How Women Are to Learn

Transcript

GR 1259
12/07/2003
How Women Are to Learn
1 Timothy 2:11-12
Gil Rugh


I want to direct your attention to the book of 1 Timothy 2. We've been studying the book of 1 Timothy together and Paul is concerned that this very important letter, as all the letters of the New Testament are, that God's people have a proper understanding and grasp of the truth that God has made known and also be putting that truth into practice in the way that they conduct themselves. The church according to 1 Timothy 3:15 is the household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. And the church is to be all about God's truth. It's the place that God's truth is taught and preached. It's the place where God's truth is lived, not just in this building in a certain hour on Sunday morning but the truth of God permeates the lives and the lifestyle of those who are members of God's family, God's household. And so we are to conduct ourselves as He would have us live.

In chapter 1 verse 15 Paul said, "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all." Paul said God saved me, the foremost of sinners, so that you would have hope and know that you too could be saved because the grace of God can save the greatest of sinners. It can save any and all sinners. When God saves a person his life is changed. If there's no change in your life, there has been no salvation.

We looked into James in our last study together, as we took a break from the text of 1 Timothy, and James wrote in James 2:17, "Even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself." We noted we are not saying that faith plus works equals salvation. We are saying that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone but when you've believed in Jesus Christ and experienced His salvation, your life changes. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [a new creation]. Old things have passed away; behold, new things have come," Paul wrote to the Christians in 2 Corinthians 5. This permeates all of our life, all of our relationships.

In chapter 2 of 1 Timothy Paul is zeroing in on an issue that is controversial but should not be for us today. And that is the area of the roles of men and women. It's God's household. He is not only the Creator of all things but those who have been redeemed by His grace now belong to His family. And He has instructions and purposes in creation for those that He has made. The world lives in rebellion against our God and rejects His purposes and plans as the Creator because they reject Him. But God requires that we as His people be manifesting in the world these purposes and plan, His will in conducting ourselves according to His purposes.

We talk about the roles of men and women. The Bible is clear that we are equal spiritually before God. We looked at Galatians 3:28 in a previous study. "In Christ there is neither male nor female." Every man every woman must be saved the same way.
Salvation is offered on the same basis to men and to women. Salvation is by grace through faith. That salvation is a free gift to any woman who believes and to any man who believes. As new creatures in Christ we now, men and women alike, have access before the throne of God's grace to call Him Father, to receive from Him the grace we need day by day. But in all of this God has defined separate and distinct roles for men and for women. There is no confusion in the Scripture on this subject. There is confusion in the world and there is confusion among many in the church today who are trying to adjust what God says to fit more comfortably in the world. But I think you'll see as we work through the Scripture that the Scripture is absolutely clear that God has a different purpose and design for a man and for a woman.

Let me read you what one writer has written recently. "For about 18 centuries 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34 . . ." First Corinthians 14:34 says basically the same thing as 1 Timothy 2:12. ". . . For about 18 centuries these and related texts were assumed to have a clear and self-evident meaning. Then rather abruptly, some, hardly a quarter of a century ago, began to 'discover' a different meaning in the apostles words." That's a flashing red light for us. For some 18 centuries there was just about universal agreement on what Paul wrote here. It wasn't difficult to understand. Then the last half century, beginning in the 60s primarily, the modern feminist movement stormed on to the scene and shortly thereafter the church began to find new ways of interpreting passages relating to the role of women that would make it more conducive and acceptable to the thinking of the world. Another writer says this, "The role of women in the church is probably the most emotionally charged issue in American evangelicalism today. There are many social pressures today especially in academic circles to retreat from the historic view."
This is a seminary professor writing this. The historic view would be the view I'm just referred to, the view the church has held for 1800 years, a view that I would be representing in our study.

Some evangelical institutions [seminars and colleges that claim to be Bible-believing institutions] will not even consider hiring a scholar who holds the historic view. Even though they allow diverse positions on baptism, escatology, church government or how the inspiration of Scripture should be defined. This policy is usually unwritten but those who are familiar with the schools in question know that they exclude a priory, scholars who believe in or espouse the historic view. We have to be careful because some Christians look and say, “Well, we hold one view they hold the other.” Is there anybody at that college or seminary that holds the view you're holding? And you say, “No. Well, you see they're scholars. They would know, wouldn't they?” You see, there's a closed door. Just like in many institutions. If you believe in biblical creation, you cannot be hired on the faculty. It doesn't matter what your degrees are. So in many evangelical schools if you don't have what they view as the right view, the modern view on women, then there is no faculty position for you.

