Women in Ministry Silenced or Set Free? Part 4: 1 Timothy 2 Deception & the First Created

Video: https://youtu.be/-EIscX8dwm8

[Music] 1 Timothy Chapter 2 has been a difficult passage for Bible interpreters because of several hard to understand verses yet while Paul's reasoning is thought to be somewhat obscure this chapter has been seen by some as the clearest passage that says when women are not allowed to teach or to have any kind of authority over men before we tackle this chapter let's have a look at the context of Paul's letter to Timothy starting in chapter 1 First Timothy is a personal letter from Paul in it Paul gives Timothy instructions on how to handle some problems that were happening in the church at Ephesus Paul reminds Timothy of the reasons why he left him behind at Ephesus as I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines remember that in scripture the Holy Spirit has inspired the words and the grammar and he has Faithfully preserved scripture for us to learn and understand Paul says that Timothy's Duty was to instruct certain men the Greek word means either men male or female that is why the new King James version translates this word as some Paul instructs Timothy to stop the error that is being taught nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than Godly edification which is in faith but the purpose of the Commandment Is Love from a pure heart from a good conscience and from sincere Faith from which some have strayed having turned aside to Idol talk the reason for the command Paul says is to produce Godly love a pure heart a good conscience and a sincere Faith these are the very things that some have strayed from and Paul will list these qualities again in Chapter 2 what kind of people are in danger of straining away from the true Faith wanting to be teachers of the law even though they do not understand understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions these people are teachers without accurate knowledge they are deceived teachers who are completely ignorant of the truth Paul has compassion on them because he was once in their shoes verse 13 says even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet I was shown Mercy because I acted ignorant in unbelief Paul considered himself the highest of Sinners because of his former actions he had been a blasphemer and ignorant of the truth but because Paul was acting in ignorance he obtained Mercy Paul is a perfect example of how those who are deceived are to be treated yet for this reason I found mercy so that in me as in the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who believe in him for eternal life Jesus chose to use Paul as an example of the patience he shows to those who will become Believers Paul models that Patience by gantly correcting error and training the church in sound Doctrine in second Timothy Chapter 2 Paul shows the attitude of the servant leader who gently corrects those who are ignorant of the truth the Lord's bonder servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all able to teach patient when wrong with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God May grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and Escape From The Snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will the second kind of false teacher is not treated with such patience and gentleness by Paul these are the ones who teach error with knowledge they are liars and deceivers Paul talks about these false teachers in 1 Timothy 4 but the spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of Demons by means of the high hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with The Branding Iron these false teachers know better they are not ignorant they teach lies and by their actions they are not open to being taught these are the ones about whom Paul says have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith Paul speaks about two of these deceivers keeping faith in a good conscience which some have rejected and some suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith among these are harmanus and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme Honus was one of the ones who taught that the resurrection had already happened and their talk will spread like garine among them are hus and filers men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some these deceivers resist the truth just as Janis and jambre opposed Moses so these men also opposed the truth men of depraved mind rejected in regard to the faith but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived Paul made a clear dividing line between those who teach error in ignorance and those who teach error because they are deceivers the ones who are in error because they are deceived are to be treated gently and taught sound Doctrine in Chapter 2 Paul requests prayers for all people because it is God's desire that all people come to the knowledge of the truth knowledge is key to counteracting error Paul says he wants men in every place to pray without wrath and dissension Paul's purpose is to bring all people to a saving knowledge of Christ the men must set aside their male tendency to be contentious because this only pushes deceive people further away from the truth therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension Paul wants compassion for those those lost and in error instead of an attitude of debating that may even come out in their prayers women who are claiming godliness should pray and dress in a manner to reflect the attitude of their inward Godly character then in verse 11 of chapter 2 Paul changes his grammar from the plural women to the singular form woman Paul switches his Focus to a problem in the congregation remember the Holy Spirit has inspired the original Greek words and he has inspired the grammar as well in keeping with his concern