Biblical Distinctions Between Men & Women
3/23/2014
GR 1760
1 Timothy 2:9-15
Gil Rugh
Transcript
GR17603/23/2014
Biblical Distinctions Between Men and Women
I Timothy 2:11-15 and Selected Scriptures
Gil Rugh
We are going to I Timothy 2. Some of you were so interested in the study of men and women we are going to pursue that for another evening. I was interested in a comment that I have shared with you before, this whole issue of the roles of men and women which is the subject of I Timothy 2 in the last half of the chapter. This is what one writer said: “One of the most significant changes in human history has occurred in the past 50 years. It is the gender revolution. In the words of historian William Manchester (he was a secular historian, written a number of historical biographies, Winston Churchill and so on, he says) the eraser of distinctions between the sexes is not only the most striking issue of our time it may be the most profound the race has ever confronted.” Interesting comment from a secular historian that he thinks the eraser of the distinction between the sexes may be the most profound issue the race has ever confronted. So we as believers need to be aware of that. It is remarkable and fits with what we might call the signs of the times as the human race in its fallen condition becomes more open and blatant in its unified opposition and rejection of God and His revealed purposes than we have ever seen in any other time. We have always had open displays of sin. Never before have we had the human race unified in defying God and denying the reality of the distinction between men and women as we have today. You can’t open the paper, almost every day there is something on that. Another judge has ruled in another state that you can’t define marriage and limit it to a man and woman. You know, now we have governments, presidents, courts, all unified in denying what the Bible says is foundational.
That is significant to us. Not because we are here to change the world but because the pressure from the world always pushes in on us as God’s people and the more unified the world becomes in a position opposing the Scripture, the more we feel the pressure to try to adjust the position of the church to be more in line with the world.
We have shared with you in our previous study some of the changes in Bible interpretation that have happened in the last 40 or 50 years. For example, the sexual warning in I Timothy 2 used to be divided between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives, those who believe the inspiration of Scripture, believe this passage just as it was taught. The unbeliever just thought it was Paul reflecting his rabbinical background or something like that but now those who claim to believe the Bible have found ways to redo it. Now, well this was for a particular situation at a particular time with a problem with the church at Ephesus. It does not have enduring significance for us today.
So with all of that, I want to review some of what we have here and just go back and remind ourselves of the Scripture. I appreciate at Indian Hills I have the opportunity to teach the Scripture and you have been responsive. We have a great ministry. I appreciate that men and women alike are committed to be Biblical in the carrying out of their responsibilities but it’s always good for us to remind ourselves of these things because the pressure grows and the more the evangelical church moves away from a Biblical position on these things the more we feel the pressure and there is a certain tenseness even when we talk about it here. What are we going to say? Is this going to be offensive? It’s going to be different than where the world is, strikingly different so we will just review to make sure that we are clear and make any adjustments we need to.
He’s talked about what men are to do and what women are to do as they function in the family of God. It is addressed to the church, the household of God but as we noted the foundation for this goes back to the creation and we will review that but God’s concern is with the church.
Before we go further, come to I Corinthians chapter 5. He’s not dealing with the issues of roles here of men and women, he is dealing with a sin issue on the part of a man in the church at Corinth but Paul says something that we need to keep in mind. In verse 9 of I Corinthians 5 Paul wrote: “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; then you would have to go out of the world. I actually wrote to you not to associate with any so called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.” Now note that next statement: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” Note that – what God says is addressed to His people. This is true in the Old Testament with Israel, the New Testament with the church. Now sin is sin but God reveals what sin is but the emphasis of Scripture is not the reformation of the worlds’ conduct. It is to bring the message of regeneration to a lost world. Then those who are regenerated made new by the grace of God become part of His family then are to live in obedience to His Word.
We want to keep a balance. We are not on a crusade to go to the world and tell them they have to practice this or that. We do address these issues. What is the proper role of a man or a woman? But my goal is not to get the world to conform to this conduct or in any other area for that matter. What do I have to do with judging outsiders? We just address them because of their sin and their need of a Savior but for us as a church we need to be clear.
