Women in the NT
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Platitudes
Platitudes
I’m a little nervous, but:
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
When God closes a door, he opens a window
Still, I can’t do this myself. But the Word says,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever
Cleanliness is next to godliness
If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all the evidence
[Some of you are probably wondering right now why the sound guy is preaching. And is he dating that prophetic chick or what? Someone said they saw them leaving together!]
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Therefore, every scripture ever written was written for us and to us and is as true today as it was then…
CAN I GET AN AMEN!?…(Cue slide)
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
Which is why I have a BIG problem with this ministry. Why are you people blatantly ignoring a perfectly clear scripture, the literal word of God, written by an actual Bible Apostle to Christians in every time and place?
Oh does that not mean what I think it means? Well the Bible interprets the Bible right, so here it is again!
the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
So again I ask, why is this ministry ignoring God’s command?
(Allow responses)
Yeah, so it’s not so obvious whether or not we should be following this passage today, right?
Over many years, scholars have a developed a process to help with this.
What is hermeneutics?
What is hermeneutics?
Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation.
Process for scholars, and for you, to confidently pull the actual truth out of a text.
...avoid an arbitrary, fanciful, or incorrect interpretation. The technical term is hermeneutics.
How do we start this process?
Starts with reading the text carefully to determine what it meant to its original audience. What was the author trying to communicate?
For this it’s important to avoid paraphrased Bibles like The Message, The Passion Translation, and the NLT for this sort of study. They are pre-interpreted.
Don’t get stuck in what you’ve always thought the text meant
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Look at it in context: paragraph, pericope, chapter, book.
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Read it over and over and note the details
What words repeat? (Woman x 10, Eve x 3, Man x 3)
What contrasts or comparisons do you observe? (praying vs. anger/quarreling; respectable/modest vs gold/pearls/costly stuff/good works; submissiveness/being quiet vs. teaching/exercising authority; Adam vs. Eve)
Who are the people involved in this text? (Men, Woman, Paul, Timothy, “People,” Adam, Eve)
What things? (Hands, clothing, gold, jewelry, pearl)
Lists (pray, lifting holy hands; anger, quarreling; braided hair, gold, pearly, costly attire; teaching, exercising authority)
Causes and effects (if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control…saved)
Figures of speech. (Saved through childbearing)
Look at the text in the larger context: paragraph, pericope, chapter, book
Ok, so we figured out what it means. Why can’t we just take that and apply it to ourselves? What separates us from them? (Allow responses)
It’s like a wide and deep river separates us from the original hearers:
Culture: Do we live in ancient Israel? Do we live in a city in the Roman Empire?
Customs: How familiar are we with Jewish customs? Greek? Roman?
Language: We are usually using a translation, and sometimes it’s a translation of a translation! Jesus likely spoke Aramaic, which was translated into Greek, then into English.
Situation: Was the writer addressing a specific problem or problems? Do we have that same problem?
Covenant: Old or New? Are we under the same covenant as the audience being written to?
And at a minimum 2000 years separate us from the time the text was written!
I hope it’s obvious that we cannot directly apply the meaning to the ancient audience to today
…a wide river separates us.
What did our 1 Timothy text mean to the original audience?
What did our 1 Timothy text mean to the original audience?
Ok, let’s put some of this knowledge to work on our text. If we want to understand in its context, we need to know something about it. Now we’re moving beyond the context as far as chapter/verse and into the culture of the audience. The questions will vary for different texts, but for ours:
Some basic things to think about:
Who was writing this (Paul)
When (1st c)
To whom (Timothy)
Where (1:3-Ephesus)
What was their situation?
(Ask for more suggestions)
Ephesus is a melting pot of Jewish, Greek, and Roman people.
What were women’s lives like?
What were women’s lives like?
Jewish women
Jewish women
Jewish family is a team of people with distinct roles, including slaves.
Women manage the household, infants, cooking, sewing, fetching wood/water, selling in the markets.
Girls are trained by their mother, for those distinct roles and nothing more. Boys are trained by their father in religion.
Marriage arranged before puberty lest she be violated and impure.
At which point...It was inappropriate for her to speak to a man that was not her husband.
Because synagogue was on the Sabbath, women maybe could not hold their baby, so less likely to be there.
Regardless, Jewish women have very little scriptural knowledge.
Greek women
Greek women
Lived their lives in completely separate spheres from their husbands.
Even had their own gods and cults (Artemis).
Woman’s value in the house is solely as childbearer.
Uneducated: Boys get a classical education, girls do not.
Social life was only with women in the household leads to a lot of drinking
Might work in the family business, but not otherwise unless she were to become a courtesan.
Roman women
Roman women
2nd class, but freer.
Needed a man for protection and support.
They were more plugged into society, able to attend the gladiatorial games.
