The Adornment of a Godly Woman

Transcript

GR 1258
11/23/2003
The Adornment of a Godly Woman
1 Timothy 2:9-10
Gil Rugh

I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy 2. I'm going to have you turn there and you can put a marker there because we are going to be looking through some other Scripture before we come to 1 Timothy 2. We are in a section in 1 Timothy where Paul is talking about the roles of men and women as members of the church of Jesus Christ. And I want to cover some of the background and related material that will help us as we walk through further details of this section. It's not a section that should be causing nearly so much confusion and turmoil in the church of Jesus Christ as it is. So I want to be sure that we are clear on the foundational matters and that will help answer some of the questions that do come up as we work through more of the details of Paul's instruction to men and women in the church.

And we keep referring to the church. The church had its beginning following the death and resurrection and ascension to heaven of Jesus Christ. It's formal beginning was Acts 2. Before that the church had only been mentioned twice. It's not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. Beginning in Genesis 12 and through the Old Testament in its entirety and through the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, God's work in the world centered in the nation Israel. On two occasions both in the gospel of Matthew it is recorded that Jesus referred to the church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus made the statement, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” That was a prophetic announcement. At that point in time the disciples did not understand what the church would be. They were anticipating Jesus establishing an earthly kingdom as the Messiah of Israel. In Acts 1 they asked the question, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” So even though Jesus prophetically announces that He is going to build His church the disciples do not comprehend what that will entail. And the gates of Hades will not prevail against that church, a reference referring to death. Even with the death of Christ that does not frustrate the plan of God in establishing the church. Rather, that was God's intention for the foundation of the church. That through the death of His Son as payment for sin men and women might come to believe in Him and become part of the church as we'll see.

So that's the first reference to the church in the Bible. Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church." The second reference is in Matthew 18:17 and there in the context of a brother who persists in sin Jesus gives instruction. If you become aware of a brother who is in sin you go to him privately, personally, in an attempt to get him to stop the sinful conduct. If he won't listen, you take two or three witnesses with you. If he won't listen to the two or three witnesses, you tell it to the church. And if he won't listen to the church, then you cut off all association from him. So there for the second time Jesus refers to the church and how the church will conduct itself in dealing with sin in its midst.

Turn over to Acts 1, if you would, in your Bibles. The book of Acts in the first chapter.
In Acts 1 we have some events that follow Jesus' death on the cross, His resurrection and He's been 40 days ministering to the disciples following His resurrection from the dead. But now we are nearing the time when He is going to ascend to heaven. That event will be recorded in chapter 1. That will be the end of His earthly ministry. No longer will He come and meet with His disciples and so on. Rather He returns to heaven in Acts 1 and there He will sit at the right hand of the Father until He returns in clouds of glory to establish His kingdom. In preparation for this, Jesus tells His disciples in verse 5 of Acts 1, "For John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So at this point in time the disciples still had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. He said that's a yet-coming event but it's very near, not many days from now. That event occurs in Acts 2. We are not going to follow through this development in the book of Acts. But in Acts 11:15 and verse 16 Peter tells people that it was in Acts 2 that the baptism of the Spirit first occurred and the church has its beginning.

Turn over to the book of 1 Corinthians. Just keep going from the book of Acts through the book of Romans and you will be in 1 Corinthians. Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians.
And go to chapter 12. There are several analogies, metaphors, pictures of the church developed for us in the New Testament. One of the main figures used for the church is that of a physical body. And the church is compared to our physical bodies. The church is called the Body of Christ and it is compared. There is one physical body but it has many parts. So the church, the Body of Christ, is one church but it has diversity because every person brings something to that body that enables it to glorify God more fully and more clearly.