As I mentioned, it's interesting to me that the rise of this new way of seeing Scripture, interpreting Scripture, and understanding it comes on the heals of the rise of the modern feminist movement and it reminds us of some of the later words of Francis Shaffer who said, "Tell me what the world is saying today and I'll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years." We may have compressed that some. Isn't that a sad statement? Paul wrote to Romans and said, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed.” It's sad to say that look at what the world is saying and in a few years down the road, the church will be saying the same thing. And that's happened in the role of women. The last 30 to 35 years now the church has radically changed it's view on what the Scriptures says about the role of women. Now I want you to note the Scripture has not changed. And it's only by openly denying or altering the Scripture that you can come to a different view than the view that has been clear to the church for over 18 centuries.

Turn over to 2 Timothy 2:14. The context here is not the role of women but it's applicable to that. "Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth." Believers are to know and be able to discern and sift out the rubbish and not to mire down in foolish and worthless discussions. We are to be diligent in our study of the Word, working hard to handle it correctly, accurate, to cut it straight. Chapter 3 verse 16 Paul writes, "All Scripture is [God-breathed] inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." This is God's Word and He gave it with the intention that we understand it and obey it.

I took some notes of a tape years ago of a man who was criticizing a message I did here on the role of women. And in that study he said I could answer every one of his arguments but it would be an extremely involved and delicate task. My understanding is if getting into the Scripture is such a delicate and involved task that is hard for people to understand, how did God expect the people to know the Word? A number of the commentaries writing on 1 Timothy 2, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14 passages that relate to this, make comments like, well, at first reading this passage seems very clear but . . . Then they'll go on for page after page of fogging the issue. One writer in a recent commentary has 40 pages devoted to the exegesis of the verses in 1 Corinthians 11 having to do with the role of women. And all through that what he does is try to make clear that what is clear is not clear. And you know when it's all said and done do you know what his conclusion is? We don't know for sure what Paul was saying. You know, just muddy the waters so much you hope nobody sees what's there and go on to something else.

Well, Paul has been clear so far. We've looked at verse 8 and in verse 8 Paul said I want the men to pray in every place. That's the men in contrast to the women. We talk about the women in verse 9. I want the men to pray and they are to do it as godly men without wrath and dissension. Then he picks up on the issue of godliness. The women are to manifest godliness in their dress and in their behavior, their works, as is fitting for women, making a claim to godliness at the end of verse 10. So both men and women are to be godly in their character and display that godliness. Men are responsible to lead in prayer. We note as we talk about this we are not just talking about the former meeting of the church on Sunday morning and to narrow the passage down to what we are really talking about is the church as it meets on Sunday morning. We are talking about the church, the household of God. This church has a variety of ministries including its Bible study or Sunday school hour, its worship service, its home Bible studies. We'll say more of that as we move along.

Now he's ready to talk about the role of women further. We say, well, why so much emphasis on the role of women? Good grief. Why don't we talk about men? Well, when we get to chapter 3 he's going to talk a lot about men. He's going to get into the details of the kind of godly conduct expected and required. Be patient. I wouldn't have put it in this order either. At least not today.

"I want the men to pray." Then he's going to say negatively what he does not permit the women to do. Then he'll talk about the realm where the woman's role is at the end of the chapter. Look at verse 11, "A woman must receive, 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." Now we just read those without any discussion, explanation, it's not really very difficult to understand, is it? "A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness." Let me clarify that further. "By this I mean I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet."
What binds verses 11 and 12 together is the instruction to be quiet. The words used in verse 11, "A woman must quietly receive instruction." At the end of verse 12, "but to remain quiet" in contrast to the teaching and exercising of authority. That is the man's realm and area of obligation.

A woman must quietly receive instruction. The verb here given as a command. A woman must be discipled. The word "to receive instruction" is the same word basically Jesus used in the Great Commission. "Go into all the world and make disciples." To receive instruction is a good translation. A woman is to receive instruction. Be discipled. Be taught quietly with entire submissiveness. Now let me be careful here. Some people blur the passage and confuse it by trying to enlighten us with the culture of the day. And they say the basic command here is the woman is to learn and that is a radical departure for anything that had happened up to this time. It's a radical difference from what took place in Judaism which did not allow a woman to learn. It did not appreciate a woman.