Worked in the city, outside of their family business; textiles.
Slaves took care of much of what we would consider a women’s role.
Greek and Roman women know nothing about the background of the Jews. They’re just another culture they’re sharing the city with.
What was life like in Ephesus?
What was life like in Ephesus?
Capital of Roman province of Asia Minor. Population around 250,000, making it the 3rd largest city in the Roman Empire. Theater that seated 24,000.
Temple of Artemis, goddess of fertility, magic, and astrology, aka Diana.
Antipater of Sidon's called it one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He wrote:
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand".[2]
137 m (450 ft) long by 69 m (225 ft) wide and 18 m (60 ft) high, with more than 127 columns. Survived for 600 years.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Commerce
The Artemis shrine in Ephesus provided the area with a lucrative tourist business from pilgrims traveling to the temple.
We know that’s true because the disciples have had a run in with some craftsman in Ephesus recorded in Acts:
About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”
So this was a huge cult!
But, These tradesmen are very upset because so MANY people are leaving the worship of Artemis behind.
Where were these people going who left the cult of Artemis? They were becoming Christians!
Who were the leaders in the Cult of Artemis? Women! Taught them to be independent. Early women’s lib.
What would women who were leaders in the Cult of Artemis expect to be doing in the Christian church? Leading!
What did they actually know about Jewish heritage and this new Christian church? Nothing!
Back to our passage:
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
Why is he telling women to dress respectably? Cause they’re not. An easy interpretive trick is knowing that nothing is written without reason!
I’ll be the first to tell you that you should get pretty skeptical anyone starts to make a big deal about “in the original language” when they have no training. I have a little training, but I’ve also consulted reputable sources, so I’m going to share a couple important points that we get from the original language.
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
Quietly: Peaceful, tranquil
Teaching: Explain. Authoritative teaching. Not home group, men’s/lady’s group kind of teaching/studying together.
Exercise authority: Hapax. Give orders, dictate to. Never means holding authority positionally, but rather domineering, lording over, even stealing from. It’s about taking authority that doesn’t rightfully belong to them as non-leaders, who happen to be women. Usurping authority! Teaching to usurp authority! Teaching in such a way that they are usurping authority.
Makes sense coming from Cult of Artemis.
So that’s the crux of it! It’s not really about women, it’s about usurping proper authority in the church (at that moment, all men) and teaching what you do not know because you just walked in the door!
And it’s because of the Cult of Artemis that Paul mentions childbearing: It’s a reference to traditional domestic roles contrary to the Artemis cult. He is really letting these ladies that are usurping authority have it! They’re not ready for all that!
END: Does that make a little more sense now?
What about:
What about:
the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
Is it really shameful for women to speak at all in the church? Paul just said:
but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.
Did his view of women change in 3 chapters?
the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
Looking closer: The text in 34-35 talks about asking questions.
Women were deprived of education prior to this, so they are further behind.
So ask your husband at home your basic questions.
The result of speaking brings shame. Honor/shame culture.
Culturally expected not to speak to men they were not related to.
So avoid shame.
It’s shameful to ask questions that they should know,
distracting everyone,
interrupting the flow with something trivial.
And it’s shameful to speak to men that are not your husband
So ask your husband later, at home
MY EXAMPLE
Determining What Applies Today
Determining What Applies Today
While the specifics may only apply to a specific situation the biblical audience was facing, the theological principles in the text are applicable to all of God’s people at all times.
The principle is the bridge. How do we get the principle out of the text?
First we look at:
What did the text mean then? Grammar (what are the words, how are they used), culture (what was life like), context (what is the writer talking about).
Then we carefully examine what’s different now from then? What are the differences between the biblical times and biblical audience and us here now today? Culture, language, situation, time, possibly covenant. What are the significant differences relevant to the text?
NOW: What is the theological principle in this text? This is Challenging! Don’t CREATE a meaning, FIND the intended meaning. The principle should be in the text, it’s something timeless, it’s not tied to a specific situation, it’s not culturally bound, it’s consistent with the rest of the Bible, and it’s relevant to them and us.
Consult the map. How does this fit into the rest of the Bible? Is it consistent? Fine tune the principle you’re extracting.
NOW you’re ready to apply to our time: How do we as individual Christians today live out that principle? How does it apply to real life situations?
These verses about women we’ve talked about are not about women at all. At that time, the term was just a way to refer to (WHAT?):
Those having no background or training
Those should not be teaching in the church.
So the principle is (WHAT?)
How do we apply those principles to today?
How do we apply those principles to today?
Why doesn’t it mean women today? Our situation is different:
Women are educated. A lot of women in this room are more educated, more prophetic, study more, and have deeper knowledge than a lot of men in this room. That just wasn’t the case back then!