Look at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 12, "For even as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body." That's our physical body. He's drawing the picture. We have one body, many parts - fingers, feet, ears, eyes and so on but there's still only one body. All the parts are necessary. So there's diversity and there's unity. One body but many parts. "So also is Christ." That's our comparison. You see our physical body. That's the way the Body of Christ is, the spiritual body. "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." There is one Holy Spirit of God and it is His unique work to identify those who believe in Christ with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection and so make them part of the one body, the Body of Christ. There's one Spirit who baptizes all into one body. Now every person on the face of the earth is going to be part of that body but every person who becomes part of that body does so through the ministry or work of the Holy Spirit. Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free. It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter whether you are master or a slave. There is only one way into the Body of Christ and that's through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

And we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So there's two things that are emphasized here. The work of the Spirit in making us part of the Body of Christ and the ministry of the Spirit in taking up residence within the person who becomes part of the Body of Christ. We were made to drink of one Spirit. In John 7 Jesus spoke prophetically of the coming of the Holy Spirit and He said that those who believed in Him out of their innermost beings would flow rivers of living water and this He spoke of the Spirit who would be given to those who believed in Him. So when we came to believe in Christ the Spirit identified us with Christ and made us part of His body. He also took up residence at that time within the body of the believer.

Verse 20 emphasizes there's many members but one body. Come down to verse 27,
"Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it." If you read all of chapter 12 you have that analogy with the physical body. Every believer is a member of one body, the Body of Christ, but there are individual parts in the Body of Christ. The Spirit by His indwelling presence brings a special gift or ability to enable a person to function as a necessary part of the Body of Christ.

We are going to come back to 1 Corinthians but you can leave something there. If you have something besides what you left in Timothy, leave it in Corinthians and come to Ephesians. Keep going toward the back of your Bible through 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This is the church where Timothy is when Paul writes the first letter to Timothy which we are studying together. And Ephesians 1 look at verse 22, after talking about the provision of Christ to pay the penalty for sin and His resurrection from the dead in verse 20 of chapter 1 and His being seated at the right hand of the Father, verse 22, "He put all things [He, God the Father] in subjection under His feet [Jesus Christ's feet] and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." So you see the church is the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the head and all the parts function as the head gives instructions according to the will of the One who rules over the body,
Jesus Christ.

Now every person everyplace in the world from Acts 2 down until the time the church is removed from the earth at the Rapture is part of the Body of Christ. We call it the universal church. Believers from Acts 2 down to today are all part of that one body. But the local church, a church like this and other local churches gather together as groups of believers are what we call the local church. This is the manifestation of the Body of Christ in the world today. You don't see the universal church. You see the local church which is the manifestation of the universal church. About 80 percent of the references to "church" or "churches" in the New Testament are references to the local church. That's where the focus of Scripture is primarily.

Look back now in 1 Corinthians 1. And you see how Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:2, "To the church of God which is at Corinth." He doesn't say to the part of the church of God which is at Corinth but to the church of God which is at Corinth. The church at Corinth was not everything there was to the church but the church at Corinth was complete as the church in that place. In chapter 1, if you read more of the context, you'll find Paul says they have all the gifts that God provided so that the body could function completely. So the church at Corinth wasn't an arm, part of a leg and ear and a nose. It had everything necessary. God had provided all the gifts for that church to function complete. Now that's not everything there is to the church but that church is complete and it manifested Jesus Christ. "The church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all" we read in Ephesians 1. It is the manifestation and the representation of Jesus Christ in the world. That's what the local church is and is to be. Note how he goes on in verse 2, "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus." That's who is part of the church. "Saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." So he's writing to the local church in Corinth but they are part of those believers wherever they are in the world, in every place. So here in this verse he makes reference to the fact there's a universal church but I'm writing to the church that is located in this place.

Now when we became believers we were placed into the church, the Body of Christ.
That does not mean just this assembly as it meets on formal occasions as we are doing at this time. But when you become part of the Body of Christ that shapes and controls what you are and what you do in every place at all times. This is important because in some of the passages where we are talking about the church, people try to narrow the church down just to its meeting time on Sunday morning at a designated meeting, it's more formal meeting. But when you became part of the Body of Christ, you became more than just part of an assembly that meets together at a given time. You became part of the Body of Christ. It’s visibly manifested in this local assembly as well as others. But that does not mean your conduct is controlled only when you are in this place.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 6:15. Note this statement, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" Now I said we make up the spiritual Body of Christ and we were spiritually identified by the Holy Spirit of God with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection so that we could become part of His body. But that does not mean our physical bodies aren't part of that. You note he says in verse 15, "Your bodies are members of Christ." We need to be careful we don't make too radical a disconnect between what we are in spirit and what we are in body. You know God has made great promises to me as His child in Christ and you know that includes my physical body. In chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians Paul will develop this. This physical body is going to be transformed, resurrected in glory, so that I can live in this body for all eternity in the presence of the living God.