Sometimes culture can be a help in understanding issues in a passage but we need to be careful. The passage, the text of Scripture, is understandable in and of itself. Sometimes studying the culture and so on sheds light. But we need to be very careful we don't build an interpretation of the culture instead of the passage of Scripture. You read some evangelical commentaries they'll go on to explain about this command for a woman to learn. And this is the radical change that the Gospels have brought. But one recent commentary on the Greek text of 1 Timothy makes this note. And this is a commentary from a man who does not even believe Paul wrote these letters. He's not writing from the position that we would hold. But he acknowledges and recognizes. "It is sometimes said that the use of the term 'learn' distinguishes the Christian situation from that of Judaism where women merely listen but there does not appear to be any strong early evidence for this view. The emphasis in this imperative is to be found not so much in learning as the manner in which women are to learn, namely in quietness and subjection." That's true with the next verse as well. One writer illustrated it with this. "I may command my child you drive the car carefully and under 50 miles an hour. But the emphasis is not on that you must drive the car, it's on how you must drive the car." And that's the emphasis here. You note the emphasis is not on women must learn. The emphasis is on how they must learn. And we'll be careful because as soon as they start to drift and say that's what's in view here, then we begin to develop out of the culture why this is related just to that period of time, not to our period of time. Because he's addressing things that were only pertinent to that particular day and that culture and obviously this doesn't apply today because women are involved in every aspect of life and learning. So what really Paul says here is not particularly pertinent to us, just an example of what took place in the past.

What he does say is women are to learn and how they are to learn. They are to learn quietly. It's not such a difficult word. There is great discussion. Does this mean quietly not argumentatively or does this mean silently. And the word is used of a quiet life in verse 2. We believers want to live a quiet life in all quietness and that would not mean without speaking a word so maybe it means quietly here. I don't think the sense of the text changes unless you have something as a presupposition you want to get across. But it seems in the context where we are talking about teaching and not teaching that the issue is not speaking, being silent. So the context here would indicate in these two verses he's talking about a woman being silent. Listening not talking. When we talk about teaching the Word, the woman is to be silent; the teacher is to be teaching.

Now turn over to 1 Corinthians. Back in front of Timothy. First Corinthians 14. There is a passage that is very much parallel to what Paul is saying in 1 Timothy. In fact he says the same thing but doesn't use exactly the same words. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, "The women are to keep silent." That's a different word than we have "quiet" or "silent" in 1 Timothy 2 but you can see the idea that he's talking about. They are words that overlap in meaning. The women are to keep silent in the churches. What does that mean? They are not permitted to speak. They are to subject themselves. Same thing Paul is going to say in a moment in 1 Timothy 2. They are to be submissive. They are not to be in authority. "If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. It is improper for a woman to speak in church." We note there's two realms dealt with here for the women: church and home. We think we've created a whole gray area of Sunday school, home Bible studies, different kinds of classes, so we're not obligated to obey the instructions for the functioning of the church. But really what we have is the different areas of the church's life. New Testament does not restrict church to meeting on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock. We've noted most of the New Testament churches would be like our home Bible studies meeting in somebody's living room to learn the Word of God.

What I want you to see in 1 Corinthians 14 is it's parallel here and the instruction there using a different word is to be silent. That means “not to speak.” So when we come back to 1 Timothy 2, "A woman must quietly receive instruction." We have no problem with saying “silently.” A woman receives instruction without talking is basically what he is saying. Now today in our society, oh, what a put down of women. Well, it's God's household. He'll say how it is. And before we're done we'll find out it's God's creation.
He will say how it is. What we want to note is the Scripture is clear on what it says. There's no doubt people disagree with the Scriptures for a variety of reasons but it's not because the Scripture is not clear.

"A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness." "With entire submissiveness." The word "submissiveness" is a rather common word in the New Testament and other places. It's a compound word. It means "to be lined up under someone." It would be a military word where, you know, you have a battalion or group of soldiers lined up under their commander, under his authority. You have the word "all" in front of that word submissiveness. With all submissiveness or all entire submissiveness. And one person again that I referred to comments on the Greek test but does not believe it says the superlative sense of this word with the word "all" calls for complete subjection. To there's no real issue in what it says. Even someone who's going to deny it because he doesn't believe Paul wrote it acknowledges there's no confusion on what is said here. So his recourse since he doesn't want to submit to it is just deny Paul ever wrote it. In fact, he denies Paul wrote any of 1 Timothy or 2 Timothy or Titus. Now that's one solution but it's not a biblical one. Peter warned that those who do damage to Paul's writings do so to their own destruction. You reject what Paul wrote you are rejecting what God said.
And you reject what God said you are on the road to destruction. So we need to be careful.

