The Role of Women in the Church- PT 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This morning we are continuing a series on the role of women in the church. Specifically, my aim is to teach what the NT has to say about women reading Scripture publically in the church and women praying publically in the church.
Historically, in our circles, this is not something that we have practiced. We have understood the command for women to keep silent in the church as prohibiting ladies both reading Scripture and praying publically in church. And let me say this- I appreciate the concern of people on this topic. It is an indication to me that people in our circles are deeply committed to obeying God’s Word. Your concern for careful obedience to the text is most appreciated!
My question is what does the Bible teach? Are there clear passages in the NT that would help us understand the role of women in the church in regards to public Scripture reading and public prayer?
Last week we began our study by examining I Timothy 2.
In this passage we are going to look at what Scripture forbids for women functioning in the local church.
In order to see I Timothy 2 properly we are going to examine it in light of the idea of submission. I know when I say that word, “submit,” in relation to women- there are already hackles being raised by some people. Already, some of you might be thinking, “here we go again.” There is an extremely negative connotation, especially in our culture, when someone dares to say that the Bible requires that women practice Biblical submission.
How do we humble ourselves and become obedient to the will of God in the area of submission? How do we do that will joy?
I think Paul gives us three principles in I Timothy 2 that will help us joyfully submit to God’s will for our lives, and it will especially be helpful as we think about the role of women in the church.
Here is the principle:
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by redemption and outreach
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Here is the principle:
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by worship and reverence
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
CONTEXT IS KEY: Roles in the church: Submission in the context of worship and prayer / CORPORATE WORSHIP / PRAYER
What Paul is concerned about is disruptions to proper worship in the church. It was a hindrance to the church and to worship when men gathered together and did nothing but argue and fight.
9 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,
10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
Likewise, IN THE SAME WAY: CONTEXT IS KEY: Roles in corporate worship / submission in the context of worship and prayer
For the men in the church arguments and dissension were the hindrances to prayer. In the same way the women were hindering corporate prayer and worship, not by being argumentative, but by ostentatious or seductive dress.
Here is the principle:
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by loyalty and trust
11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.
Paul changes topics for a third time, but he is still concerned with conduct that will hinder proper corporate prayer and worship.
In v. 11 Paul gives a command- Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness- is an imperative. The focus of Paul’s command is that women in the church should assume the role of quiet learners. Paul is concerned about the manner in which women learn- namely in quietness and submission.
*(Aside)- Do not allow the manner of learning to overshadow the fact that Paul placed no limits upon the ability of women to learn about the Scriptures. Even the deepest and most technical aspects of the Bible and theology are open for women to learn!
So the question that causes everyone’s hackles to raise on the back of their necks is what does Paul mean when he commands women in the church to learn in a quiet and submissive manner?
Silence could be understood as absolute silence. No one holds this view- otherwise ladies would need refrain from uttering a sound in church.
Silence could be understood in the sense of “not teaching.” She must remain quiet and not teach in church. But that is the emphasis of the following verse.
Silence is most likely the idea of being at peace, enjoying solitude or tranquility. The idea would be women are to keep silent while somebody is speaking so as to show deference to teachers, BUT not necessarily excluding verbal interchange which is appropriate to the occasion.
Marshall- ICC
In the present context listening quietly with deference and attentiveness to the one teaching is indicated. Other forms of utterance (praying, singing, prophesying, encouraging) are not ruled out; the limited reference here is to speaking out of turn and thereby interrupting the lesson.
Illustration: Conservative speaker goes to address a college campus and a group of protesters stand up during the speech and interrupt the lesson. It is inappropriate. The appropriate thing would be to wait for the q&a at the end of the lesson. The intention of the protesters is to be disruptive.
They have no willingness to learn in quiet and peace. And they certainly are not willing to submit themselves in an attitude or posture appropriate to learning.
This is what Paul wants of the women in the church. When the word is being preached do not interrupt or hinder proper worship. Instead learn in quietness appropriate for the setting. And learn in submission- that is in a heart attitude that is willing to learn. Be willing to accept the teaching and the authority of the teacher. This doesn’t mean you have to accept everything blindly without question. It is still good to be Berean like in your listening- search the Scriptures to see if these things be so. Yet, still have a teachable spirit.
This is something men must do as well. The men in the church who are not teaching must be willing to learn in quietness and in submission to the leaders.
15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—
16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.
So why does Paul single out women in this passage? Apparently, it was an issue in the church of Ephesus were Timothy was leading. But the teaching is equally applicable to men as well as women. Just like the teaching for men to pray with holy hands in v. 8 is applicable to men and women.