about deceived teachers Paul expresses a concern about a particular woman who is teaching error in verse 11 Paul gives the solution even before he mentions the problem let a woman learn in Silence with all submission this was a radical and liberating departure from the Jewish view that women were not fit to learn the law the telet says about the Torah which is the first five books of the Bible women are exempt from the study of the Torah let the words of the Torah rather be destroyed by fire than imparted to women whoever teaches his daughter Torah is as though he taught her obscenity the Greeks had a similar view of women Plato believed in the inferior status of women it is only males who are created directly by the gods and are given Souls Aristotle added that males had a superior intelligence because women are defective by Nature this attitude of an intellectual and moral inferiority of women was contradicted by the words and actions of Jesus Jesus broke the Jewish tradition and taught women equally with men he valued them and placed an emphasis on their spiritual education even over their domestic duties so when Paul commanded Timothy to let a woman learn this was a positive command based on the value of teaching women her learning and silence was the attitude that was expected of all rabinal students but Paul also had a reason for this woman to learn in silence and that was because of the errors that she taught but why is it that he called her a woman instead of giving us her name but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet Paul has not revealed her name for a reason Paul was gentle and respectful to those who were in error because of their ignorance his Hope was to bring them them to repentance with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God May grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth Paul had a similar attitude towards a man caught in sin his Focus was to bring the man to repentance it is actually reported that there is immorality among you and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles that someone has his father's wife I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus but those who are outside God judges remove the Wicked Man from among yourselves Paul had the report of this particular evildoer in the Corinthian congregation but he did not record his name in scripture this man and his unusual sin were well known but Paul understood that the man was still in the position where he could turn around and repent of his evil deed Paul instructed the Corinthian Church to discipline the man for the purpose of bringing him to repentance in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul encourages the Corinthians to bring the repentant brother back into Fellowship so it appears that this particular man did repent so sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him Paul does not name names in this situation in order for this person's sin not to be attached to his name for all of church history although Paul never mentions the man's name he was an individual and calling him someone does not make him a representative of all men in 1 Timothy 2:1 although the Bible grammar says a woman the singular form here both John MacArthur and John Piper consider this to mean generic woman or in other words any woman they also teach that the prohibition that follows to be a command to prohibit all Christian women from teaching men in the church the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood goes even further by forbidding Christian women from teaching Doctrine to men in any circumstance we think 1 Timothy 2: 8-15 imposes two restrictions on the ministry of women they are not to teach Christian doctrine to men and they are not to ex exercise Authority directly over men in the church these restrictions are permanent authoritative for the church in all times and places and circumstances as long as men and women are descended from Adam and Eve but was Paul really talking about all Christian women in all of church history or was he referring to one woman teaching error we believe that there is irrefutable evidence in the grammar of this passage that proves that Paul was referring to a specific deceived woman because Paul twice uses the singular form for this woman if this woman was a specific woman as we contend she is Timothy would have known exactly who Paul was talking about after all Timothy would also have known who the some people were that Paul spoke about in 1 Timothy chapter 1 these were unnamed deceived people who Paul says must be charged not to teach other doctrines they were unnamed in scripture because they were deceived but Timothy clearly would have known who they were Douglas moo in his chapter in the book recovering biblical manhood and Womanhood apparently agrees with this point as he comments on this passage Paul tells us remarkably little about the specifics of this false teaching presumably because he knows that Timothy is well acquainted with the problem it was Paul's habit of naming those who were deliberate deceivers in the same way the Holy Spirit exposed a woman who was a deceiver Jezebel is named as a Seducer and a teacher of immorality in Revelation 2: 20 Paul also named leaders who knew better but who were acting twoof faced but he refrained from naming those who were deceived Paul exposed Peter's hypocrisy because Peter was a public leader sinning with knowledge but when sephus came to Antioch I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel I said to sephus in the presence of all if you being a Jew live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews Paul publicly reprimanded Peter for being hypocritical about the gospel Peter's sin was committed with knowledge and done publicly but for those who were sinning without knowledge and because they were deceived Paul