God’s Design for Men and Women

In this week’s message from 1 Timothy 2, we look at God’s created order for men and women in the church. Instead of conforming to cultural pressures, we trust the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ and submit to God’s authoritative word. This design calls women to adorn themselves with good works and men to sacrificial leadership.

Transcript

Well, let’s turn to 1 Timothy once again. We’re going to struggle with this passage one more week, maybe two more. There’s a lot here, and last week I was struggling with this text. I’ll tell you what I was doing in a few minutes because I doubt if all of you got it last week. I don’t know what it was, but I was struggling. I was struggling because I didn’t have my glasses and hadn’t had any sleep. That was part of it, but let’s don’t make too many excuses. Actually, by the time I finished that sermon, near the very end of the sermon, I made a little joke. I’m not going to tell any of you what it was. Only one person in the very back got it. Nobody else was. I tuned everybody out. I mean that’s the truth. And so I recognize that as a failure of mine. That’s what it is. I’m not going out of my way to apologize for it. I always try to do the very best I can, but this is reality.

And I have to tell you, preaching is a struggle under the best of circumstances. And when you’re preaching a difficult passage, and the passage that we’re looking at in Second Timothy verses 9 to 15 is difficult in every aspect. It’s a difficult passage for people to receive in the culture we live in. It’s a difficult passage to preach in places. I hope to get to verse 15 today, but I might not, in which case I’ll save it for next week. But looking at verse 15, there’s about 40 interpretations of verse 15 that I’m aware of. So I’ll probably only give you one of those.

But anyway, I think the best way to begin this morning is by reading through the passage. I’m going to explain part of this, at least through verse 12 what we looked at last week, and then I’m going to do sort of a little background to our struggle, and then Lord willing we’ll look at least at verses 13 and 14 this morning and possibly get into 15. We’ll look at that. So this is God’s holy word and it is the authoritative word of God.

Likewise I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing. Modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But women will be saved or preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

That is the word of God. Let’s ask God’s blessing on his word this morning.

Father, we thank you for the truth of your word and for just the comfort of your word if we can see it this morning. And we pray, Lord, that you guide us into this truth. And Father, we thank you for this instruction that we’ve received from the Apostle Paul about how we are to govern ourselves, how we’re to behave in the household of God. And we ask, Father, as we consider this passage this morning, you guide us into your truth. You help us to see how we are to behave, particularly the roles of women in the church this morning, help us to understand these things and why this was given to us. Guide us in this way we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Well, last week, as I said, we’re living in a time where these verses are hotly debated in the church. Last week my goal was to—might have been a misguided goal, I don’t know—but my goal was to describe several contemporary arguments that attempt to say that this passage of scripture that we’ve just read was relevant for the first century but not for today. And we looked at several in detail. What I hoped to do last week was to take those arguments seriously, state them in their strongest form, and then demonstrate the weakness, the problems with that view. I think I actually did that, though I was struggling with expressing some of that, but at least on paper that’s what I did. So whatever I communicated last week, that was the goal.

But a deeper question, one that I want to begin with, is why you have such interpretations. The problem is the culture that we live in creates great pressure for us. We want to conform to it. People tend to want to follow it. And so there are several ideas that are in contemporary culture that are out of harmony with this passage. This passage doesn’t agree with current practice in so many ways and what people expect. Part of it is the idea that equality means that you’re identical in roles that you play. And our culture says that if there’s a job and you have the ability to do that job, and you’re not allowed to do it simply based on your sex, then you are discriminated against, and that is unfair.

This passage says a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness, but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. So just based purely because it’s a woman, they are not to exercise authority over a man or to preach in a church as a pastor of a church, assume that role. Why not? And so Paul gives his reasons, we’ll look at that Lord willing today.

