In 1 Timothy 2, verses 8-15, Paul is giving the instructions on the different roles and the different exhortations according to the differences between men and women. Now, these may not be all-inclusive roles and differences between men and women, but that is the nature of what he's teaching here. And you might remember in verse 8, the focus was on the men. And verse eight was speaking of the proper prayers of the men of the church. And this is speaking of the context of the church and the worship of the church and the conduct of the church. And we said then that men were to lead and pray. In fact, it will be leading in their praying. The church needs godly men desperately, men who would lead at home and lead in the church and be men who would be men of prayer, raising up holy hands of the Lord. And then in verse 9, the focus then shifts to the women. We saw that in verses 9 and 10, that Paul is instructing about the proper dress, the proper adornment of women. That women are to adorn themselves with the proper demeanor and the dress physically that would reflect modesty. We had some details on that. But even better, women are to adorn themselves in godliness and good works. But then in starting in verse 11 and going through the rest of this chapter to verse 15, which is what we'll be looking at today, we see not just the proper prayers of men or the proper adornment of women, but now we see the proper submission of women specifically within the church. But really, it also hits on the general idea of submission as well. So let us read verses 8 through 15 before we look at the proper submission and the proper roles of the women. I desire, therefore, that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. In like manner also that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. Nevertheless, she will be saved and childbearing if they continue in faith love, and holiness with self-control. This is the word of the Lord. May he be glorified in our study and preaching of it, and may we be edified through his Spirit. We've already seen and commented in the past two sermons looking at this passage that men and women are purposely and gloriously different. And so we should not be surprised that when the scripture instructs us according to these roles, that the exhortations are different. And we've already looked at least once, perhaps twice, at Genesis 1, 2, and 3, which is the foundation to all of this, to see that men and women are purposely created different with different roles. Even in the judgment of sin in Genesis 3, we can see this. But men and women, I will say this so many times you'll get tired of hearing it, unless I'd be misunderstood, but men and women are equal in worth and value. They are both made in the image of God for his glory. There may be a difference in roles and gifts and abilities and purposes, but those purposes and those roles and the person of the woman and the man are equal in worth and value. Man puts values on the externals and on the roles. But we instead, as people of the word of God, we must pursue the understanding of what God has intended from his word and then pursue the glorifying of God with great joy in the way that he has intended us to pursue him in those roles. While at the same time, respecting and esteeming the differences in the roles between the men and women in the home and in the church. And so today we'll look at verses 11 through 15 and focus on the proper, submissive role of the woman, especially in the church. And so we have three parts to these five verses. In verses 11 and 12, we'll look at the role of the women. And perhaps we should call it the rules of the role of the women. Because it's not so much defining everything about the role, but it's giving positive and then negative restrictions on what that role of the woman is to be within the church. So you have the role of the woman in verses 11 and 12, but then in verses 13 and 14, Paul gives the reasons, the biblical foundation, the reasons for those roles and rules. And then verse 15, perhaps the one verse that people can argue about the most. I think the point of verse 15 is it's a reassurance that's given at the end of this. So we have the roles, we have the reasons for those roles, but then we have a reassurance for those who are seeking God in those roles. So first of all, let's look at verses 11 and 12. Paul says, let a woman learn in silence with all submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. Verse 11 defines the positive instruction. Verse 12 defines the negative instruction with respect to the role of the woman and the rules that surround that. In verse 11, we see that a woman in the church is encouraged to learn, to receive instruction, to gain knowledge. In verse 12, we see, though, that however, the woman is not permitted to teach or exercise authority over a man within the church. And you can see that these two verses, this instruction that's given in these two verses, it's bookended with the instruction to do so in Silence, perhaps it's a word that bothers you. It shouldn't, as we look at it. But you can see this instruction is bookended on the beginning and the end with the instruction, do this in silence. But the key to these two verses is the hinge that holds them together. And that's the instruction to do all things in submission, to do so in entire submissiveness or in all submission. The key to this instruction is the word submission or all submission that holds it together. And in fact, you could paraphrase these two verses by saying, let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And a submission means that the woman cannot teach or exercise authority over a man within the church. So I submit that submission is the key and the hinge to this whole thing. But let us step back and look at verse 11 as the positive instruction and verse 12 is the negative. I put negative in quotes. It's not really bad negative. It's just a restriction. defining what the role of a woman is. So in verse 11, the