at hand. God does not give commands and tell
us to obey, "Just because." The Bible is full of reasons as
to why you should do what God says. He always gives us reasons for his
commands. Today we are considering a command that is highly offensive
to our cultural sensibilities. 1 Timothy 2: 11-12 has to rank as one of
the most distasteful commands in the Bible to modern Americans. "A
woman should learn in quietness (literally it says "silence"
the same word as in v. 12) and full submission. I do not permit a woman
to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." This
reeks of chauvinism and male domination. It sounds demeaning and condescending
to women. We�ve been learning in recent days about how the Taliban, in
the name of Islam, forbid girls and women to go to school or work outside
the home. These commands would seem to fit quite nicely into their oppressive
view of and treatment of women.
How are we to treat these commands? Some use them as one of the evidences
that the Bible is not God�s word. I can�t tell you how many times in the
past 25 years, as I�ve shared the gospel, people have told me they know
the bible is not the word of God because of it�s view of women. The argument
goes like this, "Everyone knows that God creates men and women equal.
Commands like this are merely a reflection of the patriarchal society
that Paul lived in and show that the Bible is merely a human book. God
would never say anything like that." Others, who believe that the
Bible has divine authority, seek to interpret these verses in a manner
that limits them to the very specific situation that Paul was addressing
and therefore they have no significance for anyone other than the church
in Ephesus in about 50 A.D. There is not enough time for me to refute
the enormous variety of arguments that these "biblical feminists"
use to undermine the authority of these verses to us. But I can make these
two points. First, for 2000 years the church has believed that these verses
apply at all times and in all cultures. That position has been questioned
only within the past 50 years in the Western church. The fact that the
church has believed and sought to apply these verses for 2000 years doesn�t
make them true but if we�re going to reject them, we must have clear and
convincing evidence from the text itself. This evidence is lacking. Second,
notice that v. 14 begins with a "for". Paul says the reason
women are not to teach or have authority over men in the church is because
Adam was formed first. He goes back to creation, to how God made man in
his image male and female for the reason. He does not say the reason is
for any local or culturally specific reason in Ephesus. My goal this morning
is to help us wrestle with what these commands mean and why we should
obey them. It is my goal to show that this vision of the relationship
between men and women in the church is not a repressive and ugly chauvinism
but a glorious and happy partnership.
The first thing I want us to look at is the ultimate motive or reason
Paul gives all the commands he gives in these verses. First, look at 1:
15-17. Paul describes how the Lord Jesus mercifully saved him and every
other person who believes. Then in v. 18 he breaks into praise to this
great King who has had mercy on him and on all believing sinners. In other
words, the saving work of Christ ends in praise or glory for God. Salvation
doesn�t point to the worth of human beings for we are all sinners. Rather
it points to the greatness of God�s mercy and power to save sinners, even
those as bad as Paul. Now look at chapter 3: 14-15. Paul says that the
reason he is writing this entire letter to Timothy is so that "�you
will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God�s household, which
is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth."
The three phrases that describe the church give the reason why our obedience
to these commands is essential. We, as a community of believers, are the
house God built and in which God lives. We are the congregation of people
that the living God has called together and rules over. Our existence
and our obedience is the chief evidence of God�s existence and his glory.
In other words, the church exists by the will of God, through the power
of God, for the glory of God. It�s just like we read in Ephesians
3. God created the church through the work of Christ so that his greatness
as the only living God might be displayed in the universe. It matters
how we conduct ourselves because we are the living display of the glory
of God in the universe.
I know I�ve used this illustration before but I think it bears repeating.
My wife is a great cook. Now, what are some ways that I can glorify Jane
as the great cook that she is? One way is to do what I�m doing now, to
tell you how great of a cook that she is. Another way is to tell her how
much I appreciate her cooking. I could invite all my friends over to our
house so that you can enjoy her cooking. I won�t be satisfied until everyone
enjoys her cooking as much as I do. But the first way that I glorify her
cooking is by making sure that I get as much of her cooking as I can get.
I�ll make sure I�m home for dinner. I�ll stop doing other things in order
to enjoy her cooking. This is what motivates obedience in the Christian.
We so enjoy the greatness of God that we delight to order our lives in
a way that gets us more of God and shows off his greatness to others.
This is the chief concern of the Christian. It is this purpose, that God
be glorified in his church that motivates Paul to give the commands he
gives in vv. 7-15.