"With entire submissiveness." So they are learning quietly, submissively. Paul wants to clarify this. Obviously it's an issue in the church at Ephesus. I talk about the modern feminist movement but ever since the Garden there has been a conflict with man and woman and the roles that they are to fulfill. Paul wants to clarify, "But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet." So this is a further clarification stated positively in verse 11, negatively. Positively, a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. By that I mean I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man. I mean she should remain quiet.

The first word, you know, as we've noted in the Greek language and in writing the New Testament they could arrange their order of words differently than we do in English.
They have endings and forms of words and so on. So you could tell which was the verb and which was the subject and so on. So the first word in verse 12 is "to teach." And that gives an emphasis. Where Paul is really put the emphasis here is on teaching. "To teach but," and the "but" here draws the contrast here. I don't allow a woman to teach. Now some say Paul says I do not permit or I do not allow. So it's not an authoritative command of Scripture. Paul's simply giving his opinion on what he personally does.

Well, remember Paul is not writing this as a private individual giving his own opinions.
Turn back to chapter 1 verse 1. Paul's writing to someone who was dear to his heart, one who was like a son to him- Timothy - but he writes with a formal address. Verse 1, "Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope; to Timothy.” I am writing as an authority, as a representative of Jesus Christ, His apostle, by His command. So what I say to you is His Word. So when Paul says I don't allow this, he's writing that as an apostle commanded by God. So these ideas, well, see we don't have to obey this because Paul's just giving an opinion. Paul's expressing what he permits as the one appointed by the sovereign God to the position of apostle to give instructions to the church of Jesus Christ. It's the same word he used in 1 Corinthians 14:34 where we were a moment ago when he says the women are to keep silent in the churches for they are not permitted - there's our word "permitted," allowed, to speak. They are not allowed to speak. They are not permitted to speak. It's binding.
And this is where you get into people say well, if you understood the tense of this word and the difference between a present tense and aorist tense, we'd find that Paul is limiting what he says here. I don't allow for right now a woman . . . all of that . . . One of the foremost Greek students of the Pastoral Epistles notes that in this verb there's nothing in the tense of the verb itself that would give you any idea whether there is any limitation on time or so on.

I just say this so if you read material on this since it is controversial, you'll find there are a variety of ways people are trying to make adjustments and alterations in the Scripture here but what you are reading in your Bible here is what it says. So it's not, boy, if I knew the Greek text on this, then it would be clear. It can't get any clearer. So the problem is that it's not clear.

You know what your children do when you tell them to do something and they really don't want to do it? They ask you to explain it. Or they tell you they didn't do it because it wasn't clear. What do you say? What I said is perfectly clear. Now do it. And they go do it. All of a sudden it got cleared up. What cleared it up? You told them there's no room for confusion. They knew there was no confusion. They just were going to try and see if they could create some. There's no confusion in the text. Be encouraged. Some people are trying to create some. Paul says, inspired by the Spirit of God, I don't permit a woman to teach. This word here could mean "to teach" or "to be a teacher." I don't permit a woman to be a teacher. I don't permit a woman to teach. Same thing.

Now what does it mean to teach? It think we're pretty clear. One writes, "It's clear from the rest of the Pastoral Epistles that the teaching in view is the public transmission of authoritative material." I'm not sure that's accurate but for now I'll give him the point. "The public transmission of authoritative material." Well, in this context for sure I'm comfortable with that decision. I brought some notes from a commentary of an evangelical. I won't mention his name. Many of you would use his works and he does some good things. We sell his commentaries in or bookstore and so on. In some ways up to this point it reflects to the position that I am holding. Then he gets to the point and let me read you what he says, "So how is Paul's prohibition of women from teaching and exercising authority over a man to be understood and he's already explained that the word to teach and exercise authority are just words that mean to teach and exercise authority. The answer is that the word to teach, detosken and its noun form, teaching, detoskalia and teacher, detoskolos." When you are going to blur a point be sure to bring in Greek words. Remember that when I bring in the Greek words from time to time.