Romans chapter 12: “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed.” So that is the challenge, not to allow ourselves to be conformed to the world but be transformed by the power of God. The reason, I John 5:19, “The whole world lies in the evil one, the god of this world,” and God has called us out of the world to reflect His character.
Come back to Timothy and we will re-read that again and then we will go back to Genesis. The women are to adorn themselves properly, primarily with their good works, the same with men. I have been reminded, you talk about the women but it seems the men get brief comments. Well, stay with chapter 3. When we go into chapter 3 he is going to give the clear unfolding of what a godly man is to be in order that they might serve as an elder or deacon but they are just overall the qualifications of a godly man. So it’s not like the men don’t get addressed but here he is addressing briefly the men and their responsibility to pray and the women. Then in verse 11: “A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet for it was Adam who was first created then Eve. It was not Adam who was deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.” As you have noted, two foundational reasons for his instruction regarding leadership and teaching are the order of creation and the facts of the fall. It goes back to the beginning. It is not limited to something in an immediate situation in the situation at Ephesus and limited to that. This is God’s plan from the beginning when He created it, man as male and female and the facts of the fall support it. Whatever you understand should be read into being deceived. The fact is the man was not deceived but the woman was. That reflects something of how God expects us to operate. The man and woman are created differently. The woman was not created to be the leader and in this context, the teacher as well. Her realm, verse 15: “She will be preserved (or the word is saved, diasozo.) “She will be saved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.” The point here is not the woman gets saved by having children but the realm of her service as a child of God will primarily be the home and the family. Now there are exceptions to that. Paul writes about the exceptions when he writes about the single life to the Corinthians for example. That is a special gift of God, a blessing of God for service but the normal roles will be for the woman as a wife and a mother so that’s where her focus it. It’s not primarily in the realm of providing leadership in the church or teaching as if they continue referring to the women in faith, love and sanctity with self-restraint, the same thing we have been seeing in Hebrews then my righteous one shall live by faith and if he turns back my soul hath no pleasure in him. Same point made throughout Scripture. Those who have truly placed their faith in Christ will continue faithfully in their walk. That is all he is saying about the woman here. This is her realm and that’s how God uses her; that’s where she fulfills God’s role for her in the normal flow of things so bearing of children is the realm given to her and the caring of the home and the child and that’s talking about a godly woman who will continue in faith, love, sanctity with self-restraint.
Come to Galatians before we go to Genesis. We were here but Galatians chapter 3 mentioned this again. It is one of the verses as we have noted that has been reinterpreted in recent years; by recent years, the last 40 or 50 years. One of commentaries that I shared with you on this section of Timothy, a recent commentary after some 50 pages in the context of some 50 pages talking about these verses he notes in another writing he did on this: “I have argued elsewhere that the equality statement of Galatians 3:28 cannot be ignored when attempting to reconstruct the Pauline view of Christian existence and ministry.” So he’s uncomfortable with I Timothy 2 as it is because for him Galatians 3:28 has to be foundational and Galatians 3:28 says men and women ought to be equal in every way; therefore, whatever you do with I Timothy 2 has to be subservient to Galatians 3:28. The problem is he is misinterpreting Galatians 3:28. Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man; neither male or female. You are all one in Christ.” Verse 26: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ and by one Spirit we have been all baptized into one body.” So it’s true. There is only one Savior. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus as I Timothy 2 said earlier. There is one way of salvation and in salvation there is equality. We are all men and women alike, children of God through faith in Christ. That does not mean a man ceases to be a man or a women ceases to be a woman or a Jew ceases to be a Jew or a Greek, a Greek. Paul prided himself on being a Jew and often referred to his Jewishness. A new way, oh a new idea we never saw in 2000 years of church history now we know Galatians 3:28 means there is no difference between a man and a woman so a woman can do anything a man can do and a man can do anything that a woman can do and God’s work of creation has been nullified, silliness. I mean here’s a scholarly world. I have argued elsewhere that the equality statement of Galatians 3:28 cannot be ignored when attempting to reconstruct the Pauline view of Christian existence and ministry. We need to be careful. Within the evangelical world there is a twisting and distorting of Scripture so we can fit the world. Isn’t it interesting since the 60’s and 70’s when they had the rise of the feminist movement and the change in the world’s view of man and woman all of a sudden the evangelicals have found a new way to interpret Scripture and we agree with the world. And the clarity of I Timothy 2 you have to go through all sort of contortions and when you are all done you just say, “Well foundational for me is I have to go to Galatians 3:28 so whatever you do with I Timothy 2 you have to put it under Galatians 3.” Well Galatians 3 simply says salvation is the same for everyone, everywhere. There is only God. There is only one Mediator. It doesn’t change the fact that a woman is a woman and a man is a man. A Jew is a Jew and a Gentile is a Gentile. Slave is a slave, free person is a free person but we are all one in the salvation we have in Christ.