So Paul says, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" Now note this, "Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!" I was made part of the Body of Christ. That means in everything I do and every place I go and every activity I become involved in, I am doing it as part of the Body of Christ. The standard of conduct and behavior is not higher in our meeting together today than it is on any day of the week for a child of God. Now there are things we do in an assembly together. We stand together. We sit together. We turn in our Bibles together and so on. But as far as our character and what is required of the conduct of a believer, that does not change on Monday through Sunday. How could the Christians be so confused to think it didn't matter if they went out and committed immorality on Thursday night? They wouldn't think of doing it in the assembly, at the formal meeting. But if I go out and do it on Thursday night, well, you know I'm not part of the body then.
I'm just out on my own. Forget it. When you are placed in the Body of Christ you are placed into the Body of Christ. That becomes your identity. That is your ongoing relationship.

It doesn't change. You know what happens when you fall asleep at night and you roll over and your arm falls out of the bed? That arm’s out of the bed. It's still part of the body. That doesn't change. So we ought not to think that there is this radical disconnect between being part of the church and everything else I do. Being part of the church controls everything else I do. This coming together in this meeting is just us joining together corporately to offer our praise to God, to encourage one another, to be nurtured by His Spirit through His Word and so on. When we walk out that door, we are just as much identified with the Body of Christ as we are sitting here.

So how could you think of committing immorality. The next verse, "Do you not know that one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her?" Verse 17, "The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee immorality." I'm one with the Lord. Whatever my hand does it does as part of my body. Cannot say, well, I'm going to go do this then I'll come back and rejoin the body. Doesn't work that way. The illustration of the body is so simple it's almost childish and yet somehow we as adults seem not to be able to grasp it. We think sinful conduct is out here but you know, when I get together as the church that's when you really have to be careful what you do.

I'm stressing this because it's common in 1 Timothy 2 among evangelicals to stress this is just the church as it meets together in its meetings. There are times when the Bible specifies that the particular issue is when the church meets together in its meetings. But generally the conduct and instructions given to the church are given to the church. They don't change whether you're in a formal meeting or you are doing something else. This is the way God's people are expected to conduct themselves as members of the Body of Christ.

You're in Corinthians. Turn over a few pages to chapter 11. Here's an example where Paul addresses conduct when you meet together. First Corinthians 11:18, "For in the first place . . ." Verse 17 does the same thing. "I do not praise you because you come together." Here he's talking about when the church meets together. "You come together not for better but for the worse. In the first place when you come together as church [or in church, so here's talking about your formal meetings together], I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part, I believe it.” Verse 20, "Therefore when you meet together." So he is talking about their conduct together. But that doesn't mean divisions and conflicts are OK when we don't meet together. Because Galatians 5 tells us that's part of the works of the flesh - divisions and conflicts. But the seriousness of it is heightened. You have divisions and conflict. Even when you come together to celebrate the Lord's table it becomes an occasion for division. That representation of the work of Christ that brings us together as one and it becomes an occasion for division in you. That would be the same thing as people say, "Oh, well, you know, immorality is bad." And here they'll do it in the service as part of their worship - commit immorality. You'd say you've carried that to a whole different level. It's not that immorality is acceptable outside the church but if you do it as part of your worship, that's about as low as you could get. Well, that's what Paul is saying here. It doesn't mean divisions are OK out here. Showing the condition of the Church. It's gotten so bad that it permeates even when they get together for the most serious of their worship activity.

There are times when we are talking about our corporate meetings, when we do get together. But generally the conduct prescribed for the church is the conduct God expects for members of the Body of Christ wherever they are and whatever they do.