Paul then goes on and adds a prohibition to ensure that worship continued unhindered.
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.
This verse contains two prohibitions and one positive command.
The positive command is that women are to remain quiet.
The two prohibitions is that first, women are not to teach men, and second, women are not to exercise authority over men.
This verse raises all kinds of questions!
Much of the following information I am taking from Dr. Kevin Bauder’s book Baptist Distinctives. I would encourage you to get and read the book!
What men are women not supposed to teach? Where should they not teach them? What kind of teaching are they not supposed to do? What sort of authority are the not supposed to exercise? Are these commands timeless or were they only relevant for the church of Ephesus? Are these commands to be applied in every area of life or are they restricted to a particular setting?
Observations:
1. I Timothy 2:12 does not forbid women from teaching or even discipling men outside of the public gatherings of the church.
The context of the chapter beginning with v. 8 is that of a corporate worship service not with private conversations.
24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.
25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Priscilla is a positive example of a women actively challenging and instructing a male teacher. Essentially, Priscilla and Aquila discipled Apollos in the the way of God more accurately.
2. I Timothy 2:12 does not forbid women from teaching children or other women within the public assembly.
Nothing in this passage bars women from teaching SS classes or ladies Bible studies in church.
3. I Timothy 2:12 does forbid a kind of teaching that is tied to exercising authority in the church.
The authority in view here is the kind of authority exercised by a pastor over the body. A pastor’s authority is a moral authority- it is bringing to bear the authority of the Word of God through preaching and teaching and in his own personal example of rightly applying the Word of God in every area of his life.
As long as women do not attempt to teach as if they hold official authority within the church opportunities exist for them to minister even in corporate worship services.
5 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.
In the NT, women both prophesied and prayed in public, but they did it while “demonstrating appropriate tokens of submission” to legitimate authority. We will cover this more in depth later on.
4. I Timothy 2:12 has nothing to say about women exercising non-ecclesiastical authority outside the church.
Women are told submit in the church setting and in the home setting to their own husbands (whole other sermon because the idea of submission in the home is drastically misunderstood)
Otherwise the NT does not restrict women leadership in the areas of professional business, education, or government. Christian women are not supposed to submit to all men at all time everywhere.
5. I Timothy 2:12 clearly forbids women to preach to audiences that include adult men.
Ladies must not authoritatively teach the Bible to men or mixed audiences in a church setting.
6. I Timothy 2:12 clearly forbids women from exercising the authority of a pastor-bishop-elder.
This verse along with others:
2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
definitely does restrict the pastoral office to men.
Two objections that I think the text deals with that I want to address:
Objection #1: I Timothy 2:12 is simply addressing a local situation in Ephesus and is not to be applied to churches today.
Paul overrides this objection by placing the grounds for his commands, not in some cultural temporal circumstance, but in the order of creation itself.
Why should women remain quiet in the public worship context? Why should they not teach or exercise authority over a man?
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Paul gives two reasons in these verse: 1) Adam was formed first, 2). Adam was not deceived, but Eve was.
Why are these reasons so persuasive for Paul?
Reason #1: Order of creation
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Adam was created first by God from the dust of the ground. Then God created Eve at a later time out of Adam’s rib. Eve was created to be a helper like Adam. So God instituted an order of authority that was present at the very beginning of creation.
This is before the fall, and the curse. God’s plan since before the fall has been for Man to be in a position of headship. Submission was never meant to be a bad or negative thing. It was never ment to be a distasteful thing either. That was a consequence of the curse.
16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
The desire for a wife to want to control her husband is part of the consequences of the curse and the fall.
Why should women remain quiet in the public worship context? Why should they not teach or exercise authority over a man?
Reason # 2: Order of the Fall
14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
What does Paul mean when he points out that the woman and not the man was deceived and became a transgressor?
It does not mean that women are somehow more gullible than men!
The NT is full of significant positive examples of teaching roles for women!
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 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.
19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So why does Paul bring up the order of the fall in our text?
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Eve was not alone at the time of the temptation and the fall. Adam was with her. Satan singled out Eve and tempted her. Eve could have gone to her husband and deferred to Adam. But, she chose to take the lead and answer for them both, and Adam followed suit. This was a reversal of the order of creation.
And that is the point. God created Adam first, so God intended for Adam to take the lead. When Eve bypassed the intended created order of God she rebelled against the the clear intentions of God for the roles of husband and wife. She refused to submit to God’s choice in assigning her roles in creation.