had a gentle correcting attitude none of the deceived teachers from 1 Timothy chap 1 are named publicly only the deceivers are named now let's take a look at the exact wording of this passage in the Greek remember the Holy Spirit has inspired the words and the grammar for our learning the word teach in the Greek means to tutor or to direct a person so Paul is saying that he is not now allowing a woman to tutor or direct a man why he goes on with the prohibition or exercise authority over a man the Greek word translated exercise Authority is authent what does John MacArthur say this word means but a careful study of that word means leads us to understand that it means to take authority period but what brother MacArthur doesn't tell us is that this word is not an ordinary word for authority it is only used once in the entire New Testament there are several ordinary Greek words that mean authority over but the Holy Spirit chose not to inspire Paul to use these common words in this passage instead the Holy Spirit inspired this unique word which has an extremely sinister meaning according to the complete word study dictionary atheno means murderer absolute Master a self-appointed killer with one's own hand one acting by his own authority or power so what is Paul saying here this is not a normal situation Paul is saying he isn't allowing this woman to murder a man by tutoring him in false Doctrine how do we know it is false doctrine that she is teaching Paul's reasons for stopping her make that clear for Adam was formed first and then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman because she was fully deceived fell into transgression Paul gives the reason for restraining this woman he explains his Reason by saying that Adam was created first and Adam wasn't deceived what is the holy spirit telling us here he is telling us that the reason that Adam was not deceived is because he was created first let's follow the holy spirit's leading and go back to Genesis to understand what Adam's being created first had to do with his not being deceived Genesis chapter 2 starts with a summary of creation and then goes into the details of the creation of mankind then the Lord God formed man of the Dust of the ground breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Man became a living being the Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden and there he placed the man whom he had formed then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it why did God wait to plant the garden until after Adam was created by waiting until Adam after the creation of Adam God allowed Adam to view part of his creative process Adam saw the creation of plants and trees Now The New International Version translates verse 8 as now the Lord God had planted a garden concerning this translation the Biblical Hebrew and discourse Linguistics says that the Hebrew construction here does not allow the grammar to be viewed as as an event that had already happened no other translation says had planted except the New International Version the discourse and Linguistics book points out the translation error made by this translation in this verse we must ask do these verses meet the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay the answer simply is no the verbs do not repeat lexical material to refer the reader back to an event that had already been mentioned there is no earlier planting to refer to and there is no previous mention of a garden just the opposite is true the mainline verb and he formed man in 27 explicitly happens in the midst of a background setting where there was not yet any plant life is it likely that Adam was the privileged one who saw a part of the creation process it is realistic to believe that Adam saw God create the garden and he saw firsthand the difference between God and creation what else did Adam see then the Lord God said it's not good for man to be alone I will make him a helper suitable for him out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to the man to see what he would call them and what whatever the man called a living creature that was its name God now forms animals out of the ground and brings them to Adam on this verse the discourse Linguistics book says similarly for verse 19 with form this was not mentioned earlier though one could claim the animals had been mentioned in chapter 1 even with the animals however one does not find a back reference to which this account in 2:19 can be considered an overlay consequently the NIV translation of Genesis CH 2 must be rejected from the discourse syntax perspective as a misuse of a purly defined older syntax chapter 2 is a kind of macro overlay but the individual verbs in 2:8 andap 2: 19 are intended sequentially within that account that is made clear at the beginning more precise grammar allows us to read the passage more accurately so the precise grammar allows us to see that there were at least some animals created after Adam God created these animals from the ground and brought them to Adam why did God wait until after Adam was created to form some of the animals what was his purpose in forming some animals after the creation of Adam it is obvious that God allowed Adam to be the privileged one the only one in all of human history to see creation as it happened perhaps the animals that God chose to form in front of Adam were the mates to the animals he created earlier in the day we reason this way in Genesis 1:25 when God created the first set of animals on the sixth day he did not tell them to multiply that could mean that the mates to these animals had not yet been created until after Adam's creation God said that it was not good for man to be alone but Adam could hardly understand that for himself at this point in time as God formed an animal and then brought the female along with the corresponding male to