What The Bible Says About Women In The Church

(Text: I Timothy 2:9-15)
By: Barry L. Cameron


Four passages:
I Corinthians 11:1-16; I Corinthians 14:34-36; Titus 2:3-5; I Peter 3:1-6

* We're in a series of messages from I Timothy.
- Our passage today deals with the role of a godly woman in the local church.

* When Jesus came, He lifted the role of women in society.
- The Church has followed the pattern of our Lord and has placed women on the true pedestal where God intends for them to be.

- Nothing has ever happened in this world that has done more to lift the role of the woman and to give them the opportunity to reach true fulfillment, than the coming of the Lord Jesus and the establishment of His church.

* I'm aware of the fact that we are studying a passage today that is very, very controversial.
- We are living in the day of the Feminist movement.
- Major denominations are debating the role of women and whether or not women should be ordained for leadership ministry in the local church. (The Southern Baptists will re-visit the issue at their national convention in the next few days.)

- There are a number of churches who have co-pastors with husbands and wives and some who have women pastors.

- A number of major denominations now ordain women and recognize them as pastors with the same authority and same stature as men who serve as pastors.

- The largest church in America has women elders.

* But I'm also aware that we need to let the Scriptures be our major source of information.
- Not somebody's book or a magazine article, or the way some other church is doing it.
- The Bible must be our source for what we believe and teach.

Key to the book: I Timothy 3:15
- Paul is teaching how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, the church.

Context: The public worship service of the local church.
- Subject of the passage: PRAYER (primarily for the salvation of the world)
- Prayer is to come first and the men are to lead the way in this. (vs. 8)

Verse 1. "anthropos" (mankind) Men and women
Verse 4. "anthropos" (mankind) Men and women
Verse 5. "anthropos" (mankind) Men and women

Verse 8. "Aner" (the male, the men)
- "I want THE men…
- Men are not the only ones to pray, but they should lead the way in public worship of the church.

Verse 10. "I'm going to give you some guidelines that women who desire to be godly will follow."
(KJV- "women professing godliness," NAS - "women making a claim to godliness.")
- These are God's guidelines for women who want to live a godly life.

(1) THE BEAUTY OF A GODLY WOMAN (I Timothy 2:9-10)
- The word "adorn" (KJV/NAS) comes from "cosmos". (Cosmetic.)
- What you put on. Literally "how you arrange yourself."

* The teaching of Scripture is that the godly woman is to adorn or arrange herself in godly, modest apparel. ("With decency and propriety.")
- Verse 9b. Notice the contrast.
- The point is not braided hair, gold, pearls or expensive clothes.

* The point is that a godly woman has a beauty that is not dependent on the things you can buy at a store.
- Proverbs 11:22 (Outward beauty can't cover up inner flaws.)

Verse 9. This is no excuse to be sloppy or drab in your dress.
- Godly women ought to set the standard when it comes to beauty and dressing first class.

* Paul is saying that the godly woman doesn't view church as an opportunity for a fashion show.

* Doesn't the Lord look on the heart? (Yes! I Samuel 16:7)
- But people can't see your heart.
- We need to dress in a way that doesn't make people stumble.
* You'll be treated the way you dress.
- We don't come to worship to draw attention to ourselves.

Verse 10. The most beautiful thing about a godly woman is that what she does honors God.
(1) THE BEAUTY OF A GODLY WOMAN.
(2) THE BEHAVIOR OF A GODLY WOMAN (I Timothy 2:11-14)
- Vs. 11 drives the feminists up a wall.

* We are always to be guided by the teachings of the Word of God, and not current opinion.
- The standards of a believer don't come from what the people of their day are saying.
- The standards of a believer come from what God says in the Scriptures.
* The Bible is always to be our ultimate and final authority.

* It doesn't matter what people are saying in society…if it contradicts the teachings of the Word of God, it's wrong!
- What God says in the Bible is right.
- And God has perfectly good and legitimate reasons for saying what He says in the Bible.

* Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. (The temple of Diana was there.)
- They had temple prostitutes and worship that was loud, gaudy and blatantly immoral.
- The women would conduct their temple rituals and services and then, hit the streets to ply their trade as prostitutes. (They financed their false worship with prostitution.)

* So, these ungodly women were in stark contrast to what Jesus did in the life of a woman when He saved her and came into her heart and life.

- The women in pagan religions were very vocal.
- The pagan religions included drunkenness, illicit sex and uncontrolled babbling and gibberish.
- They had to make stuff up because they were serving false Gods. (Same thing happened in Corinth with the temple of Aphrodite.) Verse 11. Quiet demeanor and spirit. (He's not saying women can't open their mouths.)
- He's establishing the Bible principle of submission.
- Submission means "to rank under," or "to be under the authority of."

* The Bible teaches the role and responsibility of the man when it comes to headship and leadership both in the family and in the church.
- Ephesians 5:23. The man is to be the head of wife as Christ is the head of the Church.

* That does not mean inequality on the part of the woman.
- It simply means there always has to be some source of direction and leadership in any institution.
* A bank has a president. A school has a principal. A city has a mayor. A church has a pastor.
* A family has a head in the husband/father.