Another analogy of the church is the house or family of God. That's what we are talking about in Timothy. In 1 Timothy 3:15 the church is called the household of God. We are God's family and the picture is still the same. In our families you have the husband and wife, your children. You are not just a family when you are in the same house together, the same building. So you get up and everybody goes their separate ways. Somebody goes to work, somebody goes to the store, kids go to school. You say, “Oh, we're not a family anymore.” Of course you are. I mean just because the husband and wife, the husband goes to work, the wife goes to the grocery store, now means they don't have to treat each other as husband and wife. They can go off and meet and have relationships with other people because we are not in the same house together any longer. Of course not. That family relationship controls my conduct even when I'm in other places. Why do people get the idea that they take these passages in the Scripture and they say, “Oh, this just pertains when we are in church meetings.” You are member of the Body of Christ or you are a member of God's family, that controls your conduct and behavior everywhere you go because that's who you are.

You come into God's family now. That's what the church is. The first thing you have to become clear is begin to divide by and say this really only applies to the church when it meets together. We see this when we get into 1 Timothy 2 sometime this morning. But I have something else to say. I want to clarify, and this will move us to a passage that relates to Timothy as well, there is only one way into the Body of Christ. We saw that in 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit you were all baptized into one body." In chapter 1 verse 21 of 1 Corinthians Paul said, "God was well pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe." You want to know what the pleasure of God is, what pleases God? It's to use the proclamation of the gospel, the message of His Son, His death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, His resurrection from the dead, to use the proclamation of that message to save those who believe. That's why I always say the message and the methods are inseparable. The method I want to use is the method that is well pleasing to God. And God is well pleased through the preaching, the proclamation, the declaring, the giving forth of the truth concerning Christ to save those who believe. Don't try to tell me we don't change the message, we just change the methods. You better be using the methods that are well pleasing to God because those are the methods that He uses to save those who believe.

My goal is not build a large church. There are methods you can use to do that. My goal, your goal, is to be pleasing to God and it is pleasing to Him to save people through the proclamation of His message.

Turn over to the book of Galatians. Just after Corinthians is Galatians. Chapter 3. Galatians 3 is a detailed unfolding of the truth of 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free. We were all made to drink of one Spirit." In Galatians 3 Paul just unfolds that in great detail to show that it's by faith that we enter into the blessings God has provided. It's by faith we receive the Holy Spirit. It's by faith we are baptized by the Spirit of God.

Just walk through Galatians 3 with me. Verse 2. Sometimes I'll just read part of the verse. You'll pick it up. "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith.” In other words, did you receive the Spirit by hearing the gospel and believing it or did you receive the Spirit by works? You receive the Spirit by believing the gospel. Verse 5, "So then He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, does He do it by works of the Law or by hearing with faith.” These are rhetorical questions. They know the answer.

Verse 6, "Even so Abraham believed God." He had faith in God. "And it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Verse 7, "Therefore be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham." Verse 9, "So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham." The believer, the one who has faith. Down in verse 11, “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident for, ‘the righteous man shall live by faith.’ “ Verse 14 the end of the verse, "So that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." How did you get the Holy Spirit? Made to drink of the Holy Spirit? Through faith.

Jump down to verse 22, "But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin.” All have sinned there is none righteous. “So that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Verse 24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to Christ so that we might be justified by faith." Verse 26, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ." And people say, “Oh, water baptism .” Go back and reread chapter 3. Read 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." What's the whole argument of chapter 3 of Galatians? How did you get the Spirit? By faith, by faith, by faith. And then somebody says, “Oh, by being baptized with water.” I can't help that kind of stupidity. The Spirit of God opens blinded eyes. Other than that they are blinded to the clearest truth. It's the baptism of the Spirit here. How did you get the Spirit? By your works or by faith in Christ? Remember 1 Corinthians 12:13 you partook of the Spirit, you drank of the Spirit, you received the Spirit the same time you were baptized to the Spirit. That's what he's talking about. You were all baptized into Christ into the Body of Christ. You've clothed yourselves with Christ.