positive instruction is, women are encouraged to learn. Let the woman learn! Now you might think, well, what's so positive about that? I don't look at verses 11 through 15 as being positive. It seems like it's rather restrictive, and I'm not sure if I like them or not. But if you understand the culture in which this was written, both the Roman culture and the Jewish culture, women were not respected. Women were not encouraged to have learning and instruction. They were not held in high regard. And for Paul to say, let the women learn is really rather a groundbreaking thing to be said. Now, perhaps we don't realize that today, but Christianity, wherever it goes, it brings equality with men and women, not not dividing them and making one be lesser than the other. And one of those things that we see when Christianity comes, women as well as men are encouraged to learn and to study and to know the word of God as they grow in godliness. And so this is really a positive instruction. In fact, because it's a positive instruction, it may be part of the reason why Paul is even talking about this issue. What we have in Ephesus, and I think we must have had in Crete when Paul writes to Titus, the pastoral epistles, it's the same thing we have in Corinth. There must be some similar situations going on here where the freedom that Christ brings to women, rightfully so, then can be taken with and run too far. In other words, the freedom that is rightfully brought to women through Christianity, then it's taken and then the actual roles, the parameters that actually does separate men and women can be obliterated to where you have been women pursuing headship within the home or women pursuing those tasks that would fall under the headship of the man within the church. And they're pursuing that. So then as a result, Paul, I think, in First Timothy and Titus and First Corinthians, Paul, as a result, has to instruct those things and say, wait a minute. Yes, you're free in Christ, you're equal in Christ, but we still have the role of the man and the woman. I think it's amazing as we go through First Timothy, it's spoken of a lot in Titus. It's spoken of very clearly in First Corinthians. It's spoken of a lot as well. And usually when someone is addressing an issue like that, it means we're addressing a problem that's occurred to make sure we reel things back into what Scripture teaches. And so because of the freedom that Christ brings, then Paul has to address this by saying, you are to learn. Yes, we're encouraging you to learn and to study and be instructed, but he has to emphasize the manner by which that learning must take place. And so Paul is emphasizing here that the learning of the woman must be encouraged, but it must be done in silence, according to all submission. Now, in that light, silence doesn't mean shut up. It doesn't mean absolute speechlessness. It's not saying that the woman has to have her mouth taped shut or she has to be treated as a second class citizen. It's speaking of the manner in which she's to be learning. And again, the key is in submissiveness. In fact, the word that's used there for silence in the New King James, it can be translated quietness, stillness. It's really a way of saying that, yes, women are to learn in their freedom in Christ. We we exhort you to do so. But to be doing it in a way that's submissive to the male leadership of the church, that's the silence part, without being critical or speaking out against, it's learning as a godly woman would learn. I don't think that's such a hard word, to learn in silence in this context. Well, that's the positive side of it. The negative, there's in verse 12, And again, when I say negative, I don't mean to say that it's bad, but negative in the sense that verse 11 is given the positive side. Here's what you can do. But verse 12 is now defining it by giving some restrictions to how that's to be done. So it's negative in that way. God's design and order is always good. It's not a bad thing, but there's some restrictions that he gives in verse 12. And the negative is that a woman is not permitted to teach or have authority over a man. I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, but to be in silence. And so you have that idea of submissiveness there at the end as well. Now, when you look at these words, teach and authority, the word that's used there for teach within the pastoral epistles, especially, it's used in more of a sense of official teaching of church doctrine or of the scriptures within the church. It doesn't have to be only that, but it is used often about teaching within the church, official authoritative teaching within the church. And so even that by itself implies that this sort of teaching must be done by men. That's what the scriptures teach. Then he says, teaching or have authority over a man and to have authority over means to govern. It really is a way of saying opposite of the submission that I've already mentioned and the silence that's being an example of that. Contrast to that, a woman is not to have headship over a man within the church, to have authority over a man within the church. And I do think that key phrase is a man. The important qualifier in verse 12 is that a woman is not permitted to teach or have authority over a man, but to be in silence. This instruction to be silent in the end is still at the idea of in submission in relation to men, the women are to be submissively learning from the male leadership, verse 11. while not teaching or exercising authority over any man within the church. Verse 12. With that word for silence emphasizing the propriety in the church of a godly woman, the example of submission within the church. In my mind, these two verses are not difficult. They're very simple. The summary is that Paul is clearly instructing the women to learn, please do, but to learn in a way that's befitting of the submissive role of the woman within the church and the home, submitting to the headship of male leadership and not