"These Greek words for “teach” are used in the New Testament to describe the careful and authoritative transmission of biblical truth." Now that's true in every passage. I would say that's accurate for here. "The careful and authoritative transmission of biblical truth." So what he's saying is in verse 12 when he says, "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man," means I do not allow a woman to carry out the careful and authoritative transmission of biblical truth. "In the Pastorals teaching always has the sense of authoritative public doctrinal instruction." That's not true. We will go to a passage that will show that's not true in a moment. But it does mean it here.

All right, so we've decided that when he talks about teaching or being in authority, he's talking about the careful and authoritative communication of biblical truth. So what does that mean? Wow, I would say that means the woman does not get involved in the careful transmission of biblical truth. She's not going to teach the Word of God. That's not what he says. Listen. "So what is prohibited is preaching. Also prohibited is the teaching elder role of authoritatively defining and expositioning the apostolic deposit. So now we've narrowed this down. A woman is not to be involved in the careful and authoritative communication of God's truth. That's what the text says. Now he says what that really means is a woman can't be a preacher or an elder. Well, you note we've narrowed that down greatly. That means of course she could be a Sunday school teacher of men. That means she could be a home Bible study teacher of men. But is that what the text says or is that what he says. Who says it's limited to being a preacher, my role for example. Does the text say that or does he say that? I mean he could have said I do not allow a woman to be elder because I don't allow a woman to be a teacher, to exercise authority over a man.

Now when you start to drift where do you stop? So we define the word - the careful and authoritative transmission of biblical truth. Fine. That means a woman can't be a preacher or an elder. Now wait a minute. You've narrowed it down more narrowly than the Word does. Now where do we go? "Within the divinely given order of the church women are expected to develop into teachers." Now it's not only permissive it's expected. In fact, it's required because he quotes Hebrews 5:12 and says by this time you ought to be teachers. Of course that means women ought to be teachers. Now wait a minute, have we run off the edge of the cliff here? First place, who said that Hebrew 5:12 is addressing women and what women are to be? So you see we start to take this just a little step here . I mean, preachers are included but it's not limited to that. Ok, now we've got just preachers here. What does that mean about teachers in the church? Well, of course women can be teachers.

“Understanding that Scripture does not permit a woman to preach or to exercise elder like responsibility for the definition and exposition of the apostolic deposit. If that's the case, where then must we draw the line for women's ministry. Personally I am comfortable with a women teaching an adult Sunday school class." I don't care what you are personally comfortable with. Biblically it's not permitted by the text. But you see now we've . . . But he does say they probably shouldn't have their own class. Because if they have their own class every week they pretty soon might develop elder like authority.

Now with this definition you know where we are. Let's go back to the beginning. Isn't this fun? If you know what I didn't share with you, you would appreciate my reserve. "The careful and authoritative transmission of biblical truth," why is it limited to a preacher? Do our Sunday school teachers that taught the hour before this service, can they be careless and nonauthoritative transmitters of biblical truth? What about a home Bible study teacher. It's all right for him to be careless and nonauthoritative in the teaching? Of course not. The point is any teacher handling the Word of God which is God-breathed, which we must handle accurately to show ourselves approved unto God, must be careful and the authority comes not from the style of communication, a preacher, the authority is in the Word of God. You know it is just as authoritative if a talk in a soft voice and say the Bible says a woman is not allowed to teach. You know that is just as authoritative if I say (shouting) I do not allow a woman to teach! You say, wow, that was authoritative. No more than I do not allow a woman to teach (using a soft voice). You know why? The authority is in the Word of God. Not in me, not in the sound of my voice. It's not in the place we're meeting. We meet in this building. I speak with authority. You teach the Bible in your home Bible study. Well, you don't have to be so careful. And of course that's not authoritative. Who says? Anytime you open the Word of God and teach it there is authority. That's what's going on.