Adam Adam saw God's plan for procreation in the animal species Adam also saw the uniqueness of God setting him apart from his creation only God was the creator and the animals were a work of his hands as each kind of animal was completed by the creation of its mate and created before Adam Adam came to understand that he alone was without a correspond oning mate horses and cows and dogs and lions all created by God and all with their corresponding mates but God wasn't through with treating Adam with special favor God put Adam to sleep and created his corresponding mate not from the ground but from his very own body so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man and he slept and he took one of his ribs closed up the flesh at that place the Lord God fashioned into woman the rib which she had taken from the man and brought her to the man Adam's counterpart was the only mate ever created during these days of creation that was not made from the dirt she was Unique Adam knew that he had been treated with special favor because God gave him a true soulmate made especially for him from his own body the man said this is now bone of my bones Flesh of My Flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man Adam's mate was his own flesh and Bone a perfect DNA match she wasn't a different creation but his very own flesh a Unity designed by God now what did Eve see created Eve saw nothing after Eve was created creation was finished Eve did not have the opportunity to see the plants and animals created she did not have the intimate knowledge about the difference between creation and God she was ripe for the serpent to take advantage of her ignorance the serpent tells Eve that God is holding out on her that God is selfish and doesn't want the best for her he also tells her that if she eats the fruit on this special tree that she will be like God and as God she won't die the serpent implies that God has lied to her and doesn't want her to know that she too can be like God where was Adam while Eve was talking with the serpent let's hear John MacArthur's View and then it simply says she gave also to her husband with her and he ate all of a sudden Adam's here where has he been when we needed him well I'll tell you one thing he wasn't there during the Temptation how do I know that because it says in 1 Timothy 2:14 that Adam was not deceived he wasn't there during the deception Satan pulled her out from under her protector but Adam appears from where we don't know but again 1 Timothy 2:14 says he wasn't deceived so he wasn't there to through this whole process of deception else if he had have been there he would have been in the conversation believe me but it just says she gave to her husband with and he at John MacArthur says that Adam must not have been there because Paul tells us Adam was not deceived but take a careful look at the wording in the Genesis account where was Adam while Eve was being deceived the Bible specifically says that Adam was there with Eve John Piper agrees evidently Adam was there with Eve during this temptation you ever think about this she also gave to her husband with her the NIV says who was with her so according to the specific Hebrew grammar we can be confident that Adam was indeed there with Eve while she was being deceived Adam listened while his wife was being deceived by the serpent but he said nothing why wasn't Adam deceived Adam had seen God's creative power he knew from experience that God was unique most important Adam knew that he couldn't be God when the serpent told Eve that she could be like God Adam knew that wasn't true when the serpent implied that God was holding back the best from them Adam was not deceived he knew the truth that God had treated him in a special way and had given him a special mate one made to match from his own body Adam was not deceived because he experienced creation and God's special power and his love so Adam the privileged one stood by and listened as his uneducated and inexperienced wife was deceived and ate the fruit Eve was deceived and she sinned without the proper knowledge of the character of God that would have kept her safe Adam on the other hand sinned with knowledge he took the fruit from his wife and ate even though he knew the truth Adam was charged with bringing sin into the world because he sinned deliberately with knowledge now let's let's go back to First Timothy CH 2 for it was Adam who was first created and then Eve and it was not Adam who was deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression what does being the first one created have to do with not being deceived absolutely everything Adam's experience caused him to recognize the uniqueness of God it was that knowledge that kept him from being deceived notice that in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 the Bible doesn't say that Adam was not deceived because God made him the leader the Bible says Adam was not deceived and the Holy Spirit connects this to his being the first one created the word first with the word then shows a first in time not a first in rank how does Paul relate the deception of Eve to the woman that he said must not teach Eve did not have a complete education on the uniqueness of God and so she fell into deception Eve is not a representative of all women because all women are not deceived but Eve certainly can be compared to another deceived woman the woman in Ephesus was in the same position she she needed to learn in order to combat the deception Paul said she must stop influencing the man with her deception but instead she must be allowed to learn sound Doctrine what about the man where is he in this equation [Music] what about the man where is he in this equation Paul Compares this situation with the first man and woman Adam was not deceived but he allowed the woman to influence him in her