MAIN POINT
The glory of God is most clearly seen in and experienced by the church
in which men and women worship together in a happy partnership. Therefore�
I. Holy men are to lead the congregation to God.
In v. 8 the "everywhere" in the NIV is literally, "in
every place". What places is he referring to? He is referring to
every place where Christ�s people are gathered together in prayer. Paul
is describing in vv. 7-15 what is to take place when the church is gathered
together in public worship. The first thing he says is that men are to
be leading the congregation to God in prayer. (NOTE: He doesn�t say women
are not to pray in the public service. In fact, in 1 Cor. 11 he expects
women to be praying in the public worship service.) But notice that he
is not simply concerned with the gender of those who are leading but with
their character. He wants men who have holy hands and lives that are not
full of anger and fighting. In fact, it�s important that you notice that
while most of the passage we are dealing with today is addressed to women,
Paul spends the bulk of this letter talking to the men who lead the congregation.
Paul is answering the question, what kind of church experiences the glory
of God and displays the glory of God? The first thing he points to is
the quality of the male leadership in that church. What kinds of men are
leading? They first of all are praying men. God wants men leading his
church whose chief concern is the glory of God. They are praying men because
they are dependent men. Men who know they are not at the center but that
God is at the center. You see, men who are full of anger and fighting
and who have unholy hands are those who believe they are at the center,
not God. They are men who are pursuing their happiness in the things of
this world, rather than in the things that belong to Christ�s kingdom.
The leadership Paul is describing here is the same as what he describes
for the husband in Ephesians 5 that we talked about two weeks ago. The
godly husband is not concerned with whether his wife is cooking his favorite
meals or letting him go hunting whenever he wants. He is concerned with
whether his wife and their children are seeking God. He is not concerned
chiefly with how his wife submits to him in the fulfilling of her wifely
responsibilities but is she submitting to him by following him to Christ.
The same is true of the Christian leader. Flip over a page to 2 Timothy
2:10. Paul says, "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the
elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
with eternal glory." Or in 2 Cor. 1:24, "Not that we lord it
over your faith but we work with you for your joy�" This is what
motivates Christian leaders and Christian husbands. We are not working
to get our wives or those in the church to do what we say so we can be
the center of attention and get our needs met. Rather, we are working
for the joy of others in the glory of Christ.
A famous Scottish pastor of the last century said that the thing his
congregation needed most from him was his personal holiness. The apostle
Paul would agree with that. A little later in this letter he tells Timothy,
"Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in faith and
in purity� Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Persevere in them,
because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers."
God has blessed our church with a group of men who desire Christ in this
way. We have a group of men involved in various leadership roles who desperately
want to live holy lives and lead people to Christ. We pray for more of
them who will live holy, peace filled lives and seek to lead their families
and our church to God in a praying life.
The glory of God is most clearly seen in and experienced by the church
in which men and women worship together in a happy partnership. Therefore�
- Holy men are to lead the congregation to God.
- And therefore�
II. Christian women must live in a manner that is fitting for those
who profess to worship God.
There are two things that need to be said about vv. 9-15 before we look
at the details. First, Paul has a very limited objective in these verses.
He is not trying to set out all that women are to be or to do in the life
and ministry of the church. He is seeking to describe how women are to
relate and not relate to men in the church with a special emphasis on
the public worship in the church. Second, what Paul is describing here
is how Christian women are to live in the context of the church. I do
not think that you can take what Paul says here and apply it to women
in contexts outside of the church. These verses cannot be used to say
that women cannot be in positions of authority in the world of commerce
or government or education. Just as there is a pattern to how husbands
and wives relate to each other to the glory of God so there is a pattern
for how men and women are to relate to each other in the church that will
bring praise and honor to God. But it is a pattern for the church, not
for all other male-female relationships.
The first thing he says to women seems so trite and legalistic. It seems
to us that he is sticking his nose into something that he has no business
talking about. Why does he care about how women dress? What difference
can it possibly make to God what a woman wears to church? There are several
clues in vv. 9-10 to help us sort out what Paul is saying. First, as the
New American Standard makes clear, the first word in v. 9 is "likewise"
or "in the same way". In the church of the living God, men are
not to be known for their ability to win arguments and get their own way
but for their holy and prayerful lives. In the same way, women are not
to be known for their beauty or fashionable dress. They are to be known
as women whose first concern is the worship of God. They are to display
the centrality of God in their lives by their modest dress and their lives
that are full of good deeds. "Modestly, with decency and propriety"
emphasize that she is not to draw attention to herself either by the extravagance
of her clothing or by clothing that is sexually provocative. Paul confronts
both men and women with how each naturally seeks to gain influence and
standing in the group. Men often use power and intimidation to get their
way. Women often use beauty and sexuality to get their way. Paul condemns
both approaches for Christian men and women and exhorts men to pray and
live holy lives and women to dress appropriately, not extravagantly or
provocatively but to cloth themselves with good deeds.