We are not in a honor/shame culture where asking a dumb question would bring shame upon your family! We encourage asking dumb questions because instead of risking shame, we are probably asking something someone else wants to ask!
Finally, women are not shamed for speaking up in front of men other than their husband these days.
So YES, all scripture is still for today, but not in such a direct sense. These scriptures about women are for today, but today their object is not women but those who are usurping authority or speaking authoritatively while lacking knowledge as we can image the women from the Cult of Artemis doing.
Why is it so hard to get the correct meaning?
Why is it so hard to get the correct meaning?
Here’s another thing. Even when we think we have a clear understanding of what the text meant to the original hearers, there are still two possibilities we must consider:
Is the text Descriptive, telling us how it was then, or
Is the text Prescriptive, telling us how it should be now?
For example, the early church meetings were banquets, closely following the Roman banquet format. There was no such thing as a church gathering apart from a meal.
So is that Descriptive or Prescriptive? Are we doing it wrong?
Prof wrote book, launched Dinner Church Movement.
Trying to revive meal-centered worship.
Is there something wrong with not doing it that way?
Grappling with this is part of our journey. Nobody can say with 100% certainty one way or the other.
Are our texts about women descriptive or prescriptive? (Wait for answers)
Doesn’t the Bible interpret itself?
Doesn’t the Bible interpret itself?
Some people say that if we collect all the verses related to a topic, the correct understand will emerge.
But let’s say we just have two verses.
Are they really equal?
Same writer, audience, time, situation?
Addressing the same problem?
Do we really know which one is clearer such that it should influence how we understand the other?
Now multiply that by the number of verses on any given topic. Or consider the two separate passages we’ve considered today, 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians. They almost sounded the same, but now you understand that they are addressing different situations for different reasons. 1 Timothy is about women usurping authority, while 1 Cor is more about interrupting with badly timed questions.
Won’t the Holy Spirit give me the right answer?
Won’t the Holy Spirit give me the right answer?
So why not just pray and meditate on a verse to find out what it really means and if it applies today. Well certainly the HS is part of the process and will guide you.
But we also have 2,000 years of New Testament scholarship by wholehearted men and women of God doing their best to fully understand the Bible’s meaning,
And they disagree a lot. So no, it doesn’t seem like the HS gives straight answers to some of these things.
How boring would it be if we were just given all the answers?! There’s so much to learn in the process!
We got the big stuff down: Jesus died, was buried, was raised from the dead, and is alive today. We’re forgiven. We’ve been promised eternal life.
Does this small stuff matter? Well, if you want to understand why God made sure we received these words, some thousands of years after the events, then yes! This is the treasure Proverbs promises.
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
Recognizing Bad Teaching
Recognizing Bad Teaching
There exists bad teaching. Paul warned about it and it’s as true today as it was then:
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
There is bad teaching out there. There is a LOT of bad teaching out there.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Most of the NT is:
people being corrected
when their understanding had been corrupted.
Bible Promises, to Whom?
Bible Promises, to Whom?
Let’s address an important issue.
But I hope at this point you understand that most Bible promises were NOT written to YOU. If they are in the OT, they were written to God’s chosen nation of Israel under a different covenant.
While they teach us about God, they are not promises to you. For example:
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Is this OT or NT? OT…then it’s 100% not a promise to you! We are not part of the nation of Israel. We are not under that covenant.
Hold on. Yes, God will bless us.
HE HAS blessed us.
He sent Jesus!
Jesus died so that we might have everlasting life.
THAT’S your blessing already fulfilled that you are living in every day, and that’s your promise for the future!
That old promise was to a chosen nation. There are parallels to the church, it’s not the same and we can’t just arbitrarily decide that it applies to us too. The principle, that God blesses those he loves, is absolutely true. But it is not experienced in the same way.
If you still feel that the promise is for you, then consider that by the same logic, this promise is also for you:
Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
You don’t see that one up on the big screens very often, do you? But it makes just as much sense to show that as to show Micah. If you take one literally, you kinda have to take the other one too!
Ok so...
There are some verses, especially the words of Jesus, that are a very short river crossing from his time to our time, and here is possibly the most important one:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Look...
There is so much gold in the Bible. The rewards of Bible study never end. It’s not a race, it’s a journey, and so I encourage every one of you to dig into the Word. The Boreans did:
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Be like the Bereans.
Seek truth. Seek accurate knowledge.
I have a Handout For You!
God made sure we had this book for a reason. I’d like to encourage you to collect some resources that can help you get a deeper understanding.
There’s a lot we wouldn’t understand at all if not for a whole ton of archeology and historical research, sometimes done by people who don’t believe in God at all, but who have confirmed the reality of Bible history, giving us a solid foundation, and we are blessed by the work they and many believers have done! Every single book of the Bible is a masterpiece, and the joy of studying them has no end.
Get your handout
Thank you for listening!