teaching or exercising authority over men in general within the church. And that word for silence that's used twice is not meaning something cruel or demeaning, but it's speaking of the silence that shows forth from the incorruptible beauty of the quiet and gentle spirit of a godly woman, which Peter says in first Peter three is very precious in the sight of God. That's what we see here. Now, your thought might be, well, that sounds fine, but can you give me some details? Can you give me what this really looks like within the church? And so rather than give some applications or details at the end, because we're not done yet, we have to go through the rest of this passage. I think this is probably a good place to give you some details on how this works within the church. This letter to Timothy was meant to be a director on how the conduct and the behavior of the church is to be carried out, how a pastor oversees it, how the church does it. When we look at details, we need to remember the principles. What are the principles that Paul gives you? Well, he said that Women are to be submissive in the sense that they learn, but learn in submissiveness to the men, the male leadership. I think it's also has some reference to their husbands, but also that they're not to teach and have authority over men with the idea of headship and submission carried out within the church. And so if we keep the principles that will guard us from getting too far or being legalistic in some manners, it also help us then to understand how do we decide in those areas that we hadn't thought about before that might be a gray area. But in general, What is prohibited with women and their teaching within the church? I think it's clear that preaching, teaching of the Bible or the doctrines of the Bible for the church in general, is not permitted by the scriptures. The authoritative teaching and preaching of the word of God within the church. Now, those things would be done with men present, wouldn't they? And so those are not permitted. And so also teaching of the Bible or teaching doctrine to men directly within the church. It doesn't seem to fit what Paul has said here. You might want me to be more specific than that, but I think that's the general principle. But rather than focusing on what women can't do, we need to understand that there's tons of roles and tasks that the women can do in the church, even within the realm of teaching. In Titus chapter 2 and 1 Timothy chapter 5, we see that women are encouraged, in fact, exhorted to teach other women. The teaching of children, Timothy himself was taught by his mother and his grandmother, the teaching of children within the church is a valuable and a necessary thing to be done using women. Even the team effort that we see in the example of Priscilla and Aquila, you have a husband and wife who in private were explaining the scriptures to someone else. That's a fine thing to be pursued. In that case, you do have a husband and wife together and it's in private. It's not the public gathering of the church teaching, even in that case, explaining the scriptures to a man. And even roles like evangelism, a woman can share the gospel with whoever she wants. Even roles of counseling can be done within the church. There needs to be some propriety about if there's a case where a woman is counseling a man, obviously, but evangelism counseling. There's a plethora of ways that a woman could be teaching within the church, but it has to be within the guidelines of submissiveness and not having teaching or authority over a man. Well, what about authority? Now, there's two things here that Paul talks about teaching, but then authority as well. Well, women are not permitted to have authority in the church. Any kind of overall authority in the church, the women are not allowed to have that. And I think that means no office bearing. A woman, as we'll find out in chapter three, which that's next, it kind of flows pretty nicely with what we're talking about today. A woman is not to be a pastor or an elder of the church. I think it's clear from the instructions given to the who's to be an elder, but it's clear here in First Timothy two. And I don't believe a woman is to be called to be a deacon in the church, because the role of the deacon is an office in a church that has specific authority within the church. And we'll talk about that in chapter three. If a woman is to be a deacon, then the role of the deacon has to be lessened to not be an authoritative role, or you have to then put the woman in a place of authority instead. And I don't think either of those things have to happen. But any other kind of situation where you have authority within the church, where a woman is directly over a man as an authority over him, that's not to be done within the church. What can a woman do when it comes to authority? Well, roles that can be carried out under the male leadership, but without having authority over other men. Go to it. I think there's probably a lot of administrative roles that can be carried within the church, acts of service, acts of benevolence, discipleship of other women. Maybe things like overseeing the nursery and such. Those are things that a woman can have that has authority with it, but not authority over a man. And she herself is going to be under the authority of another man. Now, I hope I haven't bored you too much with the details, but I think it's good at least to see some of that. One other thing I'd like to address, though, while we're here, this almost seemed like two sermons as we get to the reasons next. But one other thing while we're here, I mentioned a couple of sermons ago that Because we were talking about prayer, and some would look at 1 Timothy 2 verse 8 and say, well, see, men are to pray, and that means women cannot pray publicly within a church setting. And then you see the word silence, which we've read twice in verses 11 and 12. Well, see, women are to be silent. They cannot speak. In 1 Corinthians 14, it says the women are to be silent. It's the same sort of thing we see here, but we may have time to find out that it's the exact same situation. It's not completely silent, close your lips. It's what are we talking about with submission and headship? But I don't believe that's the case. I do not believe that 1 Timothy 2 is saying that women can't pray. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11, women are told they can pray. It's addressed there. There's other places in scripture where women are given the ability and the OK to pray publicly and to speak publicly in the gathering of the church. But we have to look at the parameters that Paul has given us here. I don't think there's any prohibition for women to pray or to give their testimony within the church. Because it doesn't fall within the restrictions of authority or teaching over men. So a woman can give her testimony within the church, as we do in our church. When someone is baptized or joins the church, we want that person, male or female, to give her testimony, how Christ has saved them. But there is one thing we have to be careful of. There's one thing to be guarding for the woman who's testifying in that way before the church. If the way you're presenting your testimony starts creeping into the preaching category, or the exhortation category with some authority from scripture, well, then you've got to pull back. That's the guideline. No authority over men, no teaching over men. So if by giving a testimony, we start inching into that area, stop. In the same way, in public prayer, the public prayer of women in our prayer meetings and in other gatherings, it's a wonderful thing. I love hearing the prayers of our men and women together in our prayer meetings on Wednesday night. But All of us, when we pray, perhaps more so when we're praying alone, we can pray in such a way that becomes preachy, becomes exhortative in teaching, and for the woman who's praying in public, in that way, in the gathering of the Church, there has to be some caution to pray in the submissive manner that Paul outlines here. I think this gives us a very good overview of how this works out within the Church according to the guidelines that Paul has given us in 1 Timothy 2. Now that we've seen the details and the guidelines in verses 11 and 12, I think verses 13 or 14 are utterly important for us to understand. And the reason is, and you may be amazed by this, I don't know, maybe you haven't had to study through these things, but it's preparing for this and preparing for other messages. And I study what is being taught by those who would want to have men and women be not just equal in worth, but equal in what they do and their tasks and their roles. The ways that are taken to unexplain what I think is exceedingly clear in 1 Timothy 2, verses 11 and 12. It's just amazing to me how this is explained in a different way to get around what is clearly being taught. And so it's important for us to understand the biblical background, the reasons that Paul gives in verses 13 and 14 about why He would teach these things and why we must be very diligent to continue with the proper roles of men and women in the home and in the church. It's utterly important. Historically, Bible-believing churches have always taught that women are not to have authority or to teach in this way within the church. It's always been the case. And it's not because we think that women have a lack of ability or a lack of intelligence. Oftentimes, women would be better teachers or make better decisions than the men do. But the foundation is the relationships between men and women in the church and the family that's outlined in scripture, that the understanding of submission and headship that is outlined in the scripture and that is founded on the order and the roles in creation, the permanence of what God has done in creation. It's not a temporary or cultural idea. It's the permanent teaching that we see that rests in the creation account of men and women. the foundation to submission and headship in the home and in the church. And that's what Paul refers to in verses 13 and 14. And this sermon, I can tell just by the looks on your faces, has become more of a lecture, and I'm sorry about that, but this is important for us to understand, especially coming from a handbook that's given to a pastor on how the church should do what it does. And notice, I keep mentioning both the relationship of submission and headship in the home and in the church, even though this is primarily in the church. But the reason I mentioned both of those things is because in both cases, with the home, the teaching of the relationship in the home and the teaching of the relationships in the church, they both are derived from the very same thing. What God has done in creation in Genesis chapter two and three. And here's the danger, if we start messing with the roles of men and women in the church, the ideas of submission and the headship, how that's played out within the church, because it comes from the same foundation that we have in the home, If we lose one, we will lose the other. It will not only be disobedient in the church, will be disobedient in the home as well. So I think this is more important than we realize to understand why Paul uses the reasons he does and then to see how many times in Scripture, almost every time the roles of men and women with submission and headship are presented, it's almost always with the foundation of what God has done from their very creation in Genesis chapter 2. So what I want us to do is to see these two reasons that Paul is given in verses 13 and 14, and then as quickly as I can show at least three examples of how that's shown in other places in Scripture. This is not just some kind of an isolated position. This is throughout all of Scripture. And the two reasons that Paul gives is in verse 13, the creation order, the order of God's creation in creating men and women, And then how they are to relate to each other because of that creation order. That's the main thing that's seen throughout scripture. And verse 14, then, after he looks at the creation order in Genesis chapter two, he looks at the example of the fall in Genesis chapter three. But here's the results of the example of what happens when those orders are not taken. Not obeyed. So because of the creation order of the man and the woman, that defines the relationship of the man and the woman. And then because of what we see what happened in the fall, here's an example of what happens when those orders are not followed. So let's look at verse 13. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. It's pretty easy to understand, isn't it? Why do you say these things, Paul, you Neanderthal, masculinist person, what are you doing? He says, well, Adam was formed first and then Eve. That's pretty easy to understand. But understand this, Paul is not merely arguing order and time. He's not really saying, well, Adam was first and Eve was second, so on and on. He's saying it's also the origin, that Eve's origin was from Adam. that she was created and formed. I think the word formed is better than created here. It's not just a creation order, but how they were formed. Eve was formed from Adam and for Adam, we see in the Scriptures. So it's much more than just one was first and one was second. And I want us to look at a few other places in Scripture as quickly as I can to back this up. This is what Paul always says. This is what the Scripture always says. Are you familiar with Ephesians chapter 5? Turn there if you want to. In Ephesians chapter 5, starting in verse 22, you have that classic and wonderful section of scripture that we who are husbands should memorize and we should memorize with our wives. This is something that we should know to see the beauty of the picture of the husband and wife, how it represents the church and Christ. It was meant to be that way from the very beginning. And so we have the great privilege of not just enjoying marriage, but reflecting in a wonderful way the gospel, in the church and his bride. But in Ephesians chapter 5, starting in verse 22, Paul says, basically, wives, submit to your own husbands, for the husband is the head of the wife. That's basically what he says in verse 22. So you have submission and headship with the husband and wife, the roles of the woman and the man. And what is the foundational reason for this? Genesis chapter 2, look at verse 31. Genesis chapter two and the creation order and the forming of the man and the woman. That's the foundational basis to this. Verse 31 in Ephesians chapter five. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This is directly from Genesis chapter two, referring of the creation of the man and the woman and the relationship that is formed as they are formed as husband and wife. In 2 Corinthians chapter 14, here Paul says, as in all the churches of the saints, which is saying this is not just a temporary thing there in Corinth because you guys are so bad and there's so much sin and stuff going on there. He says, as in all the churches of the saints, let your women be kept silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but they are to be submissive, as the law says. So you've got in all the churches, you've got it's because that's what the law says. And a little bit later, he says, because I'm an apostle, I've said so. At the very end of this, he basically says, who do you think you are? You oppose the apostolic teaching. You oppose the law. Did you get revelation yourself? Why do you think you can oppose what's being taught in the scriptures according to law and according to the apostles? And it's in all the churches. So this is not just a temporary cultural thing that he's teaching. And the example of first Corinthians 14, though, is that Just like we see today, we realize that men and women are equal. They're both given spiritual gifts. And if we're equal in Christ, why shouldn't we then have equal roles or I should say the same roles, that would be better said. And if we all have gifts by the Holy Spirit, it would be wrong then if you'd say, I can't use my gifts just like my husband does within the church or like this man over there does within the church. And this is still an excuse that is given to say why women should be preaching within the church or be elders and pastors in the church today. I think it's horribly flawed, but that's the same thing that was going on in Corinth. It's the same thing that's going on now. And what Paul says in first Corinthians 14 is that, yes, you are gifted, you are given gifts. But you need to use those gifts according to the proper order, according to the apostolic teaching and according to the law, just like he says in first Timothy chapter two. Chapter 11 in 1 Corinthians says that women can pray and they can speak in church. So when Paul is saying the women are to be silent, it's the same thing as 1 Timothy 2. It doesn't mean you can't say anything. It's talking about your submission before the male leadership of the church, before your husband. And it's submissive according to the law, when Paul says according to the law, I think what he's talking about is Genesis chapter 2. Because in 1 Corinthians 6 and in 1 Corinthians 11, when he speaks about the law of the teaching of the Old Testament, he's speaking about Genesis chapter 2. It's a theme throughout this letter to the Corinthians and 1 Corinthians. And so I think what we have in 1 Corinthians 14 is submission and headship. It's a universal teaching in all the churches. It's the apostolic teaching. It's according to the law of God, which rests on Genesis chapter 2. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I do ask you to turn to first Corinthians chapter 11. This will be the last example we will give. And again, we're doing this because it's very important to understand the biblical foundation that Paul uses in first Timothy chapter two, it's the same biblical foundation that's used throughout scripture, and it doesn't go away because our culture changes. And if again, we lose the understanding of submission and headship in the church, We will lose the idea in the family as well. And it's utterly important for us to understand the foundation to why Paul says these things. Now, First Corinthians 11, you might be disappointed. I'm not going to expound the whole chapter. You're looking at, oh, headship. You're looking at, oh, head coverings. OK, yeah, explain all this to me, Pastor Nish. Well, I don't think it's as hard as it seems, but the theme is in chapter 11 is headship and submission. The head coverings that are talked about here are in the sense that women need to show their submission before their husbands within the church. That's about as far as I'm going to go, but the head coverings are to represent that. I will say this, that example of submission before your husband can be cultural on how that's carried out. I don't believe that women have to wear something over their head in our culture. I think in the culture of Corinth, that was the thing that was to be done. Paul is even encouraging them to do so. There are other ways to show submission before your husband, before the male leadership, than wearing something on your head. But the foundation for this chapter in 1 Corinthians 11 is that headship and submission is to be seen between men and women. And yes, you guessed it, it's based on Genesis chapter 2. The same thing that Paul says in 1 Timothy 2. Look at verse 7. We'll jump to verse 7. And again, Head coverings? Yes, wear them because it shows your submission before your husband in a culture that doesn't like it. So we want to make sure we understand that. So verse seven, he says, for a man indeed ought not to cover his head. Why? Because he's the head in the home. Since he is the image and the glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. I wish I could explain that, but we'll go on. We don't have time. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. You see that? This is referring to the order of creation. It's not just the order in time. It's the order of how they were formed. The man is not from woman, but the woman is from man. And verse nine, nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. It's the same idea of origin and order and purposes. And so, again, we see the creation order and the origin as the basis of headship and submission within the family, but also within the church. And so the reason we have male female relationships in such a way in the church and in our marriages is because it's based on the creation order, which is a permanent reason that God says this must be reflected in how we then show our masculinity and femininity in the home and in the church. But I want you to look at verse 11. Lest you think we're being mean spirited. Again, I've already said there's no difference in worth and value between men and women. Verse 11, I think is marvelous. At the end here, he says, nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman nor woman independent of man in the Lord. There's differences, but we need each other in the church and in the home. We're not independent of each other because we have different roles. We need each other and we need those different roles fulfilled in a godly way. He says, for as woman came from man, we've talked about that, even so man also comes through woman. But all things are from God. Now, I could ask each of you men and boys in the church, I could say, Russ, when you first came into the world, how did you come into the world? Was it through a man or a woman? And Russ would probably say, well, I don't remember it. I'm not even sure there are pictures, but I've been told And perhaps from seeing the birth of my own child, I've been told, and it makes sense, that I came into the world through a woman. And so in that way, Paul is exalting the role of the woman by saying, we need each other. And yes, the initial woman was formed for a man, but all men come through women. We need each other in that way as well. And it shows the importance of the sphere that the woman lives and serves God in as well. But even better, look to verse 3. We're going in a funny order, but I want to close this section of verse 13 in 2 Timothy 2 by seeing the importance. There is no demeaning. There is no belittling a person because their role is different because of submission. Submission does not demean anyone. There's submission in all relationships, in all society, whether you're a man or a woman. There's no demeaning or taking away from the value of the worth of a woman because she's to be submissive to her head. If you look at verse three, Paul says, but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of woman is man and the head of Christ is God. Now, if submission to a head is demeaning, that's what you're saying, then that Christ is demeaned. Christ is lessened because the son, the eternal son of God, who is the same in essence, equal in power and glory with the father, he willingly and joyfully submits to his father. I don't think that was just on earth. And so we look at verse three, in whatever relationship you're in, men and women both, whatever relationship you're in, which requires submission, there is nothing demeaning or bad about submission. You're reflecting the greatness of your savior when you do so. And since Christ is not lessened or demean in his role before the father, neither is there any demeaning or either neither is there any negative aspects of a woman then submitting before her head, whether it be in the church or whether it be in the home. It's true that because we are sinners, that the roles of headship and submission, there's abuse there in the church. in the home. It happens. But the reaction should not be, well, let's throw the whole thing out. The reaction is, just like we can through Christ Jesus, is how do we recover and restore God's proper and glorious design with our relationships with men and women? And it's what we're looking at today