Now note verse 28. This is the verse we've been coming to. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Does that not sound like 1 Corinthians 12:13? "For by one Spirit you were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free." Well, verse 27, "You are baptized into Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free." He just adds another pair - male or female. “You are all one in Christ.” Why? Because we were baptized by one Spirit into one body. You are all one. What's the point of chapter 3? Salvation by grace through faith. There is no other way. There's only one way of salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That is the work of the Spirit of God. We would hear and believe the truth and when we believe the truth we would become identified with Christ and the Spirit Himself would dwell within us.

There's no distinction in this under rank in society. Whether you're a master or slave, there's no distinctions in this. What your racial background or ethnic background is. It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a non-Jew. Doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman. There's only one Spirit. There's only one body. There's only one way of salvation. When you believe in Christ you become members of the one body. The end of verse 28, “You are all one in Christ.” I'm stressing this because in 1 Timothy 2 part of what happens is we are drawing distinctions between the roles of men and women and Galatians 3:28 is the verse that here now in recent years it's become common to reinterpret everything in the Bible about men and women in light of Galatians 3:28. Galatians 3:28 means that there are no differences any longer of any kind between men and women. So all passages that would address men and women as having different roles and responsibilities have to be redone because Galatians 3:28 tells us that there are no longer any differences. This is becoming the common evangelical interpretation of Galatians 3:28. I say, “Such stupidity.” I mean, I'm reading a commentary by a brilliant Greek scholar. He claims to be an evangelical and the man's far more brilliant than I am but that's what he ends up with. He's rewriting 1 Timothy 2 because Galatians 3:28 makes clear that 1 Timothy 2 can't mean what it says. Because there are no distinctions between men and women any longer if they believed in Christ. That's why Christ came to abolish all those distinctions. Foolishness! I mean, it stoops just below stupidity. Paul would have called it moronic, a word that he used a number of times in 1 Corinthians 1 as the thinking of the world.

Very simply what we are talking about is there is only one way of salvation. Paul still saw himself as a Jew. Read Romans 9:3-5. He lays out how Jewish he is. Then jump over to Romans 11. He unfolds his Jewishness. Read his testimony in Acts. He talks about being a Jew. Read his testimony in Philippians 3. He talks about being a Jew. He had no comprehension, oh, I don't talk about being a Jew because I'm not a Jew anymore. We are all the same, Jews and Gentiles alike. We are all saved the same way. We are all members of the same body. But I'm a Jewish believer. You are a Gentile believer. That distinctions not lost. There are numerous passages that give instructions to slaves who become believers and how they are to conduct themselves; to masters who become believers and how they are to conduct themselves. And there are numerous instructions given to men and women, husbands and wives. Understand that in Christ we have spiritual equality. We've been saved the same way. We are members of the same body. We have different roles and functions.

This ought to tell us something. Over 2000 years the Church didn't have a problem interpreting Galatians 3:28 or passages like 1 Timothy 2. But in the 60s and then in the 70s and 80s when our society blossomed into following the feminist movement, radical feminism and that, pretty soon now our society gets taken. Even when we are in wars in other countries, what's the number one thing we have to do? Liberate women. And I believe women are impressed . . . oppressed and what we really want to do is what? Become like men. We compound our problem. We don't even know what we are going to war for. But it's the “in thing” to do because if you give this as a reason all the women in the country will be in favor of it because that's the main thing we do. And the church just paddles along. Well, if that's where the world is, we must find a way to interpret the Bible that won't put us in conflict with the world. I find it. Galatians 3:28 is the main verse. Every other passage that addresses men and women has to be subjugated to get Galatians 3:28. So when we get to 1 Timothy 2 their explanation will be, well, since Galatians 3:28 says there are no differences, this must relate to a cultural situation that applied only to that day at that time in that church on that occasion. It really isn't applicable to us at all. One of the leading evangelical scholars, if I mentioned his name, you'd know it, and you probably use his commentary, that's his solution. We sift out the cultural from the permanent here. And we do find out it's all right for women to lead in prayer. It's all right for women to lead men. It's all right for women to teach. Galatians 3:28 is our overriding clarifying passage. Who gives us the right to pick out and this is the passage? Now everything else we'll redo. For 2000 years the church interpreted Galatians 3:28 and 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter 3 and on we go understanding there's no conflict here. The conflict doesn't come from the clarity of the Word. The board is clear. The conflict comes from the church trying to follow the world and then make sense out of Scripture and they really make it nonsense.

