Know Your Role
- Apr 4, 2017
- 3 min read
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." 1 Timothy 2:12.
Is your blood boiling yet? Maybe some people have quickly scrolled away or, knowing my own depravity, popped a bag of popcorn and are waiting for confrontation and fireworks in the comment section. Please know, beloved, much prayer has covered the following words...
The Holy Spirit keeps bringing this topic to me and I've delayed posting about it. One thing I always want to be about is truth. Thus, I'm wading into this gently but uncompromisingly ...
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." 1 Timothy 2:12.
Is your blood boiling yet? Maybe some people have quickly scrolled away or, knowing my own depravity, popped a bag of popcorn and are waiting for confrontation and fireworks in the comment section. Please know, beloved, much prayer has covered the following words.
The apostle Paul wrote 1 Timothy to advise his coworker about issues in the church in Ephesus. The subject of false teachers dominate his letter and the results of their false teaching promoted theories over solid truth as well as arrogance and greed. True Christianity, in comparison, is shown in a lifestyle shaped and transformed by the gospel.
We must remember a few things. First, God is a God of order, not chaos. God's Word clearly shows us that the Father wills, the Son fulfills, and the Holy Spirit reveals/seals. Each within the trinity are equally God, but have different roles. Likewise, God created man and woman equal in worth, value, and dignity but with different, important (needed) roles. Second, The Fall in Genesis 3 reveals man to be passive and woman trying to take his authority or God-given role. Because Christ's church is made up of people, sinful people, this lasting effect of the fall had found itself within the church (and still does today).
Paul writes with the authority of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He simply does not offer opinions. The statement is about how the church should operate when it is assembled together. Thus, in this context, Paul prohibits two things: 1) Women are not permitted to publicly teach Scripture and/or Christian doctrine to men in church (the context implies these topics), and 2) women are not permitted to exercise authority over men in church. Women teaching women, and women teaching children, are not mentioned here, and both are encouraged elsewhere (2 Timothy 1:5, Titus 2:4). The passage also does not address the role of women in leadership situations outside the church (i.e. business or government). Paul's words are for the church.
The phrase "exercise authority" occurs only here in the New Testament. Scholars have noted that examples of this word used outside the NT clearly establish that the meaning is "exercise authority," not "usurp" or "abuse authority." The role of pastor/elder/overseer is rooted in the task of teaching and exercising authority over the church. Thus, this verse excludes women from serving in this church office. Paul indicates in his other writings that women should speak in the church assembly, and, as previously stated, disciple/teach other women as well as children.
Application? First, we must guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and live according to what His Word says, not what we'd like it to say. Second, what areas in your life are you exchanging the truth of God's Word for your own presuppositions and desires? We must "move ourselves out of the way" because "we can hold certain thoughts that run against the grain of biblical truth. We must surrender our thoughts, feelings, and opinions to God's sovereignty and authority of His Word," said my seminary professor.
Why am I burdened to post this verse? Because churches, even within a stones throw of my house, have bypassed this verse for their own desires. God's Word is authority and truth, expressions of His love and not restrictions to our happiness. And when we bypass His Word (sin) in small, "inconsequential" ways, it always leads to bigger things (permitting homosexual pastors). The bride of Christ should seek holiness in all reverence to our One, True God. Personally, I'm called to speak the truth, yes in love, but to declare it without shame in a culture that declares truth to be relative to each person's personal definition of truth.
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