Women's roles in the church

On Sunday I preached the first half of a two week sermon series on women's roles in the church. I will post the sermon notes here and would love to hear your thoughts. My basic thesis for this series is that while it seems to be evident that God has relegated the roles of elder to men, there is room for gifted women to preach and teach in the church, under the authority and blessing of the men who are leaders in the church.

The Pastoral Epistles 1 Timothy 2:9-15
The role of women in the church (A two part series)

Intro… Who are these well know women Bible teachers?
Recent Beth Moore Conference…a great teacher who acknowledged that she was “under” the men there…
When we think of women teaching in the church, we need to remember that the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible are given to all Christians.
Does God only give the gifts of teaching and preaching to men? Obviously not, (Beth Moore etc.)
So the question is, how does a woman use those gifts in line with what the Bible teaches?
There are three classic “problem” passages on this topic, I Corinthians 11:3-12, I Corinthians 14:32-36 and I Timothy 2:8-11.

When reading these passages, it’s good to keep in mind:
The accounts of creation and the fall (Genesis 1-3) reveal a fundamental equality between men and women (as far as their standing before God and need for forgiveness.)
Women exercised significant ministry roles of teaching and leading with God’s blessing in both Old and New Testaments.
Though the role of women was historically limited, the progress of revelation indicates an ethic in progress leading to full freedom for women to exercise their giftedness in the local church.
Key New Testament passages restricting women’s roles were culturally and historically specific, not universal principles for all time and places.
Though women are free to use all of their giftedness in teaching and leading in the church, the role of elder is biblically relegated to men and women come under that leadership of the men in the church.

(Today we’ll look at 1 Timothy 2:9-15. Next wk. the 1 Cor. Passages.)
Text: 1 Timothy 2:9-15
As usual, my sermon notes will be available both on our weekly email and the church website.
I also encourage you to look at: (and I will be quoting from)
http://www.irvingbible.org/fileadmin/pdf/special_sections/women_ministry/women_ministry_IBC.pdf

Isn’t it interesting that we tend to ignore or skip over the other verses and hone in on v. 12?
v. 8 What about men lifting up holy hands? (I talked about that last week, and still 99% of men in church today don’t do this!)
v. 9 What is the definition of a woman dressing modestly, in our culture or others, especially tribal cultures?
What if a woman comes to church with an “elaborate” hairstyle like braids? Who decides what an elaborate hairstyle is? Gold or pearl jewelry?
Who defines what “expensive clothes” are?

Why do we allow such “hideous” behavior from women in church today?
Because in our culture, these things do not speak of impropriety. Obviously in Ephesus they did. We allow the culture to impact our interpretation. We do so with the intent of understanding Paul’s true meaning.

In light of that, v. 9-10 don’t need to be that hard to understand or interpret.
It’s always a good idea for women to dress modestly and decently.
A woman’s beauty should come from within, good deeds, things that are “appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”

But then it gets a little more tricky and specific, v. 11-12

When interpreting these passages, it is important that we follow settled hermeneutical principles:
We must always consider the context. (What was going on at the time that would affect the writing?)
We must look behind local situations to find universal, timeless principles.
(Lev. 19:27-28, “don’t trim the edges of your beards or sideburns…or get
tattoo’s”…not relevant, but the principle still applies, that is, don’t identify
yourself with the pagan culture.)
We must realize that Paul sometimes accommodated the culture he was trying to reach in order not to be a stumbling block to their salvation. For example, Paul instructed Timothy to be circumcised in I Corinthians 9:19-22. This was unnecessary but prudent to reach the people for Christ.
We must always interpret unclear passages in light of clear passages. (And interpret scripture in light of scripture.)

So, when we look at this passage in 1 Timothy, let’s consider the context. What was going on at the time that would cause Paul to write this?
Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia and was the greatest
commercial center in Western Asia Minor. In this rich, cosmopolitan city, Greek and Asian cultures
were inextricably mixed. Under the Roman emperors it became the local center for the imperial cult--but far more important to the life of the city was the temple of Artemis. It was the largest structure in the Hellenistic world and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This temple and its cult affected every aspect of the society and was the focus of fierce civic pride. For a whole month each year the city stopped work and devoted itself to the Artemis cult. (Acts 19:23-41)
The goddess herself was depicted with many breasts, a symbol of fertility. Her worship was overseen
by eunuch priests. Under them were male and female priests who were attended by thousands of
young women. The church Timothy was pastoring was in the shadow of this great temple and was
certainly affected by its cultic worship in which women and eunuchs played the major role.