Now I use that as one example because if you read the commentaries and the writings on this, you'll find that the vast majority of evangelicals now have drifted down this kind of road and they will limit this text to just the Sunday morning service, just a certain style of communication. One well-known preacher and author says, “Of course God allows women to teach.” Well, if that's the case we need to find out from Scripture, not as this writer did, that it's OK. Let's stay with the text of Scripture. I do not allow a woman to teach. And whether this is a flat out requirement, I do not allow a woman to teach, or to teach over a man, I'm fine. Either way. Give the point. I'm comfortable. I won't allow a woman to teach a man or be in authority over a man. Because quite frankly I know of nowhere in the Bible where a woman is entrusted with the responsibility of teaching the apostolic doctrine. When Paul tells Timothy his responsibility is to take the truth committed him, he says you pass it on to faithful men who will teach others also. There's no consideration here that women are going to have their own Bible studies, that women are going to have their own meetings. So we recreate something that is not there.

This liberal writer that I mentioned, he'd be a liberal evangelical because he claims to believe in salvation by faith even though he claims to be of the opinion that Paul didn't write the Pastoral Epistles but that doesn't mean there's not a lot of good material for us. "But he says the harmonistic distinction." Don't you like the words, “the harmonistic distinction.” In other words, you are trying to harmonize this in making a distinction.
“The harmonistic distinction sometimes drawn between private teaching, which is permitted and public teaching, which is forbidden, is surely anachronistic.” Something anachronistic is “out of time.” You know it's like talking about someone in 1830 who drove his car to the store. Well, it's an anachronism. They didn't drive cars anywhere in 1830 because they didn't have cars. It's out of time. "It's anachronistic and in any case would be impossible to maintain consistently." In other words, we try to create different settings. Oh, women can teach the Word of God if it's to women here. My understanding, and we are not going to get into all this, is that the New Testament entrusts the responsibility and communication of God's truth to men. Well, yeah, but aren't the women to learn the Word of God? Yes, they are. They are invited to the Bible studies with the men. Why do the women need more studies than the men? Oh, we have to have women studies so we can teach the women. Well, what do the men do? Well, the men are at work. Oh.

You know, I used to teach the ladies' Bible study on Tuesday. We'd do the book of Romans. The husbands are out by the sweat of their brow providing for the home and I'm teaching their wives the book of Romans. So that what? When the husband comes home, he can ask his wife at home what the book of Romans means. In 1 Corinthians 14 says wives ask your husbands at home and I'm teaching the women while husbands are working because they can't be. So we turn things around and pretty soon the church is all muddled and we wonder why the church does not function as God's household is instructed to function. So, no, we don't have classes for women taught by women. What about single women? They are invited to the classes that the men are teaching too.

But Paul instructs the women to teach. Titus 2. Paul's giving instruction here. Verse 1, "Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.” And you'll note here he's not primarily dealing with the communication of doctrine, but he's communicating how we are to live in light of the doctrine we have, the truth that has been entrusted to us. Part of the truth to be sure. Older women are to do this, verse 2. Older men, verse 3. "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, not enslaved to wine, teaching what is good." There's our word, "teaching." That's why I don't believe these men who are saying, well, every time the word "teaching" is used in the Pastoral Epistles it refers to the authoriative communication of apostolic truth. I think this is in accord with that but it's not teaching what we would talk about in teaching doctrine, biblical truth, not teaching the doctrine of election, not teaching the Scripture per say.
We are teaching how the women are to live in light of the truth of God. Which I say to be sure is part of the truth of God but we . . . it is the application of the truth. The distinction we see in many of Paul's letters. You know, where he tells them . . . teaches them the doctrine and then he says therefore live like this.

Look at verse . . . "They are to be teaching what is good," verse 4, "So that they may encourage or train the young women." What's the focus and realm of their instruction?
To love their husbands, to love their children, sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands so that the Word of God will not be dishonored. The older women are to help the younger women to implement the truth in their lives in living in a godly way. The truth that they have been taught by the men. How do I flesh this out? The older women are to teach the younger women. So those who say, “Well, if you take a literal interpretation of 1 Timothy 2, the women are to never teach, period. Therefore Titus 2 is in conflict.” Well, literal doesn't mean wooden. You allow the text to speak for itself. Obviously, as almost every commentar recognized in 1 Timothy 2, he's talking about that communication of apostolic truth and revelation. Here he's telling the women to teach, the older women to teach the younger women how to function in the realm God has assigned for them, the realm he's going to come to at the end of 1 Timothy 2, the realm of the home.