deception he even blamed her for his sin yet he wasn't the one that was deceived the man in Ephesus is most certainly the woman's husband verse 11 says a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness the term with entire submissiveness is only ever used in scripture of the husband and wife relationship the wife is to be submissive in everything to her husband but she is never told to give this entire submissiveness to any other man submissiveness does not mean inferiority but willing subjection on his radio show stand to reason Greg kokal an author and teacher tells us why the words man and woman should properly be translated as husband and wife there are words that are used to be translated man and woman here are the Greek words G gu NE e woman and anire and that would be a man do you know that man and woman is not the only legitimate translation for those two words husband husband and wife and wife how do I know that because I look through the Bible and in every single case but two where men and women are pictured in some kind of relationship it is always translated husband and wife and not man and woman which is a legitimate option okay and I wonder if any of the confusion would disappear here notice by the way in verse 11 and that's the really uh critical part here it doesn't say let women quietly receive instruction from men but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man there are particular people involved here it's just not General so who might the particulars be that makes a lot more sense if you understand this is husband and wife it then reads let a wife quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness now the phrase entire submissiveness sounds much more like other places in the scripture that describe the responsibilities of wives to their husbands right okay in Paul's day women were not talked to in public places by men and so if this man had been receiving instruction privately from the woman she would have had to be his wife the next verse verse 15 is key to understanding this passage nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith love Holiness with self-control In this passage we note several important things in the literal Greek the term the childbearing is is unique in the New Testament it is uniquely found in this passage as it has the definite article in the Greek and it is a noun not a verb the childbearing is singular a single thing that is the cause of Salvation there are several theories on what this verse means the first Theory says Christian women will be saved but only if they they bear children this view goes beyond Grace and is not supported anywhere in Scripture it is explicitly against Paul's and Jesus teaching on salvation the second theory says despite the curse Christian women will be kept safe when bearing children this view has little to do with the context and it is not true in the realities of life as many Christian women die giving birth the third Theory says this verse means that women are saved from being second class citizens through the privilege of rearing children this is the Viewpoint of John MacArthur what kind of Saved do you mean here well not saved from sin but listen to this the word saved can mean delivered or it can mean saved from things other than sin what we have to understand here is that all women are delivered now listen care carefully all women are delivered from the stigma of having caused the fall of the race by childbearing in other words women LED in the fall but by the wonderful grace of God they are released from the stigma of that through childbearing what's the point listen carefully they may have caused the race to Fall by stepping out their God intended design but they also are given the priority responsibility of raising a Godly seed you understand that that's that's the balance not Soul salvation not spiritual birth but women are delivered from being left in a second class permanently stigmatized situation for the violation of the garden they are they are delivered from being thought of as permanently weak and deceivable and insubordinate the the Bible never teaches that women are second class citizens that need to be saved from a second class status the Bible lays the blame solely on Adam not Eve in contrast it is the Apocrypha that lays the blame for sin on the woman not the Bible of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die Adam wasn't deceived but but the woman being deceived was in the transgression pabus she stepped over the boundary she stepped over the line so she's in the transgression women are in sin the stigma of the Fall is on woman but she shall be saved through childbearing however 1 Corinthians 15 says that Adam brought sin into the world for Since By Man Came Death by a man also came the resurrection of the Dead for as an Adam all die so also in Christ will all be made alive there is nothing that women have to do to get out from a second class State women are not under a special stigma of sin this third view is also not right because nowhere does the bible say that women are second class citizens because of the fall or that being a mother saves them from having a second class status the fourth theory is set forth by Dr Andreas kostenberger in his article saved through childbearing Dr kostenberger says that women will be preserved spiritually from Satan if they keep within their God ordained role centered on the family and the home however should women leave the spiritual protection of of their god-given role and instead seek to become pastors or Bible teachers to men they will not be kept spiritually safe and are liable to become vulnerable to Satan this view presents several problems if God is giving a promise to women that if they stay in their role as mothers and homemakers they will not be spiritually deceived by Satan's lies then God