Come back to Genesis chapter 1. I just want to read passages. There is a consistency through Scripture so there is no Biblical reason for misunderstanding but the pressure presses in. I have shared with you what is going on in some of our evangelical schools because the more the world presses, the more uncomfortable we are being out of step with the world. I have used Wheaton College as an example but I should say this week I read an article on Cedarville College in Ohio and they have just made some real changes to pull their school back on line which caused real turmoil in the school and in the faculty. They have restated their position on the Biblical view of a man and a woman and the distinction there, sometimes called the complementary view. The men and women compliment one another but they are not the same. Interesting the turmoil they had to go through in what we would say is a simple Biblical position.
Genesis, since this is where Paul takes us back. The man was created first and then the woman. We had the summary of creation, remember, in Genesis 1, verse 26: “God said, let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness and let them rule over the rest of creation.” Verse 27: “God created man in His Own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them.” So He created man. He created him as male and female. “God blessed them and said to them as male and female, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. God saw, (verse 31) that all He had made, it was very good,” very pleased. You know, one thing we lose as Bible believing Christians when we move away from what God’s Word says, we lose the beauty of what God has done. God has made something good, beautiful, pleasing to Him in every way when He made man as a male and female then what is said in verses 26 and 27 is unfolded in its detail in chapter 2, verse 4: “This is the account of the heavens and earth when they were created in the day the Lord God made heaven and earth.” The end of verse 5: “There was no man to cultivate the ground.” Verse 7: “The Lord God formed man.” And this is man as male as obviously as we read the context. “From the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He became a living being.” God created a garden for him to live in. He placed them there to take care of the garden. Verse 15: “The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Then verse 18: “The Lord God said, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’”
See that is why I say this is unfolding the details of what we had in chapter 1, verse 26 and 27. Verse 27 says that “God made man in His own image. He created him male and female,” but He didn’t go into any details. In chapter 2 He gives you the details of how He did that. So verse 31 of chapter 1 says “God saw all that He had made. It was very good.” But in verse 18 of chapter 2 it’s still not as God intends it when He has made man as male. “It’s not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” And that helper can’t come from the animals or anything else. We are a different species, a different nature. Of course the world fights against that. We’ve all evolved. Now I clipped an article out of the paper a week or two ago that made an amazing discovery that little, small whatever that exploded it happened in such a small particle of time. They never realized it could happen so quickly and becomes something so vast. They should have read Genesis; could have saved them all this foolishness. They still don’t credit it to God. It was just such an explosion out of that compressed little small entity that because you’ve got all this…amazing. At any rate, it’s not good for the man to be alone so He makes a helper suitable for him.
Verse 21: “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. He slept. He took one of the ribs, closed it up. The Lord fashioned man into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man. This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She called be called woman because she was taken out of the man. And for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. They will become one flesh.” And Jesus quotes this portion of Genesis when asked about divorce. Did you read it? That’s how it happened. That’s your answer.