All right, that's the introduction. Come to 1 Timothy 2. I haven't forgotten. I wrote it down here. Remember to go to 1 Timothy 2. This is what we are talking about in 1 Timothy 2 - the church. Not just the church in its formal meetings but the responsibility of the Body of Christ in the world is what we are talking about. That salvation is the same for all groups of people, all kinds of people but then they manifest that salvation by functioning as God intends them to function in the roles they have in society, in how they use their bodies which are part of Christ. "You are no longer your own. You've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, " 1 Corinthians 6 went on to say.

So, in 1 Corinthians . . . 1 Timothy 2, verse 8. He wants “the men in every place to pray.” I can't tell you the number of evangelical commentators that say it would seem clear that he's saying he wants the men in every place to pray and then they go on to say but that can't be what it means. I take it it means what it says. And they are to pray as godly men. They are to have clean hands that are raised to the Lord. That is a picture of an undefiled life, without wrath and dissension. Does that mean it's all right to have wrath and dissension when you're not meeting together for prayer? Of course not. But it does mean that a godly life is essential for an effective prayer life.
Now what about the women. Likewise I want the women to do this. The contrast is between men as men and women as women. I want the men in every place to do this and now he's going to say I want the women to do this. Then he's going to come back and pick up some other specifics. He's talked about prayer, then he'll talk about teaching, then he'll talk about authority. But first he wants to talk about a godly life. That's the connection. At the end of verse 8, "Lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension" had to do to with the godly life of the men. Now he says, “Likewise, I want the women . . .” And some commentators say, "I want the women to pray in this way," trying to draw them into what has been assigned to the men. Grammatically that doesn't work and most commentators agree that that's trying to make something here that's not the natural way to take the passage.

“I want women to adorn themselves.” They say, “Oh, the men get a good job, they get to pray and the women all they are worried about is clothes.” I didn't write it. It's not my fault. It's what it says. But the connection. Let's let it say what it says. He wants the men to pray and he wants them to have holy hands. Now he's talking about women at the end of verse 10, how they conduct themselves, making a claim to godliness. So the godly character of the men which required at the end of verse 8. Now he talks about the character of the women and her conduct. Then he'll go back to the specific activities following up prayer with teaching and leadership.

"Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing." The likewise - moving on to talk about the other group now. And making a claim to godliness - talking about women who claim to be godly women at the end of verse 10. That's the context here. We are not talking about how the world dresses. We are talking about women who claim to belong to the living God.

“I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing.” The word for “woman” refers to women of all kind - married women, single women, widowed women. General word for women. It's the right behavior and conduct of the women. He wants them to adorn themselves. It means “to put in order, to arrange, to prepare,” the Greek word is "cosmain." Recognize it? “Cosmain” - cosmetics. Cosmetics are what? That which helps put a woman in order, helps arrange her. I'm just telling you what it says. “I want the women to adorn themselves,” “cosmain” themselves. So nothing in this passage is a put down on women using cosmetics, women adorning themselves properly. Sometimes we're going out in a hurry some place, we get in the car and start out and Marilyn will say, “Oh, I forgot to put my makeup on.” I'm very pleased to turn around and pull back in so she can put things in order. We men, we just go the way we are, you know. Although the feminizing of our society is changing that too.