Just as when he tells men to pray he is not forbidding women from praying,
so also, when he tells women to do good deeds he is not saying men should
not do good deeds. What does Paul mean by "good deeds"? If you�ll
look over at 5:9-10 you�ll see a partial list. "�good deeds, such
as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the
saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of
good deeds." I think of Tabitha in the book of Acts who helped the
poor and made clothes for widows. There is Lydia, who owned her own business
and when she became a Christian invited Paul and his traveling companions
to live at her house while they stayed in her town. She showed them hospitality.
Then there is Priscilla, who along with her husband Aquila, had a local
church meeting in their home and whom Paul called a fellow worker in the
gospel. There are all kinds of good works that women can and must engage
in. God will not be glorified in and through our church unless women engage
in a whole host of good deeds. These are not "lesser" tasks
than those given to men. They are necessary and essential if the church
is going to know and share the glory of God. When they serve others because
they are God-worshippers, then they join with the men in the church in
bringing great glory to God.
Now we come to the hard verses. The NIV tries to soften the harshness
of these verses by translating the same Greek word two different ways.
In verse 11 "quietness" is the same Greek word as "silence"
in v. 12. In doing this they obscure what Paul is saying and actually
make it seem harsher than is necessary. There are four questions to answer
in order to figure out what these verses mean. First, does this verse
mean that women cannot speak at all in the church? Second, what does "to
teach and to have authority over men" mean? Third, why does Paul
say this? Fourth, what in the world does v. 15 mean?
Are women forbidden from speaking in the church? It says she must
be silent. Let me make this even more difficult for us. In 1 Corinthians
14:33b-34 Paul says, "As in all the congregations of the saints,
women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak,
but must be in submission, as the Law says." The Bible does not forbid
women from speaking in the church gathered in prayer and worship. There
are numerous examples in the NT of women speaking and praying in the church.
In 1 Cor. 11 Paul gives instructions as to how women are to conduct themselves
when they pray and prophesy in church, but he expects women to be fully
involved in the life of the church. The context of both 1 Corinthians
and here in 1 Timothy make clear that Paul is not forbidding women from
uttering any words in the church. He is forbidding women from speaking
certain kinds of words.
What kind of speech does Paul forbid women from practicing? He
forbids the language of teaching and authority over men. What does
it mean to teach and have authority over men? Notice that women are
to be silent while learning within the context of the church gathered
in worship. Also notice that silence and submission are synonymous in
v. 11. To whom are women to be submissive? They are to be submissive to
the male leadership appointed in the church. They are not submissive to
every man, but to the men God has appointed to leadership. This submission
is something that is also commanded for all the men in the church who
are not appointed to leadership. Hebrews 13:17 says to the entire church,
"Obey your leaders and submit tot heir authority. They keep watch
over you as men who must give an account."
In v. 12 the speech that is forbidden to them is the speech of teaching
and of authority over men. Teaching in Paul�s letter to Timothy always
refers to the authoritative teaching of God�s word. In 4:11 Paul says
to Timothy, "Command and teach these things." The authoritative
teaching of God�s word in the context of the gathered church is limited
to certain men. The authority that Paul forbids women to exercise is the
authority of final, spiritual leadership in the church. What women cannot
do is be in the position of having final authority on matters of doctrine
and practice in the church. What immediately follows this prohibition
of women teaching and having authority over men is Paul�s instruction
on what kind of men can be elders/pastors/overseers in the church. What
Paul is prohibiting women from doing is being in the offices of pastor
and elder in the church. He is forbidding women from teaching the Bible
to and having spiritual authority over men in the church. In our particular
setting this means that women cannot hold the position of teaching pastor,
of elder or of Discovery Group Leader. Women are not to be in the position
of teaching the Bible and giving spiritual direction to men in the church
as it is gathered together.
The authority Paul is describing is spiritual authority, not all kinds
of authority. Women can give leadership in all manner of church activity.
Women can lead in singing and in reading the Scripture and in organizing
various projects in the church. Women are not to be in the position of
telling the church gathered together as men and women what the Scriptures
mean and how they are to be applied to us. Women can teach women and in
fact are commanded to do so in Titus. Women can give direction to men
in the church in fulfilling the tasks of the church. For example, Cheryl
Martin is the Administrator for our church. She regularly assigns men
to fulfill a variety of functions in our church and tells them when and
where to do so. Cherie Wojciechowski is the leader of our Missions Team.