This is where Paul takes up back in I Timothy 2. The man was created first and then the woman. That indicates something of God’s order. You see this is back at the beginning. It has nothing to do with culture; nothing to do with a specific situation that the women at the church in Ephesus were out of control, whatever. This has to do with the order of creation. You either believe it or you don’t. Remember how we started Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3? “By faith we understand the creating work of God.” If you don’t believe it you are in a world of confusion and disorder. We don’t constantly try to fit what God has said into the world. We look at the world through what God has said. So He made the woman and He made the woman for the man. Now Paul doesn’t mention that aspect of it in I Timothy 2 but he does in other passages, like I Corinthians 11. But while you are here, come into chapter 3 and as we saw there you have the temptation and the woman is deceived and the opening seven verses talk about it. She is deceived by the devil. She eats of the fruit that God says, “Don’t eat of it.” She gives it to her husband he eats of it and the fall of the human race occurs and we have sin in the world. That’s the second reason Paul gave in I Timothy 2, the facts of the fall. The woman was deceived, the man was not. The man was not deceived. The woman was quite deceived, fully deceived. She was completely taken in. What the details of that. That means a woman isn’t more open to deception, more easily deceived. It seems to be a factor. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in another part in his letter and said, “I don’t want you to be deceived as the woman was,” as Eve was by the craftiness of the devil. The fact of her deception is clearly brought out in Genesis and clearly referred to. The woman herself says, “The serpent deceived me,” in verse 13 of chapter 3.
She’s created to be a helper to the man, to be one fitted to the man. Now not every woman is going to be married. Not every man is going to be married. That doesn’t mean a man who doesn’t get married is not complete because he doesn’t have a wife or a woman who doesn’t get married is not complete. It does mean the normal order of things will be marriage. Paul was single and he said, “I wish you all could be like me.” So there are benefits. It’s a gift of God’s grace but it’s not given to everyone. The normal pattern will be marriage and that is good. That’s not something inferior as sometimes in church history some of the aesthetics tried to promote but the woman was made for the man. Now that order is there from creation, the difference between a man and women from creation. The fact that God created the man first indicates something of his priority, the role he will have in leadership. The woman’s role will be to compliment the man. In marriage, of course, there will be an intimacy and closeness in that but that will be true throughout creation.
Let’s look at some passages of Scripture. Come over to Leviticus 12, passages we have looked at on other occasions but just see how God carried this out in dealing with His people, Israel and the distinctions. Leviticus 12, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, chapter 12 verse 1: “Then the Lord God spoke to Moses saying, ‘speak to the sons of Israel saying, when a woman gives birth to a male child then she shall be unclean for seven days.’” Verse 5: “If she bears a female child she shall be unclean for two weeks.” Verse 4: “For a man and the blood of purification for 33 days, for a female child (verse 5) 66 days.” A point I think we ought to note here is from birth God marks out a distinction between the male and the female and for His people Israel He wants that distinction recognized from birth. We say, well it’s probably cultural. This is God’s instruction to His people. We recognize this distinction. Well we don’t want to see any distinction between a female baby and a male baby. Well you can’t please God and obey God if you don’t. So this is His instruction.
Come over to Leviticus 27. We are not going to read all of this but you will note the chapter opens up, this is God’s Word. “Again the Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘speak to the sons of Israel.’” And He goes on to set values for certain age groups and male and female in the age group. Verse 2: “Speak to the sons of Israel say to them, ‘when a man makes a difficult vow he will be valued according to your evaluation of persons belonging to the Lord. If your evaluation is of a male from 20 to 60 years old then your value shall be 50 shekels of silver or if it is a female your valuation shall be 30 shekels.’” So again you see God makes a distinction between male and female. This is what God did for His people. He wants them in this practice of making a vow and the value to be placed is done according to age bracket and within the age bracket there is always a distinction between the male and the female. From 20 – 60 years of age it is 50 shekels for a male, 30 shekels for a female. From 5 – 20 years of age without reading through all of this I will just tell you, the male is 20 shekels, the female is 10 shekels. Over 60 years of age here I am, the male is only 15 shekels. It sounds a little bit, you know, prejudice against the elderly but what do you do. The male is 15 shekels, the female is 10 shekels. You know it’s greatly reduced but there is still a difference. At every age there is a difference from one month to five years of age the male is 5 shekels, the female is 3. We see this carried out. You recognize the distinction between the male and the female. Their roles will be different. You view them differently.
