“Be A Great Student in Church”
Spiritual Leadership in the
Church Series
1 Tim 2:11
RELEVANCE: Defying wholesome church order has become normal unfortunately; there seems to be more respect for women's rights than there is for God's order. Women have always played an important role in the Christian Faith, though very different from the male role. We all must ensure that God’s Word is at the forefront of our worship and that the gospel message is carried to the world and certainly to our families.
INTRODUCTION:
“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) is a basic principle for the conduct of the ministry of the church.
Many women have read these verses and became disturbed and angered because they think in terms of their situation and context. However, to understand these verses, we must appreciate the situation in which Paul and Timothy worked in Ephesus. Suddenly the Jewish, Greek, and former temple prostitute women experienced incredible freedom as new believers. Some overreacted, exhibiting their liberty to the extent of disrupting the church services.
Submission Through Quiet Learning (1 Tim. 2:11).
Paul is writing to set these matters in God’s order.
1. Stress the Essential of Study for Women.
(1Tim. 2:11)
This reflects a cultural context where women were encouraged to gain knowledge but were expected to do so in a way that maintains order within the church setting.
o
Women Were Guaranteed the Right to
Discipleship.
o Learning
was correctly encouraged! The imperative for women to learn indicates that holy
education and spiritual growth are vital for all believers.
o “Let the woman learn.” Women are not to be the
public teachers when the church assembles, but neither are they to be shut out
of the learning process.
o The
phrase “let the women learn” is an
imperative: Paul is commanding that women be taught in the church.
o When
Paul said that women should learn in quietness and complete submission, he was
affirming their recognition as teachable members of the church.
o Christian women were given "equal rights" with men when it came to studying the Holy Scriptures. This was an amazing freedom for many of the Jewish and Gentile women who had become Christians!
o
Continuous Learning Is One of The Keys to
Spiritual Growth.
o Deut. 5:1, And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
o The people had entered a covenant with God, and Moses commanded them to hear, learn, and follow his statutes. Christians also have entered a covenant with God (through Jesus Christ) and should be responsive to what God expects. Moses' threefold command to the Israelites is excellent advice for all God's followers. Listening is absorbing and accepting information about God. Learning is understanding its meaning and implications. Obeying is putting into action all we have learned and understood. All three parts are essential to a growing relationship with God.
o Learning
Requires and Develops Humility.
§ Lament. 3:27-29, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. [29] He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
§ To “bear the yoke” means to willingly and humbly come before God to learn what he wants to teach us. This involves several important factors: (1) silent reflection on what God wants, (2) repentant humility, (3) self-control in the face of adversity, and (4) confident patience, depending on the divine Teacher to bring about loving lessons in our life. God has several long-term and short-term lessons for you right now. Are you doing your homework?
o
This Was a Novel Concept: Highly Unusual at the
Time.
o Neither first century Judaism nor Greek culture held women in high esteem. I don’t agree with this slight, but it is true.
o “In first-century Jewish culture, women were not allowed to study. Jews and Gentiles regarded it disgraceful for women to discuss issues with men in public. The Jews were stricter, not even allowing women to teach the male children past the age of five. (After male children reached the age of five, the Jewish men taught them.) In Greek philosophy, Plato granted women equality with men. Aristotle severely limited their activities, and his view was more widely accepted.” ---Life Application Commentary
o There
were several problems in the Ephesian church that made teaching in this area
difficult. Some women, converted Jews, had grown up in an atmosphere repressive
toward women. Suddenly these women were free in Christ. They overstretched
themselves in the name of liberty, grandstanding their freedom and interrupting
the church service in the process.
o In addition, some of these women were likely converts from the cult of temple prostitution, so widespread in these major cities. These women were immature in the faith and doctrines of Christianity. They needed to learn, not teach.
o Paul
Championed Women’s Spiritual Privileges, But Also Taught the Limitations.
o Some
of the women in Ephesus probably overreacted to the cultural denigration they
had typically suffered and took advantage of their opportunity in the church by
seeking a dominant role in leadership. (Unknown)
o The instruction for silence and subjection should be understood in light of the societal norms of the time, which valued order and respect in worship settings.
2. Stress the Necessity of Silence for Women. (1Tim. 2:11)
Certain limitations actual advanced the teaching efforts and appreciated godly respect and order.
o “Silence” Does Not Mean That Believing Women Were
Never to Say Anything in the Assembly.
o Rather
women should, literally, “be peaceable and in quietness.”
o The
word does not mean complete silence or no talking. It is clearly used elsewhere
(Acts 22:2; 2 Thes. 3:12) to mean “settled
down, undisturbed, not unruly.” This is the same word that is translated “peaceable” in 1 Timothy 2:2.
o A different word means “to be silent, to say nothing” (Luke 18:39; 1 Cor. 14:34).
o Silence Does Mean They
Were Not to Be Congregational Teachers or Leaders.
o “In silence with all subjection.” “Silence” (“quiet”) and “subjection” (“to line up under”) were to
characterize the role of a woman as a learner in the context of the church
assembly.
o Paul explains his meaning in v. 12: Women are to be silent by not teaching, and they are to demonstrate submission by not usurping the authority of the pastors or elders. (W. W. Wiersbe)
o Some
Women Abused Their Newfound Freedom In Christ and Created Disturbances In The
Services by Interrupting. It is this problem that Paul addressed in this
admonition.
§ It
appears that women were in danger of upsetting the church by trying to “enjoy”
their freedom.
§ Paul wrote a similar admonition to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 14:34), though this admonition may apply primarily to speaking in tongues. (W. W. Wiersbe)
o
Submission Doesn't Mean Christian Women Have
No Responsibilities Before God.
o It
does not imply that women surrender their mind, conscience, or moral
responsibility to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).
o This submission warns against presumptive and inappropriate grasping after authority.
o “The special gift and ability of each creature defines its special limitations. And as the bird easily comes to terms with the necessity of bearing wings when it finds that it is, in fact, the wings that bear the bird . . . so the woman who accepts the limitations of womanhood finds in those very limitations her gifts, her special callings -- wings, if fact, which bear her up into perfect freedom, into the will of God.” -- Elisabeth Elliot
o The
Females in the Congregation Should Receive Instruction from the Male Leadership
with Quietness and Full Submission.
o They
should not attempt to turn the tables by clamoring for the office of
congregational teacher or by grasping for authority over men. (The Bible
Knowledge Commentary)
o In
emphasizing godly conduct for women, Paul stressed, with Peter, the unfading
beauty of “a meek [gentle] and quiet spirit,” which is of great value and worth
in God’s view.
o 1 Peter 3:4, But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
These verses have to do with the learning and teaching of doctrine. Keep in mind that the women led in the mystery religions of Paul’s day, and they were sex orgies. Paul is cautioning women not to speak publicly with the idea of making an appeal on the basis of sex.[1]
If any one bring forward, by way of objection, Deborah
(Judges 4:4) and others of the same class, of whom we read that they were at
one time appointed by the command of God to govern the people, the answer is
easy. Extraordinary acts done by God do not overturn the ordinary rules of
government, by which he intended that we should be bound. Accordingly, if women
at one time held the office of prophets and teachers, and that too when they
were supernaturally called to it by the Spirit of God, He who is above all law
might do this; but, being a peculiar case, this is not opposed to the constant
and ordinary system of government.[2]
[1] J. Vernon
McGee, Thru the Bible
Commentary: The Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy/Titus/Philemon),
electronic ed., vol. 50 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 45.
[2] John
Calvin and William Pringle, Commentaries on the
Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon (Bellingham, WA: Logos
Bible Software, 2010), 67.
