1 Timothy - Part 2 - Of Weights, Wings and Women
1 Timothy 2:
Are you a weight or a wing?
What is the most dangerous thing you can do in the workplace?
One of the most dangerous thing a pastor can do is preach on the passage I
am preaching on tonight.
11 A 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. 13 For 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. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing-if they
continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. (1 Timothy 2:8-15)
Is this Paul saying that all women everywhere must never teach a man? Does
this mean that a women can never have any teaching role in youth group, or
small groups, or in a church?
Some people say 'Yes'.
Why I personally don't think Paul was applying this verse to all women
everywhere:
Why? Paul elsewhere talks positively about Christian women who did had
authority and teaching roles in churches. He mentions:
1. A women apostle: Junia - a female name - said to be an outstanding
apostle.
Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who have been in prison with
me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ
before I was. (Romans 16:7 - TNIV)
2. Women prophets: There were women who were considered to be prophetesses
(Acts 21:8-9), and in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul assumes women will be both
praying and prophesying in a church service.
And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered
dishonors her head (1 Corinthians 11:5)
3. A women deacon: Phoebe - a benefactor of Paul and called a 'deacon'
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchrea.
(Romans 16:1 - TNIV)
Why would Paul say "No" to women in this church teaching or having
authority, but in other churches he says, "Yes" to women teaching and
having this authority?
It suggests to me that there is something specific about the way some or
all of the women in this church were acting.
What clues do the letters of 1 and 2 Timothy give us?
1. Some people had come into this church spreading this dilution disease.
In order to be saved you have to believe in Jesus AND do or not do
other things.
2. Some of the Christians in this church had been sucked in by this
teaching. Among them were two men called Hymenaeus and Philetus.
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more
and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among
them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have wandered away from the
truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they
destroy the faith of some. (2 Timothy 2:16-18)
3. The tactic of these new-comers was to target the women of the church.
One possible reason for this was that, unlike men, women were almost
never taught the Jewish OT law. These women would have been less
likely to know the truth because they had never been taught it.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over
weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all
kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge
the truth. (2 Timothy 3:6-7)
4. A key target seems to be a group of young widows who did not have the
social protection of husbands. These women were possibly quite wealthy
because it seems they didn't have to work, being described as 'idle'.
They were also in the habit of gossiping and being busybodies.
11 As for younger widows, . they get into the habit of being idle and
going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers,
but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. (1
Timothy 5:11)
5. Some had already been lured away from faith in Christ by these men,
and their houses were probably used as bases for this false teaching.
11 As for younger widows, . 15 Some have in fact already turned away
to follow Satan. (1 Timothy 5:11-15)
6. It is probable that these women were trying to put forward this wrong
teaching in the context of the worship services of the Ephesian church
in opposition to established leadership, which is why Paul writes:
11 A 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. (1 Timothy 2:11-12)
So what is Paul's response to this issue?
He gives a short-term solution and a long-term solution:
Short-term solution - these women must keep quiet (v12)
Long-term solution -
1. These women need to be taught the truth (v 11)
11 A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.
This was revolutionary! Women were almost never considered worthy of being
educated.
Quietness and full submission = the way that all students were supposed to
relate to their teachers.
But what does Paul mean by:
13 For 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.
Is Paul saying that Eve being deceived first shows that women by their very
nature are more easily deceived than men?
Problem with this view is that three key figures who were deceived were men
- Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus.
More likely that Paul was using Eve and Adam as a simple example of what
was happening at Ephesus - "This has happened before - check out what
happened then."
2. These women need to get back into the cultural norm for young women
their age - to remarry and raise a family so that they would have less time
and energy to sin. In this way, they would be 'saved by child-bearing' (1
Timothy 2:15)
This matches up with what he says in another part:
14 So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage
their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. (1
Timothy 5:14)
Even though Paul gives instructions to a specific context, what principals
can we learn from this?
1. Beware of getting sucked in to nice sounding lies. We need to learn
and know the truth!
2. Remember that how you live life affects the lives of people around you
- either good or bad.
Paul deals with the speech of these women, but he also deals with the way
some of them were dressing.
He says:
9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not
with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with
good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
There were some women - possibly these wealthy young widows, who were
wearing very expensive and probably sexually suggestive clothing to church.
Paul - "you aren't helping"
"You are distracting attention from God."
Also targets men who were having arguments in church - possibly about the
false teaching.
Paul - "you aren't helping"
Are you a weight or a wing to others?