So its been a while since my last post. I am trying hard to not follow my trend of only blogging when I am on vacation but it is proving to be a challenge. As you know I am not a highly educated man so I make many grammatical errors. Also I am not an expert in the scriptures so I welcome anyone reading this to question my thinking or studies. My latest blog will not be so much a rambling as it is more of a study that I have been doing. I have been challenged recently to start reading scripture in a new way. It is good to read the Bible but whats better is to study the Word so you can better know God our Creator. Currently (by currently I mean within the past two weeks) I have been looking at 1 Timothy. Why? well 1 Timothy is a pastoral letter written by the Apostle Paul to timothy who would be taking over Paul's mission in starting up and training the early Church. I don't think that I have ever read these books in context before. Look at it this way, 1 Timothy is like an e-mail from Paul that was sent to Timothy, who was likely frustrated and very concerned with the conditions of the church in Ephesus. He was dealing with all kinds of struggles and challenges from Order of worship, roles in the church, unruly church goers and false teachers.Paul was also showing Timothy how to set the church up with a leadership that would be able to continue the work after Timothy would leave, otherwise known today as succession planning. it is interesting to me to read
"11 Let a woman learn quietly owith all submissiveness. 12 pI do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 qFor Adam was formed first, rthen Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but sthe woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved throughtchildbearing—if they continue in ufaith and love and holiness, with self-control."
To many people this is a topic that turns many away from Christianity. This is also something that has split many churches, even destroyed churches. It is a difficult subject and touchy one at that. I do not want to dwell on this topic however I feel it is of great importance because many women and men in the church miss this. Paul doesn't just stop at the fact that women should not be in authority over men, he brings up the order of creation. Why? because if you look at Genesis 2:18 it says that "it is not good for a man to be alone I will make a helper fit for him." Have you ever thought about that? A helper? Paul makes it a point to bring this out because while women are not to be in authority over men they are there to help the man. The weight of Pastoral Leadership is incredibly heavy to the point that many pastors will quit or give up on preaching. God sent us a helper so that we would have someone their to encourage us and to lift us up. Look also at Titus 2: 3-5
"3 qOlder women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, rnot slanderers sor slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, tpure, uworking at home, kind, and vsubmissive to their own husbands, wthat the word of God may not be reviled."
Women should be teaching in the church now more than ever! Godly women should be teaching younger women how to love. Society has twisted the way that women are viewed in the eyes of men. Young girls are taught that they need to be covered in the latest clothes and make-up while that is not the case. Young girls should be taught to respect themselves and respect men. Just as older men should be teaching younger men to not treat women as objects but with respect. Before I go to far off on rabbit trails be clear with this. Women are important parts to the church. Women were created as more loving and more sensitive than men. Women should be helping their husbands and pushing their husbands to be better men. When you are married the two become one. As the women prays for and pushes her husband to be closer to God she is also strengthening themselves. Just because a woman is not supposed to preach or teach over men does not mean that they are useless to the church.
As I close this post, remember I do not claim to know it all about this topic or really any topic in scripture I am learning and I pray that by me posting this it will spur others on to dig into the Word and learn. I leave you with the doxology from Jude:
" eNow to him who is able fto keep you from stumbling and gto present you hblameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to ithe only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, jbe glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
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