Welcome to the Women’s Weekly Bible Challenge! I’m glad you’ve decided to join me again as we study the Bible today.
This is PART 3 of the WOMEN TEACHING series, where we look at every passage of scripture that addresses the topic of women teaching.
Last week we only covered one verse in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. You can find that study HERE.
Today we will move on to the next two passages concerning women teaching that are found in the Apostle Paul’s writings:
- 1 Timothy 2:11-12
- 1 Timothy 3:2
Let’s get started!
1. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
We are faced once again with a very emotionally charged passage directed at women. Again I will remind the reader that CONTEXT is very important! Let us not wrest scripture out of context, but instead let's find out the purpose of this letter to Timothy.
Beginning at 1 Timothy 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they TEACH no other doctrine,
And,
1:7 Desiring to be TEACHERS of the law:…
We should notice that Paul has put Timothy in charge of the church at Ephesus, and part of his job is to be a TEACHER OF TEACHERS, or a husband of husbands.
Moving on to Chapter 2 of First Timothy, we see the beginning of Paul’s specific instructions of how the church ,the Body of Christ, should function.
2:1 I exhort therefore, that FIRST of all…prayers… be made for all men;
PRAY first! That's excellent advise for everyone in the church.
2:4 [God] will have all men be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
We should understand that the goal of prayer is the salvation of all men and for those saved men to know the truth. The use of the word "men" is understood to be all mankind.
2:8 I will therefore that MEN pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
In Scripture, “lifting up hands” refers to a man’s whole manner of living; in other words, their work and their worship. This reference to "man" in this context means MALE. We know that because of the following verses.
2:9 …in like manner also that WOMEN adorn themselves in modest apparel,…
and 2:10 …with good works.
📔We should pause to take note that Paul, the Apostle of GRACE, tells women what to wear!
Then he writes…
1 Timothy 2:11-12 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
When Paul says “A woman” in verse 12, he means ANY woman (single, married, divorced or widowed); otherwise he would have said “THE woman” (meaning “wife”), as he does in verse 14.
Paul says “THE MAN” in verse 12 (a position of headship), and he goes on to explain the reasons in the next verses.
1 Timothy 2:13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
FOR = BECAUSE
He gives us the first reason:
#1 BECAUSE Adam was FIRST formed; meaning he is the head, he is the ruler. God did not make EVE first.
Adam was given dominion.
We see part of the word DOMinion in the word KingDOM.
We all understand the word KINGDOM, and we know that a man is a KING. A woman cannot be a KING; she can only be a QUEEN. There is no such thing as a QUEENDOM in Scripture.
This is God’s design. Just like having a 7-day week. GOD the Father designed it that way with a purpose. Someone has to be the HEAD and God made that decision for reasons that GLORIFY JESUS CHRIST.
#2 In the next verse, he gives us the second reason:
1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Satan knew what he was doing when he went to Eve instead of Adam, usurping God's order. The woman is the weaker vessel and easier to deceive ( 1 Peter 3:7).
Satan is still going after the woman today.
Ladies, please do not let him deceive you! Do not let him win you over with his argument, “Yea, hath God said?” Do not let Satan convince you that God does not really mean what He says, especially on this issue of WOMEN TEACHING.
I pray you will choose to believe the word of God.
Ladies, Paul leaves us with some encouragement. It’s not a coincidence that this verse follows:
1 Timothy 2:15 Nothwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Let’s break that verse down.
She is “the woman” of verse 14, a position defined at the creation of the first woman; a help meet and a wife.
She shall be SAVED; in context, saved FROM SATAN’S DECEPTION!
How? In childbearing; the role, position and original purpose that she was created for; the purpose of God to have dominion over the enemy.
IF they (all women) continue in faith (obey God’s word) and charity (mutual fellowship and edification in the Body) and holiness (being clean and pure in spirit and body) with sobriety (focus and clarity), women professing godliness will be saved from Satan's deception. Proverbs 1:33 comes to mind.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
The purposes of God are very beautiful and full of His wisdom!
From this verse onward, the apostle Paul immediately begins giving Timothy clear instructions for putting MEN in the ministry – NOT WOMEN!
This leads us to our next verse to consider:
2. 1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
This verse showed up in our search results because it contains the words wife and teach, but there are a few important things we can learn from this verse.
1) A bishop (also called an elder 1 Timothy 5:17,19; Titus 1:5) is the leader of the local church. E.g., Timothy is bishop over Ephesus and Titus is bishop over Crete, and their duty was to appoint bishops over the local churches in the area. We know a bishop is a man because he is a HUSBAND = the position he holds. He is not a wife. He is in fact a HUSBAND of HUSBANDS.
2) A wife cannot be a HUSBAND. This may seem obvious to most, but due to the confusion of gender today, even in the professed church, it bears pointing out.
3) Timothy is compared to a HUSBANDMAN in 2 Timothy 2:6. A pastor, bishop or elder is an husbandman, not a wifeman. There is no such thing. If we understand this truth, we will accept the fact that a woman cannot be an elder, bishop or pastor.
Remember, as we continue to consider everything the Bible has to say about women teaching, we have learned that women CAN teach!
But women do not have the authority to take teaching positions in leadership over the local church body. These positions were ordained by God to be filled by men. This is God’s design and order.
I encourage you to submit yourself to the word of God and not wrest it to suit your purposes, the way Satan did.
Next week we will finish up the WOMEN TEACHING series with the final passage from Paul in his letter to Titus, and we’ll also take a look at the last mention in Scripture of women teaching, found in the book of Revelation.
Link to Part Four of Women Teaching
I pray this study is helping you to grow and to learn to trust in the word of God.
The material in this Blog can be found in this YouTube video:
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