So when you come to a passage like this and you struggle with this kind of situation, then you have to say, is the Bible out of date? Is this something that was good for the time maybe because of the special circumstances that was taking place in the church at Ephesus when he sent this letter to Timothy, or is maybe the Bible just out of date? And the thing is, when the Bible comes in conflict with our cultural thoughts and attitudes, we should look hard at that. And we should ask ourselves whether the Bible is out of date or whether our culture is out of line.

We need to think rightly about the word of God because the real question here is what is authoritative. What causes us to make our choice, what do we consider as the great authority? Is it the ideas and thoughts of the people around us? Our community, and by the way, we’re overwhelmed with these things. The idea that I expressed about inequality, well, you get that in our school system. You get that on every television show you watch. You get that on the news, whether you get it on television or in the newspaper. Pretty much everything, you’re surrounded with these ideas. When you’re surrounded with these ideas, they seem to be true. Is that our authority? Is that to be what we decide things by?

Or is our authority the word of God? Do we really believe 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 that the word of God is the breath of God, it is the inspired word of God, and that it’s authoritative, and that it’s adequate to teach men and women, give them everything that they need for godliness? So that’s really the question that we have to ask today. And then there’s something else that strikes me about this passage, and that’s the way we tend to read the Bible negatively. Because this passage has a lot of rich, beautiful things in it that we just simply don’t see. And the reason we don’t see it is because we’re focused on the negative things.

We’re in verse 11, we focus on the fact that women have to be quiet. They have to be quiet with entire submissiveness, and that’s what gets discussed. And yet the passage talks about women being taught as disciples, it’s the word that’s used. Being instructed like a disciple is instructed, which was unique in first-century culture, both in Jewish circles and in Roman culture. So that was a big step forward, the fact that women are to be learners, that they are to learn for a reason so that they can minister better. And I’m using that word rightly, women have ministry. There are things to do. Go back and look at what they’re not to do, and we’ll talk about that. But there’s a great deal that women are to do.

And I want to call attention to what this passage is about. The focus of the passage is how women are to serve the Lord in his church, in the household of God. And the very beginning of this gives the main idea that should carry through the whole passage, and that is that women, instead of calling attention to themselves by ornamental dress, should be made attractive, should be made beautiful by the good works that they do. That’s exactly what it says.

Not with gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.

Women are to minister. They’re to do good works. They are to do good things. To say that they’re not to do good things… there are extremes on both sides of this thing. There are people that take some instructions like this in the Bible and make them into pharisaical rules that are so rigid, not looking at the mercy of God in any kind of a way, that they are guilty of pharisaism. You don’t want to go that way either. You want to recognize the right role that women have because we believe the word of God is authoritative. And when you come to a passage like this, the Bible interprets the Bible. We look and are guided by what the Bible says, and we shouldn’t ever be afraid of that. We shouldn’t conform to our little group, whatever that is, whether it’s the worldly cultural pressure or just some isolated thoughts that people have. We live in an age where people get carried away in all different kinds of directions. Both of those things are examples of worldliness, conforming to them instead of the authority of the word of God. So that wasn’t in the notes. But it’s true. It’s true.

Good Works for All Believers

So how are women to minister in the household of God? We are to be adorned by good works. And the Bible says that that’s true of men and women, it’s true of all of us. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. You probably remember in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ instruction to his disciples when he said:

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

And when you look, you have to do this in Greek, it doesn’t work in English for some reason because of translation differences. But when you look at the phrase good works in Greek and you start tracing that through the New Testament, the first mention of good works is the works that Jesus did. He asked the Pharisees, for which of these good works I’ve received from my Father are you stoning me? It’s his good works, you think about all the many good things that Jesus did, his good works.

The next time that good works the phrase is mentioned in the Bible is in Acts 9:36, and it was talking about a woman. And she’s called a disciple. There was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, and it gives her name in Greek as well, which was Dorcas. And this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. She was a loving person and she ministered to other people. She’s an example of what it means to adorn yourself with good works. People loved her in that church, and that’s a big point of that story, is the grief that they had when they thought they had lost her. She was a precious lady in the church, beautiful, made beautiful by the good things she did.