But women are to adorn themselves with proper clothing. Now the word “proper” is from the same basic word as the word "adorn," “cosmio,” “cosmain.” Adorn, “cosmio,” proper. It means “respectable, honorable, modest, orderly, beautiful.” It was used in secular Greek to refer to orderliness, discipline, decorum. It's the opposite of license. “I want the women to adorn themselves,” to prepare themselves honorably, orderly, beautifully, respectably. That means modestly and discreetly. The word modestly is only used twice in the Bible. The other times, Hebrews 12:28, is translated there "reverence." The meaning of the word is “reverence, reverent fear, discretion, propriety, modesty.” Women are to arrange themselves with dignity, respectable, orderliness, proper sense of humility and proper . . . We'd say, you know, using good judgment. You know what the next word is: discreetly. And it means “sound judgment, good judgment, with self control.” A word used in a variety of contexts in the New Testament to refer to selfcontrol, good judgment. We talk about maybe in our day “good tastes.” That a woman is to dress properly and appropriately in her whole demeanor. She is to be adorned in her character and her conduct with that which is fitting for a woman of godliness. There's to be good judgment used. So it's not wrong for a woman to fix up but it's wrong for a woman to go beyond what is proper to draw attention to herself. So he gives the negative here. Not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments. It doesn't mean a woman can never fix her hair, that you can never wear any jewelry of any kind, she has to be sure that she buys cheap clothes because she can't wear costly ones. Some people say, “Look, if you are going to take this literally and require literally that only men lead in prayer, literally that only men do the teaching, literally that the men do the literature, then you are going to have to take the rest literally and say women can never fix their hair, braid their hair. They can never wear jewels of gold or pearls and they can never wear costly garments.” I mean, that is just trying to do away with what the text clearly says.

The context does determine the meaning. Put a marker there and turn over to 1 Peter 3.
In 1 Peter 3 Peter is writing the same thing as Paul writes, only he's addressing his remarks to wives and husbands and particularly to wives who may have unbelieving husbands. But you'll note what is expected of a woman in this context is the same as was generally expected of women. He just applies it to this particular case. And we look at the same thing is true of husbands in verse 7 of 1 Peter 3 - godly character so the prayers aren't hindered. Basically the same thing he said to the men generally in 1 Peter 2:8.

Look at verse 3. He writes to the wives. "Your adornment must not be external, braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses." A word that means “clothes.” They say, well, literally . . . If we are going to take this literally it means what? You don't have external adornment. You don't braid your hair. You don't wear gold jewelry and you don't put on clothes. Do you think that's what he's really saying? So what we are really saying he solved the problem. Women shouldn't wear clothes. Now I realize in our society some are taking it that way. Obviously, anybody who reads this . . . We talk about reading the Bible literally or normally. The context determines meaning. This should not be her adornment. This is not what her life is about. This is not primarily what characterizes her, the kind of jewels she has, the kind of clothes she has, but rather what? Verse 4, "Let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet Spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” We don't have time to go into 1 Peter here but the church needs to decide whether we want to do what is precious in the sight of God or precious in the sight of the world. The world's trying to what? Move women along, to progress, to put them in the position of leadership and authority.

She's aggressive. She can do this. She can get this done. And what God admires in a woman is a gentle and quiet spirit. That's not what the world admires in a woman. They call that a “doormat” woman. A woman who lets herself be a doormat. What's precious in the sight of God is a gentle and quiet in the woman.

That's the adornment he's looking for. So you see it's the godly character coming out.
That doesn't mean she can't put on other things, but that's not the focus of her adornment. She doesn't dress to draw attention to herself, the ideas we're talking about.

Come back to 1 Timothy. You know, we talk about getting dressed like this I think when they have something with Hollywood like the Oscars and everything on news channels and in news magazines or newspaper, what? Begins to focus on how the women were dressed or not dressed. How much or little they had on. How their head was done and who their hair did and was wearing a necklace of diamonds that must have cost half a million dollars. Now that's the extreme. It does what? It's the whole purpose. To outdo one another and get attention to themselves. That's not the way a godly woman conducts herself. She's not dressing to draw attention to herself. Either by the display of wealth or the seductiveness of the clothes. Some say what Timothy is really concerned about here is worship. In other words, it doesn't matter how seductively she dresses at other times, how she flaunts wealth at other times. Of course not. I mean this is the godly character of a woman as a member of the Body of Christ, one who makes a profession of godliness.