You know the church has all but abandoned this. Most Christian parents are more concerned that their Christian daughters go to a Christian college or a secular college to get trained for life than they are to learn to do the things that Paul said they have to learn here. So while we parade ourselves around proud that we are learning the Scripture, at the same time, we are undermining it by our practice. Are we really training . . . the older women training the younger women how to love their husbands? Oh good grief! You don't get paid for that. You got to be able to be trained for a job. What are you going to do if you don't get married or your husband dies or . . . I don't know. I hate to train my daughter from youngest up for the death of her husband. I mean, I would rather teach her how to live as a godly wife to that husband. You know, you get the idea the way we talk about why we have to train our women, that every morning you ought to shake your husband and make sure he's still breathing because, you know, all your preparation is for the day of his departure. And some of these geesers are going to hang on for a while.

I mean, is the Scripture clear? Women are to teach but the realm is proscribed or prescribed. It's defined for them. Here's the realm in which their training takes place. Older women who have experience in walking with the Lord and implementing truth in the realm in which they are responsible before God, the realm of the home . . . You have to learn to love your husbands. We try to teach our women skills in job things and get a degree and then you can get married. And they are just suppose to get married and now everything comes together in married life. We didn't concentrate our focus and energy and say, “Dear, it doesn't matter if you want to go to school.” There are some things you could learn in school that might help you with the realm that God has assigned for you. We don't want to brag. My daughter has gotten advanced degrees now. I'm not . . .
Don't go . . . Well, go wherever you want.

You know what do we ought . . . Has your daughter learned how to love her husband? I mean, that's what God says she's to be trained in. Well, that was the culture of the day. Women didn't have the opportunities . . . Now see how we do? We are going to set aside this scripture for us because we are going to say that was cultural. That's why I say some people follow a literal historical grammatical cultural method of interpreting Scripture so that every time they get to a passage that's not comfortable for them they can say, well, that's cultural.

They may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children.
Where, in this day and age where our society has no appreciation at all for the family and the home and the children, is a young woman going to learn how to love her children? What's the proper thing to do not only in regard to your husband in loving him but your children? Well, that's why the Lord made daycare centers. Let somebody else do that. Well, that's part of where our society goes. Is that where the church goes? "Be not conformed to this world but be transformed." Well, we find out this is what the world is doing, all of a sudden there are Christians running down the same road, running so fast they are almost falling on their face because they are trying to catch up to the world. At the same time we are trying to carry the Bible under one arm.

"Love their children, be sensible, pure, workers at home." You talk about out of step. Workers at home. You know part of the problem is women say I don't know what to do at home. Maybe some older women ought to show them what do you do at home as a godly woman. I realize we have washing machines today. We have microwaves today. We have grocery stores today. So we have more time. So this Word of God is cultural.
It doesn't apply. It was applicable in the day when women didn't have any choice but this is today. And I'll tell you all Scripture is God-breathed and He never goes out of date. Workers at home, is that your goal in training your daughter is, the young women is?

"Kind, being subject to their own husbands." “Being subject to their own husbands.”
You got to admit they are not going to learn that in the world today. And in most churches they are not going to learn it either. You know what's at stake here? You ought to underline the last part of verse 5, "So that the Word of God may not be dishonored." This is a foundational issue, folks. Honoring the God who has given His Word. When you have dishonored the Word of God, you have dishonored the God of the Word. You cannot disassociate. People who disobey this book are disobeying God. People who dishonor what this Word says are dishonoring the God who gave this Word. The issues at stake in this realm are foundational. You would think the church would be unified on this. We get concerned about materialism. Are we going to be able to live like the world and have what the world has and not have our wives and mothers abandon the home and go and make income because, you know, you just can't live on one income today. Well, you probably could if you lived the way our parents did and grandparents did. But we don't . . . I'm not saying we are going to go back . . . You can't go back in time, but I'm saying we probably are going to have to make some "sacrifices" to be biblical. I mean, I don't mind being biblical as long as it doesn't cut into my lifestyle. I don't mind being biblical as long I can be like the world. The whole emphasis of everything. How much like the world can we be?

Well, this is the household of God. Not just here on Sunday morning. God's household wherever we go. We are responsible. When my kids were at home and they went off to school, they were still part of our household, my family. The expectations and so on were still in force. We think we walk out the door. Well, now we can do what we want. We will get into this further in our next study.