Remember, back in chapter 1, vs. 3-4…
Over and over in the letter Paul exhorts Timothy to focus on sound doctrine and beware of false teaching. (1:19,20; 4:1-3, 11-16; 5:20; 6:3-5, 20,21)
Timothy’s major problem was unqualified teachers. If men were teaching in error, we can surely suspect that women reared in Artemis worship would also be causing problems. Their lack of scriptural education was making the problem worse.
In vs. 11 Paul wants these women to learn properly…and “unlearn” the corruption from the temple of Artemis.
“In quietness and full submission” is the sign of any good student.
Our Bible time at home…constantly helping them learn in quietness
“Not to teach” most likely refers to false teaching in the church but there is no indication that this is referring to a formal pulpit situation.
Some have taken this statement out of context and flatly denied women the freedom to teach men.
Such an interpretation forgets that there is a difference between teaching “over” a man and teaching “with, to, or under the authority” of a man, and that if women can never teach men than we have some major contradictions in the Scriptures (and in the home where wives teach, correct, and challenge their children and their husbands).
It would be ridiculous to say that Kelley has never taught me anything or pointed out something I needed to see. She is my “helpmate” right from Gen. 2:18
In the church at Corinth women both prayed and prophesied (proclaimed) the Word of God. (1 Cor. 11:5) It was not a question of whether they should be free to teach men, but how, and under what circumstances.
Remember, Christians in Ephesus met in small house churches and false
teaching spread easily in these settings.
It is also important to note that the verb tense in verse 12 is the present tense.
The phrase is better translated, “I am presently permitting no woman to teach...” They needed to learn before they could teach.

v. 12 “Not to have authority over a man”
The word Paul uses for authority in this verse is authentein. This word is not found anywhere else in the Bible and is even uncommon in Greek literature.
Paul does not employ the usual Greek word for authority, “exousia”, which is common in the New Testament when referring to authority in the home and church. Instead he chooses a negative word meaning “to dictate or domineer.”
In light of the Greek words chosen, verse 12 is better interpreted, “I am presently permitting no woman to teach in a manner of domineering men”
“Paul does not mean absolute silence, but the kind of teaching in which a woman disregards male leadership which is evident for the home and church throughout Scripture.”

v. 13-15 Adam, Eve, salvation
God made Adam first, and like the women in Ephesus, Eve lacked instruction. They were both were deceived and sinned. God had told Adam first (Gen. 2:15-17), he knew better also.

“She heard what God told Adam concerning the forbidden tree secondhand, and that made her more easily deceived. The women at Ephesus were also lagging behind the men in education. They needed time to learn, and Paul commanded them to learn. Until they did, they also were easily deceived. Eve is an excellent illustration of the Ephesian women who took the initiative and asserted their independence with disastrous results.”

If you’ve spent any time studying the Bible you know that Paul is not talking about, salvation in the sense of sin, repentance, forgiveness, Christ’s death on the cross etc.
If he was, then what about women who are single, or married and don’t have kids?
Most likely means either: Saved through the birth of a child, Jesus. Or that a woman’s greatest achievement is found in her devotion to her divinely ordained role: to help her husband, to bear children, and to follow a faithful life, “appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”
Or, women will be “saved” from the ungodliness Paul is attempting to curb if they return to the “wholesome normalcy of a Christian marriage relationship, within which quietness and submission replace the premature grasp for a role of authority in the church.”
Even that one is questionable though, because not all women get married and can still live lives fully devoted to God.

Conclusion:
Now you know why this is called one of the “problem passages.”
It’s not easy to read, understand or interpret.
I’ll say more about this next week when I conclude this two week series, but I am not pretending to have all the answers here.
This comes from years of study on my part…
Seminary 1992… Book: ”Why not women?” and most recently the document from IBC, from conservative DTS…