She sets agendas for their meetings and directs the activities of that
team which has men on it.
Why must women not be in these positions of teaching the Scriptures
and having spiritual authority over men? In vv. 13-14 Paul gives 2
reasons. First, he says women must be in submission to the male leadership
of the church and not teach or have spiritual authority over the church
as men and women because Adam was formed first, then Eve. Paul�s reference
to the creation of men and women back in Genesis 2 takes us back to what
it means to be male and female. God made humans in his image but he made
them male and female. God will not be glorified in the world and the world
will not be cared for by us unless we do it in the partnership of maleness
and femaleness. That partnership is a partnership of equality as persons
but distinction in role and function. As Ray Ortlund says, "In the
partnership of two spiritually equal human beings, man and woman, the
man bears the primary responsibility to lead the partnership in a God-glorifying
direction." The human race being male and female reflects the image
of God as Trinity. Men and women are equal in value just as the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit are each fully God. But we are different in role and
function just as each member of the Trinity is different in role and function.
The Son always submits to the Father and the Father always leads the Son.
The reason women may not teach the Scriptures or exercise spiritual authority
over men in the church is because God made man the head of the relationship
and woman the helper in order to display the greatness of his being one
God, eternally existing as three persons in a loving relationship of leadership
and submission.
The second reason women are not to teach the Scriptures or have spiritual
authority in the gathered church is because, "Adam was not deceived
but the woman, after being deceived, became a sinner." This is not
saying that women are more spiritually gullible or more easily deceived
and that is why women should not teach. Paul is pointing out that the
way sin entered the world was when Eve did not remain in submission to
Adam but took it upon herself to engage in a theological debate with Satan
and then took authority over Adam by giving Adam the forbidden fruit to
eat. When Eve taught Adam that the fruit would make him like God and took
authority over him by giving him the fruit, sin entered the world. This
is not saying that Adam did not sin or that the fall is the woman�s fault.
He is simply drawing attention to the fact that when God�s created order
is not followed, God is dishonored and human beings are harmed.
What does v. 15 mean? This is a notoriously difficult verse to
translate and to interpret. The key to understanding the verse is to see
it as part of the argument that Paul is making based on Genesis 1-3. Verse
14 ends by saying that the woman "became a sinner" after
she was deceived. What did God say to the woman after she was deceived?
Genesis 3: 16 says in part, "I will greatly increase your pains in
childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children." God tells
the woman that one of the results of and evidences of her sin and therefore
her separation from God will be difficulty in bearing children. Difficulty
in the bearing and raising of children is the mark of God�s curse upon
women, just as difficulty in subduing the earth is the mark of God�s curse
upon men. Then the preposition "through" does not mean "women
will be saved by means of bearing children or of fulfilling their domestic
duties". It can�t mean that for two reasons. First, it would be teaching
that salvation is by works. Second, this verse would only apply to mothers.
Paul clearly is talking to all women. Rather this verse says, "women
will be saved even while they are experiencing the results of sin in their
lives, while living in this world under God�s curse". How will women
be saved? They will escape the final curse of sin, which is hell, if they
continue to trust in and love Christ and advance in holiness in the ways
that are unique to them as women. Paul is simply stating that salvation
is by grace through faith and the faith that saves persists to the end
of life. The way women and men know they are Christians is not because
they asked Jesus into their heart one time or because they had some sort
of religious experience. Rather you know you are a Christian because you
are right now trusting and loving Christ and growing in holiness. The
phrase, "with modesty" shows that the way a woman grows in holiness
is in some sense different from how a man grows in holiness. Female holiness
looks different from male holiness because females are made different
by God for a different role in honoring him.
The Bible is not chauvinistic. It does not teach that women are inferior
to men. Rather, men and women display the greatness of the God who is
a Trinity as they serve him together in a complementary partnership. In
the church godly men teach and give spiritual direction to the congregation
and godly women submit to their leadership along with all the other men
in the congregation and help fulfill this grand purpose of displaying
the greatness of God by their good deeds. The limit God puts on what women
can do in the church is very narrow. There is much women can and must
do.
The glory of God is most clearly seen in and experienced by the church
in which men and women worship together in a complementary partnership.
Therefore�
- Holy men are to lead the congregation to God.
- Christian women must live in a manner that is fitting for those
who profess to worship God
© Copyright
2001 John Swanson.
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