Come over to Numbers, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers so just a few pages over and you will be in Numbers chapter 1. Again it is the Lord telling Moses what to do. He is to take a census, verse 2: “Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male head by head.” So the households are identified by the father and it is the males who are numbered here and the purpose of the census is to find out the size of the army that you have. From 20 years old and upward you are going to number them; you number them the males. In our day we send the women to war as well and we are trying to make the adjustments in our army and everything and then we have to be sure that they get the positions of leadership. You send the male, the men, why? It’s part of the role of the man. In Israel God identified it out; you number the men and you don’t send those under 20, you don’t send those over 50 out to do battle so there are advantages to being old. You don’t have to go to war in Israel but there is a distinction here. They are counted by the father’s household and it’s the males who are counted and there are other distinctions through the Old Testament. There is a recognition. Only the men would be priests. Only the men would be in the leadership roles. It’s just how God intended it. That is what He intended when He created us differently. You get up and say, “Well this sounds like the woman is inferior.” Well she is different. She was created to be different from the man to compliment the man.
Come over to the New Testament, I Corinthians chapter 11. There are passages we have looked at in detail in other studies at other times. I Corinthians chapter 11, verse 2: “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.” There are not traditions like you know, certain churches are traditional and they have their traditions of the church as authoritative and they take a passage like this. What Paul is talking about is the traditions that he taught them, the Word of God as we have it. Like in the letter to the Corinthians, he’s commending them for holding to what he taught them not to traditions that were passed down from family to that, the traditions just as I taught them to you, my word. What is it? “I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman and God is the head of Christ.” That is the order established. That’s, you know, he’s writing to the church here. The church has to understand this. This is not just a husband wife relationship. This is the order that God has established. Christ is the head of every man. The man is the head of the woman. God is the head of Christ. There is order. There is even order in the Godhead and we don’t have time to go through the verses. We have done that on other times. You can get the study when we studies I Corinthians 11. We went through the passages that show Christ was subject to the Father even prior to the incarnation. He will be subject to the Father in future eternity because I Corinthians 15 tells us that when we are ready to move into the eternal aspect of the Kingdom He turns everything over to the Father and the Son Himself who’s in subjection to the Father. There is an order there. That doesn’t mean inferiority as person but there is order in the responsibility carried out and the recognition. Would we deny that Christ is the head of every man?
We come up with a new meaning of head. Well we always thought that meant to be over, to have authority over and now we understand head like headwaters of a river means a source of something so it doesn’t have anything to do with. We come up with all these things and there have been multiple things written on that but it’s just a way to try to avoid the clear teaching of Scripture. The meaning is obvious. God is the head of Christ. He’s not the source of Christ. Now you are denying the full deity of Christ if you say that the Father is the source of Christ but in the order of things, He has authority and the structure.
So you see where we are. We are in rebellion against the plan of God if we don’t recognize this order and follow it. We don’t expect the world to. They deny the order of creation that is carried out in Scripture. Then he goes on talking about having the head covered. It is not a cultural thing here. In those days a woman could be given the gift of prophecy and with that she would pray. When she did that she would have to have her head covered so she was acknowledging here submission to the authority of the man even though she was used on that occasion to convey a revelation from God similar to Deborah in the Old Testament where we talked about in another study. When it came time to go to war Barack was to lead the army. All she was was the mouth piece of God so to speak. So here a woman who had the gift of prophecy and prayed in that context would cover her head. Why? To acknowledge that she is under the headship of the man even as she performs this particular function which is no longer present since the gift of prophecy is not. The man should not have his head covered, verse 7. “Man ought not to have his head covered since he is the image and glory of God but the woman is the glory of the man.” Why do you say it that way? Well, the man was directly created out of dust by God. The woman was created out of the man as we saw in Genesis 2. See how the New Testament takes the Old Testament account very literally. The order of creation in Genesis 2, the man does not originate from the woman. Well he has in every case except one the original creation. Every man has been born from a woman. Adam is the only exception. He was directly created from the dirt, then out of him, the side part of him, a woman was created so in that sense the man is the direct glory of God, the woman is the glory of the man because she has a derived existence out of the man, created by God but out of the existing human being so that order and the priority of the man he uses. “Indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake but woman for the man’s sake.” Taking it back to Genesis 2, right? It’s not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited, suitable, compatible for him. Not necessarily I will make a woman so the man can keep her happy. Now the man has responsibilities and we will read about that in a few minutes.
