I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. 1 Timothy 2: 8-15

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want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. 1 Timothy 2: 8-15

As you all know, I’m committed to presenting messages that are biblically based but when we come to passages like this one, sometimes I’d like to just edit them out of the New Testament. I wouldn’t be the first – the 18th century deists, as they were called, would sometimes snip passages out of the Bible if they disagreed with them or if they didn’t understand them. That might be easier but it would eliminate our struggle with the full meaning of the passage and what God’s intention is for us as we work to interpret the passage.

This one is about women in church but it presents three big questions. First, did Paul write this just to Timothy and this church in Ephesus and if so, what was going on there. Or is this universal teaching, did Paul think this was the standard for all churches for all time? Second, did Paul sense that this passage was his own advice or was he speaking the word of God? Third, do we assume that everything the Bible (especially the New Testament) says is equally applicable to us today as it was when it was written?

If you look at this passage, you can see why women in the past century have railed at Paul and called him bigoted or a misogynist – someone who hates women. But any fair interpretation demands that we look at the context of this passage and part of the problem is that we don’t fully have a context. Timothy had written to Paul from Ephesus about problems he was having with the church and about his own discouragement. Paul told him to hang in there, to “fight the good fight” and gave him some tips to correct the problems.

One of those was that women should present themselves modestly in church. Is this sexist? It sounds like it is but it helps to know that at that time, people declared their wealth (and so, their superior status) by the way they dressed, obviously expensive clothing and jewelry. So we imagine a women arriving at church in gold-brocaded clothing and decked out in striking necklaces and bracelets. Note that Paul starts verse 9 with “I also want…” which might mean that he was speaking for himself. A generous interpretation of verses 9 & 10 would be that Paul did not want divisions in the church and here he’s talking about wealthy versus poorer people. The church of Jesus Christ is not ever to be a place of discrimination, according to age, race, gender, wealth, or social status. Remember that Paul said, in Galatians 3:28, that “there is neither Jew or Greek (gentile), slave or free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God is not the least bit interested in our divisions, God is interested in our character, our personal integrity - and our spiritual unity in spite of our differences.

What about the next passage? Was Paul writing this to correct local problems or did he believe he was writing it for all time? Some interpreters talk about the heresy that was going on in Ephesus, contending that some women were at the core of it. Others think Paul was simply supporting the order of his time, it was a male-centered time, often rather patriarchal. And 1 Timothy, along with 2 Timothy and Titus, are considered “Pastoral Letters” – personal letters more than hard-core doctrine like the Epistle to the Romans.

It’s hard to call this one. I don’t think Paul was a misogynist, he often applauded women in the churches and knew that God didn’t discriminate. But Paul was definitely in favor of clear order and he was a man of his time. We always do an injustice to history by imposing our values on history without understanding what happened in the context of the time it was written. That doesn’t justify everything that has happened in history but let’s get educated before we get too judgmental.

This leads to the question, does everything in the Bible apply to us today? This is the whole question of “inerrancy.” Is everything that the Bible says 100% true? If so, women should never speak in church and that’s what a lot of real conservative churches still believe. A good number of them still do not ordain women to the ministry and some don’t let them be deacons. But, interesting to note, most are not that rigid. By that I mean that most conservative churches allow women to speak and teach and, in lots of cases, to preach. In reality, most churches interpret some parts of the Bible according to what works for them. Here’s where we have to be careful, particularly if our interpretation leads to discrimination toward others or a tendency to control other peoples’ lives. God encourages us to lead from love. Jesus only railed against those whose judgmentalism was self-serving. The true gospel of Jesus Christ is liberating, it opens up opportunities to grow and serve and brings out the best in us. Interpret this passage as you will but be slow to exclude and be quick to be generous of spirit. Amen?

Amen.

Pastor Nick