within the church, within the home. So you can look back to First Timothy, chapter two. I want you to see what he says in verse 14, and we'll be quicker from this point on. In verse 13, it's the order of creation. But then in verse 14, it's the example of the fall. He says, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. As concisely as I can say it, what Paul is doing here is he's saying, in verse 13, here's the order of creation. That's the foundation to why I say these things. And I say this all over scripture. It's throughout the scriptures. But now, if you understand how the fall is, here's an example of what happens when God's order of men and women in the relationship is not followed. Look what happens. The woman was deceived. That does not, by the way, absolve Adam of his sin. It's not like the woman's at fault. Don't point the finger at the woman. Actually, Adam's even more guilty. And throughout Scripture, you can see that Adam's the one that's held responsible, isn't he? As the head, he's the one that's held responsible for the sin in the Garden of Eden. Adam sinned willingly, the woman was deceived, but she was deceived in the context of Adam and Eve not fulfilling their roles. Eve was taking the lead, Adam was standing aside and following. As a result, transgression comes, and both the man and the woman fall into transgression. And so we see in Genesis chapter two and three is that both God's design for the male and female relationships are founded there, but also we see what happens when God's proper order is not followed. And so Paul is saying, therefore, men and women, men and women, you need to fulfill the proper roles of headship and submission within your marriages and within your church. So that God would be glorified and really so Christ would be made known and so you can know the joy that you're created to have. being obedient to God and how he's created you. And so those are the reasons behind his rules and the rules that are given in verses 11 and 12. Well, the last point, then, is verse 15. I think verse 15 is perhaps one of the most difficult verses to interpret, and I've seen several, several attempts to interpret this, and I have to admit, none of them make me fully satisfied. It's a difficult verse to interpret. Paul says, nevertheless, she will be saved and childbearing if they continue in faith, love and holiness with self-control. What I do think Paul is doing here, we can't understand enough of this to understand the gist of what he's getting at. Paul is closing this instruction to the women, and you might think, you know, put yourself in the shoes of the woman who's wanting to teach and wanting to do things that's beyond what the roles are to be according to God's law, according to the scriptures. And so you're hearing, well, wait a minute, I've got to be put back into submission. I can't teach. I can't have authority. I really think what he's doing in verse 15 is he closes with an instruction to the women to give them encouragement and reassurance. It's almost as if to balance any discomfort they may have because of the restrictions that he's just said, he's just given to them. I think it's a loving final word to give to the women. And though it's a very difficult verse to understand, I think there's a couple of things at least that seem to be very clear from this verse. First of all, I think Paul mentions the idea of childbirth, of childbearing, to emphasize the one unique thing to women that men can never do. It emphasizes the unique and valuable sphere of life that women are called to excel in. Women only are blessed to be mothers. I can't be a mother. I'm not equipped to do so. But women are only blessed to be mothers. And so when Paul mentions this idea of childbearing, he's emphasizing the general role of the priority and the glory of the women and their sphere when it speaks about the husband, the children, the home. And we see this in first Timothy five. We see this in Titus chapter two. We saw it in Proverbs chapter thirty one earlier. We see it in first Timothy three. We see it in first Corinthians eleven and fourteen. And it's in this sphere that the women can excel to the glory of God. And in fact, some people interpret this verse as saying, well, this is this is a working out your salvation verse for women. I think it has some merit. The idea is that understand women that when you pursue God and raising the children, continuing in faith, love and holiness and self-control, that is where you can bring glory to God in a unique way that only women can do. I think it has a lot of merit to it. And so it's not saying you're saved, but you can get saved and be redeemed by doing this, but it's a way of working out your salvation in this way as only a woman can, because that's part of what she's been created to do. I don't know if I hold that view so much. I think the second thing we can pull from this verse is that there's a clear connection between what he says in verse 15 and what he says in verses 13 and 14. In verses 13 and 14, he's looking at Genesis chapter 2 and then Genesis chapter 3. And what happens in Genesis chapter 3? When sin comes, the woman is told, you're now going to have travail. pain and childbearing. I think it's not just the physical act of childbearing. I think it's child rearing that's actually being spoken of there in the curse in Genesis chapter 3. And he also says in the verses before that, that there's going to be the seed, capital S seed, that's going to come from the woman. The Savior is going to come from the woman. There's going to be the childbirth, the childbearing that's going to bring the Savior into the world. Take heart, women, that you are specifically created in such a way that the Savior is going to come through you, the Savior who's going to save all who would come to Christ, although it would believe. I think that's the main thing. Some of the details, it's hard to pin down, but I think that's the main thing that Paul is trying to do here is that he's