has broken that promise as many Christian Homemakers have been deceived and Become Jehovah's Witnesses the Bible doesn't promise that a role will keep us from deception but that sound Doctrine will another problem is that by giving only women a promise that they will be free from spiritual deception through keeping a role this interpretation makes God out to be a respector of persons because men are never given a similar promise through their living out their particular role lastly this view implies that women who become pastors or Bible teachers to men are not kept spiritually safe by God but are left completely exposed to Satan's deceptions no matter how much they love God or how much they adhere to sound Doctrine nowhere in scripture does God say that teaching the Bible to men makes a woman an easy prey for Satan this is a unique interpretation not supported by other scripture scripture does not say our role keeps us safe from deception rather it says sound Doctrine is what will keep us safe the fifth Theory says despite the sin of Eve she would be saved through the child birth that is through the birth of the Messiah as promised in Genesis 3:15 the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood agrees that biblical salvation is referenced to in this verse in their book recovering biblical manhood and Womanhood Douglas moose says one view of verse 15 holds that Paul is promising that women will be kept physically safe during child birth and this interpretation appears to be reflected in the NIV rendering women will be kept safe through child birth however this is an unusual meaning to save which elsewhere always refers to Salvation in the theological sense in Paul and does not fit well with the qualifications that follow if they continue in faith love and Holiness with propriety we wholeheartedly agree with the definite article on the noun childbearing we too believe this is talking about biblical salvation through Jesus the promised Messiah now the inspired grammar says that she will be saved who is the she In this passage referring to and when will she be saved since the Greek will be saved is future tents she will be saved in the future under what condition if they continue in faith love and Holiness with self-control the word continue is a conditional Clause bringing a cause and effect so the she and the they have to be alive at the time of this writing because there are some actions required of them they is third person plural and refers to men or women who is the she that is alive at the time who will be saved in the future if she and they continue on the pathway of righteousness and faith in Christ some say that she refers back to Eve but the grammar won't allow that Eve is dead and she can't do anything about her salvation the only she that will be saved in the future must continue on in faith love Holiness and self-control we agree with John MacArthur when he says she can't be Eve well notice it says she shall she shall be saved future tense shows that it couldn't refer to Eve some would like to think it refers to Eve and the bearing of her children but it doesn't the only she referred to In this passage who is is alive at the time of this writing is a woman that Paul has restricted from teaching the woman must be a specific person it cannot mean generically every woman because of the inspired words and the inspired grammar if the Holy Spirit wanted us to know this was not a woman but women in general he would have inspired just the plural they but the the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write she and they in verse 15 if she and they are the same meaning generic woman or all women then the Holy Spirit made a mistake by making a distinction that doesn't exist we choose to believe that the Holy Spirit meant exactly what he said he meant a single female when he said she otherwise the sentence is confusing and redundant so what does verse 15 mean in this verse the Holy Spirit reveals the answer to the question that we all would like to know can a deceived person be saved Paul says yes she will be saved the deceived Ephesian woman if they the woman and her husband can continue on in the true Faith love for God Holiness and self-control to stay away from false Doctrine this is the exact same thing that Paul has already told us in 1 Timothy chapter 1 the purpose of Paul's command to stop the false teachers Is Love from a pure heart from a good conscience and from a sincere Faith Paul said without these things in their Liv lives some have strayed from the faith the woman must hold on to these things to stay away from error there is no reason at all to think that Paul is talking about the salvation of women in this passage the salvation of women in general is never questioned in the Bible nor is Paul questioning the salvation of all women in Ephesus that would not make any sense however the salvation of those who are deceived would be questioned and this is the inspired place for Paul to answer this question remember since chapter 1 Paul has been talking about false teachers who are deceived if a deceived person is spiritually murdering her husband through teaching him her deception will she be saved Paul says first of all she must be taught the truth then she must have self-control to stay in that truth she must continue on in her sincere faith in Jesus with Holiness and her love for God that is how a deceived person will be saved up until 15 years ago commentators felt that women were more easily deceived than men because of this passage John Piper summarizes this view the argument in verse 14 is different it goes like this and Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor now most commentators historically have simply taken that to mean women are more vulnerable to deception and therefore should not have the primary responsibility for