Adam should have stepped in and taken responsibility, and Eve should have waited for Adam to take the lead. The order was reversed! They did not submit to God’s created order. They chose to do things their way! And how did that end up for them?
Why can’t women be pastors? Why can’t women teach and exercise authority over men? Because God said so. God ordained it to be that way? Why? I have no idea.
God could have created women first, He could have formed both Adam and Eve from the dust at the same time. But God didn’t do it that way.
Why? I don’t know, but it is the choice of God since the beginning of creation. The question is ladies, will you submit to God’s choice? Or will you rebel and like Eve, reverse the created order, and disobey God? What were the consequences for Adam and Eve? What do you think the consequences of disobedience to God will be like today in the church?
Objection #2: It’s not fair! If women can’t be pastors, then you are keeping them from significant spiritual blessings!
If women can’t be pastors and they can’t teach adult men in corporate church services does this mean that they just loose out on significant spiritual blessings? Think of the pastor who gets to touch so many different lives with the truth of God’s Word. Think of the internationally acclaimed preacher who is heard by and blesses thousands. Why do they get access to such significant blessings and women are denied these kinds of blessings?
Well Paul apparently did not think this way!
15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
This verse is controversial- that is there are many different interpretations.
Salvation by the birth of Jesus (childbearing refers to bearing of children in general and not one specific birth)
Salvation by means of bearing children (This would imply a salvation by works)
Physical safety during childbirth (There have been plenty of Christian mothers who have died in childbirth)
Deliverance from the temptations of Satan by keeping to her proper role (She will not be deceived like Eve, if she restricts herself to family responsibilities)
A call for women to demonstrate loyalty and trust in the providential calling of God
I think what Paul is doing in this verse is teaching the doctrine of providential calling. And it is a powerful truth if you can understand and apply it!
Embracing the doctrine of the calling of God starts with the recognition that your position in life was chosen for you by the good will and providence of God.
Whatever station or situation of life you are in right now is to be understood as a calling by God. Some of you are young some old, some of you are married and some are single, some of you make more money in your occupation and some make less. Expanding it out even further, some were born in one nation and some in another. All of these different stations of life represent a calling by God.
Each of these different callings in life afford opportunities to bring glory to God.
In our text Paul is talking about the calling of God to be a mother- “She shall be saved through childbearing.” That is she can put her salvation on display, she can give evidence of a heart transformed by grace through embracing the station in life God has called her to. She can give evidence that she truly is redeemed from all lawlessness by her joyful submission and obedience to the calling of motherhood.
And she will experience the full benefit of her salvation if she does so- she will be ultimately glorified through her salvation and will experience the full measure of the reward of Christ. If she continues in her calling of motherhood with faith and love and holiness and self-control she can bring abundant glory to God in her calling as a mother, and God will reward her faithfulness!
Being a pastor is a calling by God, and if the pastor is faithful in their ministry they have a tremendous opportunity to display the grace of God as an evidence of their salvation and bring glory to God. Being a farmer, or truck driver, or salesman, or engineer, or nurse are also callings by God. Callings are simply the stations of life in which God places believers.
Just like the pastor- the farmer or the salesman, the nurse or the mother, each one has the opportunity to put the grace of God on display by demonstrating how salvation is transforming you into the image of Christ in your individual callings.
Moms you have the opportunity to exhibit the grace of God in your salvation by embracing the role God has given you. It is true, you cannot be a pastor. But I cannot be a mother, and I cannot be an NBA basketball player. I was not born a 7 foot tall athletic star. And I will never have international acclaim or pastor a large mega church. But, God has given me a calling and he has given you a calling.
You are fearfully and wonderfully made! God in his providence equipped you with exactly what you need to bring him glory. And if you continue in your calling with faith and love and holiness and self control God will reward you one day.
But, surely the pastor has opportunity for greater reward, some might say. Here is another opportunity to renew our minds in God’s Word!
Matt 20:1-16
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’
5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’
9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,
12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’
16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
We do not understand the perfect justice and fairness of Almighty God!
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.
Coming back to our text- the idea is you can joyfully submit to God in the area of calling. It takes loyalty and trust in God! Trust his fairness and his justice and his ability to reward you for submitting to the calling he has given you.
None of us like the idea of submission- We do not like to submit! It is contrary to the very essence of our sin nature.
How do we humble ourselves and become obedient to the will of God in the area of submission? How do we do that will joy?
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by redemption and outreach
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by worship and reverence
Submission becomes joyful when you are motivated by loyalty and trust
Men and women will you submit to almighty God? Will you be motivated rightly in your submission to God? May God cause us to understand His Word, submit and joyfully obey Him!