Come back to 1 Timothy 2. Pull this together for our time this morning. One man I think had an important comment on the instruction in verse 12, "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet." And I noted before I give you his quote, most commentators agree that it's teaching a man that is forbidden here. Some see the emphasis here is restricting women from being elders and I've noted that would restrict them from being preachers or elders, bishops, but that's not all it restricts. One commentator compares 1 Corinthians 14, the verses we looked at there, and 1 Timothy 2, these verses, and says, "Both here and there." Both in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14. "Paul's prohibition of women teaching would prevent them from serving as elders or ministers. But it is unwaranted to limit it to such a restriction from office bearing. Paul uses functional language to teach rather than official language, a bishop, to express his prohibition." So, in other words, you can't just restrict what he says here to the fact they are not allowed to be an elder. It would of course mean they can't be an elder who's responsible to lead and to teach but it doesn't just restrict them from that office. He restricts women from publicly teaching men and thus teaching the church. And again we need to be careful. Ah, wait, we can make an exception. We'll have a Bible study just for women and, of course, women can teach women. Well, wait a minute, let's back up and settle that where God has given that responsibility to women to be the authoriative . . . careful and authoriative communication of apostolic truth. So we end up in confusion but not because the Word of God is confusing because we have decided we don't like what it says, we've not comfortable what it says or we are not paying attention to what it says.

I don't allow a woman to teach or excerise authority. That word "to have authority" is just a word, “to have authority.” King James put in the word "usurp" because they thought if she took authority over a man it would be usurping what was a man. That may be true but the word itself doesn't have a positive or a negative connotation. The context determines. So . . . And in the context here the authority is not negative in that sense because the teaching is not negative and the construction here would indicate they are referring to the same thing. Either he was talking about a woman is not allowed to teach false doctrine or be domineering where you are talking about a woman is not allowed to teach biblical truth. We are to exercise authority. That's the way it has to be biblically and grammatically.

"But to remain quiet." And that just emphasizes what he has said. She is to remain quiet. Note the teaching and the exercising of authority in the teaching and leading of God's people is not entrusted to a woman. So now we have just turned it over. Now you know there was a long time when even the world respected and recognized the difference in roles. We've mentioned before. You go into the 1950s and watch the television programs and they reflected what? What they make fun of as the families of the 50s.
With a father who went to work and a mother who took care of the home and the children and the father . . . So there was even a recognition in the unbelieving world of different roles. And a man who walked out on his family just couldn't be set free from responsibility. I remember asking my father one time why the neighbors didn't get a divorce because they fought all the time. And I always remembered his explanation. Maybe because I thought I might get divorced, I don't know. But I always remember he says you can't afford to. You couldn't afford to support two families.
So that was true back then. That tells you how old I am. It's not true today. Why? We freed . . . Women are free to be like men. And they have suffered most greatly because of the liberation movement. We've seen the destruction of the family, the impoverishing of women. Oh, we have some examples we give of women who have made lots of money and do this but, in large, the statistics show it has been a disaster for women. Its been a disaster for the home. Now, let's face it. We got abandoned. The men didn't quit going to work and stay home to take care of the home and the children. The women left the home to go to work and left the children. And you know what's left? No one for the home. Now we have generations that are . . . And we wonder what is wrong.

God's Word is true and it's not true because it works but because it's true it works. It's true because God says it. That's what settles it. It's also true it's the way He made us and that's where Paul's going. He's going to give the foundational reasons why this is necessary. He doesn't go to the culture of the day. He doesn't go to anything surrounding. He goes all the way back to the opening chapters of Genesis because that settles it. This is the way God intended it from the first day of creation before there was even sin. And then he'll conclude by showing here's the realm where the woman can find her fulfillment and accomplishing of God's designed purpose for the woman. We'll have to pick that up next time.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your truth. Thank you, Lord, that we are privileged to understand it. Thank you for Your indwelling Spirit who is there to instruct us and guide us in our study of Your truth. Lord, we are to be a light in the world of darkness. We are to testify before the world of the beauty and the purposes and plans of our God and may our testimony as a church be strong and clear. May our testimonies as individual men and women be strong and clear. Lord, I pray for those who chaff under this instruction. I pray for areas in our own church that may need adjustment. Lord, may our desire be to honor You in every way. May we be willing to make painful adjustments, necessary corrections in our attitude, in our thinking, in our practice, in the training and preparing of our young people so that we might more fully, most fully, manifest the beauty of Your character and Your purposes for our world in these days. We pray in Christ's name, amen.