having the women remember the whole idea of what happened in Genesis chapter three, both the pain and childbearing, but the the child to come. And even in First Timothy, chapter two, verse 15, It really is the childbearing. There's the article there. It's not usually said in our translations, but nevertheless, you'll be saved in the childbearing, which seems to imply the seed that's promised to be born of a woman that will bring salvation to all. And I think that Paul has both of those things in mind, that bringing the woman back to their sphere of influence, their sphere of serving God, by speaking of childbearing, but also that through that, the Messiah comes, that all who would believe would be saved. Those who continue in faith, love, holiness, and with self-control are those who are saved and through the Savior come to a woman. Obviously, there's a lot more to be said about verse 15, but I think those are the main points Without worrying about all of the detail, that's the main points that can be drawn from that would be a great encouragement to the women. And it should be a great encouragement to us today as well. It's interesting that as he finishes this section of scripture in verse 15, there's really a full circle here with the women. We start off in verse nine with propriety and moderation. Do you see that word at the very end of verse 15? Continuing in faith, love, holiness with self-control. That's the same word that's interpreted in moderation in verse 9. So we come all the way around to say, this is the character of a godly woman with propriety, with self-control, with submissiveness. And we come back to that here at the very end of verse 15. It kind of brings a closure to Paul's exhortation, his instruction to women here to pursue God in that way. Well, in closing, this has been a very practical, maybe too much of a lecture or teaching session than preaching, but one has to preach the word of God as it's presented. And these are words that are given to the churches so they might behave and conduct themselves properly. It's given to pastors so they could oversee their churches correctly. So this is a very important word for us to hear. The roles that God has created for men and women in the church and in the home are glorious roles, but they are different. And it's founded on the order of creation and not just the order, but the origin of the woman and what she was made for. And so we need to pursue our roles as men and women in faith, love and holiness for the glory of God and for the proclamation of Christ, for the good of our church and the good of our home as well. But we must never forget that though these roles are different, they're equal in value and they're equal in worth. We're not saying that women have nothing to do within the church. That's obviously not true. Men, we know that women are most important in the home, don't we? Nothing gets done in the home if we had anything to do with this. And it's the same thing in the church, that our churches do not operate properly if we don't have men and women involved according to their roles and our gifts and abilities, as is defined in Scripture. Our churches otherwise will be weak and starved and not profitable and not able to proclaim Christ as we're meant to be. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, your word clearly presents the gifts and abilities and the glory of the man and the woman in a way that is contrary to the culture in which we live. And Lord, the pressure then is to not follow an obedience, as your word has said. And that's already happened. It's probably true that the majority of those even professing Bible believing churches now would not teach what you have made fairly clear in your word about how we're to operate as men and women in the church and in the home. Lord, we pray that you would bring your people, Christians, In our country and in the world, back to the clear teaching of scripture and obedience to what your word says, there's perhaps no easier way to show that Christians are different than being obedient to the word of God. And in these areas of how a man and a woman holds himself or herself. And how the relationship is carried out in the home and in the churches. May we be obedient to pursue those roles with great humility. As Paul says here, in faith and love and holiness, but with great self-control. And Lord, through that, that the gospel would be proclaimed. We saw earlier in Ephesians chapter five that the relationship between the man and the woman is the picture of the church and Christ. What a privilege it is to be able to present that picture to the world in our joyous relationships as husband and wife. And what a joy it is for us as men and women to show this difference, to proclaim the gospel in our churches, as we follow your instruction according to your word. And Lord, if we'd be truthful, no one likes to submit, really, in response to anything. I pray that you'd help us to be a submissive people in the roles that you've given us. And if we'd be truthful, we as men have been called to be heads, both in the church and the home. We often shirk away from that. Help the men to be men. The women to be women in our churches, in our homes, that the gospel would go forth. And I pray, Lord, today, even though the gospel is not plainly presented in the sermon this morning, I pray today, Lord, that those who are with us who do not know Christ, that they would see that the Savior has come through the woman, that man and woman sinned against holy God in the Garden of Eden. And because of that, all who are born of them are born sinners and they need a savior. And you, in your mercy and your grace, you condescended to save sinners, those who have transgressed against you by providing a Savior, who though his God, he was born as a full man, a full human, born of a woman, that he might then live and then die for sinners, that those who would trust in him would be redeemed. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.