But you see the order of creation. Keep this in mind because the whole attack of the world is against the creator, a denial of Him as the creator, a denial of what He has revealed regarding His creating work, a rejection of the distinction He created between man as male and as female and we get drawn into this and what? We don’t want to be viewed as anti-women. What God has created is beautiful. That is what is good. The fullness of what God intends us to be is found in being what He created us to be.
We don’t have to be afraid. We don’t want to be afraid as God’s people of doing what God says, of recognizing the truth and authority of His Word but oh, what then if my daughter doesn’t get to grow up and be president of the United States? Well that’s something to thank the Lord for, that what God created her to be. It is important. We raise our children in our Christian homes. We want to be sure we are raising them to understand what God made them to be, what he made the man to be. Be a man. We say “man-up.” Quit wearing your short pants, grow up, whatever.
Got a picture of a magazine we get. On the front there’s a man standing there in his shorts and his wife standing there in her long pants. Hold your mother’s hand little boy. At any rate, I am off the subject. Whatever though. We have to train our men to be men. You are going to have a responsibility as a man. You begin to prepare for that. We prepare them for that. We train them for that. Our women, you are created by God to be a woman. There are certain realms and roles that are fitting for you. Whatever you do you don’t want to be doing something contrary to what God intends you to be as a godly woman or a man as a godly man. Well, the world says this and that. Well we don’t get our instructions from the world. But you understand neither is independent of one another. Verse 11: “However in the Lord neither is a woman independent of man or man independent of the woman for as the woman originates from the man so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.” So there is a mutual dependence and inner-dependence and that’s true. It’s true in the church, it’s true in the marriage relationship and it’s true in the world. There is something significant when we try to overrule God’s plan and just have one group, people and they are persons. I wonder how long it will be before we are even allowed to use the terms male and female, man and woman. We move toward that. We don’t talk about man in a generic sense. We don’t want to recognize any distinction, that’s silliness. We’ve got all these court trials going on because we put men and women together in the military. We send them off on a ship or something to spend intense time in close settings and can’t understand why there are sexual things happening, anybody up here? Knock, knock. You tell your kids when they are teenagers, “you can’t go sit in the backseat of a car by the lake with your girlfriend or your boyfriend and cuddle up and expect things won’t happen. Well we think we can put them like that in the military and say, “I can’t understand why they would do that.” Go back to bed and close your eyes and live in your dream world. There is a difference. Sin makes you stupid. The way the people of God come to the Word of God to be enlightened and live in light on the light of the Word.
Come over to I Corinthians 14, verse 34: “The woman are to keep silent in the churches; they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says.” In other words the law has been fulfilled. Paul has written about that but certain things haven’t changed. The roles haven’t changed. If they desire to learn anything let them ask their own husbands at home. It is improper for the woman to speak at church. In other words, the teaching, the doctrinal action, the settling of the doctrine, the issue of prophecies as in the context there, there is the man’s role and responsibility. As men we need to know what the Word of God says, provide Biblical godly leadership in our homes for our wives and so on. It doesn’t mean that the woman can’t learn. We saw that in I Timothy 2. She is to learn the Word of God but in the proper context.