* So Paul established the headship and leadership of the man in the home and in the church.
- I Corinthians 11:3. Paul established the fact that the man is the head of the woman…and he's talking about church activities.
- In I Timothy 2, Paul's talking about the matter of leadership, submission and headship.

Verse 12. He talks about role assignment. (The assignment that God has given to the man and to the woman in the congregation.)
- Vs. 8. "I want THE men to take the leadership responsibilities in the public worship of the church."
- Vs. 12. In contrast, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man."
* He's talking about the God-given, role assignment for the man to be the leader in the public worship services.
- This doesn't mean that women can never teach or sing or pray.
- It means they are not to usurp the authority of a man. (Literally: "to kill the authority of a man.")
Titus 2:3-5. Women are to teach other women. (Older women teach the younger women.)

In The Old Testament:
1. There were no women KINGS in the Kings of Israel of Judah.
2. There were no women PRIESTS in the entire Old Testament.
3. There were no women who AUTHORED Scripture or a portion of Scripture. (Two books are named after women: Ruth and Esther).
4. There were no women with an on-going PROPHETIC ministry. (No women are listed in the minor or major prophets.

In The New Testament: There were no women pastors, elders, evangelists or authors of Scripture.

People who advocate women preachers today, point to the fact that there were women prophetesses in the O.T. (There are FIVE to be exact.)
1. Miriam - Exodus 15:20 (sister of Moses) Called a prophetess because she led the women in praise. God gave her a very brief revelation to share. No on-going ministry.
2. Deborah - Judges 4:4. Called a prophetess because God used her to get a message to Barak. No on-going ministry.
3. Huldah - II Kings 22:14; II Chronicles 34:22ff. Called a prophetess because God gave her a message for Hilkiah the priest about the coming judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. No on-going ministry.
4. Noadiah - Nehemiah 6:14. Called a "false" prophetess. Aligned with Sanballat and Tobiah who tried to stop the rebuilding of the wall and the city.
5. Wife of Isaiah - Isaiah 8:3. Called a prophetess only because she gave birth to a child with a name that carried prophetic meaning. No on-going ministry.

What about the Four Daughters of Phillip in the New Testament? (Acts 21:9)
- He had four daughters that prophesied. They had no on-going ministry and spoke one time.
* Mary, the mother of Jesus, spoke prophetically in the presence of Elizabeth. (No on-going ministry)
* I Corinthians 11:5. Those who pray or prophesy need to be submissive to their husbands.
- The covering of her head was a sign of submission.
* Acts 2:17. "Your daughters shall prophesy" simply means to speak forth for God.

* We have a large number of godly women who serve and teach in our ministry here.
- They just don't teach men. (That is the only biblical restriction on their ministry.)
- They serve under the authority of the men God has appointed to lead the church.

* Different roles don't imply difference in value.
- God has given the role of leadership in the home and in the church to the man.

Verse 13. Why is this? Paul goes back to creation. (This isn't some cultural issue.)
- Galatians 3:28. There is no distinction when it comes to salvation.
* But there is a distinction when it comes to our role assignments.

* Adam was given the responsibility to care for Eve.
- The devil usurped the man's authority.

Verse 14. Paul is not saying that a woman brought sin into the world.
- It was a woman who also brought the Savior into the world.

Romans 5:12. "Sin entered the world through one man." (Adam)

* The devil deliberately went to Eve first, reversing the roles, in absolute defiance of God's role assignments for the man and the woman.
- A woman leads with her heart. A man leads with his head. (Men are not smarter than women.)
- A woman goes on feelings (Women's intuition.) A man goes on facts.

* So, the devil reverses God's plan.
- God had told Adam they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- The only way Eve knew that was that her husband had told her. (She wasn't created yet!)

* So, the devil comes to her and confuses the issue.
- If Eve would've gone to her husband and said, "Honey, what should I do?"
* Friend, you never go wrong when you follow God's plan.

Verse 14. Adam was not deceived. He knew exactly what he was doing and he blew it.
- When God came to confront them, after their sin, he didn't ask for Eve.
* God always holds the man accountable. The man is responsible.

* It's a matter of role assignment.

(3) THE BLESSING OF A GODLY WOMAN (I Timothy 2:15)
- Paul is not talking about salvation here. It's not a reference to going to Heaven.
- He's talking about being saved from the "judicial sentence" passed down from Eve because of her disobedience.
- The godly woman will be delivered from the "judicial sentence" through childbearing.
- Her greatest achievement will not be in the public worship service, but rather, in the home.

* He's saying the godly woman will find her true fulfillment, her ultimate usefulness, and her greatest achievement in being a mother.
- The woman's influence in society is not from the top down, but from the bottom up.

* The devil wants women to DEFY God and DEFECT from the home, so they end up DESTROYING themselves and the society around them.

Verse 15c. Paul says, "Continue…"
(a) in faith - keep that UPWARD relationship.
(b) in love - keep that OUTWARD relationship.
(c) in holiness - keep that INWARD relationship.

* You do what God calls you to do and not only will you be blessed…you'll also be a blessing to the whole world.