Verse 10, "But rather . . . " In contrast to the focus being on the externals and that's where the world is. They fear losing their physical beauty. And who doesn't look at some of the Hollywood starlets of the past. And it's so sad. Here they are in advanced years trying to look the way they think looked when they were 20 and you just can't do it.

"But rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness." It doesn't mean they don't wear anything but godliness but that is what adorns them. Now she's suppose to put yourself in order and dress appropriate and discreetly and there's nothing wrong with dressing well with the proper use of clothes and jewelry and having hair fixed appropriately. But we all have a sense where people come on line and everybody will be looking to say, "Did you see them and how they were dressed?" The idea that when they come in the room all attention goes there. The world admires that. You won. All the attention went to you. But that's not what a godly woman is looking for. Wherever she is and whatever she's doing, her goal is not to say, “Look at me.’ Her adornment is good works. That's not how she's saved. She's saved by faith, not by works. We say that in Galatians 3 but the good works are a manifestation of the indwelling Spirit in her life. It's the proper adornment of a woman who makes a profession of godliness.

She may be attractive physically. She may have attractive clothes on and that. That's not her adornment. It's not done to draw attention to herself. Her real adornment is her good works, her godly character manifested in her godly deeds. That's what's fitting and appropriate for a woman who makes a profession of godliness.
Let me just do an aside for one minute. This has to do with the dress, period. You know, we live in a society that sometimes prides itself in going to the other extreme. And you know, I hear people say I dress the way I want to dress, I don't care what people think. But that's not a godly attitude. Because a godly woman is dressing with a proper sense of respect, demeanor. I mean, maybe she doesn't overdress yet underdress. You know in our day . . . and now I see . . . it's on a program. It's getting to now pajamas are acceptable in public. It's now becoming the thing you just wear your pajamas to the store or wherever you're going. We laugh, but you know, some of the pajamas would be an improvement on being worn to the stores and places.

You know, we were walking down the mall a week or two ago and there were some young people in front of us. These were guys, so I'll use the men. And one of the guys, you know it's the thing you wear your pants so low that . . . You know they must have them pinned or something. Gravity wouldn't do it. This poor guy in front of us. He had his pants so low he couldn't walk. You know he's walking like this. You know, when a diaper on a baby is going south and you are just watching because you know the baby is going over. That's the way this kid looks. He couldn't get his leg there because his pants are way down here. Well, you know, he wasn't all dressed up with wealth but it was a display: Look at me. I'm different. Of course all his friends looked exactly the same. Because it's important to be different so that you look like all your friends look and the concept differentness.

So I think we need to be careful that we don't go the other way. People say,”Oh, I go to church, I dress comfortably. They shouldn't be looking at what I wear.” Well, we shouldn't be going with the attitude I don't care what I wear. I'm not saying everybody has to wear a coat and tie or their best dresses but we ought to have a sense of decorum, not only in the building but whatever we do. Just because society decided going to the store in your pajamas is convenient and comfortable and saves you time, doesn't mean it will ever be right for a believer to do. Because a believer has to have a sense of decorum and respectability on what is proper and fitting that the world doesn't care about and that's true in the context here when he's talking about godly women.

Now we need to be careful. We think we're being godly by saying we don't care what people think. I just do what I think I want to do. But as he talks about here, particularly relating to women, that he talks just the opposite. There ought to be a sense of reverence, proper decorum, proper respectability and that ought to characterize us as believers. We don't just follow the pattern of the world. Just because the world says it's OK, doesn't mean it's OK for the people of God.

Good works. You are not your own. You are members of Christ. Therefore glorify God in your body. That's the guideline. That's 1 Corinthians 6:19,20. That ought to characterize us as God's people, as the church of God, the Body of Christ, the family of God. When we meet together and when we are about the business of our Lord in whatever we are doing.
Let us pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your grace and the wonder of Your salvation. Thank you, Lord, that You have saved us, You have changed us, You have made us part of the Body of Christ, the Spirit dwells within us. These physical bodies no longer belong to us. We don't dress to please ourselves. We don't get involved in different activities to please ourselves. But all we do we want to do to glorify You because this is Your body. We praise You that that is true. In Christ's name, amen.