teaching and governing in the church that's the way virtually every commentary has interpreted it up until say 15 years ago is the bible really viewing the inexperienced and uneducated state of Eve to be the natural state of all women the Bible never says that all women are deceived or all women are susceptible to deception one must read this into the text to get this understanding our brother John MacArthur teaches the fall confirms woman's spiritual weakness and thus she must have a submissive role and further Adam wasn't deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression the woman is the submissive one by creation and by virtue of her weakness in the fall that confirms her submissive role how is it that so many people think that the Bible teaches that women are spiritually weak and easily deceived although people may not conclude that on their own when a pastor preaches that interpretation to his people over and over again people start reading that view into the passage for too long we have believed that women are not to be relied on for doctrinal integrity because some say the Bible teaches that women are deceived while men are not but the Bible never says that this teaching is not new it has been around for thousands of years in Paul's time the oral law of the Jews taught that women were not reliable and were not to be trusted Jewish women were not allowed to Bear witness in court because of this ingrain belief though the woman is subject to the Commandments she is disqualified from giving evidence women were thought to be Liars or just generally not trustworthy because of their gender according to Jewish rabbis women were either incapable or inferior and this led to restrictions in their education they were not allowed to be a part of educating others women were also restricted from orally communicating scripture to others even to children May the words of the Torah be burned than that they should be handed over to women Rabbi Eleazar says whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her obscenity Jewish men were not allowed to talk with a woman or to hear her speak one is not so much as to greet a woman a woman should not read in the Torah out of respect to the congregation women were not to pronounce the benediction after a meal in the h home women were to be shunned in public engage in not too much conversation with women they said this with regard to one's own wife how much more does the rule apply to another man's wife as long as a man engages in too much conversation with a woman he causes evil to himself for he goes idle from the study of the Torah so that his end will be that he will inherit GNA imagine living with this kind of attitude of fear of damn just for a conversation with a woman can you see how easy it is for this attitude to be carried on in our day is it any wonder that men read into the word of God that women are somehow less than men in that they are spiritually weak and easily deceived although Jesus gave women the opportunity to serve him 1 Timothy Chapter 2 has been used as the basis for denying women the opportunity to serve the entire body of Christ in teaching and pastoral roles but is this passage really denying service to women the Council on biblical manhood and Womanhood says yes we think First Timothy 2: 8-15 imposes two restrictions on the ministry of women they are not to teach Christian doctrine to men and they're not to exercise Authority directly over men in the church these restrictions are permanent Authority ative for the church in all times and places and circumstances as long as men and women are descended from Adam and Eve wow that is pretty heavy no Christian woman is ever allowed to teach Christian doctrine to men in any place at any time or in any circumstance did Paul really say that no thankfully he does not we we respectfully say that for our Christian Brothers to insist on this interpretation when it conflicts with the grammar of the passage conflicts with Genesis chapter 2 and conflicts with multiple passages that show that spiritual equality of men and women this teaching only brings hurt to the entire body and the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you or again the head to the feet I have no need of you if one member suffers all the members suffer with it if one member is honored all the members Rejoice with it when men insist on doing all of the teaching in the church despite gifted women called by God to minister and serve the body don't you think that God is hurt that men have bypassed the holy spirit's place of Distributing the gifts why are we holding women back let's summarize this section with some questions if Paul said she singular shall be saved if how can we grammatically place all Christian women in Paul's prohibition to a single deceived woman if the she from verse 15 does not refer to a woman from verse 12 who does the she refer to if it refers to all Ephesian women and then by extension all Christian women why would Paul specifically say she and they why would Paul question the salvation of women in general when the context since chapter one is talking about deceived people what had the Holy Spirit inspired the word meaning committing Murder By one's own hand instead of the normal word meaning Authority how does this word clearly connect to deception why was Adam not deceived was it because God created Adam uniquely without the ability to be deceived or was it because Adam had a unique knowledge of God why was Eve deceived did God create women to be defective and therefore easily deceived or was Eve deceived because she was not taught sound Doctrine to keep her safe from deception are all women spiritually deceived or does the deception of Eve refer back to one specific deceived woman in Ephesus our next passage to consider is 1 Corinthians chap 4 14 verses 34 and [Music]