So there are good works that both men and women are to do. There are certain things that men and women are to do:

• Deeds of Mercy and Charity: Tells us in James 1:27 that this is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and our Father: to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Doing that work of mercy is an example of a good work, and that’s a work that can be done by both men and women.
• Giving and Sharing: Give and share the things that God’s given us. We’re to be generous with people who have need. It tells us in the book of Ephesians that the thief stops being a thief when he does this: when he labors, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. When we think about the labor of our hands, we tend to think that that’s a man’s prerogative thing, but no, there are many examples of women who did work with their hands as a gift to meet needs. You make things, you bake things for people, you knit things, you crochet things, you work with your hands, you work in the world, you do all sorts of things, and you use the things that you do to bless other people. That is a good work.
• Hospitality: Hospitality is a good work that both men and women share in. They should. Opening your life or your home to other people. It’s an example of hospitality. That’s a wonderful thing that we are to do. We’re to be hospitable to one another without complaint. You find that in 1 Peter 4:9 and in the book of Romans 12:13. These are ministries, examples of things that men and women are to do.
• Mutual Submission: You’re to humbly care for one another. Mutual submission. That’s the idea in Ephesians 5:21 when it says be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. The idea is a sense of humility on your part, preferring the other more than yourself. It’s an extremely biblical idea. In fact, it’s the very instruction of the Lord himself. So easy to see that these are things that we’re to share in.
• The Great Commission: We’re to share in the Great Commission work. The work proclaiming the gospel and making disciples belongs to the whole body. Matthew 28:19 and 20. Philippians 1:27 when it says strive together for the faith of the gospel, that’s addressed to the whole church. We’re to all participate in the gospel work in whatever ways that God gifts us and enables us to do it.
• Continuous Prayer: And continuous prayer. Pray without ceasing.

Roles Specific to Men and Women

And there are certain works that men are specifically called to do. And that’s what Paul is talking about in 1 Timothy 2. Sacrificial leadership in the home is an example that’s given to us in the book of Ephesians. Men are commanded to actively secure the sanctification and well-being of their wives and their family. Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. The idea there is service that is sacrificial. That’s a kind of leadership. They’re to take the initiative to do that, they must do it. They are to do it. Men are responsible for the spiritual stabilization of their household. I mean if anyone doesn’t provide for his own household, it tells us in this book, he’s worse than an infidel. And so you’re responsible. There are certain responsibilities that men do have.

The idea of public prayer. If you look back in the text where we are at verse 8, therefore I want the men… and this is the language he’s using here is to distinguish it. He could use, there’s two words for men and there’s two words for women in the Bible, it’s used in the Greek. One would mean mankind in general, that’s not used here. This is the word that distinguishes men as men. When in verse 8 when it says therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. Likewise I want women… he says in the next verse. So men are to have a unique role in public prayer. That’s what he is saying. They’re to do that coming to that process with holy hands. In fact, that’s a synecdoche, it’s a symbol for all that they are, is to be holy in the offering to the Lord, to the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Not through any work that they can do themselves, but pleading the blood of Jesus Christ and living in faith, they’re to lift up holy hands. Does that mean that women are to never pray in the corporate worship of the church? No, that doesn’t mean that. There are times when women pray and if you want to look at 1 Corinthians 11, there’s some guidelines that Paul gives for that. And so you can look that up and study that on your own. So there’s that.

An important part of this passage is the call of men to eldership in the church and the exclusion… Paul is excluding women from that office. It is men who are to do that role. Their primary function is teaching and authority, which he says in verse 12 that women aren’t to do. So it’s an exclusion for the pastoral ministry. I mean this is the word of God. This is God’s word.

I suppose I gave some specific things that men are to do. What about women?

