THE LIMITED ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH AND HOME

    It is quite frequent now to have women serving in leadership roles in the church, from song leaders to preachers. Let’s especially pay attention to Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:8, 11-15.

    The issue that these folks confuse is the difference between inherent equality and assigned roles. You may have a faithful, dedicated Christian man who is married but if he does not have children, he cannot be a deacon. That doesn’t mean he is inferior to a man who is a deacon. It means he cannot be qualified to be a deacon unless he has children (1 Tim. 2:12). Likewise, you may have a man who is married and has children and is a good leader in his home, but until his children become believers (Titus 1:6), he cannot be an elder. That doesn’t mean that he is inferior to a man as an elder. It simply means that he is not qualified to be an elder until his children become Christians.

    What the argument has become now, in trying to explain away 1 Timothy 2, is that men no longer lift up holy hands (vs 8), and women’s taste in “modesty” (vs 9) have changed from the 1st century to now. Consequently, the role of women has changed, culturally speaking, from the 1st century until today. The cultural context of 1 Timothy 2, according to the modern view, is the false teaching Paul is warning Timothy to fight, in such passages as 5:13 and 2 Tim. 3:6-7 (Marshall, 167). 

    The questions we will be asking ourselves, in light of the modern position on this text, are: 1.) Does Paul limit a woman’s role in the public assembly of the church? 2.) Does he intend for this limitation to be “for all time”? This is the one position where the churches of Christ will face intense pressure and scrutiny over the coming decades; indeed, according to one website, there are already 55 churches of Christ in the United States that have an expanded role of women in the church.

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    The emotional component is, honestly, the driving force behind the “restudy” issue. Manfred Brauch (in Hard Sayings) says as much: “This passage is a difficult one for yet another reason, namely, an emotional / experiential one. …I can nonetheless understand something of the damage to one’s self-worth and sense of giftedness this restrictive word must evoke” (in loc.).

    Brauch also wrote: “For what is it about gender which militates against the full expression of the Creator’s gifts of heart and mind and spirit?” I can tell you. What was it about catfish that militates against it being used as food by the ancient Israelite nation? It was classified as an “unclean” animal simply on the basis of God’s revealed will (Lev. 11). In verse 47, God told Israel to “make a distinction between the unclean and the clean.” So, catfish were unclean for the stated reason that God said they were unclean. God gave men the role of leadership both in the home (Eph. 5:22) and in the church to men and we must recognize that fact for no other reason than God said so.

    Having said that, tomorrow, we’ll examine 1 Timothy 2:8, 11-15 more closely.

–Paul Holland

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