Come over Ephesians. You are in Corinthians then you go through Galatians, you come to Ephesians chapter 5 and he talks about being filled with the Spirit. That’s the command in verse 18 that we want to pick up. “Do not get drunk with wine, that’s dissipation but be filled with the Spirit.” The manifestation of being filled or under the control of the Spirit this series of participles. And our participles we have identified in English as having “ing” on it and we have that with some of these here – “speaking with one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord: always giving thanks for all things.” And this is another participle in verse 21 but they translate it differently: “Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” And you have it in the margin so I think if you see that as the participle part of that which modifies the command and be filled, under the control of the Spirit, now we’ve come up with the idea of mutual subjection because Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another.” So see, men are to be subject to women and women are to be subject to the men. You know one of the foundational rules of hermeneutics, context, context, beep. Read the next verse: “Wives, to your own husbands.” Come down to chapter 6 it will be “Children obey your parents.” Verse 5 of chapter 6: “Slaves, be obedient to your masters.” I mean this idea of being subject to one another for example, wives being subject to their husbands, not husbands being subject to their wives. They read it like the only statement here is being subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Don’t read verse 22, please. Of course, read that. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, another example. Here we are talking about husband and wife but you see the order. In I Corinthians 11 it was men and women and the church and its function. Here it’s husband and wife. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. As the church is subject to Christ wives ought to be to their husbands in everything, so Christian wives should stop trying to lead their husbands. Their husband is to lead; but husbands you ought to become an expert in verses 25 through 31. “Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” There is no sacrifice that a godly man should not make for his wife to do what is best for her, to love her. She is the priority of his life as his wife. So true, the wife is to be subject to her husband in everything and the husband is to love his wife. Wives become expert in how their husbands ought to love them and husbands become experts in how their wives ought to be subject. Learn to become experts in the responsibility God gives to each one of us. But the order is established and the responsibilities are set out and verse 28: “Husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. No one ever hated his own flesh.” So you don’t mistreat your wife and tell her you love her. You don’t put the wrong kind of pressure on her. You don’t treat her in such a way. You realize she ought to know that she is the priority of my life. My desire is to honor her. But the wife has to realize I have to be subject to my husband. So it goes on to emphasize this.
In verse 33: “Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Could it be any clearer? Why do we have such tension in our marriages? Well, we don’t do what God says. The husband doesn’t want to put his wife first. He wants to just exercise his authority and the wife is not satisfied just to be subject to her husband in everything because she thinks he ought to be doing some other things and we wonder why the tension is there. The tension is there because we don’t do what God says. That always creates tension. Well if my husband would do what he should do we wouldn’t have this tension. If my wife did what I wanted her to do we wouldn’t have this tension. Well, if you both do what God says there wouldn’t be any tension because the Spirit of God doesn’t have any tension with Himself and when we are being filled with the Spirit, under the control of the Spirit, we are not always in a tense way because the Spirit is not in conflict with Himself. It is so simple it is complicated.
Come over to I Peter. Now we have been in Hebrews so we are all the way back now past Hebrews, James, we are in I Peter. If you go to the end of your Bible and come forward you have the book of Revelation, then you have all those small books, Hebrews being the last large book before Revelation, you come to I Peter. I Peter and we will pick up with chapter 3. The context again is submissiveness and conducting ourselves properly. Come back to chapter 2, verse 13: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake,” out of your desire to please and honor the Lord “you submit yourself to every human institution.” Well that would mean human government. “Whether to a king or to governors, such is the will of God,” verse 15. The best citizens in the country ought to be us believers because we submit to them. Not because they are especially admirable in their character, not because they always make the wisest and best decisions but because they are those in authority. They were talking about a man like Nero being on the throne. Anybody respect that godless, deviant kind of person? Did he have a respectable character? No. He had a respectable position. So you submit. This is the will of God. You act as free men but you don’t use your freedom as a covering for evil but as a slave of God.
Verse 18: “Servants are to be submissive to your masters with all respect; not only to those who are good and gentile but to the unreasonable.” Why? This finds favor with God. You have it at the end of verse 20. You have been called for this purpose. It may involve suffering but Christ suffered. Follow His example.
Chapter 3 opens up – “In the same way you wives be subject to your own husbands even if any of them are disobedient to the Word.” I mean a difficult position for a wife being married to a jerk, an unbeliever, selfish, self-centered man and it can make life miserable but that’s your husband, that’s what you got, be submissive that they may observe your godly behavior. Your adornment is not just external but also internal. The internal is more important. That doesn’t mean you can never wear jewelry, otherwise the end of verse 3 when it says it must not be merely external, “braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses.” We were part of a group for several years after we were saved and the women were not allowed to wear make-up. They were not allowed to wear jewelry but they were allowed to wear dresses. A little bit inconsistent. What the point is, the real adornment is the hidden person of the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God. And that’s the way in former times holy women also who hoped in God used to adorn themselves. Here they are being submissive to their own husbands. You want to be in the line of godly women. What did Sarah do? She called Abraham, “Lord.” Hmmmm, Lord Gilbert. It doesn’t sound right now but a little practice we could get used to it. What? And you become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. Never be afraid to do what God says. When I do what God says I put myself in God’s hands and He takes care of me. Whatever comes I know He has it under control.
