“1 Timothy 2”
Proper Authority
1 Timothy 2:12
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach
or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
As we study the culture of Ephesus,
we notice that the women were dominant in that culture, so it was necessary for
Paul to address the position of authority in the church. He deals with the conflict between their
cultural practices and proper order within the church.
Paul gave specific instructions that
women should not have authority over men in the church. Ephesus was a city where many women were
highly educated and held prominent positions.
Since Ephesus, in many ways, had become a female dominated society, it
was important for Paul to ensure that people who were being saved and joining
the body of Christ, did not bring their societal worldviews into the church and
dilute God’s standard. When we get
saved, we need more than a conversion in our actions; we need a conversion in
our thinking.
There have been many battles and
debates over this Scripture within the last one hundred years. Some believe that women in that culture were
restricted from being in leadership positions in the Church because they did
not possess enough intellect. This is an
incorrect assumption because many of the women’s education was on par with or
exceeded many of the men’s education.
Others believe that the woman’s pastoral restriction do not apply for
this present time. This belief is also
incorrect. Some have decided to redact
the second chapter of First Timothy and simply refuse to preach on it. As believers in Christ, we do not avoid
uncomfortable topics in the Bible; we embrace them and study and seek to know
what God’s desire is in our individual lives as well as for the body of
Christ. God’s will is expressed in His
word.
Some may wonder, “Why is it necessary
for us to follow the strict guidelines of the Bible if it disagrees with our
modern way of doing things?” Here is an
example to illustrate why we cannot supersede God’s instructions. Imagine that you decide to embark on a home
improvement project and you decide to have the kitchen painted eggshell white
and to have hardwood floors installed in the living room. After meeting with the painter and selecting
the paint of your choice, you go and pick out the floors that you want to be
installed. On the day that the work is
to be done, you leave the floor installer and the painter in your house to do
their work. After being gone most of the
day, you return home with the image of the completed job in your head, only to
discover that the painter decided on his own accord to paint the kitchen burgundy
because he feels that a darker color will hide the grease stains better. While you’re in disbelief over the audacity
of the painter to make changes without your consent, you look down and discover
that the floor layer decided that it would be much easier and cost effective to
lay some sticky back vinyl tiles instead.
Although your instructions were not followed by either worker, both
individuals expect to be compensated for their efforts. The painter tells you about another job that he
did for someone else and how they loved the color burgundy. Although others may have approved of the
color that the painter chose, it is unacceptable to you that he would make a
change without your approval.
In like manner, God doesn’t care what
the culture views as acceptable; He will only endorse us when we function in
the capacity that He designed us to. He is
not impressed because we feel that we have developed a better way of doing
things.
In conclusion, the Church has been
founded on Christ and built by the prophets and apostles. God has set the order for His Church and it
is designed to function according to God’s will. His will is found in the pages of His word. If we believe that we are hearing from God,
and the word that we hear conflicts with the written word; the voice that we heard
did not come from God. We can trust the
word of God because God is never in opposition with His word. Nations, cultures, and modern times are not
qualified to override anything in the Bible, nor dictate the function of the
Church.
