Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120325.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part VIII: The Need For Women To Submit In The Church And Focus On Homemaking
(1 Timothy 2:9-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. While God has a specific role for adult male men in the Church, He also has a specific role for women.
    2. That role is stated in 1 Timothy 2:9-12, and though many today object to Paul's words there, claiming they are chauvinistic, its timeless Biblical reasons are given in 1 Timothy 2:13-14 (as follows):
  2. The Need For Women To Submit In The Church And Focus On Homemaking, 1 Timothy 2:9-15.
    1. Shifting from his directives for adult male men in the local church (1 Timothy 2:1-8), the Apostle Paul directed his attention to Christian women there, 1 Timothy 2:9a.
    2. Paul clarified first of all how Christian women should clothe themselves, 1 Timothy 2:9-10:
      1. They are to dress "modestly" (kosmios) (R. C. Trench, Syns. of the N. T., 1973, p. 345, or "respectful" (aidos, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T. , 1967, p. 21) as seen by others from without and reflecting "good judgment" (sophrosuna, Ibid., p. 809-810), 1 Timothy 2:9b) from within.
      2. To clarify, Paul described immodest attire as the "elaborate weaving of the hair with gold and pearls" typical of showy people of the Roman world, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 Timothy 2:9.
      3. This "modest" attire marked by respectfulness as viewed by others and reflecting good judgment from within was to be accompanied by good deeds befitting women who worship God, 1 Timothy 2:10 NIV.
    3. Then, Paul told the women in "modest" attire to submit to men in the local church, 1 Timothy 2:11-12:
      1. Typical of the Jewish synagogue practice where the men spoke while the women remained silent, Paul directed that the women in church learn in silence with all "subordination" (hupotaga , Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 855), 1 Timothy 2:11. In application to our culture, since women are allowed to speak while attending Church, but not to lead or teach men in the body (cf. 1 Timothy 2:12), a clarification apparently not made in Paul's culture, we hold that women have the liberty to speak while at church, but that they not teach or exercise authority over men in the local church ministries themselves.
      2. Paul added that he did not allow a woman to "teach" (didasko, Ibid., p. 191; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1963, p. 722) or to "have authority over, domineer" (authenteo , Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 120) an adult male man (aner, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 65-66). In application to our culture, this does not mean that a woman can not teach male youths who are not of adult age [as in the Sunday School], but that they are not to teach or to have authority over or domineer adult men!
    4. Though many today resist this teaching as being "chauvinistic" on Paul's part, or as not being applicable in our dispensation of the Church era, Paul's 1 Timothy 2:13-14 reasons make his teaching very Biblical:
      1. Paul claimed that since Adam was created before Eve as his basis for the need for women to submit to men in the church, an appeal that crosses multiple dispensational eras, women are to submit to men all throughout the dispensations of God's work with mankind down through history. (1 Timothy 2:13)
      2. Paul asserted that since Adam was created before Eve as his basis for the need for women to submit to men in the church, an appeal that reverts back to human innocence before the fall, so one cannot claim (as some evangelicals now do) that salvation from sin that positionally makes a woman and a man equals in Christ (Galatians 3:28) frees a woman to lead and teach men in a local church. Men were to lead women before sin occurred, so they are to lead them now as Christians today as well, 1 Tim . 2:13!
      3. Thus, as long as men and women are in these present earthly bodies that are marked by gender differences, it is God's will that men lead women, and that women submit to the men in the Lord!
      4. Paul added that Eve was deceived while Adam was not, implying that if the role is reversed from the Biblical norm as when Eve led Adam, tragic sin occurs, 1 Timothy 2:14; B. K. C., N. T., p. 736.
    5. In the end, Paul claimed that if a woman focused on being a homemaker, she would be rescued from errant gender role insubordination as her focus would be on what God wanted her to do, 1 Timothy 2:15.
Lesson: In the church, God wants women to dress modestly, respectfully and in good judgment, and to submit to the men, making their key focus homemaking as God's calling for which they were created.

Application: May all Christian women heed this directive as the will of the Creator Who made them.