I want you to note verse 7: “You husbands in the same way live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker since she is a woman. Show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life so your prayers will not be hindered.” You cannot be a godly man if you are not treating your wife properly. You cannot have an effective relationship with God, expect your prayers to be answered when you are not treating your wife with honor. She is a fellow heir of the grace of life, that’s Galatians 3:28. “In Christ there is neither male nor female.” My wife is just as much an heir of the life that’s given in Christ as I am. I better be careful how I treat God’s child. I want you to note here though. “Husbands live with your wives in an understanding way as with a weaker vessel.” Our translation says someone weaker. You will note the margin says a weaker vessel, literally, “Since she is a woman.” She’s a weaker vessel not because she is a wife but because she is a woman. Consistent again with what Scripture says the role of a woman is. A woman is a weaker vessel than a man and in marriage the man recognizes that and doesn’t put the wrong kind of pressure; a weaker vessel. I’ve used the example of the men are the pots and pans and the women are the fine china. It doesn’t mean the women are inferior as beings. They are just created for a different role. You know, when the kids are little and you had a drawer in the bottom in the kitchen, you put the pots and pans. When they could crawl around you didn’t care. You pulled the bottom drawer open and let them make noise with the pots and pans. We never did that with the fine china. Why? They are different. Oh, the china is not worth as much as the pots and pans. That’s not the point. The point is they are different. They have different purposes. The woman is a weaker vessel. The man has to understand that. You know, men don’t be dense, be Biblical. Live with your wife in an understand way. You understand she is a weaker vessel. She’s a woman. Don’t treat her like one of the guys. She’s not. Don’t treat her like another man. She’s not. That’s why the man is to be the protector of his wife. In that sense he is a buffer for her, and the world that doesn’t change still for her. We want to be careful that the man understands. It’s a sad thing that the men no longer see themselves as the protector of women and women no longer want to see the man as their protector. That exposes them in our world that the kind of situations that are damaging to the woman and not good for her. God didn’t create her to be the competitor with the man. God didn’t create her to do battle with the man. We are not saying that she doesn’t have a good mind, she doesn’t have strengths but she wasn’t made to be a competitor to the men. She’s the weaker vessel. That’s what God says, “she’s a woman.” And a man needs to understand when he enters into marriage he has married a women who is a weaker vessel not just in the marriage thing but broader. Understand the woman and how God made her, what He made her to be. He didn’t make her to be a man and she’s not a man that she doesn’t get married, she’s still a woman just as a man is a man if he doesn’t get married. God’s provision for them as His children is outlined in Scripture.
So we come, we recognize what the Scripture says and we determine we live accordingly. One more verse, Isaiah 45:9: “Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker.” “Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker.” Now we want to be careful. The world is quarreling with their maker but that will only bring disaster. We as God’s people don’t want to get drawn into the world’s way of thinking and we end up quarreling with our maker. I mean we are God’s children. By faith we believe that He created the world. Well then I want to live in light of that and recognize His purposes. It’s something beautiful to know. God made that which is good in His sight, pleasing to Him, the best that it would be and could be when He made man as male and as female. Sin has brought corruption into that but it doesn’t change what God has done.
Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for the riches of Your Word. How blessed we are to have come to salvation through faith in that One who is the only Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. The One who by His death on the cross paid in full the penalty for our sin to cleanse us from our sin, our selfishness, our miserableness to make us new, to enable and to empower us to now live consistent with what You made us to be as the creator of all things. May we as Your people be faithful to Your Word that You might bless in every way we pray in Christ’s name, amen.