• Teaching Ministries: There are teaching ministries that women are to have. For example, in Titus 2:3 and 4 it says that older women are to be reverent in their behavior, teaching what is good. They’re to have a teaching ministry. They’re to encourage young women to love their husbands, to love their children. There’s functions for women that are unique for women.
• Specialized Ministries of Mercy: There are specialized ministries of mercy that women are to do. When Paul identifies the standards for women in this book, the widows, it’s called the widows indeed, and what qualifies them for ministry in the church, because they’re going to be supported by the church for ministry. There’s a high standard there and what is it? What are those things? Well, they’re to be marked by good works, fruits that indicate salvation. Among those is having brought up children. The idea there is children in faith. If she’s shown hospitality to strangers, that would be an example. If she’s washed the saints’ feet, ministered to the saints, to the people of God. If she’s assisted those in distress.

And so those are all examples of works that women have, and there are numerous more. There are many more, but there are particular things that this passage singles out.

Why? Why is it in verse 12 that it tells us that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men? Well, if you look at the arguments we looked at last week, they all say in one way or another there was a crisis in Ephesus and the women were acting badly. They generally say that the women were acting badly in the assembly, and Paul simply needs to correct that. It was true for that situation, but it’s not true for us today. Is that why he says what he says? Well, let’s see what Paul says.

Here’s the reason why. It begins in verse 13 with that word ‘for’. Here’s the reason why women aren’t allowed to teach and exercise authority over men.

For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.

That’s the reason why. The reason why is because Adam was created and formed first. The idea there is that the firstborn has the right to govern or rule over the family. And Adam was created first. He was born first before Eve was. Now the big point here, the main idea here is that this is something that was grounded in the creation, in the word of God in the book of Genesis. He’s going back to that and going back to God’s creation and saying this is true order that God created before the fall. It’s not that women are to be submissive to men because of the fall. That’s not what he’s saying. This was the order of God’s creation before the fall of man. And it was something that would be beautiful and glorious and wonderful because as each does their role, as each functions rightly before God, then they can do far more than they would be able to do separately. They complement each other. They strengthen each other. It’s a blessing, and life was a blessing. It was glorious and wonderful.

This was the order of God’s creation before the fall of man. And it was broken at the fall.

The order was broken when she was deceived and fell into transgression. The sin of Adam is far greater. Not only did he abdicate his authority there, but he entered into sin knowingly. He entered into sin willfully. And so it is Adam who’s held accountable for the sin of all mankind, not Eve. But this is the example. Basically, Paul is saying this is what happens when the order is reversed. This is the kind of thing that happens. And so we need to recognize that. That’s the tragedy of the fall, and then you have all that takes place at the fall. The curse that falls upon women, which is that they suffer in childbirth, and the difficulty of men with their work. All the suffering that we have in this world goes back to that, and all the things that came about because of this rule reversal.

Verse 15… and I don’t know, I have time to do it. I’m going to read it. We’re going to struggle with the problem. I’m going to tell you a few things to notice and maybe not explain it. So I’m going to leave it hanging, and if you get curious enough about it, come back next week and we’ll explore this verse. All right.

Father, we’re so thankful to you that you work things according to your design. Your ways are higher than our ways. We think we have things figured out and you show us a different way and we say no, that can’t possibly be because I have it all figured out. Father, that’s a struggle for anyone to submit to someone else’s authority real often. Help us, Lord Jesus, to submit to you. Help us to recognize the truth of your word. Give us a heart to serve you.

Father, men can’t do the job of women, it’s impossible. And women can’t do the jobs that God has given men. When we cross over and try to do those things, well, the order gets upset and things just don’t work out well. There’s no man in this world who can be as good at being a woman as a woman is. And the opposite of that is true as well. Father, we thank you that you’ve created this order. You’ve made us male and female. You’ve given us roles to play and those roles complement each other. They strengthen us and make us more than what we are.

We ask, Lord Jesus, for faith to trust and believe. And Father, we pray that as we’ve been confronted by your word, that by the power of your Holy Spirit you work to conform us to it, bend our hearts to the will of your word. Change us, Lord Jesus, so that we trust you instead of ourselves. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.